Usage Articles

[Debbi]

I wish customers were required (or offered the option) to inform the author where her usage article was going to be published. This could be worked into the check-out form somehow, perhaps a pop-up form when an article was chosen for usage. It sure would make keeping track of bylines and article integrity much much easier, at least if the publication is online. I don't sell usage articles often, but whenever I do I always worry that they are being used as a full rights article instead of as usage.

I don't care what happens to those articles sold for full rights. Those babies are out of my hair

[Constant]

We can't ask people to give up personal contact information since that goes against the term of service we have at the site. To be honest I would just treat all articles sold as 'out of your hair' since we find writers spend far too much time monitoring their catalog rather than just writing more. In terms of pure self-interest policing your content for things other than straight theft of unsold content, doesn't put more money in your pocket, and being a freelance writers is enough unpaid work as is. Focus on creating more content that can be sold, and worry less about what happens to it once its sold. Just some advice from people who know who makes a living in this industry and those who don't, and trust us, the less you fret about your content once its been released into the wild, and the more your write, the more money you will end up making off of your hard work.

David
The Constant

[Debbi]

Sound advice, David! I do prefer to look on the positive side.

Can I request (yes, again! ) that writers get the option of NOT choosing to sell usage rights at all, just like with unique or full rights? I've never heard any reason for not letting us do this , just good suggestions for work-arounds (which I usually employ). Is it a programming issue? Or just far down on the list of site changes...

Thanks for always listening to us no matter how much we nag!

Debbi

[Evelyn]

Debbi, just set your usage rights price to the full rights price and be done with it. Simple for everyone!

[Debbi]

Yes, I do that. It works ok, but offends my sense of operational elegance

[Celeste Stewart]

Debbi, I've sold several usage articles that were set at my full rights price a couple of times - thus earning more than expected. Had I only offered those articles for full rights, I would have missed out

[jadedragon]

Someone might want to use your article in an offline newsletter and could care less about having full rights. Such a person may be willing to buy usage even at the same price as full rights.