Constant Content

Hi,

I would like to know something about what happens when a customer purchases full rights to an article. What happens if someone has already purchased usage rights to it? Are those previous customers allowed to continue using it? What if I post an article on my blog or elsewhere on the Internet and then decide to put it up for sale on CC? Is that allowed?

Thanks,
Jeff

Jeff

Hi. If someone buys one of your articles at CC for usage rights, then it can only be sold thereafter for usage rights, and CC will advertise it for sale as such (i.e. a buyer won't have the option to buy it for anything other than usage rights). If you want to sell an article at CC that's published elsewhere, then you can only sell it for usage rights. If you do this, then you need to ensure that the editor can easily identify you as the author of the article.

Hope this helps.

Jane

As an aside... if an article you have sells for usage rights, it can still sell for full rights to the first original buyer (of the usage rights). I've had this happen to me before in a couple of articles. I think this happens only if the article has sold once for usage as I'm guessing the buyer has the option to upgrade his purchase to full rights when he is logged in to his account (and I think that option disappears after subsequent usage rights sales to other buyers).

When I registered, I chose an 'author' or 'pen' name as suggested. I have articles published elsewhere attributed to my real name and not this pen name which I invented a few minutes ago. Will the editors recognise this and allow articles otherwise attributed to my real name to be submitted under my CC pen-name?

Secondly, on a point of grammar, I am English and therefore write in English. This can differ, however, from the American usage of the language in both grammar and spelling. Will I be penalised for writing in proper English?

Barry

Hi. If by 'proper English' you mean UK English (as opposed to US English) then no you won't be penalised, provided your use is consistent. However, I think that the majority of customers here are looking for articles for an American audience, so you might want to bear that in mind when writing.

As to selling articles you've published elsewhere, I think this depends on whether CC is able to identify you as the author. In the past, I posted some articles here that I have at Helium but I think the rules might have changed recently so you're best off getting clarification from someone at CC on that.

All the best

Jane

JD wrote: As to selling articles you've published elsewhere, I think this depends on whether CC is able to identify you as the author. In the past, I posted some articles here that I have at Helium but I think the rules might have changed recently so you're best off getting clarification from someone at CC on that.

Thanks for that, Jane.

Were your articles at Helium under the same name as you used for CC? I have my registered name here and my 'nom de plume' so its a moot point as to whether the editors accept articles under my pen-name which were previously published elsewhere with my proper name.

If there is a company representative looking at this maybe they can answer here, for the benefit of all, rather than on a private support ticket.

The Helium articles were published under a different name to the one I use here, but I put a note in the summary giving my Helium pen name when I submitted my article. But I'm not sure that that's enough any more. I know that CC needs to be certain that you're the legitimate author of any article you submit. I'm sure someone at CC will respond giving a definitive answer to this.

Jane

I just posted some Helium article here. It's cool. Just don't add a note in the summary that it's yours. I guess Ed can figure it out without our helpful notes.

I believe Ed can cross reference our real names in our accounts. For example, if your real name is Mr. X and you have that on file here with CC along with your pen name, then if an article is previously published under Mr. X, Ed can see that your real name matches.

From our FAQ:

I submitted an article to sell for usage rights only. My articles was rejected for originality, but I am the original author of the content.
We can only accept articles that are able to be verified as original to the author. If you choose to submit content published elsewhere by you, please submit articles that are clearly credited to you with your name or the pen name you use on Constant Content. Articles that cannot be verified as original to the author cannot be accepted. If there is no name on the original publication, if the article is credited with a name that does not match your given or chosen name, or if the author's name is not easily located on the page of original publication, the article will be rejected. Do not include location of previous publication anywhere in your submission. Please note: When you submit an article that has been published elsewhere, you may ask usage rights ONLY for the article.

Thanks,
Ed