Extremes

[SJHillman]

A little curiosity about other writers' experiences here. Mostly because it's a slow day at work.

What's the longest article you've ever sold? Shortest?
What's the highest price per word you've sold at?
Do longer or shorter articles earn a higher price per word?
Do shorter articles tend sell faster?
What's the fastest you've had an article sell after editor acceptance?
What's the longest you've had an accepted article sitting around before it sold?
What's the weirdest topic you've ever written on? Was it a request?

[Evelyn]

Longest article sold at C-C: 1200 words
Longest article ever sold: 14,000 words
For me, I price everything at .10 cents a word for the general catalog unless it's highly technical or I'm especially proud of it.
450-700 word articles sell the fastest for me.
Fastest sale: within minutes if it appeared on the home page.
Longest sale: Sold an article last week that I posted in March of 2010.
Weirdest topic for C-C: How to design a building to reduce soil vapor intrusion. For a request but the customer didn't buy it.
Weirdest topic ever written: You don't want to know, my friend.

[squonk]

Ten cents a word? I'd love to price my articles at that rate, but I don't think they'd sell. I just wrote a 1,600 word one that flew right by, but I haven't submitted it yet and I'm not sure what price I should hang on it.

[Lor]

Longest article at CC around 1200 words

Highest price, I think around $100

Length isn't always the deciding factor when I price my work. I can whip up a gardening article in 15 minutes, so pricing a 500-wd piece at $50 or $60 doesn't sit well with me. I sell most gardening articles at $35 or less. The more time spent researching, and the more in-depth a piece, the higher the price point for me.

I've never noticed shorter articles to sell faster. People just purchase what they want according to their budgets and their needs.

I've had articles sell within a New York minute, but many sit for days, weeks, years. I just sold a full-rights today that's been kicking around for roughly two years.

Weirdest topic I wrote about wasn't for CC. It was an in-depth article about creepy antiques that people collect. Think about the TV program, Oddities. There is a market for weird stuff, but I wouldn't bet all my time on those.

[jellygator]

What's the longest article you've ever sold? About 1100 words.
Shortest? On CC, about 500. For print, 200.
What's the highest price per word you've sold at? $100
Do longer or shorter articles earn a higher price per word? I price at about .08 - .10 a word usually, regardless of length. For churned or commonplace articles, I drop the price.
Do shorter articles tend sell faster? Shrug. I don't know.
What's the fastest you've had an article sell after editor acceptance? A couple of hours.
What's the longest you've had an accepted article sitting around before it sold? I've only been on the site a few months.
What's the weirdest topic you've ever written on? Was it a request? The oddest article I've written for here was probably about the red and purple carrots, not for a request.

[Sharion]

Longest article sold: 1440 words
Shortest: 245 words
Highest price per word: 10 cents, my standard price for full rights. I charge 5 cents for usage so I need to sell two to recoup. Usage sales do NOT pay for my time if I only sell the one. One of my articles did sell twice.
Fastest an article has sold: Within minutes, after 4 views. I could swear it was the first view who bought it and I may have added the other 3 views personally.
Longest time before sold: Just sold one from Aug 2010, which is 17 months, after 118 views. There are older ones which are still waiting so once they sell, the answer will change. I do not drop the price if they don't sell quickly, though I may play with the keywords.

[jadedragon]

Most if the questions are not matrix I track, but I sold a real estate article for $150. It was not very long either.