Writing for public requests

[Antonia]

Guess what, I just sold an article to a public request for the first time--I am psyched! I usually don't write for the public requests as many of them are:

1- too far out of my area of expertise and too difficult to research
2- too low-paying
3- too specific to sell on the site if the requester doesn't pick it up

This particular one was something I'm already interested, and the research was easy. The buyer sent me an email about two articles I initially sent her, pointing out that they were generic and too similar to info she already had on her site, and giving me the URL of her second website (which she didn't include in the original request). That helped me figure out exactly what she wanted...and after she purchased the resulting article she sent me another super nice note saying to keep writing more like that and she could use them! It was a great experience and made me realize that it's well worth putting in a little extra time for public requests if they lead to guaranteed work in the future. I also might be less shy about emailing the buyers for more info, as simply knowing what someone is looking for goes a long way to being able to meet the needs.

Sorry to ramble a bit--as you can tell I'm super excited about this new "baby step" in my CC career...

The question part of this is simply--does anyone have suggestions for succeeding with public requests more consistently? For example, I noticed the three reasons I posted above sound a lot like excuses(!) on my part--I have a feeling that if only I knew some smart workarounds, I would be able to step out of my comfort zone more when it comes to writing for public requests. Is there anyone who's had a lot of success (or even a little) with public requests and has some words of wisdom to offer? Would love to hear your thoughts.

[Celeste Stewart]

You're right, all of your reasons are indeed a bit on the "excuse not to do it" side, so let's blow those out of the water:

1- too far out of my area of expertise and too difficult to research - None of us are experts on everything! I remember telling my husband that "you don't have to be a scientist to interview a scientist" and this is true of most topics requested. You don't have to be an expert on whatever to learn about it and then report your findings. Plus, research isn't all that difficult. Stick to .gov, .edu, and .org sites and look for credible government or university studies and you'll have a good headstart on the research.

2- too low-paying - Don't forget that the default price range is often just left as-is by the customers. Read the description carefully to see if the requester really has a higher budget in mind. I've seen requests with the default $10-$20 price left as-is and the description moving on to say, "I'll pay $XXX for this article." What's irritating with that scenario is that some of the writers don't bother to read the details and then price their articles in the $10-$20 range.

In addition, some cheapo articles are super easy to write and are actually more profitable than their higher paying counterparts. Ignore those that you have no interest in whatsoever and give the ones that pique your interest a second look.

3- too specific to sell on the site if the requester doesn't pick it up - I've said it a dozen times before: some of my most loyal, regular CC clients started out as customers with narrow public requests and I was one of the few, if not only, writers to respond. Sure, writing narrow articles is a risk, but if you approach the artice as an opportunity to try something new and then maybe use AC or some other site as a fallback destination, the risk isn't as scary. Plus, you can later revamp the article to be more appealing to a wider audience. Give the article time on the site and you'll be surprised at the topics that are eventually picked up.

As you learned, there's a real person on the other side of the request hoping for a writer who can deliver what he wants, even if he doesn't yet realize exactly what it is that he wants. Public requests are an excellent way to make a steady income on CC if you're willing to give them a try. For me, the sales ratio for articles subbed to public requests versus articles I just write on my own is initially quite a bit higher. Those that don't sell to the original requester tend to go eventually. My other articles, with enough time, do too and then it evens out.

Congrats on your first good public request experience! You're on your way to building a nice relationship with a CC customer!

[Ed]

Here is some general advice for writing for public requests:

Take your time. Some authors feel the heat, submit an article they wrote too quickly, and then their article has to be rejected. If 5 articles are submitted the day after the request and 4 of them contain errors or are submitted in an unreadable font, guess who actually got a foot in the door first?

Thanks,
Ed

[Antonia]

Wow Celeste, what a fantastically helpful post. I am inspired to give myself a challenge: I'm going to write an article for every public request that comes up for the next week. If that doesn't show up my excuses as strawmen I don't know what will!

And Ed, thanks for the tip. Yesterday I was rushing to write a second article for that buyer, since she snapped up the first one, and I noticed myself getting really stressed out about it: what if this one isn't good enough? What if I run out of ideas? I eventually realized I was too focused on the sale and not the writing...rather than submit something rushed and sloppy I put it aside and took the afternoon off...I feel much more clearheaded today! (I watched the film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," if anyone's looking for a recommendation--it was excellent.)

[Celeste Stewart]

Excellent challenge! Kind of fits in with the August challenge of picking a category outside of our comfort zones.