strategy for submitting the first 5 articles

[BCaldwell]

Hi. I'm a newbie.

As I understand it, we need to submit five articles to be at the level of being able to contact new requests. Is it better to write articles that directly address the new requests, or does it matter? I just read something on another thread that says that the reviewers look at articles that are related to requests first.

I am still struggling to get the first three articles to get the okay. I made a couple of dumb mistakes, which I edited and am awaiting the reviewer's blessing. But I have two more to write to hit the all-important five, and wonder what the best strategy for subject matter is. I have plenty of articles in my personal hopper, but if they look at the ones that directly relate to an order first, I will focus my next two articles there.

Advise/words of wisdom, anyone?

[jellygator]

It doesn't matter who it was written for to get approval, so you can submit any article. After you've had five approved, regardless of what the articles were, you'll be able to send messages to others on the site.

[jadedragon]

They put the no contact rule in place to prevent unproven authors pestering the clients. Great rule Pretty sure any 5 accepts are fine.

[jak]

While you can't contact the customers, you can't submit requested articles directly to them. It's only those that get priority with the editors. There is nothing to stop you submitting suitable articles that will go into your portfolio once approved, and they can be offered to customers later. But there will not be any advantage in terms of getting them through the approval process quickly.