Are editors costing this site business?

[ThatWordChick]

Well I'm furious. I had to wait almost a WEEK to get a 700 word article for a public request even LOOKED at, and it got returned to me today for spacing between paragraphs!

Are you kidding me? I wrote the damn thing in word and I am positive appropriate spaces were in there! I rechecked after I got the email, and, sure enough, there they were. I wish I could say this was the first time this happened, but it isn't. Way to go, CC- you just negated an hour of my hard work for a public request that vanished while you were dithering about phantom spaces that don't exist.

What exactly is your 35% paying for, folks? Sure as hell isn't timely, sensical editing.

[Lynnemac]

What can happen in Word is that when you hit return it shows a space between paragraphs on the screen because the default setting is to allow space between paragraphs. However, unless you hit return twice the space does not really exist. To avoid this, check that the spacing before and after paragraphs is definitely set to 0 and hit return twice between paragraphs.

It's happened to me before, but I picked it up when I pasted the long summary into the submit article page and realised that my paragraph spacing disappeared.

Self-editing for details like that is essential to be successful on Constant-Content. I find I have to check, double-check and triple check to catch all the little typos that could otherwise slip through.

Lynne

[jellygator]

TWC, there is another post somewhere on here about that subject. It advised saving in the .rtf format because something about Word can result in the editors

seeing something that
looks more like
this
than a paragraphed
article.

My first (and so for only reviewed) article submission was returned for formatting. Formatting wasn't mentioned again when I saved it to .rtf.

[JulianeAnders]

Most certainly. I never uploaded that many articles but have been around a little while.

Let us see how CC works. You list an article for $40 and receive $26.8 after it sells. Given CC's utter lack of advertising, the sellers outnumber the buyers, and you wait a fairly long time for articles to sell.

Why pull teeth with an editor when you can make $25 on other sites for 30 minutes of work (complete process)? You receive payment promptly and articles "sell" instantly.

Even the top writers on this site do not make as much as I do in a month.

Anyone with sense will find a content mill that actually pays a living wage or market themselves to clients who pay a fair price per article and won't dick you around on style.

Content is about content. Form is irrelevant unless it adds value to content. When punctuation was introduced into the English language, the purpose was elocution. Sadly, the snobs in academia and media with their BS (BullS) and MA (MassiveA) English degrees (better to spend $40K than $2 in late fines at the local library) think they determine the appropriate use of language as the rest of the population increasingly tunes them out.

[Lynnemac]

At the risk of sounding trite, you can only sell what you submit. If you write and submit regularly, you have a better chance of selling regularly. If you have less than 10 articles sitting in your portfolio, you will never sell the number of articles needed to generate a regular income.

If you write for Public and Writers Pool Requests, there is an interested client sitting waiting on articles. Articles for your portfolio may take longer to sell, but the more you have available, the more that there is for clients to choose from. In addition, having articles in your portfolio may trigger private requests for similar articles (for example, I had a client who liked an article with a U.S. bias request a similar one for the U.K. market).

I am uncertain why you think Constant Content does not advertise. In my time here (only 8 months) I've written for people all over the globe. I'm pretty sure these clients don't just stumble across CC - the site is advertising to attract these clients.

I would also query your statement about how much people earn, as that is an entirely private matter. From my limited experience, there's plenty of work here to generate a decent income. However, most freelancers prefer to diversify and I'm sure most have additional outlets through which they sell their work, as having all your eggs in one basket is never a great idea as a freelancer.

I only ever sell my articles for a price I think is fair. Why would anyone ever sell for less? I've never had an issue with CC's commission - I sit and write while they do the hard work to attract and negotiate with the clients. And the reason I can charge a fair price through CC is because they promise clients quality. Grammar and punctuation do matter. When they're right, they go un-noticed. When they're wrong, they really get in the way.

I guess it all comes down to horses for courses. CC suits me, so I place articles with them and they sell. If CC does not suit your way of working, there are other outlets out there that may be a better fit.

[carpenjoyce]

I really don't understand the people who complain they can make more money elsewhere. If so, why not just do it and leave cc alone? There must be twenty other content sites where you can post your work. I'm also confused by people who come and say they've won writing awards. Being a good writer is enough if you're writing for traditional outlets. Editors work with you extensively if they like the way you write. Here, however, the purpose of the editors is to help you get up to speed at producing publication-ready prose without much help from them. That's the difference with writing for the web--you don't have all those layers of help between you and publication. Things like paragraph formatting matter, because it won't look right on the purchaser's site if it isn't formatted properly.

It's true that you have to wait for sales here, but that's the nature of cc's business model. If you want to be able to name your price, you have to wait for someone who's willing to pay it.

I hope cc ignores all of these complaints and continues to be the only source on the web for real quality content. It's what makes this site unique. Having said that, however, I do wish they'd do more advertising. I know content buyers who'd never heard of cc until I brought it to their attention, and I searched the web dozens of times before I found a content writer's site where I'm not ashamed to post my work.

[maryaz]

Getting articles returned for nuanced changes is frustrating, but that’s the nature of it. If the editors start making changes on formatting and grammar here and there, the general quality of articles at first-submission stage will start to suffer. I know that I read and re-read submissions here several times to try to catch any possible issues.

It is upsetting to see people getting so angry about their formatting preferences and editing process. The only irksome issue I’ve run into is longer wait times when they’re busy, but even that got sorted and things seem to be running more smoothly now.

[Judith]

I don't mind if an article is returned for grammar, even though in some comma cases it is simply the opinion of the editor. I am more than happy to make requested changes. If I really disagree with the editor, I simply omit the sentence and write a new one that doesn't venture into the area of disagreement. I believe it's more important to maintain the integrity of the site than to placate my personal opinion We all benefit in the end by writing for a company that is well respected.

That said, I have decided I will not write for public requests any longer. Mosy recently I wrote an article for a request and submitted it within a few hours. Of course my article is still in review a week later and someone else has sold theirs. I do like the pool request section very much. I can accept a request, write the article, get it reviewed and have it sold in a matter of hours. I also have great success with "spec" articles and have a good sales ratio. I expect towat a week or more for those articles to be reviewed. I am through writing for public requests. I have only so much time to write, and I would rather take my chances on the pool articles and the "spec" articles.

Anyway this is just my opinion

[chessgolf]

[quote="JulianeAnders"]
Why pull teeth with an editor when you can make $25 on other sites for 30 minutes of work (complete process)? You receive payment promptly and articles "sell" instantly.
[/quote]

So where can you make $25 on other sites for 30 minutes work Juliane?
Sounds interesting!

JC

[Lysis]

Why pull teeth with an editor when you can make $25 on other sites for 30 minutes of work (complete process)? You receive payment promptly and articles "sell" instantly.

So where can you make $25 on other sites for 30 minutes work Juliane?
Sounds interesting!

JC

Checkmate.

[jadedragon]

I heard that Demand Studios stopped buying crap articles at $15 a pop. Lots of upset writers.