Constant Content

Hello, I just signed up a few days ago so sorry if this has been covered somewhere else. I'm asking about this from the FAQ section:

How does Constant Content Make Money?
Constant Content takes 35% of the total sale of each article and the writer receives 65%. If you have been referred by another writer the 5% commission they receive comes out of Constant Content's percentage.

Is there a referral system here? And if so where do I find the link? Thanks in advance.

There is a referral system, but it has been de-emphasized with the recent site revisions.

While logged in as an author go to http://www.constant-content.com/account/referrals.htm to get your referral code and see who you have referred. For example this is my referral code http://www.constant-content.com/?aref=33351 The numbers are my author number. Go to your My Profile page and look in the URL for your author number.

Don't expect to get rich on referrals here. So far I've brought in 165 writers who opened a CC account. Only 11 of those 165 have sold a total of 33 licenses earning me less than $45 bucks total. Almost all of the other 154 of my referrals have not made any money because they never submitted an article or maybe did not make it past the editors. Those who write almost always make money. Your time is better spent writing articles to sell here than trying to drive new writers to CC.

I think this speaks to the value programs like this. Trying to rely on others to do work is *sometimes* a fruitless endeavor. The thing that I'm still wondering is how long until that first sale. For people who have been writing here, it seems like sales come regularly (please correct me if I'm wrong). The first sale seems to be the toughest from what I'm reading.

From what I've seen the biggest hurtle to the first sale is actually submitting articles. The next hurdle is submitting more than a couple articles. The rest follows.

It seems so obvious when you see it in print (as JadeDragon illustrated): If you don't submit articles, they won't sell. If you don't continue to submit articles, they won't sell.

As far as the referral system goes, I don't think it's worthwhile. I've recommended a few friends (who are also writers and far better writers than I am) as well as have built a network of over 50 other people who have signed up under my referral link. I've earned just over $1500 in referrals with most of those being generated by my friends (and this dates back over five years). How did they get the chance to earn most of their CC profits? I referred them to my clients when my clients needed extra help. Of the 50+ other writers who have signed up under my link, I have earned about $80 or so. As JadeDragon mentioned, the vast majority have done absolutely nothing other than signing up. I have two that I know of that have sold a couple of articles which accounts for that $80 or so figure -- probably less but that's my fuzzy math).

While I don't mind referring my trusted writing buddies to my clients, it's not like that $1500 fell on my lap simply by placing a link on my blog. I had to work to convince my writing friends to join CC in the first place, show them the ropes, help them understand various client expectations, and more. I actively helped them find good requests and recommended them to clients as mentioned earlier. I reviewed and critiqued their articles before submission and soothed their frayed nerves while they waited for acceptance or dealt with article rejections. Did they stick around CC? Unfortunately, no. CC was fine for a while but none of them are active here anymore. No hard feelings, but would I do it again? I'm not so sure. I would definitely help a writing friend that wants to make a solid go of CC but am not overly interested in helping those with a casual interest.

So, how do you make money at CC? According to my experience, not by referrals. Submit, submit, submit. That's how

Edited to add: While I understand why CC wants an affiliate/referral program, I'd prefer to opt out of it and be able to keep that 5% earmarked for referrals. Now that would make a difference in my life!