Associated Content Pays Half Price...
By kelly60
@kelly60 (4547)
United States
June 18, 2007 7:40pm CST
I finally gave in today and accepted an offer from Associated Content for half of what they originally promised for my article. If you read my previous post about how disappointed I have been with Associated Content, you know that I had submitted two articles toward their special offer and was supposed to get at least $8 apiece for these two articles. Once submitted, they offered me $3 for one and $3.11 for the other.
I emailed them and got no response. I edited both, changing less than two sentences in either. They then offered me the original $8 for one of them. Since the other was about an event that I had planned on attending that has since passed, they told me that since the date had already passed they could only offer me the original amount even though it was well edited.
Today I edited it to remove the dates and resubmitted it without the additional links that were required for the additional pay, and as a nonexclusive article. After all, why should I give them all of the extras for nothing. I just got an offer for $4.01 which is only half of what they had originally promised for this article, but at least it is better than the $3.11 that they were offering before, and is now nonexclusive so I can post it again elsewhere if I decide to do so.
My time and effort was worth much more than that. I am very disappointed in Associated Content and the way they have treated me. I wish that they would have at least bothered to answer me when I sent them the message. I feel that it was very unprofessional of them, but I suppose that I will probably continue to write for them anyway.
What would you have done? Would you have accepted their payment even though they had originally promised to pay you double this amount? Would you have held out this long, or just given up and accepted their original $3.11 offer after being promised $8 or more for these articles? Would you continue writing for them at all? Inquiring minds want to know!
My content page is here: http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/47194/kelly60.html if you are interested in reading my articles. I only have two published so far, but the third is processing and should be published any time now.
2 people like this
8 responses
@perrygunight (555)
• United States
19 Jun 07
I went through that with one article, accepted the low offer, and am wondering if they actually read all the articles submitted. A couple I wrote were rejected because they classified them as "op-ed submissions", but the articles weren't submitted as editorials. I resubmitted them, getting offers the second time. It's a learning process, but sometimes it seems about as logical as prices for airfare. http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/49111/alicia_suenaga.html is where you can find mine. I'll read yours now.
2 people like this
@kelly60 (4547)
• United States
20 Jun 07
I'm not sure that they even know what they are doing, I sure don't. Much of it doesn't seem to make much sense. It's late and I've been on the run all day today, so I'll look at your articles when I'm a bit more awake. Thanks for your response and for reading my articles.
@freak369 (5113)
• United States
19 Jun 07
I don't submit anything for those "contests" or "call for content" - their guidelines are way too strict and sometimes they word things so strangely that you can't make heads or tails of it. I'll stick with writing about stupid things and getting three to four dollars for them. I'm not going to invest tons of time into writing at AC if they aren't going to give it an honest read and offer me something worth it.
2 people like this
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
23 Jun 07
That is ridiculuous. I knew they were doing that months ago, but hadn't been able to do anything about it.
I really haven't felt inspired to write since they've changed the payments so much. I have like 50 articles published, but I haven't written anything for months now.
1 person likes this
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
19 Jun 07
If you are fortunate to get an offer I would be half tempted to take it. They have had a spate of declining many articles. I see how you have improved your offers and commend you for your tenacity. I too am at AC and will check you out and then subscribe to you. http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/64154/rebecca_haughn.html this is me! Happy writing!
1 person likes this
@kelly60 (4547)
• United States
20 Jun 07
I don't give up easily, and I hate to get cheated out of something that has been promised to me. I feel like I should continue to fight them, but I know that I would probably be fighting a never ending battle.
I've been on the go all day today, but I will do the same for you, probably tomorrow when I'm not so tired.
@highflyingxangel (9225)
• United States
22 Jun 07
I've gotten to the point where I've just given in to AC and their low offers. I've even talked to someone about my low offers, how they've been cut in half lately and everyone just says they don't see where I'm getting that information from, when I can clearly see how horrible payments have been lately. I just write however and accept their offers because they pay and pay consistently.
1 person likes this
@scarywhitegirl (2766)
• United States
19 Jun 07
The contests used to be a really easy way to make money on AC, but I have heard from many people that they have gotten much more difficult to actually get the money promised. They do put a lot of stipulations on the contests now, about word count, exactly how you have to submit it, quality, etc.
As for the lack of response to the E-mails, that's not entirely surprising. The admin staff there has never really been big on replying to E-mails, it seems. I think that things may have gotten worse, now.
I'm still writing occasionally for AC, but I really don't have a lot of time to churn out the type of articles they want. I just check in on my page view earnings occasionally, and then move on to other venues for making money online.
1 person likes this
@kelly60 (4547)
• United States
20 Jun 07
I probably won't be accepting too many more contests or special offers from now on, especially if there is much extra work required. For all of the time and energy I wasted on these articles, I could have written several others either for this site or another one. Any extra money helps, but I don't have the extra time to waste either.
@ArsonCuff (3114)
• United States
20 Jun 07
Today they actually seem to have stolen one of my articles...submitted as for payment/exclusive....they published it without even offering anything, so apparently they accepted it...but where's the pay?...they're not getting an exclusive interview for free! grrrr...
I would have accepted the lower amount of money, but just because I keep writing so much that the low amounts add up over time for me and I do not notice.
@ArsonCuff (3114)
• United States
20 Jun 07
I e-mailed them immediately...no response..the article is on their site and in the payment spot under my content it says Pending/confirmed
@kelly60 (4547)
• United States
20 Jun 07
I really didn't expect it to take that much longer, and with a guarantee of at least $8 for each submission, I figured it would be worth it. I had planned to write more than just the two, but after getting such low offers for the first two that I submitted, I just stopped writing entirely.
