Where to sell pre-written content or advertise content writing?

Not always, but mostly, yes. Depressing thought for the day!

Precisely: know your quality level and price accordingly. Playing the price war game is the best way to lose.

Luck, too. I have seen people sign up for a freelancing site and land The Perfect Client within 3 days, while others struggle through for a couple of months. I would also add "confidence" as well: if you are sure you're worth a reasonable rate of pay, you are less likely to cave in and start accepting rubbish pay.

Indeed. I would add that the low-rate market is absolutely legitimate, though. There is a definite need for cheap content that fills a space (though quite WHY this market exists is another conversation entirely). If you work fast, care less about what you produce (or use a pen name and a different login) and live somewhere where the cost of living is low, you can make a bundle from it!

Horses for courses, as they say. Write well? Get paid well. Write, er... not so well? Go bulk.

 

There must be a lot of reasons this need is created. I will mention two here.
1) Some webmasters need low-priced stuff to countervail syndicated, licensed and high-quality content or as a temporary replacement for it. This happens especially when they are not able to invest into high-quality due to financial constraints. The moment they can buy, low-priced content is chased away.
2) Then there are some who just care that content exists on their site to show it is active. They are not really concerned about the content's quality and need it simply to fill up space. A site that is stagnant will have very low traffic-generation capacity as compared to one that's updated frequently. This is something no webmaster would want to happen.
Situations like these keep on feeding the 'cheap content' market and a definite need for it is hence generated.

 

First point..."paying one's dues" is about building your reputation and skills - not, putting up with insulting rates. A new copywriter or content writer should be able to get professional rates but they certainly shouldn't command the same prices as someone who has been doing it for years. Some of the top copywriters won't take a client for less than $10k. No doubt it took many years before they had the portfolio to justify a rate like that.

I would argue that there should be no place for cheap content. Unfortunately, Google keeps rewarding sites with "fresh" content over ones with quality content. Until they quit doing that, we're all stuck with it.

 

That's another reason buyers go for cheap content instead of quality one. All that matters for them is their site to be at top in Google, regardless of the content's quality.

For this to end, either Google has to stop it or someone else has to occupy Google's position, which is utterly impossible at least for the moment.

 

If you think creating a portfolio takes time or is not worthwhile, another great idea is to create your own website and start selling articles from there. That way, you can set your own prices you are comfortable with. The only thing is to promote your website a little and reach your target market.

 

Right. I would add that setting up your own website or blog is a must for any serious writer.
Another idea is to sell first few pieces of your content for a lower price. Make it very clear that this is an introductory offer and valid ONLY for a limited time. This will help you to come across potential buyers and create a customer-base faster. When you are new and do not have a strong portfolio to showcase your quality, buyers more or less hesitate to do business with you since they are not sure about getting their money's worth. Later, when they are assured that your quality is good, you can charge what you think is reasonable.
Also, network extensively and try to get as many referrals as possible. This will surely help you to build up a strong customer-base as well.

 

Well said, introductory offer for a limited time is a good option to start with. I had a website for selling articles in the past but I am selling it off now due to my busy schedule in blogging and SEO. You can check out here: https://forums.digitalpoint.com/thr...-huge-income-monthly-fully-automated.2713791/ if interested.

 

Is there a master-list of all high-paying writers' marketplaces available anywhere? I just checked out http://www.ghostbloggers.net/. The pay there seems to be good. Need to know a lot more.

 

http://www.minterest.org/how-to-make-money-writing-articles/
I fell upon this list just a few hours back. The sites mentioned here may be known to most of you, but I think taking a quick look to see if anything's new won't hurt either.
Cheers.

 

Conran, I like your advise.
Very curious.. how long did you take in a day to read all those comments and reply those comments for the 20 forum?

 

Agree. Once we charge low for our article for the first time, it is hard to increase the price for the same client in future.

 

A good read - http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/how-to-make-money-writing-for-the-web.

 

Thanks for sharing. That's a good read.
I know of some sites mention in that article.

But some sites I am not aware. I will try them out soon.

 

http://thewritelife.com/find-freelance-writing-jobs/

 

Wow thanks. I really like your advise you gave on "site to avoid".

 

Have you tried Constant Content for pre-written content Content Maestro (wow I said content a lot there!)? I put all my unused content on there, and it sells for high prices. You're looking at at least $0.5 a word up to $0.20 and possibly even more if it's on a topic like tech, finance or business. The site does take 30% commission, but if you work that into your price, it's not a problem. I've sold over 150 articles on there, and it's the best place I've found online for pre-written content. If any clients like your work, they have the option to order more from you

 

Nope. Not yet.
I am not so much now for selling pre-written content. I do have pieces that are yet unsold and what I do mostly is edit them when a client demands something along similar lines, but that's a rare case. Sometimes I even persuade them to buy it esp. if I think it's something that will fit their site. Clients have a look and buy directly or ask for some modifications to be done. That said, most of the market I have for selling pre-made stuff I create comes from my client base. Having worked with them before, they're pretty sure about the quality they'll get and often pay a handsome price.

Sounds quite good. 30% commission is rather hard to digest and I also hear they are very stringent about perfection/quality. The pros I believe are you get to set your own price where you can possibly make up for the heavy cut and retain usage rights in some cases which allows for multiple sales. You can also keep your byline if I am not wrong which expands prospects in effect. I guess it's worth giving a shot at least if you're selling indeed for up to $0.20 a word, even if the niches are limited.

Thanks for the info @Crimebuster_of_the_Sea. Much appreciated.

Just curious, have you tried anything in particular for grabbing some good work/clientele from here? Would love to know.

 

On CC you have to try to ignore the commission. If you want to get $30 for a 500 word article for example, price it as that and then add the CC percentage on top. Clients pay a lot more for articles on there than they can get elsewhere, as they know they're guaranteed high quality. If you look at it this way, you're not losing anything. I also have a pre-written article store, but found it quite hard to market. I'm currently in the process of moving all my articles from there to CC, and increasing the price on them. Around 50% have sold so far for over double what I was originally asking. So, it's definitely worth it.

They are very stringent on quality, but by the looks of your writing on here, you should be fine. I recommend reading their guidelines fully before submitting your first article as they do have a 3 strike and you're out policy for new writers. That said, once you have a few articles under your belt, they only tend to ban people for plagiarism. The initial rule is just in place to get rid of people who can't write.

You can either sell articles for full rights, unique or a usage license. I actually put many of the articles that are on my blog onto there and sell them under a usage license, and they can sell multiple times, and the buyer has to publish them as sold. So, you can add your name and a byline to them for example, and the client has to publish it as bought. You can write on literally anything too - it's just some categories have higher paying clients. My latest sold articles were on writing press releases, working through college, HTML, date spots in London, and toothpaste as an acne treatment. When you have a writer account, you can also see which articles have sold recently, so you can see what is selling well, and for what price.

They also have private requests where clients issue their specifications and writers can write articles that meet the guidelines. Last Christmas there was a client who wanted hundreds of articles and was paying around $50 per piece, so that made me quite a lot of sales. If a client likes your work, they can also ask you to write for them regularly through the site.

On DP I have a thread in the Content Creation forum that I bump from time to time. That gets me a few queries, some of which go onto long term clients. I also contact some of the people that post in there if they look like they might be willing to pay my price (most won't). A few have seen my comments on forum pages too and contacted me.

Like I said though, most of my work now comes through recommendations, which I'm happy about.

Hope this helps?

 

Wow! Thanks for the long and detailed explanation. Looks like you've gone a long way into making some really good sales at CC.
Just some quick questions here. When clients make a private request, is it only for specific writers or anyone using the site can apply? And if you're kicked out for some reason, what are your chances of bouncing back? (I guess it's the nervousness of going past the initial tests that's really killing me!)

I personally think setting up your own store is a much better idea. Well, the marketing for sure is a strenuous task but the good thing is there are no middlemen. You don't end up paying anyone. IMO, it's more of how well you do stuff like SEO, use social media etc.

So the idea is to make yourself noticeable frequently, esp. in the BST. Well, I will try it out. Anyway, which one has worked out better for you? Throwing an ad in Content Creation or approaching prospects via PMs?

I think that requires a certain rep beforehand. But you can also be off to a good start if you manage to make a couple of clients happy at the beginning.

No doubt it helps.

 

@Melisa455, don't take that advice verbatim. I have said it before and will repeat here – do not dismiss those sites completely. There ARE good-paying clients there, but you have to prove your skills to convince them. They should have a strong reason to choose you over thousands of other writers. Do something (build a portfolio, put up a blog etc.) that shows your proficiency in writing. People will even approach you directly once they notice you.
And that's not my advice BTW.