Blue Light Special

[airwolfe777]

Well my first two months on CC were pretty good - I earned roughly $100 in each of the first two months. My third month I made about $60. Now I am down to $25 for last month. I have not been writing AT ALL in the past two months, but I do have 45+ articles still for sale. My average prices were $45 full rights and $25 for usage. My average article was between 350-800 words. I just lowered all of my prices down to roughly $25-$29 for full rights and $10-$15 for usage. Let's see what happens - was my price point too high? or does my writting suck? (that second "t" was a joke!)

Any advice? Expectations? Input?

[jak]

Hi. I've just had two poor months. It does vary. You just have to have patience and keep submitting as regularly as possible. For various reasons, my output has dwindled recently and I hope to get back up to speed in the new year. I do find that volume of sales does seem to correlate with submissions, although its not always the most recent that sells.

The fact that you did sell at your original prices suggests to me that you shouldn't lower them. If buyers want your topics, style and focus, they will pay. Part of it is luck in having the right stuff available.

Good luck and keep on submitting at a fair price (and I'll try to practice what I preach).

[Word Gypsy]

Hi! If possible, avoid lowering your prices unless you need the money right now. This slow spell might continue through January. Sales are brisk for some writers at the moment and slow for others. Don't get discouraged. This is an up and down market and you just have to ride the tide. Keep writing and you will sell. Good luck and happy holidays! WG

[airwolfe777]

Thanks for the input! (sorry I am just getting back to you now.) I did lower my average fullrights price from $45 to $29 and I've had one sale since doing so. I can always raise the prices back to where they were. I think that you are right - the more you submit the more you sell. Hopefully now that it is 2009 and many purchasers have a "new budget" we will all see some sales. Happy New Year! :)

[Lola]

I agree that you should avoid lowering your prices too much unless you urgently need the money. I do not generally write for requests, but so far 3/4 of my artices have sold eventually anyway- sometimes within hours and sometimes a couple of months down the road. I usually charge around $35 fullrights for an article I can write in 20 to 30 minutes, and most of my articles sell for full rights. For me, I think, the key to keeping sales up is choosing the right topic. I have one general topic that I frequently write about, and every single article on that topic sells quickly. When I venture into other areas, the articles take much longer to sell. So my advice would be to figure which of your articles are selling best, and continue to write more on related topics to see if those ones sell as well. Its not that you should limit yourself to one topic, of course, but you may find that certain topics are in high demand and are worth more of your time. Good luck!

Lola

[airwolfe777]

Thats funny that you say that Lola - I took a look at my sales after reading what you wrote and you were right! 50% of my sales had one common "topic" - you may be on to something! :)

Happy 2009!

MJ

[Lizaj]

I'm a little slow on the uptake but it just hit me, as I was reading the great advice here, that it totally (like, totally dude) makes sense that the more we write the better chance we have to sell. Since the most recently approved articles show up first, the customer may see a writing style he/she likes and click on the author profile where hopefully he'll find something in a topic that will work for him. Submitting new articles gives our old ones a better chance of visibility.

Now, if I can ever stop making stupid mistakes and get my articles approved, I'm going to give this a shot. lol