QUESTION ON REQUESTED ARTICLES

[Debbi]

Lysis,

10 minutes for one article? I wish I could do that. Whether I'm writing something for $1 or $100 it seems to take me the same amount of time. I am such a perfectionist, it's really counter-productive sometimes.I groom every article like a show dog. I've tried to just dash something off, but I always end up changing this or that word, trying to get it just right. I worked myself to death in school. I just couldn't grasp the idea that "Cs get degrees" like my daughter always says when I ask her how college is going.

So far I've had good luck with DS. They've bought everything I've written, though I've had to rewrite a couple of things to fit the title better like you said. Luckily, they were minor fixes or I wouldn't have bothered. A couple of times they've sent back things because they couldn't verify some statistic I put in. My last acceptance the editor was very grumbly because she had to fix a lot of capitalization errors (ideosyncratic dog breed names). I didn't even know the editors went to so much trouble. I thought they'd just kick it back and tell me to fix it.

DS is truly a content mill, so when I finally made as much as I needed last month I was so excited and relieved to get back to writing something for CC. It felt so comfortable, liberating, and enjoyable to just sit down and write something I felt interested in, passionate about, the words just streamed through my fingers. I wish I could do that all the time, but I just can't seem to hit the right note for the current buyers. I did sell a couple of things lately that I wrote over a month ago, but nothing new.

CC is my guilty pleasure!


Debbi

[Lysis]

Debbi,

I totally agree. I love picking out anything and writing about it. I love writing the tech stuff, and I seem to have found a happy place on this site with it. It's this freedom that keeps me writing here even though it takes longer for a review and a rejection just pushes the time even farther.

DS is cool too, and I can't knock it too much. The money is more guaranteed there. 1200+ articles and 80 lost isn't too shabby. It's just so stuffy there, and they are going through growing pains at the expense of the writer. I think DS is great if you only need to do about $500 per week. I think the stress factor would be low. I do about $1000 a week (I used to do much more, but I'm burnt on DS), so I deal with lots and lots of editor comments. Some of the editors have gotten pretty nasty with the writers, but I can't say I've ever come across one of those. I've gotten some really blunt editors, but none I'd put in that "nasty" category. Some of the editors are awesome though, and they have chatted me up in PM.

I recommend DS as a filler for money. I think it's the best way to use that site.

[niccam]

Its not DS - but I will check them out too. Its a site called IRA. I submitted some articles on the unrequested side but to my dismay, they only let me submit 3 and now I have been waiting two days already to get it reviewed. I guess after that I can do 10. I was hoping to unload a bunch but looks like it limits you. Anyway, does anyone know how long it takes in the review process?

Lysis where to you do about a $1000 per week - here or DS? I do about $600 or so on IRA but its a lot of articles to get there - but guaranteed if you write them. Guess I am burnt on that and was hoping to find a site that paid more per article, like here. But this has some big drawbacks for me so far.

I am giving it a shot, but not too pleased yet.

Thanks though to everyone and its awesome that some of you are doing so well here.

[Debbi]

niccam,

I checked out IRA and I think you will do better at Demand Studios. It looks like you only get $3.50 an article at IRA but DS pays between $5 and$15 per article. They have also started paying out (through paypal) twice a week now which is nice. CC pays only once amonth. I hope that at some opint they can pay at least every two weeks since for me once a month is a very long time to wait.

Some authors at CC make thousands a month, but I am ceratinly not there yet. I'm still relatively new here though (since July) and hope to keep increasing my income from CC as I build my portfolio.

Definitely check out DS. You could have $150 for 10 articles instead of $35 at IRA. They do have an approval process and Content Editors that can ask for rewrites or reject your articles, but the pay is so much better than IRA, it appears.

Debbi

[niccam]

IRA pays $5 per article now - that was their old pricing. I will check out DS. Does anyone know how long the review process takes here. I posted three articles on Friday and they are still in review status.

[Debbi]

Articles submitted for public requests get reviewed right away, but depending on where your on spec article is in the queue it could take up to a week.

[niccam]

WHOA are you serious - a week? Gosh, every step of the way, this site is a roadblock. Sorry to be a downer, but this has to be the most impossible site I have come across.

Good luck to you all, and to those making money, you are truly amazing because it seems quite impossible.

Thanks for all the response and help. YOu have been great.

[Celeste Stewart]

Public and private requests are reviewed much faster than those not for a request, usually same day - sometimes immediately. If you submit regularly, you'll have submissions being reviewed regularly once past the probation period so it's really not that big of a deal if you plan on submitting articles on a regular basis.