Private requests to multiple writers

[Elizabeth Ann West]

And the entire idea of using a private request to go out to multiple writers without disclosing such is problematic for writers, which is why we are discussing it. Most of us prioritize private requests over other public requests, especially if we are busy. True, work is work, but it could hypothetically create issues. Like Celeste said, it completely makes sense to send a private request out to maybe three writers, but divide the work up amongst them if it is a large project.

However, if this becomes a trend, it could be troubling from the perspective that it creates an elite circle of essentially a public request. Even worse, it could encourage bidding wars where a customer says you are one of 5 writers invited to write this and I'm looking for the best price, send me a private message with your quote. Finally the poor customer limits themselves in the great writing here. The best writer for an assignment may not be the one with the most sales, or the best sales to articles written ratio. And all of that is not in line with the spirit of C-C.

So completely understandable if new writers are confused. Most of this was just a discussion by writers about the situation. So far there doesn't appear to be any big issues arising from the private request that went out to a number of writers. It was just something new for us to see, hence the discussion. (Note, the fact that writers can even talk about it, another really cool thing about Constant-Content.)

[jadedragon]

I can sort of understand why a buyer might want to invite a group of selected authors to submit rather then be flooded by several dozen articles from the general writer population. However I can definitely how a Private Request submitted privately to multiple writers could be seen as problematic. We always face the possibility that the buyer put the request on other sites, does not like the article submitted, or just changes their mind about buying. CC is pretty unique in giving the buyer so much freedom, but I'd guess that helps sales.