Seasonal?

[GailF]

Hey!
I've been on CC for a few years now though it's only this year that I've really tried to up my production and see if writing more truly led to making more. Obviously it does because you have more to offer, but I've been pretty steady with 1-2 articles a week and this summer, sales have dried up! Is CC fairly seasonal with its catalogue sales?

Gail

[Words4Bread]

I don't know. I've been on here for a year this month, I think. I've kept detailed records of everything I put into the catalog, sold, for how much, when, etc. as I like evidence-based action. So far, July this year is looking like it might be the first month ever that I sell nothing. But looking at my records, in July '17 I thought the same, and then sold five articles in the last three days. So you never know.

One thing I do know from a year's worth of data is that there's no correlation between articles uploaded and articles sold in a given month. But there is a clear correlation between overall inventory and articles sold (and money made). Meaning, uploading 30 articles in a month won't necessarily have an immediate impact on sales. But it will in the longer term, because you'll find you sell a certain percentage of your inventory each month.

So the more you build your catalog, the more money you will make in the future. Look six months down the line and you can (depending on your niche and the quality of your writing, of course) expect to sell anything between 30% and 50% of your inventory over that time.

My catalog currently holds a touch under $10,000 of stuff. So I'd expect (based on the last year) to sell about $4,000 to $5,000 over the next six months or so.

I post erratically when I remember, when other work is slow, when I feel like it. I charge a minimum of $0.10 per word up to $1 per word depending on what was involved. Anything less than $0.10 I'm not remotely interested in and it has to be uber-easy and quick to go for that. After all, after CC take their cut, that's $0.065 and what self-respecting writer even gets out of bed for (less) than that?

I guess a lot of folks are on vacation. I really don't know. Maybe there'll be a last minute rush (like last year!)

[Words4Bread]

I ought to add that I do nothing whatever to promote or publicize my work here. I just upload it and forget. That's a poor strategy if you mean to try for a living here, but I have other fish sizzling merrily in the pan, so that's not my whole aim. I'm not even sure it would be possible. You'd need to have a good understanding of how CC operates on the "other side" to be able to make any sensible decisions about strategy. Which is why it's important to back everything up. The company appears healthy as far as I know, but it could go slap-whoosh-gulloop down the plug-hole overnight.

[Words4Bread]

Yup, I joined in February '17 but didn't upload anything until the summer. Good luck!

[HiredGun]

Hey!
I've been on CC for a few years now though it's only this year that I've really tried to up my production and see if writing more truly led to making more. Obviously it does because you have more to offer, but I've been pretty steady with 1-2 articles a week and this summer, sales have dried up! Is CC fairly seasonal with its catalogue sales?

Gail

Have CC's editors been able to keep up with your increased content production? Starting to think the editors took the summer off to bask in the sunshine.
No edit, no sell new stuff.

[Gauderbock]

Yes, editing does seem very delayed lately, at least for catalog stuff. ::shrug:: Not something I can control.

Re seasonal sales, I've not noticed any particular pattern. I've had good, bad, and terrible months, but nothing that appears to repeat. Summer has been pretty good for me so far this year.

I suspect the main issue is that with 1-2 articles a week it's hard to build momentum. This month I've had sales on articles anything from a few hours to a couple of years old, and that only really comes with inventory size.

[Words4Bread]

I agree editing seems to be slow. But on the upside, I just made a couple of sales. So the month isn't over until the month is over. There's still time!

[GailF]

Have CC's editors been able to keep up with your increased content production? Starting to think the editors took the summer off to bask in the sunshine.
No edit, no sell new stuff.

I think these last two weeks are the only weeks where there's been a noticeable delay from the editors. I assumed that it was because I'd been writing in two or three areas and then switched to a new one. Thought maybe that area's editors were slower than the ones I'd been writing in but I'm not actually sure how that works so I could be wrong!

[GailF]

I suspect the main issue is that with 1-2 articles a week it's hard to build momentum. This month I've had sales on articles anything from a few hours to a couple of years old, and that only really comes with inventory size.

How many articles do you have in your catalogue? I'm just shy of 200 so I know I have a small selection but I can't tick along any faster than 1-2 per week with my current workload. I don't think I've sold any of my truly old stuff in ages!

[GailF]

Thanks for such a detailed answer, Words4bread! I must admit I'm nowhere near as organized as you! I've just been using CC as a dumping site for the odd article and using the proceeds for random things. My July ended with no sales (unlike yours! That must have been a good feeling!) but August has started off with one, so maybe my summer is going to pick back up again.

I just seem to remember someone on the forum (someone like Lysis or Celeste) saying that there did seem to be seasonal drifts in the catalogue but I couldn't remember anything more specific and wondered if it had changed or not. That was also years ago!

It must be good to have all that data at your fingertips. I wish I'd started when I started on here. But now, I can't seem to look at my lifetime sales on here like you used to. It's only showing 'recent'. Sigh.

[Words4Bread]

Hi,

You can check your lifetime sales anyway. Just go to "My Content". In the top right select "All" for categories and "sold" as status. Now click "search". Then scroll down the page and in the bottom right there's bold text which reads # Per Page. Open the drop-down menu and select "All". And Bob, as they say, will surely be your uncle.

[Gauderbock]

Unfortunately that method doesn't show the sales date or buyer, nor the price without clicking through to every sale.

It really would be nice if all our catalogue data was available in a CSV

re catalog size, I'm into four figures written, and I try to keep the sales ratio down to around 50% i.e. I write two for every one sold. Not entirely realistic but it's the aim.

[GailF]

Hi,

You can check your lifetime sales anyway. Just go to "My Content". In the top right select "All" for categories and "sold" as status. Now click "search". Then scroll down the page and in the bottom right there's bold text which reads # Per Page. Open the drop-down menu and select "All". And Bob, as they say, will surely be your uncle.

Yeah, but it's not the same, as Gauderbock says. I want all that good info! If I'd known it disappeared, I would have started doing something like you did! But I realized quite late

[GailF]

re catalog size, I'm into four figures written, and I try to keep the sales ratio down to around 50% i.e. I write two for every one sold. Not entirely realistic but it's the aim.

Wow! Yes, I would have a lot of work to do to get up there! That's a good method! It sounds like it would be more realistic for someone like me who doesn't sell something every week. I can imagine that would be hard for you to stay on top of. Do you replace sold articles with similar ones or ones in the same niche?

[LMasterson]

I've kept detailed records of everything I put into the catalog, sold, for how much, when, etc. as I like evidence-based action.

I wish I'd done this when I joined CC. I didn't. It would have been incredibly helpful for a number of reasons. I have relatively few articles remaining in my catalog (I think 20 or so?) that are all ancient and some years old now, but my total sales overall are comfortably in the 4 figures.

In answering GailF's original question: yes, there are definitely seasonal differences in sales figures at different times throughout each year. Normally summer can be a bit slower than usual, but then I've had summers where sales have been awesome. Likewise, through fall tends to be a bit busier for me in my niche, but many other writers find it slows down for them. I guess diversifying across a few more niches might help alleviate that issue.

For me, CC is a great place to supplement other income avenues. Write something that interests you, upload it here and forget about it. Alternatively, if you get private orders or Writer Pool requests or other work from outside of CC, think about the research you've just done and re-slant it to form a new article for the catalog. It's a great way to maximize the time spent researching anything.

I just wish I had more time to boost the amount of stuff sitting in my catalog