A ridiculous number of people sign up to Constant Content and than never get to the first sale. If you are one of the guilty or frustrated, perhaps you fall into one of these traps:
Forgot to Start: Simple to fix – I just reminded you to get started
Never Tried: You are missing out on the best online marketplace for your writing on the web. Go get started.
Don’t Know Where to Start: Start with a fresh short article on something you know well. Don’t submit something you already wrote (there is some market for that, but less) because you may need to rework it to meet Constant Content standards anyway.
Testing the Site: Some writers try testing Constant Content with one, two or a few articles before walking away saying the site does not work. This approach is guaranteed to fail. Constant Content is a marketplace and your writer profile is a store. If you have only one or two articles for sale, how serious will the buyers take you? It takes inventory to sell inventory so go create the inventory. Here is a tip – no testing required – Constant Content works just fine IF you create article inventory.
Frustration with Rejections: Constant Content has very high but fair and easily quantifiable standards. It is a lot like school where you are responsible for proofreading your work for spelling, grammar and structure errors. However, at Constant Content you need 100% to get a pass. This gives confidence to the buyers that they are getting quality original work and allows the writers to set and get the best prices.
Fear of the “Three Strikes Rule”: If you can write well, but need a little practice to reach the Constant Content standard fear not the three strikes rule at Constant Content. Actually it is not really a true three strikes rule. Constant Content really wants and values good writers for without content they can’t earn anything. They do not, however, want to waste everyone’s time reviewing articles that contain serious errors. If someone really can’t perform at the Constant Content level than the editor will block further submissions (ban) them. Learning curve issues like submitting in the wrong font size, minor proofing errors, and similar rejections are nothing to worry about as long as you learn from your errors and fix them.
If you actually want to succeed at Constant Content, spend some time reading the sticky threads in the Constant Content forum, read the FAQs and Guidelines and seriously consider investing $10 in Celeste Stewart’s guide to Constant Content. You are supporting a fellow writer who gives large amounts of time to help others in the forum and it will save you a lot of time having this ebook as a guide. 
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This is a very good post, and really gets to the heart of many of the most common issues that seem to pop up and prevent people from getting going at CC. The fear of rejection I think gets a lot of people, and they’re easily frustrated, but nothing ever worth doing is easy and that’s doubly true of freelance writing and Constant-Content. This site is definitely worth the effort, and I hope this blog post encourages beginning writers to stick with it.
.-= Master Dayton´s last blog ..Staying Safe While Northern Pike Ice Fishing =-.
I know you have had success at Constant Content. It is a great site to earn on, but people give up, get scared, etc.
I think another issue for writers new to C-C is the need to check your expectations and standard operating procedures at the door. If you are experienced in other pay-for-writing sites, like Helium, AC, Guru, DemandStudios, most of the “infrastructure” experience will only hurt you. Why? Because Constant-Content isn’t a bidding site, and it isn’t a revenue sharing site in the sense that those other sites are. I describe it as an art gallery for writers. You write the masterpieces, assign a price, and the “gallery” (C-C) takes a cut upon the sale of the piece.
Excellent point. What baffles me is people who write up Associated Content vs. Constant Content articles. Sure there is a similarity in name but that is where it ends. The purpose and mode of operation of the sites is completely different. Just look at the money for example. You are lucky to get $3 up front plus pitiful revenue share at Associated Content. Constant Content has a $7 minimum price that authors can not go below in pricing their work. At Associated Content the point is to get views/reads while at Constant Content the point is to get an article sale. Kind of like comparing the merits of the flea market to a New York art gallery.
I agree with Elizabeth about writers from other sites being potentially disadvantaged by their experience with the other sites. You have to approach CC with a different mindset.
While I know some writers use CC as a place to sell usage-only articles that they’ve already written and have earning revenue share on other sites, the opposite approach works really well. Write articles for CC first and offer them for full rights. You’ll get a higher price for many of those articles than you would waiting for the pennies per page view to accumulate. Then, if some of your articles on CC sell for usage, fine, go ahead and post those articles on the revenue share sites. Also, as time goes by and you have unsold articles, you can decide to change their licenses to usage only and post them elsewhere just as you would have done earlier. It’s a low risk strategy because if the articles don’t sell, you can still post them on the revenue share sites.
Great strategy. Another benefit of this plan is that your articles are perfect if you chose to post them elsewhere.
.-= JadeDragon´s last blog ..Have You Failed at Constant Content? =-.
We’ve all seen forum posts from a writer with 0 or few articles, saying things like, “Can CC change the payment model?” “How can I believe that CC will actually tell me when my articles sell?” “CC should tell me exactly what’s wrong with my article, because they are losing good writers every day by rejecting people who could learn to improve!” (one of my favorites)
At some point you have to put your doubts on hold, take the word of the people who ARE succeeding on CC, and emulate their strategies rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. It all makes sense in time (usually around the time the first dollars start rolling in:) )
.-= Antonia´s last blog ..10 best time trackers for freelancers & working nomads =-.
Thanks for the oh so true comments.
.-= JadeDragon´s last blog ..Have You Failed at Constant Content? =-.
I’m afraid I’m a member of the guilty party. One rejection (stupid, stupid little mistake), and I was off to seemingly greener pastures. While I know people make good money on this site, cash flow is really my primary concern right now. After the first of the month… we’ll see.
For when that time comes, could any of you share how long it took for you to start selling content? I don’t mind to wait four, six, eight months for an article to sell… I’m just trying to put a vague time frame on my return on investment.
.-= Lauren Nelson´s last blog ..A Little Goes a Long Way =-.
If you write a public request and your article gets picked than a day or so. For spec articles, I’ve had some sell in days and others take a few months. Celeste did an analysis that showed she sold about 1/3rd of her articles within the first month. The rest go into her back catalog to sell over time.
Constant Content did an analysis that found articles have ” a statistical average of selling 70% of the time. If you submit five or more articles you have a 97% chance of making at least one sale!”
So if 70% of the articles sell (and the rest are still available for future sale) and about 1/3rd of the articles sell right away Constant Content represents a nice combination of immediate cash and residual income from sales in your back catalog. I like getting Article Sold emails while I am working on other projects or vacationing.
I recommend reading through these two threads for some more interesting answers to your questions. The stats I quoted came from them:
http://www.constant-content.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14568
http://www.constant-content.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14620
If an article really does not sell for some reason you can always post it to a revenue sharing site or your own blog to earn something off it.
.-= JadeDragon´s last blog ..Have You Failed at Constant Content? =-.
The only problem I have with Constant Content (which I love even though I’m new there) is that when I submit for a publicly requested article, it takes days or even a week, for these articles to get through the Editor’s review process, and then due to that delay I am unsure of the value of this to the client.
Some clients want articles within a given time-frame and say so in their spec. If I submit, knowing the client wants ‘articles within 48 hours’ but my article isn’t even approved for clients to view for the next week….it leaves me wondering if there’s any sense submitting for public requests? I’ve stopped submitting for those even though I believe if clients saw my articles, I’d have a very good chance. All articles submitted to CC have been approved by the way…eventually!
There have been 2 submissions that took more than 5 days to get cleared to go before the client.
If it is any consultation all authors are in the same boat when Ed gets backed up. Your articles have just as much opportunity to be bought as others, especially if you submit soon after the request. Most buyers are not on a tight timeline either, they are looking for quality and know that can take some time. Also if your article is not bought it goes into inventory and will often get picked up soon enough. Just keep writing.
That’s great feedback….good advice, thank you. I had not realised that buyers would usually hang around and also wondered if familiar writers’ work was approved faster, giving them time advantage against public requests. I think what worried me initially was forum posts saying certain writers’ public request submissions had been approved ‘overnight’ whereas mine were waiting such a long time. But if mostly we are all in a similar queue that’s a huge reassurance!
I’ll add that some buyers will wait until they have many submissions to review. Some buyers buy as soon as they see something suitable and close the request.
I’ve also seen buyers buy more articles than they requested. I did a request on tea that the buyer picked up and used on ezine articles. She bought another author’s work for her site at the same time.
Also, submissions do not have to be long, well researched magazine style articles. Get your facts straight and put some personality to the article but writing on informative topics works great. My first sale was this little piece http://www.aviva.ca/shop/product_sections.asp?catid=282
.-= JadeDragon´s last blog ..Copper as an Investment =-.
I have just barely started at CC. I am inspired by the quality controls. I prefer to write where there are guidelines and requirements. I believe it will bring out my best work. I also want to be part of a community that is working to improve the quality of writing as well as the quantity of sales.
I’m worried about the learning curve, and little nervous about integrating myself into the culture of the site. What I am doing is reading carefully, moving slowly, and keeping pretty quiet until I get a sense of how to communicate with people.
Jade- I am mainly posting to this to thank you for your advice on the forums and here. I know it is helping at least one person– me!
Happy I can help. The guidelines are really not that hard to follow and they all exist for really good reasons – to give the buyers what they are looking for. The culture of the site is to be supportive of other writers and friendly between the writers and the staff. Part of it comes from management and partly from veteran writers like Celeste and Haleywriter.
For more great advice consider Celeste’s book. It helped me even after I had a bunch of content accepted. She talks about it in this interview: A Constant Content Success Story
.-= JadeDragon´s last blog ..Travel as a Side Benefit to Your Business =-.
Thanks for all the good tips. I’m determined to make it at CC!
Awesome! Just keep going and you will succeed.
I think I’ve discussed this with you in the forums (writing as Rebecca, or BerryMac) but my biggest hurdle is getting over the feeling that maybe my articles just aren’t good enough. I keep submitting, and they get accepted (some in a matter of hours, so I’ve been lucky that way). I primarily write in response to public requests – but I’ve made only one sale, and that was the second article I wrote.
I’m now 34 articles into a portfolio, with topics ranging from men’s fashion to erectile dysfunction. I will write on pretty much anything, as long as its not a technical topic (I am unwilling to step into that arena yet). I have experience in many areas and so have a fairly deep well of knowledge from which to draw. I just don’t know if my language or voice is holding me back. Maybe other writers are just better than me. Maybe I just need to wait. Who knows. I guess time will tell, but pretty soon I’ll have to give up, because I can’t continue to devote time to writing for C-C if I don’t see any benefit. Bills must be paid.
.-= Rebecca´s last blog ..New Blog Created- =-.
I hear you. I can tell you are a good writer from the forums and you are building up a great portfolio. http://www.constant-content.com/Author/41104-Rebecca_MacLary-details-0.htm on a great range of topics. Doing public requests is a great way to cover a wide range of topics.
Immediate sales are wonderful but that growing portfolio is going to provide a very nice stream of sales month after month.
Look at it as an online store – the more good articles you have for sale the more opportunity for sales. You are on the right track, just keep writing.
One other thing. When you sell an article for usage you can then use it yourself on a revenue sharing site. Check the Resource tab for a list of good revenue sharing sites – you might as well earn a little recuring income on your work since you retain the ownership rights.
I had a few disheartening rejections the first few times I submitted but once you get over some hurt pride, there’s some real satisfaction in having your articles accepted. My problem initially was just approaching it too quickly with experience of other, less quality-driven sites in mind.
I was quite lucky and managed to make a sale with only a few articles on the board and this spurred me on. I’ve sold quite a few now but it’s not anything more than a hobby for me, albeit a very satisfying one.
I’ve also made seven referrals, six of whom have not written a single article and one of whom has only two articles. I might send them a note and direct them here! Great article, thank you.
Glad you made it over the rejection hump. Many of my referrals have not written anything – not even tried to submit. They are missing out on a great opportunity.