How far in advance do you submit articles for the holidays?

Hey, I am so tired of those Halloween articles, reading about Thanksgiving would make me jump for joy! Luckily I like Christmas a lot better than any other holiday. I have a feeling the Christmas articles will start hitting AC sooner than the stores can stock decorations. LOL

I noticed that the woman who wrote an article about how she made $500+ in one month for page views about Halloween (Jennifer C) has just been putting some Halloween articles up today. Maybe the key isn't getting things up too early. Really, besides AC writers, is anyone thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas yet?

I'm still dwelling in the world of autumn leaves and apple orchards. Silly of me, I know.

thanks for the br...are you kidding...for me it's one holiday at a time..so right now I'm only beginning to think of Halloween--but certainly NOT in July or August..LOL

I think the secret is get them up soon enough for the search engines to index them and be ready for the 'search' people. Personally I'm always running way behind and miss the opportunities. Also am getting sick of the Holloween stuff, way over-board if you ask me!

I guess you make a valid point (particularly for a Queen Procrastinator like myself) that I might want to get a jump on the holiday articles and keep them at the ready for a relevant time.......nah.

I like that you chose more interesting topics than another article on Halloween costumes. There are so many articles about costumes that now people are writing compilation articles: the best articles on teen costumes, for example. Whew.

I am not very good at writing on demand either. I did two articles that way recently, and it made me so stressed out and the second one (which I thought was some of my best writing) was off topic, so now I am sure they are going to reject it. Who said writing was easy?

I like your last suggestion about fall and winter as general seasons. I think that too many people tend to jump on the holiday bandwagon, and unless you've got a really unique twist on the topic, you will be lost in a sea of Halloween costumes, for example!

If you want some title suggestions pull up some of my articles from last year on ac. I used a lot of fall and winter articles. Be sure to make them specific or AC will not pay you for them. I guess that's just the way they are.

Yes, they have rejected or downgraded my articles for being too vague or not specific enough. Sometimes it's hard to find the niche for my ideas. I guess I haven't quite mastered what they want or managed to meld my writing with their expectations. Still working on that....

Don't feel bad. I think everyone has that problem with AC. They have become really picky and they are losing a lot of good writers. I'm not sure what they are trying to do, but it must be backfiring with the bad stuff I am reading in the forums.

Those sound like good timelines. I recently accepted two writing assignments from Associated Content, and it just about drove me crazy getting them done on time. I am not good under pressure. I just stressed myself out. I think I can look at the assignments, but I have to put them to my own deadlines, not those of AC to maintain my sanity.

Good luck with your writing.

Let me guess...the formula is top secret?

Hope your writing score perks up soon!

Well now, if I gave away all my tricks I would have to come up with new ones now wouldn't I?

Oh, I bet you've got plenty more tricks up your sleeve!

I am going to need them too! My score keeps dropping! I finally have my computer back up and running but there is not enough time left in the month to get my thrid star back:-(

Sorry to hear about your star problem. I ended up with 4 (not 5) rating stars and with $20 and change, so no cash out. Not a good month for me on Helium. Hoping to make this one better!

I hear that you only need 10% of articles in competitive titles now so that should help. I just have to get in there and get busy.

Of course, you make an excellent point. Maybe what I need to do is to write them when I am feeling seasonal, then hang on to them for the following year and roll them out at the appropriate time. I could probably write about Christmas any time of the year because it's my favorite holiday. The others seem harder to write "out of season."

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that individuals not in the US do write for AC, but they cannot receive upfront payment, so they only receive payment for page views. A MyLotter from Singapore writes for them, so it does work as long as you can receive PayPal and verify your account information. Still, I am sure there are much more lucrative places to write than that. Just saying....

I've tried doing it the way you suggest, but never yet remembered to submit any of it at the right time.

Thanks for the tips about AC. I may go there one day, but at present I'm with Helium and Constant Content, the latter being the most lucrative of all.