Constant Content

I'm *really* not happy this morning. I've been waiting TWO WEEKS for a single article to be reviewed and it just got chucked back to me today because the title wasn't in the content editor itself? Seriously? That's it? So I cut and paste a single line and now I have another two weeks of review to look forward to? What's going on, CC - are you guys short on editors or something? I thought this got better awhile ago, but I guess not. It benefits CC to have lots of content here, but it seems like they're doing anything in their power to prevent it from getting here.

I've had a guest blogger on FreelanceWriterGuide come to me and actually ask me to remove his pro-constant-content article because his opinion of this site has gotten so low in the year since it was written. He's pulled his how-to e-book off of Amazon because he felt an ethical obligation not to send any more writers here.

There's a serious image problem developing here with writer relations and perceptions - I wish it weren't so, but it's getting harder to ignore. Speak to us, CC - what's up?

Why are you thinking it will take another two weeks? Every time I've resubmitted an article, it's reviewed again very quickly. Your article will probably be up by tomorrow.

Sorry that your review took so long, Delany. It definitely shouldn't have taken anywhere near that long, and I think something might have gotten missed with this. I'm checking with the editors and will make sure your resubmission is looked at promptly. If you do ever run into something like this that doesn't seem right, or have any concerns at all, please email and let us know as soon as you can.

Pellucidean wrote:Why are you thinking it will take another two weeks? Every time I've resubmitted an article, it's reviewed again very quickly. Your article will probably be up by tomorrow.

We do prioritize resubmissions. It should be reviewed quickly.

Pellucidean wrote:Why are you thinking it will take another two weeks? Every time I've resubmitted an article, it's reviewed again very quickly. Your article will probably be up by tomorrow.

I'm very happy for you that you've had that experience, Pellucidean, but that doesn't match my own. The editing times vary wildly here in the 2+ years I've been using the site, and are usually on the ludicrously long side, both for initial and resubmits. Constant Content takes a bigger chunk out for commissions of spec work than I lose on mill sites for work I get paid for within a week, and for my trouble I've had to tangle with scrapers three times on my own and have seen at least one niche piece miss a content request submission period for being tied up a week+ in editing. I'm not trying to be a hard ass or unduly critical, but the radio silence and long editing queue trends are worrisome.

Well, I've only been here for a few months, but my resubmissions have always been addressed very quickly. The initial editorial review has often taken a long time (as long as two weeks), though, it's true. I think they prioritize articles submitted for requests. Recently I had two articles approved on the same day - one I had submitted 13 days earlier, and the other the night before. The difference was one was for a request, so it seems to have gone into a different queue.

ThatWordChick wrote:

Pellucidean wrote:Why are you thinking it will take another two weeks? Every time I've resubmitted an article, it's reviewed again very quickly. Your article will probably be up by tomorrow.

I'm very happy for you that you've had that experience, Pellucidean, but that doesn't match my own. The editing times vary wildly here in the 2+ years I've been using the site, and are usually on the ludicrously long side, both for initial and resubmits. Constant Content takes a bigger chunk out for commissions of spec work than I lose on mill sites for work I get paid for within a week, and for my trouble I've had to tangle with scrapers three times on my own and have seen at least one niche piece miss a content request submission period for being tied up a week+ in editing. I'm not trying to be a hard ass or unduly critical, but the radio silence and long editing queue trends are worrisome.

Just sent you an email to discuss specifics of this, Delany.

Thanks for your feedback on this; we'll definitely use it to help improve our processes for writers. We don't want there to be any radio silence, nor the perception that there is. Please - anytime you have a concern or a question, email us and we'll get back to you asap.

Constant wrote:Sorry that your review took so long, Delany. It definitely shouldn't have taken anywhere near that long, and I think something might have gotten missed with this. I'm checking with the editors and will make sure your resubmission is looked at promptly. If you do ever run into something like this that doesn't seem right, or have any concerns at all, please email and let us know as soon as you can.

That's interesting. I've sent over a handful of emails over the past few weeks and haven't heard anything back. These were addressed to the blanket "support@constant-content.com" email. One was quite time sensitive as it had to do with a request from a client and the site eating attachments. We worked around it, but it caused more work on both of our parts including them having to resubmit the request due to CC's lack of timely response. Or, as when contacted regarding a larger project with CC, the ball was dropped once and I was told to email back if it was dropped again. It was, in fact, dropped again, emailed that editor back directly, twice, never heard back. Typically, I see the five business day turnaround on anything not for a request, although I've put some seasonal pieces up only to see them easily blow by the week mark, missing their opportunity.

Usually, I'm happy with CC, but this past month has been quite disappointing and I don't even use it that much due to the delays. Now, with the new request system, working as designed from what I've been told in another post, I'm even less pleased. I don't mean to complain, but there's certainly been reason to do so as of late. It is interesting what the original poster mentioned about someone pulling content that supported CC as, when I found it over a year ago, there was all sorts of positive blogs, articles, comments, etc. leading people to CC. Those have, for the most part, dried up. That should be reason for concern on CC's behalf. It's definitely reason for concern for me, as I was recently considering using this platform more frequently. Now, I have to be honest, I am not so sure.

I'm having issues with the site as well. I'm returning here after a fairly long absence. My first new article was reviewed and approved in 3 days, which was great. However, I've had nothing approved since, the oldest submitted on December 7th.

I also have some weird site issues. When I look at my "Account Status" page, I can see that there are "Requests" on the right hand side. If I click on a request for more information, I get "Would you like to see your account status or logout?" on an otherwise blank page. When I go directly to the "Requested Content" tab, there is nothing there. When I try the "Notifications" tab, I can see that everything appeared to be normal up until December 5th when everything stopped. If I click on the "click here to view this request", I get the "Would you like to see your account status or logout?" page again.

The "My Projects" tab shows nothing on the right hand side under "Select Project" but I can see on the calendar that I have a red triangle on December 20th which appears to indicate that I have an article due on that date. I assume that this may have something to do with a request for "Paranormal Content" that shows itself directly underneath the calendar and has a closing date of the 20th. When I click on "view details" in the "Actions" column, nothing happens.

The "Edit My Requests" tab says that I am "Eligible for Requests" and my "Access Level" is 1 (?).

I think that the oddest thing is that the "Home" page showing the "Latest Content Added" has not changed for days. It appears that nothing new is being added to the catalog. How is that possible?

Thoughts?

I came here to ask about others' experiences with review times, and found this post. Glad it isn't just me! I, too, have been noticing that the review times have been taking longer and longer. My usual average was about 4-5 days, which includes ones that took a little less time and a little more. For the last couple of months the average has been more like 7-10 days, and like another poster noted, seasonal articles have been missing their optimum window. I can adjust that by going a little further out on seasonal stuff but I'm also unhappy with the length of time editing takes, especially when an article then gets bounced back for minor issues or formatting problems that appear to be caused by quirks in the content submission window, and then taking several days to be reviewed again.

My own writing habits get affected by this. By and large, when I am writing a steady stream of articles that are posted fairly promptly, they also seem to sell pretty quickly, which in turn energizes me to write more. When I write articles and accumulate a backlog of 5-6 in review for a week or more at a time, my inclination to submit articles here declines. I do really like Constant Content because I don't know of any other site that allows writers to write about anything they want and list it in a general catalog, and I want to continue to do articles here, but lately it has felt very discouraging.

I have also been rethinking recommending this site to other writers. I have done so strongly in the past, but I would hesitate more now due to my own and others' ongoing frustrations. With the exception of whoever is posting here as "Constant", it really feels like communication is random, minimal, opaque, and not very respectful of the people who are providing what this site sells.

Since I came on here and griped, I am obligated to report the positive as well: four of the articles that were in my review queue all went through and were accepted this morning.

Thanks CC folks!

So I cut and paste a single line and now I have another two weeks of review to look forward to?

I'm constantly amazed by the minor edits that CC editors demand from writers. I work as an editor on several content sites and I would be sacked if I sent articles back for such a minor thing, rather than changing it myself, precisely because it creates such an unnecessary delay in getting the article to the client.