Writing to Earn Money vs. Writing to Build Portfolio

[Sbudsky]

Hi everyone! I'm new to CC and freelancing in general and am still trying to figure out what my writing goals are. I'm hoping some of you more experienced users can help me figure out where CC should fit into my plan.

I have always dreamed of someday becoming a serious writer, e.g. being published in major periodicals or even writing a book. More immediately, however, I want/need to use my writing to earn money to help pay the bills. As I'm learning more about freelance writing and beginning to use freelancing services, I'm getting the impression that, until you really "make it" as a writer, you have to choose either to write for career-advancement or for money-making. What I mean is that long, well-researched niche articles written by a no-name bring in very little money relative to the time it takes to develop them. On the other hand, short, cursory articles sold for full-rights are easier to sell and take less time to write, but aren't exactly going to leave a lasting impression and probably won't be my ticket to iVillage or HuffPo.

I'm still holding on to the fantasy of finding a way to earn money AND build a respectable portfolio and I'm wondering if Constant Content realistically offers that potential. That being said, here are some questions I'm hoping you guys can help me with:

-Who typically buys articles from CC? Honestly, is it mostly developers of SEO-driven ad sites?
-Is there any potential on CC for my work to be picked up by a semi-mainstream website?
-Is it worthwhile to spend time writing and posting articles longer than 500 words?
-Is it true that most customers are looking to buy full rights? (I saw a discussion about this elsewhere in this forum...)

Thanks in advance!

[Celeste Stewart]

Hi and welcome!
I've answered your questions based on my experience here since 2006:

-Who typically buys articles from CC? Honestly, is it mostly developers of SEO-driven ad sites?
There are a lot of business customers needing content for their websites, some SEO-driven, others not so much so. It really does vary. Others want articles for newsletters and magazines. Others want press releases and so on.

-Is there any potential on CC for my work to be picked up by a semi-mainstream website?
I've had work from CC appear on major websites. One was once named by Time Magazine as "one of the 50 best websites in the world." Another big customer who used writers from CC for a long while was one of the top 10 women's lifestyle websites. Both of those examples also used our bylines so that was nice. Generally, we don't know where our content is destined unless the customer tells us or we keep an eye out for our text to appear using Google Alerts or a similar service. So, the potential is there but who knows? Keep in mind that a lot of the content isn't bylined but it does end up on some professional business websites.

-Is it worthwhile to spend time writing and posting articles longer than 500 words?
500 words is about average though I'll occasionally write a longer article. It depends on the topic. I'd say 1200 words is probably the upper limit.

-Is it true that most customers are looking to buy full rights? (I saw a discussion about this elsewhere in this forum...)
In my experience, yes. I rarely sell for usage, but then again, I also rarely price my articles for that license. If you look at the sales figures for some of the top writers, you'll see that the bulk of their sales are for full rights with a few exceptions.

[Sbudsky]

Thanks for your thoughtful response, Celeste! It is very helpful to hear about your experiences.

My main concern about selling full rights is that even if my work were published on a major site, I would likely not be able to include it in my resume and portfolio because I wouldn't be credited. Is there any way around this?

Thanks for your help!

[Celeste Stewart]

Some clients keep your byline, even for full rights articles. It just depends on the final destination. For example, Home and About Us pages will never have your byline due to the nature of the content type but many customers will leave your byline on articles.