How to Sell More Articles
Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 2:54 pm
A Note: The stats in this article are compiled by taking averages over the total life of an author's account (which can be as many as five years). This means that there are statistical outliers that may impact the real world average experience of writers. Obviously quality, topical decisions and a little luck can lead to differing individual results, but we are hoping to provide you some insights in to the texture and trends of article purchasing on the site. This is only the first in a series of articles outlining our findings.
One of the many things that we try to do here at Constant-Content is make our authors better, not only as writers, but as marketers of their own work. It can be an arduous task to become an online writer. Any information we can present you with helps make the process more efficient, thus we have compiled statistics about the process of selling writing on Constant-Content, coming up with some suggestions to help you work smarter and more effectively.
We evaluated the writers who have lots of articles and few sales, as well as the writers who have a greater article-to-sale ratio. Below are some of the most salient findings.
Qualities of Lowest sales/doc Ratio Authors
- Prohibitive pricing (too high)
- Very focused articles with limited market appeal
- Time sensitive articles that become irrelevant quickly
- Not offering enough fullrights articles (reprinting too many on other sites)
- Only selling usage rights (almost the same as above, but thought I would really hammer this one home)
Qualities of Highest sales/doc Ratio Authors
- Large catalogue of attractively priced articles
- Wide variety of popular topics
- Tons of fullrights articles priced in the $15 - $30 range
- Focused topic in a high value market (It can be good to focus on niche subjects, but if you do this, make sure that niche topic is a popular one.)
Pricing your articles is one of the most important aspects we saw that distinguished successful writers from the less successful. Making sure that in an internet age your articles reflect the need for customers to be able to stay in a budget while getting the advantage of having dynamic copy on their site, can increase your volume and make up for lower prices. This is not to say that writers should be selling themselves short, and we can all help prevent price undercutting by consistent pricing, but it is important to not price articles well above the norm. Somewhere between the 6 - 9 cents a word is a good place to start, with exigent circumstances moving it upwards from there.
And if you are worried about your own budget, we decided to add a little financial reassurance to the mix. Each submission that you have accepted to the site represents roughly $20, and each license sold represents $30. This is no joke! It can be good money, there just is a bit of lag time in first submission to consistent pay cheques. You have to create a critical mass which once it gets moving is impossible to stop. Without beating this horse dead, it is important to remember that these dollar amounts are only averages; they occur over years and are to help you think about some goals. By understanding the relationship between documents submitted and licenses sold, knowing the average dollar value of the two can help you decide on the increase in total size of your catalog year to year, and your average return.
As an introduction to the next article we have included the Total Earnings over Time relationsip. It is also important to remember that a critical mass of articles is reached in conjunction with time on the site, which we will address in more detail. As you can see in the graph below is that the longer you are on the site the more articles you will sell, and the more your newer articles will sell because of some 'stickiness' that your presence on the site will have. So remember that once you start building a catalog, you will need to be patient and let them have some time to gain momentum.
"You have to write to sell." You are in control of your destiny, more than you once perhaps thought! And of all the writers registered on the site only 10% of them have written anything, so there isn't as much competition as you would think. Get busy writing, and don't hesitate to get in touch with us if you have questions or need advice**.
**pssst.... but don't ask "how can I sell more?"
One of the many things that we try to do here at Constant-Content is make our authors better, not only as writers, but as marketers of their own work. It can be an arduous task to become an online writer. Any information we can present you with helps make the process more efficient, thus we have compiled statistics about the process of selling writing on Constant-Content, coming up with some suggestions to help you work smarter and more effectively.
We evaluated the writers who have lots of articles and few sales, as well as the writers who have a greater article-to-sale ratio. Below are some of the most salient findings.
Qualities of Lowest sales/doc Ratio Authors
- Prohibitive pricing (too high)
- Very focused articles with limited market appeal
- Time sensitive articles that become irrelevant quickly
- Not offering enough fullrights articles (reprinting too many on other sites)
- Only selling usage rights (almost the same as above, but thought I would really hammer this one home)
Qualities of Highest sales/doc Ratio Authors
- Large catalogue of attractively priced articles
- Wide variety of popular topics
- Tons of fullrights articles priced in the $15 - $30 range
- Focused topic in a high value market (It can be good to focus on niche subjects, but if you do this, make sure that niche topic is a popular one.)
Pricing your articles is one of the most important aspects we saw that distinguished successful writers from the less successful. Making sure that in an internet age your articles reflect the need for customers to be able to stay in a budget while getting the advantage of having dynamic copy on their site, can increase your volume and make up for lower prices. This is not to say that writers should be selling themselves short, and we can all help prevent price undercutting by consistent pricing, but it is important to not price articles well above the norm. Somewhere between the 6 - 9 cents a word is a good place to start, with exigent circumstances moving it upwards from there.
And if you are worried about your own budget, we decided to add a little financial reassurance to the mix. Each submission that you have accepted to the site represents roughly $20, and each license sold represents $30. This is no joke! It can be good money, there just is a bit of lag time in first submission to consistent pay cheques. You have to create a critical mass which once it gets moving is impossible to stop. Without beating this horse dead, it is important to remember that these dollar amounts are only averages; they occur over years and are to help you think about some goals. By understanding the relationship between documents submitted and licenses sold, knowing the average dollar value of the two can help you decide on the increase in total size of your catalog year to year, and your average return.
As an introduction to the next article we have included the Total Earnings over Time relationsip. It is also important to remember that a critical mass of articles is reached in conjunction with time on the site, which we will address in more detail. As you can see in the graph below is that the longer you are on the site the more articles you will sell, and the more your newer articles will sell because of some 'stickiness' that your presence on the site will have. So remember that once you start building a catalog, you will need to be patient and let them have some time to gain momentum.
"You have to write to sell." You are in control of your destiny, more than you once perhaps thought! And of all the writers registered on the site only 10% of them have written anything, so there isn't as much competition as you would think. Get busy writing, and don't hesitate to get in touch with us if you have questions or need advice**.
**pssst.... but don't ask "how can I sell more?"