Recycle Your Articles for Profit
83Selling your articles at Constant Content
Are you tired of writing for next to nothing on the Internet? When I first investigated freelancing writing as a way of making money online I wasn't impressed with what I found. The sites I found either required me to bid against writers who were prepared to write for 1 cent a word or wouldn't pay me at all because I don't live in the US! However I recently got referred to a site which I hadn't come across before: Constant Content.
Constant content is effectively an online agency for writers. Writers submit articles, blog posts or reviews to the site. Once the article is accepted, an extract of it is available on their site for potential purchasers. Purchasers pay via checkout system and download the full text of the article. Writers are paid via paypal once they have reached the $50 minimum payout level. The key difference at Constant Content though, at what be give it a second look was that the writers set their own prices,and the prices being set appear reasonable return for the effort required.
Pricing Your Articles
You have three options on the rights you sell your content with:
usage rights: is when the purchaser buys the article for a single use but it continues to be available for subsequent purchasers. The article must be published unaltered and complete, except that the publisher may add links to the article.
unique rights: the purchaser buys the article outright. The article is withdrawn from the constant content, but the article must be published unaltered and complete, except that the publisher may add links to the article.
full rights: the purchaser buys the article outright and also has the rights to change the content, resell the content, take credit for writing, etc.
Typical prices suggested by Constant Content are:
Usage Unique
100-500 words $5 - $10 $36 - $60
600-800 words $10-20 $72-96
1000-1200 words $30-40 $120-144
1500-2000 words $60-100 $180-240
Of the is prices that author receives 65%, the rest goes to Constant Content as their commission.
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On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction (On Writing Well)
Price: $7.80
List Price: $14.95 |
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Writing To Learn
Price: $6.98
List Price: $14.95 |
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Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir
Price: $5.69
List Price: $13.95 |
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How to Write a Memoir
Price: $10.20
List Price: $12.00 |
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The Elements of Style (Coyote Canyon Press Classics)
Price: $2.40
List Price: $3.90 |
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The Elements of Style Illustrated
Price: $7.95
List Price: $15.00 |
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The Elements of Style: 50th Anniversary Edition
Price: $13.57
List Price: $19.95 |
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The Elements of Style: A Style Guide for Writers
Price: $8.95
List Price: $12.95 |
Using Constant Content to Recycle Your Articles
To date I have published over 70 hubs on hubpagss: most of them make me no money. Some of those that make me no money here are quite OK articles they are just on highly competitive subjects and I haven't the time to promote them to get them ranking higher in the search engines. I also have squidoo.com lenses and articles on sites such as ezinearticles.com all of which are free content sites.
I believe that if you have articles published on Helium you also retain copyright and are allowed to re-publish these articles.
Articles that are already published on the web can only be offered on Constant Content with usage rights. It is not against the Terms of Service of either HubPages or Squidoo or Ezinearticles to re-use material first published on their sites elsewhere. So without violated the Terms of Service of any of these sites you can potentially add your articles to Constant Content and maybe sell their usage rights at $5-$50 dollars.
Sound too good to be true? Maybe.The other side of Constant Content is that every article you submit will need to be approved by an editor: a real live human being. It can take up to three days for your article to be reviewed. Longer over a weekend or holiday.
Constant content will not accept the following content: fiction, poetry and personal accounts. According their Writers Guidelines;
"All articles must be free of grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors and contain no awkward wording or sentence structure issues"
"Articles must contain introductions and conclusions in addition to the body and contain information that is useful to the reader".
"Blog posts are still "articles," but in a less-formal style and may be in first person voice. They still contain a beginning, middle, and end, and offer something useful to the reader."
The editor will reject you if you don't follow the guidelines to the letter. Brush up on the usages of their/there, to/too, affect/effect its/it's before submitting. Understand where the the " and ' belong in a grammatically correct sentence. If you get rejected three times for poor grammer and usage your account is banned. They are really serious about their editorial standards, which is good because it gives the site a good quality standard, but a little daunting if you are used to the "publish anything" world of hubpages.
I'd suggest when you first join don't dump 25 articles on them in an hour or so. Submit only one or two articles until you are confident that you understand the writing standards required.
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NEW The Consultant's Guide to Proposal Writing: How ...
Current Bid: $32.47
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NEW The Consultant's Guide to Proposal Writing: How ...
Current Bid: $33.59
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NEW Instant Book Writing Kit: How to Write, Publish ...
Current Bid: $42.25
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NEW How to Teach Story Writing at Ks1 - Corbett, Pie
Current Bid: $27.00
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NEW How to Teach Fiction Writing at Key Stage 2 - Co...
Current Bid: $27.00
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NEW How to Teach Poetry Writing at Key Stage 2 - Mor...
Current Bid: $27.00
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Can you make a decent Freelance Writing Career at Constant Content
Yes I think you can. It won't happen overnight, the advice I have been given is to publish articles often and that most buyers are looking for full rights or at least unique rights.
You can also develop an ongoing relationship with buyers who can then submit "private requests" to you. Constant content will still get their 35% cut but you are writing knowing that you have a buyer. You can also keep an eye on what has been sold recently to have an understanding of what is selling and for what price. If an article doesn't sell you can always withdrawal and sell it or use it elsewhere.
My Experience to Date -UPDATED
- I've sold a couple of articles written for a public request (both to the same buyer) - sold each for $30 for 300 words: I got $19.50 each. The buyer states their budget so I just priced my articles at the top end of their range. The articles had to include about 4 keywords so made them have a keyword density of around 2-3% for each word - which wasn't asked for but may have got me the sale.
- I also wrote another long article for a public request which hasn't sold - the buyer doesn't appear to have bougth anyone's article though - I am not too worried because I can use the article elsewhere if I need to.
There is a helpful forum and I am assured by those I trust that this site is legit and definitly pays what you are owed. Some comments on the forum suggest that they are unhappy about paying the 35% of commission but I personally would rather have 65% of something than 100% of nothing! Oh and my first submissions got past the grammar police so I am pleased with that! I'll update this hub with progress as it happens!
The Hard Sell
If you are interested in writing for Constant Content please sign up using one of the links in this hub. If you subsequently sell articles there I will get a commission from the Constant Content's fee, this won't affect the amount that you earn.
Oh and don't dump twenty odd articles on them when you first join. Submit just one or two until you get feedback and approval and understand the requirements of the site.
Drop me a comment below: have you sold through Constant Content or similar sites what was your experience?
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Comments
Hi, great article. I write at CC, and they're my favorite online resource. As a slight amend, if you get three rejections in a row that show a lack of trying to fix your article, then you can get your account banned, but if you've been there for a year and made sales and just made a mistake once every few months, you get the benefit of the doubt. The editors there may be strict and very old school professional, but they're fair.
I've make about $1,300 take home the past year, and I don't do requests or even really put a lot of effort in beyond 1-2 articles a week, so if you work at it I'm sure you could blow my numbers away in a couple months. This is a great side income for writers, so thanks for bringing it to everyone's attention!
Inspire: that's why I am pretty excited about CC : I don't even think I am that serious about grammar/spelling but some of the stuff on the internet is really starting to annoy me. Oh and they understand the difference between UK/US usage too: just don't combine the 2 in the same article
Thank you for commenting Jerry - I hoped a real CC author would come along. Thanks for the amend on the rejection rules - I admit I was mighty pleased when my first one got approved! Can you comment on what sells best blogs/articles short/long ?
I've heard about CC but hadn't yet done anything. I write at Helium and Associated Content, too. I try to have a purpose for each site. Maybe I should pay more attention to CC . . . no pun intended.
Hey Lissie,
Associated Content is one of my favorite sites for monetizing articles, but your article might make me take another look at Constant Content. What I really about what you've said here, is that we (as content producers) need to look at how we can take our content and repurpose it into formats/platforms that can yield additional profits.
thanks for sharing, I will check it out!
Great article Lissie, Thanks a lot for this info!
Catherine
It sounds as if constant content has the edge over associated content. Does constant content reject a lot of articles?
Thank you Lissie, it is worth looking into.
They certainly sound professional, with such high standard - yet another site to add to my list of places to check out!
I´m going to register myself and I hope to make some sells soon ;)
Very good information and worth having a look at. Thanks for sharing :)
Very useful Lizzie - will check this out!
Did not know about "Constant Content", it sounds interesting. It seems to me that once you subtract the 35%, it would be awfully hard to make it worth your time. I tend to think, as you pointed out, that establishing a good relationship with a client who may provide ongoing work, would be the way to go! Thanks Lissie!
I have been a member at CC for a few years. They do have higher standards than other outlets on the internet, and in my opinion that's a good thing. The potential to sell articles on the site for a fair price is very good. One draw back is that is you write for a request, and don't sell the article; it may sit there for awhile.
CC is one of the best sites that I have found to market articles online.
Great Hub Lissie! I too have some Hubs that are just fine, but don't get as much traffic as I would like. I will check out CC, through your links, of course! Steph
Great Hub. Will look into it ... thanks!
Thanks, this is helpful.
I tried Constant Content but couldn't get anyone to look at my articles. I emailed someone looking for a type of article and I had one on the site but I never got a reply. But, I didn't really try hard enoughh...
I might try again but at the moment I'm writing at too many places...I'm even neglecting HubPages!
Once the current contest is over on Helium and hopefully I earn enough to finally cash out, then I may try Constant Content again.
Very helpful hub.
Wow thanks everyone for visiting. IMHustle I stopped reading the AssociatedContent site when I got to the bit that they didn't pay non-US residents: Imean WTF is that about? Have they not heard about paypal: I have the impression the CC pays better than AC but as I say I haven't wasted anymore time on AC. As far as Helium is concerned check out Marisa's review http://hubpages.com/hub/Heliumcom---Writing-Fun-or I think she wrote there a lot.
PassionatePurpose: Im new to freelancing but when I used to contract for IT 35% was what the agency got for placing in me in a role: and most of the agencies didn't even interview me in person: just passed on a CV! If you do end up developing an ongoing relationship with a buyer at CC you still have to pay CC their commission: you are not allowed to give out your direct contact details. Again this is pretty standard practice where I come from in IT: you can't work for a client for 12 months without paying the agent their cut.
To those of you who have had success on CC: what do you find sells best: shorter articles or longer? Which topics ? Thanks
Sorry to add another "Thanks for this Hub" comment right after you asked a question, but thanks for this Hub! :) Here's a question I'll ask out loud as I try to find out the answer myself as well: Once an article gets accepted by one of the real human editors, is there anything for the writer to do (like tagging and linking) to keep it from getting buried or is marketing left in their hands? Thanks again!
Thanks for the information! Will have to check this out. Looks like a great resource and just what I needed to see this afternoon.
The articles I've sold on CC were between 500 and 1,500 words. Most are for web content, and that seems to be the standard. You aren't allowed to put links in the articles. However, you do control the licensing of the articles yourself, and if you want to remove the article to sell elsewhere, you may.
This is a better arraignment than some other sites because your article doesn't appear in its entirety anywhere on the site. This is significant because most editors want exclusive work. If for example, a piece is on Helium or hub pages, you can't resell that article for first rights.
First right to publish on the Internet is important. Google, for example, punishes duplicated content by withholding ranking.Of course you can't resell something that you've sold exclusive rights to anywhere.
CC seems to do a good job marketing articles. Many people on the service do quite well. They also have a good reputation due to their higher editorial standards.On the downside, sometimes you have to wait 3 or 4 days to get a piece accepted. In the interim, you may miss out on selling an article that you wrote for a request.
I only write on requests because I don't want a bunch of articles just sitting there, but others submit many articles on a wide variety of topics and then submit them when a request comes in. Customers can also go in, read summaries and buy articles "off the shelf".
@Pete - no problem! When you submit the article there is a box for entering your keywords (tags as hubpages calls them) and you can put an unlimited number in. Once the article is approved it also seems you can edit the descriptions and keywords too. I don't think there whole model is that they do the marketing - but you could alway links to your profile which lists our articles and their blurbs.
@Monica- lots of people seem to be finding this helpful - thanks
@Jeanette - thanks so much for your information. Yes I was impressed when I realise that they make sure that even the extract from your article is not indexed by Google: its key for publishers looking for unique content: its point of confusion for a lot authors the difference google's duplicate penality and the ownership of the article's rights :-)
I also want to thank you for the tip on CC. This is a very nice hub and useful information.Thank you.
Thanks Lissie - another great hub with a new idea for me to follow up through your links.
I have found my main hinderance to writing articles is simply time. This may be a great assest.
thanks, Tom
now this is good to know.....
thanx !
Thanks for the info - I'm looking forward to giving CC a try.
That sounds great and hope that I can get my work going around like you described
Thanks for visiting everyone. Tom its not lack of time that's the problem is not working out what your priorities are in business and sticking to them!
Lissie! I was told by a friend that you can also submit photos for sale at Constant Content. I haven't checked it out yet. Thanks for sharing your info.
regards Zsuzsy
Yes: photos, illustratoins and videos but I don't know how well they sell. You can also add images to your articles
Very great Hub Lissie Thanks for the info I sure will check it out
Wonderful hub Lessie. I have been writing for triond for a few months now, and just recently published 2 hubs here. I'm relatively new to the whole 'making money online with writing' stuff and anything I can read about is of great help. Maybe I should check CC sometime. If I do, I’ll use your link. Thanx for all the information, you explained all the rules and to-do's on CC very well and reduced our headache of trying to understand it.
Lissie, Just have to ask...how's it going on Constant Content now that you've been there awhile?
I havent sold anything yet dabbling but I need to get some more articles up - 20 seems to be the figure Ive seen more often than not
Great Hub Lissie. I'm looking forward to learning more about it. :)
Don't know if anyone mentioned this, but I don't publish at Helium because you can't remove your articles from there unless they're sold THERE are unique content, then they remove it. You can publish them somewhere else, like Triond or Contant Comment, but you can't sell them as unique content elsewhere, or at least that's how I understood it.
I'm going to check out Constant Content...through your link, milady!
Yeah helium sucks with that- I mean no one gets exclusive rightsto my content unless I am making money from it one way or the other! I have sold a couple of public request articles at C-C in the last few weeks so I am happy with them. You need to get to $50 to get paid out.
Yes Lissie, I'm going to check out CC too. And I agree, Helium sucks.
Hello Lissie,
I just love your blogs. I am impressed with the information you give to help
others. Your writing is excellent. Thanks for sharing. If I do decide to join
CC, I will surely link from your site.
Hi Lissie,
Gettng a lot of great feedback. I find for myself that articles in the 500 word to 1000 word area sell best. I don't write blog posts, but I find that "list" articles have done really well for me - top 10 travel novels, ten worst movies ever, 15 greatest NFL quarterbacks, etc. Also just writing to niche areas. I'm also an amateur poker player, so poker articles have done really well for me.
The 35% does seem high, but that still means one $30 article on CC nets me $19.50, or about what five "decent paying" articles on Associated Content would. Both have their place, but I think CC is definitely the better long term bet.
As for what sells best: I wouldn't be afraid to put up articles on anything. I've sold an amazing variety of articles, including ones I figured would never sell in 1,000 years, yet once in a while that "odd" sale comes through. In a lot of ways it's a game of effort and time. I don't spend a lot of time answering requests, I just like doing my own thing, and some authors on there have a couple thousand articles and actually make a decent (like 20,000-30,000 a year is what I hear from the forums) living at it.
So part of it is if you have 1,000 articles, you'll sell a lot more than if you have 40. I've even noticed that at 50 articles if I didn't do any extra work I'd hit the $50 threshold maybe 3-4 times a year, but at 110 (where I am now), even with very little new writing I've made the threshold every month this year except one where I was $4 short.
So book length answer, but hope that helps, lol. I think CC is definitely worth the time, especially for people who can take their time and go at it looking at the long term.
Wow thanks for the novel Jerry! It seems like most ways of making money online: the frist payout is the hardest and then it gets easier and easier from then on! I've made a couple of easy sales - I need to get in and get my inventory up a bit !
Again thanks for your excellent "article"!
Great hub, Lissie. After dealing with Helium, I've been afraid to try any similar sites. I've been clinging to the safety of HP. Thx for the info!
Shirley - give it a go -its nothing like Helium from what I've heard - if your article doesn't sell you just remove it and do something else with it - nothing lost!
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Inspirepub says:
3 months ago
Lissie - this sounds like a fantastic resource, if it really works. Thanks for drawing attention to it. I will be following your links to check it out.
I can see how they have a nichs - so much PLR and article site material is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors; you basically have to do a major edit on any PLR stuff. It's probably worth a few dollars to people to save the proof-reading time!