A New Low at Associated Content

United States
April 6, 2007 1:08pm CST
I've been a CP for Associated Content for several years- in fact I was one of the first 50 CP's. I've always received decent offers- some better than others- but today I received an insulting one: $4.24. Are they kidding? The worst part is, there were no comments as to why it was so low. I realize they recently instituted their bonus program, but that doesn't justify giving good CP's crummy offers like that. I am starting to see a ton of poor content on AC- everyone thinks they're a writer! If you're a CP, what was your lowest offer? Did you accept it or decline?
2 people like this
10 responses
• United States
7 Apr 07
I accepted an offer once for $3 for a non-exclusive piece that had limited appeal outside of my geographical area, but I do agree that some of the offers since they instituted the bonus program have been down right insulting. And, if they will publish it, I just submitted an editorial on the idea that everyone thinks they can write. I find the idea that anyone with a keyboard can turn in an article a little insulting to those of us who worked, trained and sweated our way to becoming writers. I know it shows in the quality of the things you produce, but I'm not sure it shows up in the money you are offered.
4 people like this
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
7 Apr 07
I kind of think that it does. I've noticed that a lot of people say they average $5 an article. I usually average $8-$10. So I think quality still matters, but I wish it mattered a little bit more.
3 people like this
• United States
7 Apr 07
I hope they publish your editorial, moonshadow- I'd love to read it. I completely agree with you- there are many people calling themselves "writers" just because they can get an article published on a site like AC.
1 person likes this
• United States
8 Apr 07
I'm looking forward to reading that one. I do wonder how many of those bad articles have been submitted for no pay, not that I think readers should have access to the information about whether or not the author has been paid.
2 people like this
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
7 Apr 07
My lowest ever was $3. I guess that you can't write a review of a single restaurant, so they said it was a strong review but they normally wouldn't even pay for it. So I accepted anyway, but never reviewed restaurants again. I've been a CP for a couple years now, I don't really notice that offers have gone down. But I do notice that a lot of the quality has really gone down. I kind of wonder why they even pay some people on there. I fully admit I do not proofread my articles, but some of the mistakes I see... wow!
3 people like this
@tambdy (1967)
8 Apr 07
I joined associated contents not realising it was only open to people who were in the states, i spend six hours writing an article on the war in iraq to say it was accepted but it could not offer me money as i am in the Uk. I was thinking about joining and saying i was in the united states to see if they pay at all, they probally have alot of members in the UK but they dont know it.
• United States
8 Apr 07
I was getting about $6.50 an article until the new Page-View bonus came up and now I have been getting a lot of $3-$4 dollar offers. I have been accepting them because I am not going to turn down extra cash. I know some people that can't afford not to accept them, and are really working hard to try and increase their ROI (Return on Investment). That's why AC implemented the new PV bonus and lowered the original offers as far as I can tell. They want people to promote their own work and increase their page views before submitted countless more articles. IF anyone is interested I would love to reciprocate page views, rates, and comments. Please message me if you would like to exchange CP page links and do the same. We all have to help one another.
@JC1969 (1224)
• United States
7 Apr 07
I've also been submitting articles to Associated Content for over a year now. In the early days at Associated, I never received an offer below $12.00 for articles between 300-500wd articles. Now, they have the 400wd at least policy, and the payment offers are awful. I will not accept a payment below $10.00 for a 400wd article. I am sorry if we don't demand the quality pay for our writing then we allow them to treat us like many clients on bidding sites do. The bidding sites are awful lately, and you can barely find a client willing to pay you more than $1 per 400wd article--that lowballing at it's best. If Associated Content doesn't wake up, they will be left with all the people willing to accept lowball pay and we know with that will come a decrease in quality standards. I will not accept a crummy offer. When they do that, I take my article to Constant-Content and post it there. I've, in many cases, made more with the same article that AC lowballed.
@freak369 (5113)
• United States
6 Apr 07
I just started out with AC so I have only had three that I have been paid for. Nothing major, just an average of five dollars for them. They declined on eof them saying they don't pay for short stories which it wasn't LOL. If it is less than four dollars I won't take it. That is the cut off level I set for myself.
3 people like this
@ArsonCuff (3114)
• United States
7 Apr 07
movie review before they quit accepting them involving dvd releases were netting me from 3.12 to 4.50. I get articles from 4-6 bucks all the time and I accept everything. Usually my articles are non-exclusive, though my series on Universal Studios as a exclusive has netted me higher bucks. I am sort of new to the site and am still testing my own methods on there. However, as far as qualoty of what is ending up on the site, I agree there is some strange stuff being let through. Heck a couple of mine had typos in them which was annoying to read and one article in which I had not made a subheadline they made it for me and THAT had a typo in it. ha ha
2 people like this
@AnythngArt (3302)
• United States
7 Apr 07
The lowest amount I was ever offered was $4.12, although they have outright rejected two of my articles. I'm not sure how much lower than $4 I would accept, especially if I had put some real time and effort into it. I try to make my Associated Content articles good because I know that they go under my real name, and I want them to be a good picture of my true writing skills. I recently did the special offer for product reviews, and I was hesitant to do them because my other articles are, for the most part, more serious. It's hard to look aside from the special offers nowadays with the low offers they've been making. I definitely noticed a difference in the offers I've received since the change in calculation took place.
• United States
8 Apr 07
I've only been with AC for a couple months, but I noticed before joining that there were articles with typos galore. The first one I had published is the most popular, and their offers have all been pretty low. I'm writing short articles and making them non-exclusive, so that has something to do with it. I've been hearing other complaints about their ridiculously low offers, though. I hope it doesn't turn into a place where the only people who will bother writing are the ones with no talent. We need to recruit more good writers.
1 person likes this
• United States
7 Apr 07
I have only been on ac for a short time and i know that i am not a true writer, however some of us are using ac to get practice so we can learn. I appreciate that there are real writers out there and i am one that will read and take notes as to try to get better. I could also see that it would be insulting to receive a low offer like that after having great ones that you are used to, i however have only had one great offer which was on an interview i did with serial killer David Gore's son. which was a 12 and change offer; most of what i get are between 3 and 5 dollars. i am happy to accept them as well though because i know it is practice for something better. I'm sorry you feel so badly about those of us who are learning though. think of us as the little brother or sister who is looking up to you for guidance, so we can be as great as you one day. Thanks becca www.associatedcontent.com/user/54674/rebecca.html
1 person likes this