by Laineys Repertoire Well, as stated in a previous post, I have promised to update on how I have done with Constant-Content. I promised all the stats, too: articles written, articles accepted, articles sold, and the amount of money I make. I want to be up-front and honest about not only the opportunity that Constant-Content provides but the work involved in succeeding.
As of Saturday, January 19, 2013, I have written fourteen (14) articles and have sold absolutely zero articles. I should mention that four of those fourteen articles are still pending a response from the requester (they were for a public request). I wrote one other article that I pulled to rewrite later and will probably post on one of my other blogs. Yesterday evening (Jan 18), I received a very decent full rights offer on one of my articles, which I promptly accepted. So almost to one sale.
The fact that I haven't yet made anything yet doesn't surprise me, for several reasons:
Not Enough Content Yet
I only have fourteen submissions on Constant-Content. From everything I've read, it takes quite a few more articles in order to really build up a portfolio and obtain sales. If I were a buyer, I would feel a bit more confident in ordering from someone who had a few thousand articles than from someone who only had fourteen.
Although it intrigues me that the top few producers have over two thousand articles, and then it drops pretty quickly after that. So theoretically I could be at the top of the lists at Constant-Content within a very short matter of time, depending on the list. I calculated that at 300 articles per month, two full years would be needed to meet what the current most-prolific author has on there right now. Many of the others, including Celeste, are way behind the top three authors.
It does appear that these authors are selling quite a fair bit. That is, it is true that articles eventually sell on Constant-Content.
Low-Selling Topics
I am writing about topics that are really niche topics, like daycare, Montessori, and coconut oil. I plan to write a few more technology articles, which I hope will sell better than what I have been writing. Not that I plan to stop writing what interests me; instead, I will try to include articles that are in hot topics at the same time as articles that are not-so-popular.
I will add that the offer I received on January 18th was for one of my lower-demand topics! *head scratch* I guess it pays to vary things up.
Frequency
I am not submitting often enough. I really need to up my submissions to closer to the five a day, every day, that I originally planned for myself. Submitting more frequently would get my name up in the ranks of those who have recent content, which I think would help in obtaining private orders (which is my ultimate goal).
Stupid Mistakes
I find that my articles are rejected for things that I should have done properly the first time, like not writing an effective summary or spelling one word incorrectly. There is no reason I should submit anything that has simple errors like that, and I am working on being more patient with my submission process in the future. (Note: Ezine Articles has a great article about writing summaries called, "Article Summary: Do’s and Don’ts"). Another one that gets me, which I caught today on a recent submission, is that I forget to change the font in Word from Arial to Times New Roman. I write in Google Drive and move it to Microsoft Word, and sometimes forget to change that. At least I caught it this time!
I still prefer Constant-Content for my work, and I am confident that eventually the articles posted there will sell. I don't have all my eggs in one basket, though. I also have my blogs, Textbroker, iWriter, as well as *fingers crossed* a new freelance gig here soon that will be guaranteed work for a few months. I am also working on my fiction. And then there's my day job, of course. (Heh!)
The Complaints I've Seen Online
I would love to hear why people quit Constant-Content so early. What I see is that people get discouraged by the "rejection" process and don't resubmit. Or they say, "Well, CC's standards are so high, you have to be perfect with grammar, etc." Um, shouldn't we all as writers be concerned with proper grammar, spelling, and word choice? Shouldn't we seek to improve our skills all the time, whether being required by Constant-Content or not? I do agree that it is not worth it to be perfect when writing for a penny a word. I totally get that. But when we can set prices that actually pay a decent amount, why grumble when the site asks for quality? I don't understand that complaints I see online at all, honestly.
What are you thoughts?
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