Associated Content
@SwayingThunder (444)
United States
January 26, 2007 10:15pm CST
I know many on here are like me and sometimes write for Associated Content. I, myself, have never had a problem with them. But I just have to tell you what they did to my son-in-law. grrrrrr Matt is a rather bright young man and he's a manager and trainer for a gym. I gave him the link to associated content and he wrote a couple of great articles about fitness and stuff. He spent a very long time writing these ensuring they were totally correct. Now I repeat: he MANANGES A GYM!!! After much todo he sends these in to associated content and after a bit he gets an e-mail from them stating that the articles were much to indept for him to have written them and that until which time he states his sources he will not be paid. :-0 omg I couldn't believe it. How much more insulting could you be? Is it me or did they just send him and e-mail saying "hey buddy you're to stupid to have written these so fess up". These are the only two articles that he has written so they have nothing to base his writing style on or his knowledge. What would you do if you got an e-mail like this? I personally would send one nasty letter back to them. Matt of course is a better man than I am woman. lmao So what do you think? What should he do?
12 people like this
36 responses
@patgalca (18181)
• Orangeville, Ontario
27 Jan 07
He should email them back and say it was his mistake that he submitted well thought out, exemplar work to a below par website and that he probably should have submitted his article to Sports Illustrated.
Really, Associated Content is for amateurs so they only expect amateurish submissions. Matt should submit his work to a publication worthy of his experience and knowledge.
4 people like this
@creativedreamweaver (7297)
• United States
27 Jan 07
Well said Patgalca. That is what I was thinking also.
1 person likes this
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
27 Jan 07
I've seen a couple good writers on there. They seem to accept a lot of poor quality work though.
However, I always hear from people that AC only pays $3-$5 per article. So I guess these are the people who aren't writing good stuff.
I've gotten a few $5 offers because I tend to write about topics that don't interest a large variety of people. However, I've also gotten offers up to $15. I wouldn't consider myself the greatest writer. I write there to keep practicing and to earn a bit of extra cash.
1 person likes this
@creativedreamweaver (7297)
• United States
27 Jan 07
Wow, I am shocked. I too write for AC and have never had anything like this come up. I don't know what I would do if I came up against that situation. I think I would email them back, stating that it was my own original material, and also give them my credentials (magaging the gym, in fitness for xx years, so on), and request that they reconsider. That is if he wants the material published by them. If not, there are lots of fitness magazines out on the market, that I'm sure would want to take a look at the articles. If they are good enough for AC to question their authorship, then they would be suitable for actual paper publishing. I am just amazed. You will have to keep me posted how it all turns out. I am really curious.
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (157627)
• United States
27 Jan 07
This sounds like a great idea. He is obviously very talented. Tell him to "go get em" AC's loss should be his gain.
1 person likes this
@nufoundglory (1353)
• Serbia And Montenegro
28 Jan 07
Right! creativedreamweaver, that's a better idea to deal with this eh. It shows that he has written a far better article than average of the writers who contribute for AC did.
1 person likes this
@eventualist (819)
• Canada
6 Feb 07
I think you both should consider submitting things to Constant-Content instead. Because there, you can earn the amounts you deserve for the articles you are writing. Associated Content pays so little per article it isn't fair.
Try out http://www.constant-content.com/?aref=2932 because you get to set the prices of your articles and then they find buyers for you. The buying isn't immediate, but it's definately worth the wait. Trust me, I've made a lot of money with them, and they've always paid me out fairly, and I've sent in articles on tons of topics, some pretty indepth ones on dental subjects, and they've never questioned how I got my knowledge.
Anyway, I hope you find these people better to work with. I certainly do. Good luck with your writing. Don't give up over something as rude as an editor feeling like someone is smarter than they are.
@SwayingThunder (444)
• United States
9 Feb 07
Thank you for the link. I've given it to Matt and also bookmarked it for myself. I'm not sure they can use the articles that I've been writing so far for associated. I've mostly been writing articles on how to do your own faux finish painting. I'm trying to find a site that will take my photos (like the one next to my name) and sell them for me.
@eventualist (819)
• Canada
9 Feb 07
I hope that you are able to find success at Constant Content, because I still feel that what AC did to him isn't nice at all, just because some people aren't smart enough to write articles themselves doesn't mean that other people can't do it. It's like when my former employer treated my sister unfairly, I quit too, because I don't stand for things like that.
Anyway, if you ever have any questions about the site, just ask me and I'll do my best to help you. I've been with the site a while now and haven't had any problems with them, so I trust them a lot to be fair with people that are working with them.
Best of luck to the both of you with your writing!
@eventualist (819)
• Canada
9 Feb 07
Oh, and by the way, they don't sell images at that site, but you can include images in your articles, if they are related. I've found that adding images to my tutorials have helped them to sell, so if you have images that may benefit your articles, you should be able to add them as well when you submit them :)
There's a place in the form to mark if your article has images and to upload them.
@faylinn_chaeli (1619)
• Philippines
28 Jan 07
Well, it is really not a good response from associated content. Instead of liking the article they thought that it was written by someone else or the author is not capable of writing such stuff. It's so cruel of them. Maybe he should answer back to the response because they have no right to accuse any person.
2 people like this
@dreamtimewriter (24)
• United States
28 Jan 07
Tell him to give himself a pat on the back and go grab a copy of a writers market publication so he can start submitting his fine work to magazines that will pay him better than a site like associated content.
Be happy for him getting that rejection from the site is just confirmation that he just may have what it takes to play with the big boys!
2 people like this
@SwayingThunder (444)
• United States
29 Jan 07
I have to agree fully with you dreamtimewriter. :-) I've had Matt read all of your responses and he says "Thanks". I also think he could write for a much higher class of magazines. It's associated contents loss for sure.
@themooster (74)
•
1 Feb 07
That's dreadful. It's not the first bad thing I've heard about this site. I don't write for it as I'm not allowed - I'm from the UK. I write for Constant-Content instead and to date have earned over $500 from them. They are good payers (always on time) and I have done well with them. It's a long term earner for me.
@SwayingThunder (444)
• United States
1 Feb 07
It usually takes about 5 business days for them to make you an offer. After you accept the offer it's 1-5 more days till they pay you. :-)
@aimee750 (1116)
• United States
27 Jan 07
I have never had that happen to me. I have always had good luck with the articles I have submitted. However, I am not very happy about the referral program. You are suppossed to get $3 per referral after they sign up and publish. They say they will pay at the beginning of the month following the qualifying referrals. But it is Jan 26th and I have yet to see payment for my qualifying referrals. And they are listed as completed referrals in December on the AC site. I worked very hard to promote this site in December and had several people sign up but only a few that qualified by publishing. So why am I not being paid? It is very irritating.
Good luck to your son, it's really sad that they did that to him.
1 person likes this
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
27 Jan 07
I've been paid for a few referrals, but not most. It seems like what happens is this: they'll list everyone who attempts to publish. But only pay you if their article really is published.
I found this out when I referred someone and they weren't accepted. They submitted an article, it said one published as soon as they submitted, on my side. On their side, it showed the article was declined. So I didn't get $3.
That doesn't upset me much as I don't care about referrals too much. But here's something... they said that if you write 3 articles in December, because most people won't write then, you get an extra $10. I wrote more than 3 articles and they were supposed to send that $10 out the beginning of January. They never did so far.
1 person likes this
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
27 Jan 07
Wow! I write for them too and I've written a lot of technical articles that don't have sources because they are from my experience.
I could understand if he's spouting off statistics or something, but wow! They even have you list your qualifications on there, so they should be able to look at that.
I'd write them back and explain that the articles weren't plagiarized, they can take it or leave it.
1 person likes this
@jeanettr (60)
• United States
27 Jan 07
I think he should send them an email explaining what his occupation and experience is. Then ask them what proof he needs to provide. If they respond back in a non proactive tone, then maybe it is best to stop writing for them. I would think they would appreciate someone who has expertise in an particular area that would be beneficial for the rest of us. Good luck.
1 person likes this
@sineen1981 (339)
• United States
27 Jan 07
There is a software available called Turn It In that all teachers and professors use in my college. It is a software that scans the entire internet and so many other sources for even a sentence that may be similar to another one. If they cannot find any discrepancies in his article, then they have no grownds as to send a letter to him such as that! Im sure if they are going to be reading so many articles, they would know about this particular program!
1 person likes this
@SageMother (2277)
• United States
10 Feb 07
NOw,
There are only somany variationson the same theme. Seems a little silly to look for similarities in that fashion a a way to determine whether a piece has been plagarized.
@hcromer (2710)
• United States
1 Feb 07
I wouldn't send a hateful e-mail back to them. It is like writing a paper in college, if something is not considered "common knowledge" then you need to state a source. Since he is a gym manager he knows more than the average person on fitness topics. He should probably reply to them and explain to them his situation. If they still didn't accept it, he should try to sell his writing to some other site or a magazine.
1 person likes this
@ScrappinHappyMom (914)
• United States
27 Jan 07
Well I am going out a on a limb here but, maybe what they are referring to is his documented source for his basis of knowledge. When you are writing an article of opinion or general information it is very different that writing a health related article. For instance if he states that it is healthy for a young woman to workout four hours a day on 1500 calories (not that he did it is just an example) he has to be able to support that with documented research from approved studies or articles or the publishers of such article could be held liable if some was to get hurt. I have never written a article or book but I did spend many years in the college textbook industry as a typesetter one of the biggest things that editors and authors go back and forth on is making sure sources are properly documented.
1 person likes this
@highflyingxangel (9225)
• United States
27 Jan 07
I also agree with this statement. You have to watch documenting certain things because of how often the things change and how often people misquote those things. It could be a number of reasons why they did not offer pay.
1 person likes this
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
3 Feb 07
He should submit them to somewhere else and forget about the peopple who don't want his articles or he could send them a letter explaining his qualifications.
Were the articles related to his work? I don't know what associated content is
1 person likes this
@SwayingThunder (444)
• United States
3 Feb 07
Yes the articles were related to his work. He's the manager of a gym and the articles were on working out and stuff. Associate Content is a site that pays you for writing articles, reviews, etc.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/join.html?refer=35510
It's a pretty cool site and I've never had a problem with them. I guess that's why I was so stunned when they sent those e-mails to Matt.
@NucknFutz (180)
• United States
27 Jan 07
I think it is of course an insult to be put down like that. I have ha dmy fair share in my day. People think my writing is often plagiarised, however, it is not. I write differently than most 16 year old males, and wether positively or negatively, it is recognized. Matt should respond to them, but not with a nasty letter. Keep the niceties, and calmly exclaim the fact that he IS the owner of a gym, and put a lot of hard work and research into the articles. If at all possible, send the resources he used to write it, as well.
1 person likes this
@SwayingThunder (444)
• United States
27 Jan 07
Matt was much nicer than what I would have been for sure. lol Also he's not the owner of the gym just a manager of it. :-) Thanks for the response.
@mkirby624 (1598)
• United States
28 Jan 07
I would send them an email back describing, in detail, his time of employment at this gym. That she be enough of a source!
I hate that, these days, people think that no one could possibly have an original thought...we all need sources to create an intelligent document. It's stupid, really.
1 person likes this
@vanities (11395)
• Davao, Philippines
28 Jan 07
well he must prove to himself and to them that hes the only source or the original of the article he had written..and how can he prove that.?? maybe he could start by explaining to them who he was and he's current job.. at least its somewhat related to the article hes been writing about...
1 person likes this
@Wanderlaugh (1622)
• Australia
28 Jan 07
Yeah, AC have some interesting emails. I sent them an email saying I'm not a US citizen, do I get paid if I write on AC?
"No, but you can contribute for nothing."
Brilliant, isn't it? Here we have people like that trying to figure out someone's intelligence, based on what they do for a living.
AC is apparently comprised of people who don't even read their own communications. Tell your son-in-law to try Helium for his stuff. We're all writers, so at least he'll get a bit of empathy.
@BDnLacy (324)
• United States
28 Jan 07
I think I would tell them to "bite me". BUT! That would not solve anything. So I would suppose providing some credentials as to his exspertise, may do it. But The first thing I would do is to ensure they did not publish the articles until the matter was cleared up.
1 person likes this
@ManiMingi (46)
• India
28 Jan 07
gr8 ur son in lae is a genius what i think as while working he is also making some money
1 person likes this
@the_dreamer2005 (1175)
• United States
29 Jan 07
Wow...that's crazy! I've written for them and I've also never had an e-mail like that. I agree, without them saying it outright-it does seem like they are saying along the lines of too stupid to have written the articles. I can understand why you'd be upset. The only thing I'd suggest is him explaining he manages a gym. Maybe even give the number of the place to verify. Or go somewhere else with the articles. But no matter what he decides, that's awfully offensive.
1 person likes this
