I know it's a quiet time of year on CC at the moment - Lots of people on vacation, and as you can see from the catalog sales that I've been tracking, overall purchases are on the low-ish side.
So, if you don't mind sharing, how have your sales been doing? I'm currently selling about three or four licenses a week (My overall catalog is around 140 articles at present.)
Have you seen a busy Summer, or are you hoping things pick up over the next two or three months?
This is the number of public catalog articles being sold each day. It's not 100% accurate as there are pubic sales that don't appear on the writing ides page, but its a reasonable starting point.
This has been a slow year for me, but I've had a boost the past couple months after switching my writing away from the stuff that would get bought for the old mass purchases and more heavily towards nutrition, fitness, weight loss and business. Things were getting slow again until a received a sizable purchase earlier this month, and I haven't been able to write much at all recently due to one of my other gigs getting a lot busier.
I sell whenever I write an article on a popular subject. Still, I don't worry about what topics to write about anymore. I just write what I think I can write well. Sure, they sell more slowly, but I would rather write stuff about topics I'm knowledgeable about than force the issue and write about whatever is in demand. I'm always better writing about things I know well. Besides, I also look at the bigger picture and write about things that aren't covered by other authors. Lots of folks here writing about cats and dogs, diet, insurance and small businesses. They can do a better job than me at those.
contentwriter wrote:I would rather write stuff about topics I'm knowledgeable about than force the issue and write about whatever is in demand. I'm always better writing about things I know well. Besides, I also look at the bigger picture and write about things that aren't covered by other authors.
Same here. I actually don't sell all that well when writing about popular topics, because I guess since I don't know it that well, I don't write about it that well. I get lots of views, but not many takers. On the other hand my wayyyyy different stuff that almost no other writer would ever cover usually get picked up by a couple of frequent buyers, not right away, but even ones I don't think would ever sell go eventually. I did do a quick overview of my stats with those "different" topics, and they weren't bad at all!
evaku wrote:Same here. I actually don't sell all that well when writing about popular topics, because I guess since I don't know it that well, I don't write about it that well. I get lots of views, but not many takers. On the other hand my wayyyyy different stuff that almost no other writer would ever cover usually get picked up by a couple of frequent buyers, not right away, but even ones I don't think would ever sell go eventually. I did do a quick overview of my stats with those "different" topics, and they weren't bad at all!
I knew I wasn't the only one! I think long term, it'll be better for both writers and CC that we do it this way. If we write about things we know, our work will have both credibility and quality-- and the CC library will become more diverse and balanced. You never know who the next client is going to be, so it pays to have diversified content that covers a wide range of subjects. It is also reassuring to publishers to know that writers here write from real knowledge and experience.
Of course, some topics will always be in demand. But I think we can trust many writers here to tackle those. Anyway, good luck all and just hang in there when sales are slow!
The beginning of the month for me was great - I made my monthly target of £140 in less than a week. Since then though I've had no sales at all, even though I made an effort to write on the searched keywords. Hope it picks up again soon!
Client work on the other hand (away from this site) has been non-stop. July and August are usually quiet for my business, so I can't complain
contentwriter wrote:I knew I wasn't the only one! I think long term, it'll be better for both writers and CC that we do it this way. If we write about things we know, our work will have both credibility and quality-- and the CC library will become more diverse and balanced. You never know who the next client is going to be, so it pays to have diversified content that covers a wide range of subjects. It is also reassuring to publishers to know that writers here write from real knowledge and experience.
Of course, some topics will always be in demand. But I think we can trust many writers here to tackle those. Anyway, good luck all and just hang in there when sales are slow!
Yeah, when there isn't much request work going around, I really try to think long-term for the catalog. One of the biggest clients I have had so far seemed to decide on me and another writer by simply going to the religion category and picking the two who had written the most for it. I also had some steady work with marijuana-related topics a while back, though it has since dried up, so I am trying to stock my catalog in that direction again I have yet to have a major client who picked me for my ability to write on things such as business!
Good luck to you too!! I really believe that things will pick up when summer draws to a close.
I have yet to have a major client who picked me for my ability to write on things such as business! 