Constant Content Review
Constant Content is a website where you can buy web content or sell web content as a writer. I’m writing this Constant Content Review because I’ve spent some time working with them as a writer and have gotten a decent idea of how things are over there.
My conclusion is that Constant Content has a lot of flaws, but it is also fairly good for what it does. If you are dedicated and are willing to tolerate the flaws, you can earn a good to great living on Constant Content as a writer.
First, the good: you can earn plenty of money there. You have a fair amount of freedom on what to write about, and get to go with your inspirations rather than writing articles according to guidelines which others have set you (although you can respond to specific requests too).
In a way, there’s a sense of freedom in Constant Content which lets you feel like an entrepreneur — but, I think the editors really would like to think they’re your bosses.
Which brings us to the bad. The editors are pretty controlling, and pretty strict. Moreover, I’d say they’re strict about pretty dumb things. I’ve more than once been corrected for an error that I knew for sure wasn’t an error, and I’ve found myself having to conform to the editors’ personal tastes about what makes for good content or not.
I mean, they sent me an email once telling me what changes I needed to make in my writing. Among them was the implication (put in different words) that I was too airy-fairy with how I write, and that I needed to quote authorities more to give weight to my arguments. To give you an idea, I was writing like I write on my blog. I think the articles I wrote were valuable, and they were definitely sellable (I’ve sold a lot of the content which the editors let through), but the editors didn’t see that.
The editors also flat out told me that “Constant Content is not to evangelise about dietary restrictions”. That seems like a pretty blantant show of a need to control. If an article sells, what’s the problem? There would definitely be buyers out there looking for articles on veganism.
You also have a 3 or 4 day wait before the eds return their opinion on a piece of content you might write, and you have to go through a rather annoying process of refilling the content submission form each time you want to get it re-examined. In general for a normal bit of content I had to wait for about a month before it was approved. Pretty slow.
Interestingly all of these things don’t seem to matter when I’m dealing with a private request for content. When someone requests content from me, the editors speed the content through like I can do no wrong — because the customers can’t be kept waiting. Seems like rather a double standard, right? The eds want to feel like they are your boss. So I currently just circumvent their controllingness by only submitting content for private requests. I hate how I would feel if I were dependent on them for my income. But this way, it works for me.
So a mixed review here. On the one hand: Constant Content provides you freedom of creative expression – within limits – and is a great way of earning a living as a writer. You’re not bound by a fixed wage and are essentially an entrepreneur. On the other hand: the editors are a pain in the ass.
I’d recommend Constant Content to anyone looking for a way to get free and earn a self-directed income, and anyone who feels a calling as a writer. It’s the best way I know of to be a web writer without having to do your own marketing. It’s not a quick fix, because you’ll have to learn the ropes. But if you’re really dedicated, it can work.
I don’t recommend Constant Content as a way of earning a full living for people with short tempers like me. However, if you only respond to requests and stick to things that aren’t excessively opinionated, it can be a pretty nice side job. That’s how I use it currently, and for all my gripes with it I’m happy it’s in my life.
[I used to have an affiliate link here but Constant Content no longer pays out for affiliates. In what can be accurately described as a "despotic" move, they've effectively pissed on all the hard work of affiliates like me by stopping paying them the money they've earnt while continuing to enjoy the fruits of their efforts].
(Btw: I used to have a banner up saying “I earn my living through Constant Content”. That was slightly exaggerated, or rather – wishful thinking. I started out a couple of months intensively writing for them as my main occupation before hitting the roadblocks I mentioned. I was sure I was going to earn my living, but it didn’t end up being a livable income).
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Constant-Content sells a lot of non-original articles. Identical to articles found on associated content, ezinearticles, etc.
Type in some text from their article sample area, put it in quotes, and search in google to find the duplicates.
Non-unique articles are pretty much useless as far as search engine optimization (SEO) goes. You might as well use free articles or PLR articles.
For example, for one prolific writer: “Dr. Kr—ie”, I couldn’t find one unique article.
That’s funny, I thought the editors checked all articles on copyscape and were very strict about it…
I wonder if what you saw was a writer selling articles for multiple people (there’s an option for that)?
I’ve also sold a few articles on Constant Content, and I’m thinking of listing a few more. The content writing industry seems to be on shaky legs at the moment, so being able to list content at rates you choose may be the way to go.
There’s an option to sell articles for usage only if they’ve been posted elsewhere, although it makes them more difficult to sell.
The prolific writer mentioned above primarily sells her articles for usage rights. She sells a bunch, many multiple times, under the usage license. While you could Google those articles over and over and find tons of duplicate postings, that’s exactly what that particular license is all about. This is a part of CC’s offerings, and some writers do well selling usage only. CC also offers unique and full rights licenses with most (in my opinion/experience) customers preferring full rights licenses because they do want unique content.
Overall, Andrew’s review is fair. CC can be rewarding and it can be a pain, too. In some ways, you can do as you please but in others you have to conform. With English composition, there are so many rules and exceptions to rules and interpretations and opinions and whatnot that you absolutely can expect some back and forth with the editorial team.
My recommendation? Pick up a stylebook (such as AP Stylebook or Chicago Manual of Style) and adopt the recommended usage conventions consistently – and avoid opinionated/controversial articles.
Nice to see you here Celeste, thanks for the comment
I agree with the point about the Constant Content editors being far too controlling. Much of the content sold on CC is for website usage. However the editors apply the same picky standards that would apply to an academic thesis. Yes, they do need to apply certain standards. However I think the CC editors are far too eager to prove how indispensable they are but being overly pedantic. Is one comma out of place grounds for rejecting a piece? It is unlikely that a buyer would even notice or care. The editors in my experience are far from objective and tend to apply their own personal style and taste. I now sell my articles elsewhere. I dont have the time or inclination to bend over backwards just for some editor to reject my work based on their personal preferences. CC has too many flaws not least the 35% fee they take and the review times.
The more i read about such sites the more inclined i am to just stick to writing for my own blog, to my own tastes. It may not pay much, but at least it’s fun.
Sam Sloan above could not have articulated the problems with CC better. I can and will write about anything that interests me…and that’s alot. CC is deluded that the good writers will not conform to menial demands. Onward.
I was looking into writing for sites like CC, but now I’m not so sure I want to do it. I used to write at Suite101 and they had the same weird and overly strict rules. Granted, the articles were published on that site itself as opposed to the articles being published on sites and blogs, but I see here the same rigidity, which is of an era that is slowly fading away.
For example the rule on writing in the 3rd person – these days people are looking for personal information and experiences from a real person – and not an SEO machine like articles written for Ezinearticles and the like. And yes, people make small mistakes (wrong comma placement, etc), but is that ground for rejection?
Not to mention that even Google (Matt Cutts) mentioned in one of his videos that they PREFER articles (and blog posts) written in a personal manner with extra information, analysis and ideas injected in rather than rigid 3rd person SEO articles that teach you how to open the milk bottle, lol. They want to see real people behind blogs, and not paid ‘article writers’. I wonder when sites like CC and the link will catch on…
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Hello,
I am (or was) a new member of Constant Content. Unfortunately, they did not give me the chance to submit my first article. I was inactive for about a month (i registered on 20th of July and today is 20th of August). I wanted to log into my account in order to submit an article but this is what I’ve got after filling in my account details: “Your account has been permanently suspended. Please check your inbox for an email outlining the reason for the suspension. Thank you for contributing to Constant Content and we wish you all the best in your future endeavors.” I did not receive any email from Constant Content before or after suspension. Does anyone know why they deleted my account without saying a word? I also wrote them inquiring the same thing. I did not receive any answer yet. However, I would like to know if anyone else has had the same experience.
Thanks
Magda,
We’re on the same boat. 5 years ago, I was a member of CC. After doing all the formalities including a written exam and submission of a test article, I was accepted as a member. Actually, I was a newbie then in article writing, ‘though I have already written some for buyers. When you join them as a writer, you should not have any rejection; all of them should pass the editors. Once you have a rejected article, they will ban you permanently like what happened to me.
A week ago, I tried signing up as a new member, but they identified me as one in their list of permanently banned writers. I asked them to give me another last chance, but they won’t – as if I’m a criminal who should not be given mercy. There are existing sites like them and ‘though they’re not paying as lucrative as CC, they are more considerate like iWriter. This site gives you at least a rejection rate of 10 per cent out of your total number of accepted articles by clients.
Sam Sloan
There are people out there (like me) who would notice one misspelled word or one out-of-place comma in an article. Even if the buyer does not notice these small errors, he could potentially lose credibility in the eyes of certain readers who do catch on when a comma is misplaced or the author has written “then” instead of “than”. I have been writing for CC for a while and have had no problems with content submissions, except when my few rejections were caused by my own proofreading errors. If you are willing to let even these small mistakes slip through, then perhaps you are one of millions who should stick to writing for two cents per word.
Pretty loaded comment there CC Writer..! I think I’ll stick to blogging which is where the real money lies
I also tried to write for CC but my first article I was rejected and permanently suspended do with either grammar or punctuation. The rejection notification came after 30 minutes of submission and was a a typical run of the mill explanation that made me feel as though my article was never read.
Of course I want a detailed explanation and real conversation with someone but I am sure by the looks of some of the responses above, I will not get one. This was the first time that I tried to write for article submission outlets. I thought I would try because I love writing and have sold some articles to various places individually…and the editors were always wonderful! I like the idea of a resource to place articles and have some residue income coming in…any other resources that work?
Sophia…sorry another comment…By the life of me, I cannot make any money from my blogs..Do people really do that? I am not savvy at this. shoot.
I have been writing for CC for several years now. I do like them because I can write whatever I want and once you get a number of articles up, you keep selling over time. I ended up not writing for them for a while because my son was sick and I was focusing on client work for the immediate cash . . . yet my articles continued to sell and I kept getting payments from CC.
Their standards are very strict, but I think that’s why you can charge more for articles there. I personally get more from CC than I would for the same articles written for most clients. There is the added advantage of not having to deal with a client. However, the issues with editors can be frustrating. In most cases, they find errors that I had no idea were errors and I’ve spent a lot of time reading up on comma usage, etc. because of it. That’s actually a good thing, since it means my writing is improved. However, there have been times when I fix the requested error, resubmit and then get it back with a totally different issue, which makes me think that each editor has their own standards and that is frustrating. In cases like this, I will usually submit the article elsewhere instead of trying to fix it over and over. That being said, most of my articles go through without issue.
@ Sbrannon: This article is one of the first I read and I still think it’s a great introduction. I’m still working on it mind – I think blogging requires anything BUT a get-rich-quick mentality. There’s real money in it but only if you’re dedicated. Here’s the link: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/05/how-to-make-money-from-your-blog/
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