Need help ... Low in Confidence

[WaldorfPC]

yHi there, guys,

I first of all want to thank all of you for helping me understand things around here. Your patience with my barrage of questions is greatly appreciated. However, I have something to ask.

I wrote two articles for this site. Both were rejected. The first one was rejected because it contained links, and nothing of the sort was requested by a customer. I understand that, and that is no big deal. I know about that now. Then, my second article, a perfectly well written peace, was also rejected. I never received any notification about it in my email. I wrote support, and received no response regarding this issue. Therefore, I have no knowledge at all as to why the second piece was rejected, which now means that i have nothing to improve upon to correct the mistakes for the next time around.

i'm now at a stalemate. I've written an article upon request and want to submit it: however, I'm not feeling confident even though i've used a thesaurus, proofread it dozens of times, and changed sentences more times than I can count. So what I'm asking is is it possible for me to post the article here so I can get some feedback? If this is possible, I will be ever so grateful and thankful for the time that anyone takes to look over the piece and give any feedback. i never want another rejection again in my life. (i'm sort-of freaking out, as my writing has always been accepted elsewhere. This is quite new to me--this rejection experience that is-and it sort of hurts.) I will do whatever i need to so it will never happen again.

Thanks for reading my ramblings and concerns,
Reina aka Waldorf PC

[Celeste Stewart]

Hi,
First, don't freak about rejections. We all get them and they are a fact of life in the publishing world. Try not to take them personally. Besides, it could've been a simple matter of a file attachment that won't open.

We have a Constructive Criticism thread in the Author's Exchange section where you can post excerpts for critique. (Don't post the whole piece as that brings up concerns of Google indexing it).

[WaldorfPC]

hi there,

I went ahead and submitted the article for review. I'm praying very hard it will be accepted, as it is to fulfill a request. Another thing, I have a total of 49 more articles to submit, and there is that possibility that none of them will be accepted, and the work would have been done for nothing meaning that it is a hit or miss. These articles are all for customers.

I'm still kind of nervous. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Celeste Stewart]

What do you mean that you have 49 more articles to submit?

[WaldorfPC]

Well, I have twenty PC articles for one client. I have to write 10 articles regarding small business and home based businesses for another. I have to write another ten articles about device drivers for another client. Finally, I have nine more articles to write concerning the system registry.

All of them are centered around my expertise, as I work as a computer service technician for a living. As a matter of fact, I own the business. Though I have alot of experience in this area, I'm concerned about doing an outstanding job on these pieces of content, as I like to uphold the integrity of my work. I now just have to get them past the review phase. Once that is done, i've scored.

[Nessiee]

I'm confused... are these public requests you want to write for? Or have people given you private requests to have these articles written? Sorry, I'm just trying to understand the situation.

[Celeste Stewart]

I'm confused too. Did you correspond with each of these customers saying, I can do these and then get the green light from the customers to write them? Or are you simply targeting public requests that interest you. Most public request customers here don't usually assign bulk articles to writers that they haven't used yet. So if so, this is unusual. I mainly am curious because there's another new person on the boards who appears to think that all public requests are directed his or her way (at least that's how I'm reading it) so I just want to make sure that you have an understanding with the customer before you go to a lot of hard work and effort.

Also, if have landed the gigs but you can't get the articles through the editorial process promptly (due to errors, unfamiliarity with the requirements, etc), it's not really that great for the customers as they are waiting for a writer who has yet to establish themselves here. If you have customers waiting on you and you alone, then the only thing you can do right now, is write, proofread, proofread again, and then submit. Hopefully the reason for the rejections will soon be revealed and you can move on and get the rest of those articles done.

[WaldorfPC]

Hi there,

To rid some of the confusion, I have corresponded with the customers personally. There is a message board enabling for communications, so I utilize it. i introduce myself giving some background on who I am and what I do, and I ask for more specifics so as to do nothing more than a fabulous job on the work produced. We keep in communication until everything is complete.

I am well aware that public requests are not for one specific person. It is all about who can get there first and who the customers feel comfortable using. I've been a part of other freelance writing sites, and there is a competition between freelancers. You have to beat competition by being honest, creative, showing your skills--showing work samples from work done for previous clients, which I've done for those who request it--and seal the deal. I've been a business owner since 2005 and am familiar with competition. (I don't at all want to sound conceited in any way. Please don't feel like that. I'm just stating that I've had a dose of healthy competition, and I love being competitive. It makes life interesting.)

I wanted to submit them all as I did them: however, I'm taking the time to make sure they are perfect--I am a bit of a perfectionist, which can sometimes cause issues. Sometimes, I wish I wasn't so uptight.

Another thing i want to know is how long does it usually take for articles to be reviewed? i'm not trying to be a pest, I just wanted to get an idea. If Ed is doing these reviews all by himself, God bless him. He is a soldier to be dealing with hundreds and even thousands of submissions flying in his face at one time. That is a very tough job, and I commend him.

Thanks again for taking the time to answer me. I hope I've cleared up any confusion you had. Hopefully, I'm doing everything right here. If not, let me know, and I'll happily change my course with no trouble at all.

Sincerely,
Waldorf PC

[Nessiee]

Recently it seems to take around 2 to 3 days for the submissions to be approved, though Ed does try to get the ones written for requests approved first, so they might take less time. I haven't been writing for the requests, so I'm not perfectly sure on that. It can take longer if you submit near the weekend though, because the articles are only approved Monday to Friday as far as I know.

[Lor]

Low in confidence? LOL
Good for you asserting yourself.
I have one question, though. Are these articles still publicly requested? The thing is, if he's chosen you, others may still be writing them. If he wants you in particular, perhaps he'd be wise to make private requests in your direction. Asserting oneself is healthy, especially with the tools at hand and they are, but time is important to all the writers here. You may get a few "buts" today.

Personally, I don't respond to the public requests, because there is too much competition. The more established or experienced writers here have the articles written and up in 24 hours, so until I get a bit of history, or find see something in my niche, I'll leave them to the big guys.

If you're worried about them not getting accepted and I think we all have those worries, all I can add is to proof-read them thoroughly. There are lots of tips in the forum to help you notice problems.

Good luck
Lorraine

[Celeste Stewart]

Hi,

This site isn't really about being the first to respond and convincing the customer to "pick me." The majority of the customers don't want to deal with that; they want to see what you can do for them. That's one of CC's big selling points. A customer puts out a request and gets several completed articles tailor made for him - with no obligation to buy any of them - within mere days.

See this post: http://www.constant-content.com/forum/v ... =9&t=13341

[cgardener]

I thought that corresponding directly with a customer was against TOS, unless it was a private request. Just how did you stay in touch with him? I'm finding this disturbing, because it flies in the face of how I thought things were done. I thought you wrote the article, got it approved, then posted the article number for that person. I was not aware we were allowed to "sell" ourselves like this, possibly taking business away from others responding to the requests.

I need for staff to answer this. I'm really confused now as to what the rules are.

[WaldorfPC]

Wow! Things are really different here. If selling oneself is against the TOS, I will discontinue immediately. I'd like to know that also for the sake of following rules. And by the way, thanks to everyone who has helped out. I appreciate all of you.

[Nessiee]

I think it's only against the rules to "sell yourself" to customers if you do so directly with the customers, and cut Constant Content out of the picture (like going behind their back so to speak). If all contact and sales made with these customers are done through means found on the CC website (like the request question and answer section), then I think that's it's okay to sell yourself.

As far as I know they just do not want you to make a deal directly with the customers (outside from CC), which makes sense, because CC spends so much time and effort marketing the articles and making everyone's sales go up. They deserve for us to keep them in the sales loop for finding us many customers and allowing us an easy way to sell our articles.

I hope I explained that right. If someone can help to clarify that, it would be great.

[Celeste Stewart]

Did you guys read Ed's post: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13341?
It explains it fairly well.

There's nothing wrong with seeing a request and asking questions about the request to clarify the customer's needs. What I believe CC wants to avoid is becoming a bidding site and turning off customers. For example, the customers come here because they DON'T have to deal with a bunch of writers trying to sell themselves. So, imagine if a customer puts out a request here and gets a bunch of messages right away along the lines of:
"I can do this assignment for you. I have a Master's Degree in ___ and have written a book on ___. I can do all 20 articles for __."

The idea of CC is to have writers contact the customers after having written an article, along the lines of:
"Here's an article for your consideration written per your request." Then, the article speaks for itself. Forget the master's degree, forget the pedigree, forget the negotiations. If the article impresses, the customer buys it.