Constant Content

Please excuse the dumb question ... I suppose I should know the answer, but ...

What is the rule regarding simultaneous submissions? I have an article that's been with Associated for at least a week and I'd like to put it up here.

Your comments, please.

As long as articles have not been sold exclusively, I think it is okay. If you have articles at both places and one is sold exclusively, you should take it done from the other place. Does that make sense? If I am wrong I'm sure somebody will jump in here and let us both know!

If I submit anything to CC that has been posted anywhere else, I only offer usage. I think that would be the proper thing to do. That way, there can be no descrepencies. So, if I had submitted an article to another website, I would only offer it here as usage, never as exclusive because it is available to be purchased elsewhere.

Part of the problem is that CC has not yet responded about whether the article that I submitted will be accepted. In an email, a gentleman by the name of Khan said that the decision was coming, but that was days ago ... the article has been in their possession for a couple of weeks now and I'd rather get the exposure here if it's going to languish there. When I submitted it, I don't recall having the option of declaring it for "usage" or " exclusivity" although I may have pushed one button or the next.

Maybe the best thing to do is to just wait a bit more. I have other articles that I just finished polishing that I should upload here.

Thank you for the advise.

Oh boy ... I should have proof-read my last post. My apologies for the typos ... advice not advise.

How embarrassing to do that on a writer's board.

(red in the face)

AC takes forever in some cases to approve an article, especially Kahn, she takes forever. I very rarely submit things to AC anymore, as I can usually get a quicker sell elsewhere, even here in some cases.

Ray
Don't worry about the typos. We all make mistakes.

You last post referred to someone named Khan. Was he an editor at the other site you submitted the article to? The guy who runs this place is named Chris.

On simultaneous subs, my thought is that it's best to offer the article exclusively to one site for a while and then move it to another if it doesn't sell. Posting on two boards at the same time may present some problems, especially if lightning strikes and they both sell at the same time. How would you explain this to the board owners/editors when they discovered this? They may be a wee bit tked and could toss you off the board.

For print subs the process may be a little different. But with any simultaneous sub I'd notify the editor that it's a horse race. They don't always like this but it's far better than attempting to withdraw an article after it's been sold elsewhere and it's now ready to be purchased by the slower editor.

Granted this is not always the case. Sometimes the rule is bent. But the print acceptance process is akin to glacier movement, with the glacier moving faster. On content sites, this process has made the leap to lightspeed.

Posting questions here will not only help you, but a lot of other folks lurking about, afraid to speak up. The only question that's truly dumb is the one never asked.

And if I was t make a wager as to which form of publishing I'd stay with, I would go with web content. It's fast developing and the money is quick, if not great. I'm hoping that as content sites multiply, the demand for quality writing will also increase. I won't hold my breath on this. Too many "writers" are willing to work for nothing which drives down article pricing. This is somewhat offset by snail mail postage and paper elimination.

So, as far as submitted articles are concerned, if you haven't heard of your acceptance here, don't sweat it. Chris is a one-man army stretched pretty thin. It takes a lot of time to run this site. And as traffic increases, more buyers will come. If the other site is interested and wants to purchase it, go ahead. You can always withdraw it here should it be accepted. Write another. Sell that. Do it again. That's the name of the game.

A writer on another forum said that she received word from AC that they will no longer accept articles that are placed on their site and CC. So, it's up to you as the writer to place your article where you think it will sell better.

I suppose that somehow they are checking to see if articles submitted to them have been submitted here, as well. Maybe that is why AC seems to take so long lately.

I've not received this information from anyone at AC. This just came from another writer. So use the info if you want, or disregard. It's up to you.

Unless AC starts informing their writers of this practice, they are going to lose a lot of good writers who get tired of waiting.

Also, does anybody know off the top of their head - I'd have to go scan their Terms and Conditions, etc. again - if AC prohibits simultaneous submission? If you don't agree to it, as it's not in their T & C, then, they can't hold it against you.

It was me that got the message at AC.
It wasn't emailed to me, it was waiting in my queue next to a rejected article. It just told me that they weren't buying articles that have been placed with CC. Said I could take it off CC and submit it exclusively to AC, or just leave it on CC and take it off AC. I haven't received emails from them in a while, so I check in on my queue there.

Also. The little TOS you log in to everytime, the form you have to sign twice and say you agree too, has been changed. You'll notice a new date up in the upper right of it.

It makes a lot of sense to be respectful of the desires of each of the content sites. After all, I'm not a well-known writer ... very, very far from it ... and if I don't have access to sites like this one or ac, then I don't have access at all ... that may not be the case with others on this board, but it sure is so with me at this early junction of my writing "career." I'll have to decide which articles are uploaded where.

Although ac is slooooow, they do pay up front, whereas here one gets paid only after an end-user pays for the article. I was pleasantly surprised when I finally received an email from ac, saying that they would buy my article for the whopping price of $14. I'm tickled pink! It's enough of an incentive to write more.

Hey ... many thanks for the excellent comments about simultaneous submissions. Based on what I've read here, I think I'll keep my submissions specific.