Constant Content

What does the "Purchase Rating" mean? I have seen numbers as low as 0 and as high as 200. Also wanting to know how long it usually takes for an article to be reviewed by CC. I have two articles out there but I cannot send messages to clients until one of those are approved. There are many articles i want to write but they say to contact them first. Whats an author to do? HAHA

The purchase rating lets authors know how many articles the customer has purchased from CC in the past. If they have a high rating, you can be fairly sure they will purchase at least the article they are ordering. A 0 rating doesn't necessarily mean they won't buy anything (they may just be new), but you are taking a greater chance that they may not. I still don't think it is much of a risk though as long as it is not a highly specific article. Somebody else could come along and buy it. I submitted 3 articles once to a client who had a 0 rating. I think others were afraid to submit to her request, so I had very little competition. She purchased all 3 articles at a total of $350! The purchase rating is also good to watch if you are keeping an eye on a certain request. If the purchase rate goes up, chances are that customer bought the article they frequested. That doesn't mean they won't buy more though. I have seen customers request 1 article and buy up 10 or 15.

Sorry for the long response to a simple question....I am long-winded this morning!

Its alright April, I can be long-winded at times too. So, can you answer the second part of my question? If you can that would be awesome! I appreciate your taking the time out and talking with me

oops...sorry JK...got so caught up in the purchase rating I didn't notice the rest of your question? Review times vary. Typically, I think it takes longer to review new authors. This is primarily because the editors are familiar with authors who submit regularly and can quickly look over their work. They usually have to take a bit more time with new authors. Also, the type of submission also makes a difference. Private requests take preference, then public requests, followed by on spec articles. For example, I just had an on spec article approved this morning that I submitted Friday. However, a private request that I submitted on Sat. was approved yesterday morning. Typically, review times should take no longer than 3-5 days (usually quicker once you begin submitting regularly).

As far as public requests who say to contact them first, you can send them a message via the public request. Click on "send message/submit existing article" (or it says something similar to that) in the top right hand corner of the request description. I think you may have to have at least one article approved here though before the system will allow you to contact a customer this way. That's kind of a way CC has to keep customers from getting spammed and bombarded with over-zealous writers! Just as a caution: Don't ever send samples to a customer through the message system. If they want to see a sample, direct them to your author portfolio at CC. The only problem I have with orders that specify to contact the customer first is that they are likely specific articles that may not be easy to sell to another customer if that one doesn't purchase it. On the other hand, it could also result in Private Requests in which the customer only orders those articles from you.