Just Off the Top of My Head ...

[LJade]

Ok, it seems this has been 'share' week here at C-C and I know that we've all saw this ... I'm probably guilty of it myself at one time or another but what do you think about this--be honest!

There's a request, let's say that 10 people post an article and the message in the box says, "Thanks for your consideration" beneath nearly all of them.

That's nice enough right? Then you scroll down a little to the middle and you see this ...

"Hi, here's my article that I wrote (pick me) just for your request (I'll reduce the price) and if there's ANYTHING I (I'll walk your dog) can do to make it ~WORK~ (I'll rewrite the whole thing) for your request (winking an eye) JUST LET ME (A threesome maybe?) KNOW! "

Ok, maybe it's not that bad but I mean c'mon, it's bad enough and all the hidden hints are poking my eyeballs out. We are writers and we know how to get our point across!

The big debate here is what makes a writer look cheap or what makes a writer appear heads up above the crowd ... does this type of message say something different to a writer than it does to a requestor?

Anyone care to comment?? LOL



PS. I've taken my medication this week!

[HerbDoctor]

Hmm. . . if I saw that in an article I was considering I'd think the writer was childish, desperate and waaaay too "high maintainence" for me. Can you say "over-compensating"?

And then I'd be insulted that anyone would think I'm too stupid to see through such a spiel.

[Lizaj]

Yeah, it bugs me too. Either the article is what the buyer wants or it isn't. Each article speaks for itself. "For your consideration" seems like a professional courtesy. Everything beyond that (unless there is some history) sounds like "Pick me, pick me!"

[constant-content]

Right... The content will speak for itself, with that said I have yet to see a post like this.

[RachelN]

Is that an actual example from here? I must be looking in the wrong places, as I don't recall seeing anything quite like that!

[LJade]

I was a little dramatic just for the purpose of point ...

(And not an actual example, even if someone posted that ... I wouldn't name names )

If you actually take the added ()'s and capitolizations out, it's not too bad. I can remember a request and there had to be at least 20 articles posted for customer review, each of us had posted the same "thanks for your consideration" messages.

I think that's proper but I didn't want to put the same thing but then again, I didn't want put anything too different because whether it's intended as a 'pick me, pick me' or not ... maybe other writer's read it that way anyway.

See what I mean?

Same thing for a requestor too, do they seem to read between the lines and get something else out of it?

I know I for one don't really think about it hard before I click that submit button until recently. I've come to the conclusion that rather than trying to post something different for the sake of standing out or just to be different... it's better to blend in uniform, in my opinion, for that reason.

Who knows what goes through the mind of a customer when they begin sorting ... titles, messages, names? We all have our ways! LOL

LJ

[psharmon]

I will speak up and say that I have written such things as "written per your request" and "if there are any changes you desire, please let me know". This is called Promoting Yourself which is what writers do.

I don't mean to sound rude or offend anyone...I just prefer to keep to myself...however, when you are in so called "competition" with your writing (which as every writer knows its competition), you do what you can to promote yourself. When you submit an article to a magazine, you most likely include a cover letter. This cover letter should make yourself stand out so they want to read what you have written. So, yes, I will defend myself and anyone else who tries to make themselves stand out a little bit to the buyers.

With that said, I would also like to add that if we all spent a little more time writing instead of complaining against other writers, the article review staff, or whatever, we'd see more sales. I've had other writers (and I hate to say it this way) irritate me a little since I joined, but you're not going to see me complain about it when there's no rule against it.

Let's just wish everyone good writing and many sales!

[LJade]

I agree that "written per your request" is nice because it lets the customer know that you did take the time to write specifically for their request.

I think that carries some weight with them too.

I don't think the comparison with the cover letter thing is a good comparison with C-C though because I don't think 'we promote' ourselves at C-C necessarily.Our articles promote us, it's the only option we have because we can't write up introductions about ourselves.

As far as complaining and spending more time writing ...

I write 14 hours a day, this is my break! LOL I like to see what everybodyelse thinks about things and it's a chance to meet others at C-C.

No one irritates me here though and if I irritate anyone ... oh well, sorry! It's not intended.LOL

LJ

PS. I like what HerbDoctor said about "over compensating", that's my take too.

[Sarah81]

If the writer's comment has an air of desperation around it, wouldn't that make the buyer a little less likely to go with that person's work?

If I bought articles, for print or the Internet, I would rather work with writers who are confident but flexible. There's a difference between being willing to make changes/improvements and all but begging for a chance to have a would-be buyer look at the piece.

[mattsterrr]

Surely it's down to the discretion of the writer, what they put in the request response. To many people, this site is a market for their work and not a social gathering to chat to other writers and avoid treading on toes. Certainly the non-forum side of the site is exactly that.

You say that it irritates you that writers would do this, but that it will probably make them less likely to sell an article. So, why does it irritate you?

Personally, I think the request response area of the site is very similar to a cover letter. Look at some of the requests and they have 20 to 30 responses within a few days (10 people post an article and all but one say As Per Your Request - Which one sticks in your mind?). Most requesters are going to skim through the majority and only look at the few that interest or intrigue them.

That means the title of your article and what you write in the request box aren't just selling your article, they're promoting your article preview. It's like the telesales of C-C.

Marketing yourself is essential if you want success and treating those who make requests as potential paying customers makes perfect sense to me. If you were a salesperson (and as a freelancer you are selling yourself in every piece of communication with your customers) for a large company and you were one of 20 representatives trying to win a contract, you would do what was necessary to win that contract (within reason, and I haven't seen anybody step outside moral reason on here). The same thing goes for those people that are willing to go the extra mile on C-C.

That said, you're probably right about the desperation aspect. I wouldn't buy off somebody who wrote a message like that but I would probably look at their article before I looked at anyone else's so, actually, as long as the article didn't smack of desperation then maybe it would be the article I chose.