I am a new writer and am very eager to get started, but am a bit confused about how to go about...well, getting started. I tried to search the requested content page and (maybe it's just me) feel that some of the people requesting content are very vague about what they want. For example, there was a person requesting articles for a new site she was trying to start where she sells beauty products. She didn't ask for anything specifically, so after reviewing her site I thought that an article about how to do professional looking acrylic nails at home would lure people to her site where, after reading the article, they could purchase her products and follow the steps in the article. It was rejected, the reason given was that they require "completely original content". I assumed I would get a few rejections while I learn the basics, so it didn't hurt my feelings too much. I assume the reason it was rejected is because one can type in on a search engine "how to do acrylic nails at home" and pull up other articles with similar steps as the one I wrote. That doesn't surprise me, you have to follow a certain sequence of steps to do your nails at home that wasn't a whole lot different from the steps in my article. So, lesson learned, time to move on.
My questions though are as follows:
1) When looking through requested content, if you are unsure of what it is that the person wants and cannot contact them until you have 5 accepted articles, how do you go about writing an article that suits their needs? Should you send a quick message to administrators and ask them to contact the person on your behalf?
2) The term "completely original content". Perhaps my first choice was just a poor one, but I don't want it to appear as if my content isn't original and wholly created by me. Is there a way to personalize your content, so to speak? I certainly don't want it to be assumed I have plagiarized someone else's work! I detest plagiarism and would certainly shudder at the thought of being accused of doing so myself.
3) I was unaware at first that I could not send the article directly to the person requesting it, so I wrote it to promote their products. Is this something that I should NOT do? Is promoting products for someone something that isn't allowed unless specifically asked to do so by the author?
4) How do you know what to ask for an article? I was given 3 options to enter a price and just put the same price for all three. I did look over the instructions upon joining this site, but am still a little confused as far as pricing. Perhaps someone could better explain this to me?
I certainly hope if anyone has any advice they will please post it. I know I cannot seriously expect my first few articles to be accepted right away. Every author gets rejected a few times I know. But I do want to do a good job and want to learn from my mistakes. Thank you in advance!
New User Needs Some Clarification
Moderators: Celeste Stewart, Ed, Constant
Re: New User Needs Some Clarification
If you're brand new to CC, I suggest completely ignoring the Requested Content portion until you have at least 5 or 10 articles accepted and hopefully one or two sales. The rules for Requested Content are a little different and not explicitly put into writing anywhere whereas the rules for content submitted to the general pool are the ones in the Help section.
For your first two or three articles, go with something you know and can write without doing any research. My first article was on improving gas mileage by changing your driving habits, which is something I have personal experience with as I have tried the different techniques. Other good topics are those related to your hobbies, interests or your job/career. This way you just have to worry about writing and editing rather than fact checking.
For your next few articles, go with something that requires easy research. One of mine was "Five Prehistoric Animals You Never Want to Meet". A paragraph was dedicated to each animal and gave basic facts related to the topic, such as Titanoboa being the largest snake ever, growing up to 50 feet long. It took very little research (mostly Wikipedia and following Wiki's source links) and practically wrote itself. Articles like this have become my fastest sellers - one article sold less than five minutes after the editor accepted it.
When you're ready to respond to specific requests, bear in mind that clients may get dozens of articles for a request and they won't buy all of them. If they pass yours by, it will then be released to the general pool so that others may buy it. For this reason, it's best if you can write articles that may interest other buyers later on in addition to fitting the needs to the client making the request. Private requests are a different matter, of course, as you're not competing with other authors so it's much more likely that the requester will buy your article.
The true power of CC, which I'm sure many people will disagree with, is that you can write on almost any subject at your leisure. You don't need to wait for a client to make a request as you would with most other sites. This gives you an amazing level of flexibility which great writers take advantage of, especially in the early stages of their career.
As for pricing, it's a little bit of a guessing game and a little bit of how much you value your time. I priced my first couple articles low just to see if they would sell. Once they did, I started raising my prices based on a rough formula of how long the article is, how in-demand the topic is and how long it took me to write and research it. In the end, it comes out roughly to the following if research time is negligible:
The other way to figure out prices is by determining how much you need to take home each month. I have a calculator to figure it out on my website, but my web host seems to be down at the moment.
The last part of pricing is you need to understand what the three prices are for:
*Usage Rights - This just allows the client to use the article. You still retain the copyright and you can sell usage rights to many different clients. However, once an article sells for usage rights, you lose the ability to sell for Unique or Full Rights.
*Unique Rights - Similar to usage, but you promise the client that nobody else will be allows to purchase the rights to use the article. You can only sell an article for unique rights once, after which you may not sell it anymore. Like Usage, you still retain the copyright and the client may not modify the article.
*Full Rights - This effectively transfers the copyright and all rights to the article to the client. They may modify it in any way they want, including putting their name as the author. You may no longer sell the article and you no longer have claim to it.
There's two general strategies authors use when pricing the above:
1) Usage is priced lowest as it may sell multiple times, unique higher because it can only sell once and full rights highest because you can only sell it once and you lose the copyright.
2) Price all three the same to encourage people to buy the full rights. And even if they still want to buy Usage rights, you still get the same amount of income.
I use method 1 on articles that I think will sell more than once, such as general interest and seasonal articles. I use method 2 on articles that are niche or specialty and have a low chance of selling more than once.
Finally, one caveat. The biggest issue most new writers stumble upon is CC's loose 'Three-Strikes and You're Out" policy. The rough policy is that after three rejections, your account is suspended permanently. However, if the editors think you're making a genuine try then you can get away with many more rejections. The flip side is that if your article is riddled (as in more than the odd slip-up) with stupid mistakes, such as spelling errors or just a bad grasp of English, then you can be suspended after one rejection. Be sure to always spellcheck, proofread and give it the thrice-over. It never hurts to have a friend or family member give it a read-through as well. I recommend letting at least a day pass between your final edit and your proofread so that you're more likely to spot sloppy mistakes. Also, don't let a few rejections get you down. If you're unsure of why an article was rejected, post on the forums. The worst thing you can do is guess at your mistake because if you don't fix the right thing, you'll be at greater risk for suspension because it appears to be a sloppy mistake.
For your first two or three articles, go with something you know and can write without doing any research. My first article was on improving gas mileage by changing your driving habits, which is something I have personal experience with as I have tried the different techniques. Other good topics are those related to your hobbies, interests or your job/career. This way you just have to worry about writing and editing rather than fact checking.
For your next few articles, go with something that requires easy research. One of mine was "Five Prehistoric Animals You Never Want to Meet". A paragraph was dedicated to each animal and gave basic facts related to the topic, such as Titanoboa being the largest snake ever, growing up to 50 feet long. It took very little research (mostly Wikipedia and following Wiki's source links) and practically wrote itself. Articles like this have become my fastest sellers - one article sold less than five minutes after the editor accepted it.
When you're ready to respond to specific requests, bear in mind that clients may get dozens of articles for a request and they won't buy all of them. If they pass yours by, it will then be released to the general pool so that others may buy it. For this reason, it's best if you can write articles that may interest other buyers later on in addition to fitting the needs to the client making the request. Private requests are a different matter, of course, as you're not competing with other authors so it's much more likely that the requester will buy your article.
The true power of CC, which I'm sure many people will disagree with, is that you can write on almost any subject at your leisure. You don't need to wait for a client to make a request as you would with most other sites. This gives you an amazing level of flexibility which great writers take advantage of, especially in the early stages of their career.
As for pricing, it's a little bit of a guessing game and a little bit of how much you value your time. I priced my first couple articles low just to see if they would sell. Once they did, I started raising my prices based on a rough formula of how long the article is, how in-demand the topic is and how long it took me to write and research it. In the end, it comes out roughly to the following if research time is negligible:
- $25 - Under 500 words
$30 - 500 to 600 words
$35 - 600 to 750 words
$40 - 750 to 1000 words
$50 - 1000+ words
The other way to figure out prices is by determining how much you need to take home each month. I have a calculator to figure it out on my website, but my web host seems to be down at the moment.
The last part of pricing is you need to understand what the three prices are for:
*Usage Rights - This just allows the client to use the article. You still retain the copyright and you can sell usage rights to many different clients. However, once an article sells for usage rights, you lose the ability to sell for Unique or Full Rights.
*Unique Rights - Similar to usage, but you promise the client that nobody else will be allows to purchase the rights to use the article. You can only sell an article for unique rights once, after which you may not sell it anymore. Like Usage, you still retain the copyright and the client may not modify the article.
*Full Rights - This effectively transfers the copyright and all rights to the article to the client. They may modify it in any way they want, including putting their name as the author. You may no longer sell the article and you no longer have claim to it.
There's two general strategies authors use when pricing the above:
1) Usage is priced lowest as it may sell multiple times, unique higher because it can only sell once and full rights highest because you can only sell it once and you lose the copyright.
2) Price all three the same to encourage people to buy the full rights. And even if they still want to buy Usage rights, you still get the same amount of income.
I use method 1 on articles that I think will sell more than once, such as general interest and seasonal articles. I use method 2 on articles that are niche or specialty and have a low chance of selling more than once.
Finally, one caveat. The biggest issue most new writers stumble upon is CC's loose 'Three-Strikes and You're Out" policy. The rough policy is that after three rejections, your account is suspended permanently. However, if the editors think you're making a genuine try then you can get away with many more rejections. The flip side is that if your article is riddled (as in more than the odd slip-up) with stupid mistakes, such as spelling errors or just a bad grasp of English, then you can be suspended after one rejection. Be sure to always spellcheck, proofread and give it the thrice-over. It never hurts to have a friend or family member give it a read-through as well. I recommend letting at least a day pass between your final edit and your proofread so that you're more likely to spot sloppy mistakes. Also, don't let a few rejections get you down. If you're unsure of why an article was rejected, post on the forums. The worst thing you can do is guess at your mistake because if you don't fix the right thing, you'll be at greater risk for suspension because it appears to be a sloppy mistake.