ignorant newbie who needs a moment of your time

[Sara Stone]

Hi, I am new to CC in terms of submitting articles (signed up a month or so ago) but I have a question --

I just submitted 2 articles and 9 pictures within the last twelve hours.

They're under review, and I understand it may take a few days to find out if they're accepted. However, when I look at my account page, it says that I've sold 1 usage, 1 unique, and 3 full rights articles.

Everything is still in review, so how can it be sold? (I'm not complaining, of course -- just waiting for the sad news that it's just a computer error!)

One more thing -- when I look on the author list, I'm not there -- sadness, despair -- just wondering if I have to have an article accepted before being on the list.

Thanks to all who may read and post a reply.

[Celeste Stewart]

First - welcome!

Next, hmnn, the photo section is still kind of new and there were issues with content showing up sold when they hadn't sold in that area earlier so this could be a glitch that they haven't yet fixed.

The author's list requires five unique or full rights sales to be listed. This keeps the list from getting huge with people who sign up but never participate. So here's to your first challenge! We'll keep our eyes out for you on the "list."

Feel free to ask questions here, everyone is nice and helpful.

[Sara Stone]

Thank you so much for the quick reply. I'm soooo glad you replied b/c I see your name all over the place, and it's piqued my interest -- so I want to ask you some things, but please tell me if it's none of my business!!

I'm assuming you do this full time, and I've read many of your articles which (in my humble opinion) serve as example as to the quality of writing required to be a full-time freelancer with dignity! That said, I've also noticed you charge more, at least with the articles that I've seen, than many others on this site. If anything, I would say you don't charge enough, but....would you perhaps be willing to discuss some pricing/writing/quality questions I'm having? If it needs to be thru email, that's fine -- I'm just really curious.

Again, thanks so much for the quick reply.

[Celeste Stewart]

Sure,
Thanks for the nice compliments.

This is my job so to speak. I try to spend 4-5 hours a day. Lately it's been more like a regular full schedule because I've been swamped with large projects and trying to stay on deadline. I have a 1 1/2 year old son which makes it a challenge.

I do tend to charge more than many here and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The more current articles that you see were written with trying to land in the "Premium" section in mind so they do have higher prices. They are also longer and go into more detail than many of the shorter pieces. Plus, I'm not as hungry to sell them so I can let them sit and wait for the right buyer.

Pricing is one of the hard parts. For general requests, I've found that many customers just leave the default price ($10-$20) but may be willing to pay more. It's a little easier when they specify a higher range because you know they put some thought into their budget and didn't just skip the pricing question. If I see a range of $50-$100, I might price usage at $50, unique at $75, and full rights at $100. It also depends a bit on how much time I spent. If it took me fifteen minutes to write, I don't go overboard but I'm also not going to charge too little just because it was easy.

I'm sure others will jump in with advice for you too. We have a thread titled Tips from the Pros with lots of good advice.

[Sara Stone]

Thanks so much for the info. I'll check out that thread!