Constant Content

Hello authors,

I'm just getting started here on CC and after dabbling with some content mills, I have to say I'm impressed. Both with the marketplace and the talent--man, you sure get what you pay for on the cheapo sites. So now that I'm in the right place...

I tried a couple searches for this topic and came up empty. So I'll ask:

Are public requests worthwhile? I'm not sure if it's just my luck so far or if they're often/usually a bad deal. I've written for a few only to have the request (and customer) disappear. I understand that if the client rejects a piece, it goes into the general pool after seven days; is there a way to verify that it's there?

I wrote for the requests thinking that the article would be more likely to sell than a random one; perhaps the opposite is true? They all seem to say "0 of 1 documents submitted"... is that not accurate? I find it hard to believe that on three separate occasions I was the only person to submit an article and the client still decided not to purchase.

Unless someone has a compelling reason why I should keep trying for these, I imagine I'll stick with writing for the general marketplace.

I've responded to I think about 5 public requests and had them all purchased aside from one (which has since sold to a different customer). I only respond to topics that I'm interested in writing it.
However all these sales were pretty low-priced. The only reason I respond is because my account is still pretty new and I like having the extra chance to get more sales and make my profile look better.

Basically it's really up to your personal preference I suppose. For me, if a public request seems interesting and I know I can write it quickly, I'll probably go for it for a chance at a quick sale as I continue to build up the rest of my catalogue.

Also, the 0 of 1 documents submitted refers only to how many documents you have personally submitted to that request. I don't think there is any way to see if other people have responded too.