responding to public request without an attached article

[rcashdan]

Are most sales to writers who attach accepted articles?

[Amy W]

Actually, the only time a writer should be responding directly to a buyer is if he has a question about the request. I'm pretty sure it's against CC policy to contact the buyer through the system telling him that you can write the article for X amount of dollars in X amount of time. It's how a lot of other sites are set up, but it's different here.

The buyer wants to purchase the right article quickly, not weed through a dozen writers all telling him they can write the article. He just wants to see the articles. When you do reply to a public request, write the article first and submit it as you would any other article. When you submit, under the categories heading, click on Public Request. This sends your article straight to the buyer once its approved.

Hope I've helped!

Amy

[Celeste Stewart]

I'm not sure what you mean exactly. Now, when writing for a public request, we can designate the article as being for that particular request at the time of submission which then alerts the buyer to the article once it has been approved. In the past, we'd have to go back and manually link the article to the original request. The old way, I'd say yes, more sales would go to the writers who bothered to do this because otherwise the buyer would have no knowledge that an article exists. Now, as long as you specific which request the article is for at the time that you submit it, that's all you need to do.

That said, there are times when you have an existing article that would be perfect for a request. In this case, definitely use the Q&A link and let the buyer know about it. You can link the article. I've done this many times with good success. You can't assume that the customer has throughly browsed the CC catalog before making a request. Therefore, if you have an article about billy goats and later see a request for articles about billy goats, by all means, link it with a short note to the buyer saying that you think that this article might be of interest.

[Elizabeth Ann West]

Also, another aspect I don't think pps addressed: There is no secret way to "hog" a public request. There are not authors out there writing to Public Requesters in a secret bidding war. Why? Because by the time that bidding war is finished, someone just wrote the article and the buyer will buy what's available while those who tried to secure the job before writing are left behind in the dust. Most sales from public requests go to the most well-written article that suited the buyer's needs. If you are getting frustrated thinking "Why aren't my public request article submissions ever selling?" Here are a couple of differences in the needs of our buyers...

There's the buyer in a hurry. This type of buyer has a tight deadline and is looking for quick content without waiting or sifting through a ton of submissions. In this scenario, it's often the early bird that gets the worm.

There's the buyer needing a deal. This type of buyer has a tight budget and is looking for the bare minimum content at the most affordable price. In this scenario, it's often the author with the lowest price that gets the sale. Since C-C has a minimum quality threshold, these type of buyers are very comfortable here because they know they are buying a quality product.

There's the buyer looking to be wowed. This type of buyer is a writer's dream. They have a very generous budget usually and are willing to wait a week or two for that most spectacular article to come their way. These requests are often very involved, and quite frankly are a gold mine for authors who do well because they lead the most to long-term private request relationships...

[Elizabeth Ann West]

...
There is really no way of knowing off the bat which type of buyer is behind a public request. As you get experience, and watch the recently sold board in conjunction with the public requests, you will start to notice certain behaviors in a request that as an author you can get a feel for the buyer type. I'm not going to share mine, not because it's some secret, but because my analysis and gut-feelings are different from yours.

At the end of the day, all you can do is write great articles, offer them at a fair price, submit, and wait. I would say don't be afraid after a public request goes down to rework an article, take the old one down, and submit the new one if you think the topic was interesting, but the original request was too narrow in scope. Also, play around with pricing. I find sometimes I can get an older article in a popular topic noticed just by bringing down the price a bit, and many times the next week it sells. I have had many, many Public Request articles sell to other buyers.

[Celeste Stewart]

While I'm not exactly clear on rcashdan's question, I didn't get the sense that there was a concern about bidding or other writers hogging a request. I could be wrong, but I don't think that's the basis of the question.

To me, it makes sense that the most sales (for a public request) will indeed go to the writers who have let the buyer know that an article has been written to meet the specs - whether through the new way or the old way. If the customer doesn't know an article exists, he can't possibly buy it regardless of other strategies such as price, timing, quality etc...

[BarryDavidson]

[quote="rcashdan"]Are most sales to writers who attach accepted articles?[/quote]

To answer your questions...

No, there is a balance between articles submitted for requests, and customers who just "browse" for what they want. There are also private requests, but we'll answer those questions when and/or if you get one.

Now, to answer the question in the subject line of this thread. You can contact a customer through a link in their public request. It's a good idea to only use this function to ask a question about the article/articles they need.

And lastly, there's your unasked question. Public requests fill up fast. Unless the request is so basic that almost no one can figure out what they want, it's a good idea to just write and article and submit it. Depending on the subject, there could be fifty-plus other articles submitted in the first twenty-four.

My advice is to just write what you know and/or love. If a request comes up in a subject that falls into those two categories, jump on it. A good sized "portfolio" of your work on here does help. Potential buyers can browse your various works, and decide if they like your style. It's one of the ways to develop a "relationship" with buyers here.

[Elizabeth Ann West]

Well this was an interesting exercise in "How many ways can one question be interpreted?" LOL. I think between the 4 of us we more than covered every possible subtext to the question "Do most sales go to authors with an attached article?" As someone who has written for other "bidding" sites where it is frowned upon to write a sample, just give a proposal because buyers might 'steal' your sample... I thought that was what the question was about. Someone coming from one of those sites is usually accustomed to longer period of decision time by the buyer to pick a writer, and then write the article. If someone is switching to our system for the first time, writing to public requests, it can be frustrating to do a handful and not have your article be picked.

But who knows? ::shrug:: no way to really know what the original question was trying to get at. But all of the answers had some good information I think.

[Celeste Stewart]

I know, it's funny how we all had different interpretations. I do know that rcashdan is NOT new to CC though.

[rcashdan]

I'm almost at a loss for words in telling you how much I've learned about using CC effectively from all the detail provided in your responses. I'm not a newby but haven't submitted much, am back because of an email telling me of a sale. I followed up by going to "recently sold," where I could see that a customer has bought several articles on the broader topic. So all in all, it's been a good week for me at the CC Forum and otherwise.

[Elizabeth Ann West]

Awww, shucks rcash :) You made my Saturday. :)