New Year, New Changes!
Posted Jan 8th 2010 at 4:05PM
by Kristi Anderson (subscribe to Kristi Anderson's posts)
Filed Under: Process
Happy New Year! We hope this finds you happy and healthy as we head into 2010.
We're thrilled so many of you have signed up so quickly after our December beta launch. As early adopters, you've provided integral feedback and suggestions – and we're listening. You'll soon see some changes you've specifically asked for in coming weeks. We've got a lot of enhancements planned, so thanks in advance for your patience as we work to implement them.
Our main priority in 2010 is to provide professional creators like you with a place to submit quality content. To us, it's simply about connecting community to content.
To support this, we're implementing one change that will result in more successful content placement for you. For now, we are removing the open submission option. You've mentioned multiple issues with this option, including low success rates in matching your original content to our sites, and mixed opinions about the earnings share model.
We agree. We think it's best to build our relationship with you based first on our known universe of editors' article requests. This will allow you to effectively match your voice and interests to our existing opportunities to express them. It also lets you familiarize yourself with our properties and their editorial focus.
Next, we'll re-work the open submission process to serve as a forum for our editors to have direct dialogue with you in real time. They will be able to issue requests for content based on immediate needs such as breaking or local news, and you will be able to pitch and propose content ideas targeted to specific AOL sites. No more guesswork on your end, or time invested in creating and submitting content that's not a good match. Best of all, this new process will allow you to establish relationships with our editors that may pave the way for additional assignments. We'll be sure to keep you posted on when the new and improved open submissions section of SEED re-opens.
We hope you agree with this new direction, and use this time as an opportunity to submit articles based on our current requests. As with any new relationship, let's get to know each other first, and then branch out from there.
We also have more good news:
We're thrilled so many of you have signed up so quickly after our December beta launch. As early adopters, you've provided integral feedback and suggestions – and we're listening. You'll soon see some changes you've specifically asked for in coming weeks. We've got a lot of enhancements planned, so thanks in advance for your patience as we work to implement them.
Our main priority in 2010 is to provide professional creators like you with a place to submit quality content. To us, it's simply about connecting community to content.
To support this, we're implementing one change that will result in more successful content placement for you. For now, we are removing the open submission option. You've mentioned multiple issues with this option, including low success rates in matching your original content to our sites, and mixed opinions about the earnings share model.
We agree. We think it's best to build our relationship with you based first on our known universe of editors' article requests. This will allow you to effectively match your voice and interests to our existing opportunities to express them. It also lets you familiarize yourself with our properties and their editorial focus.
Next, we'll re-work the open submission process to serve as a forum for our editors to have direct dialogue with you in real time. They will be able to issue requests for content based on immediate needs such as breaking or local news, and you will be able to pitch and propose content ideas targeted to specific AOL sites. No more guesswork on your end, or time invested in creating and submitting content that's not a good match. Best of all, this new process will allow you to establish relationships with our editors that may pave the way for additional assignments. We'll be sure to keep you posted on when the new and improved open submissions section of SEED re-opens.
We hope you agree with this new direction, and use this time as an opportunity to submit articles based on our current requests. As with any new relationship, let's get to know each other first, and then branch out from there.
We also have more good news:
- No more disappearing articles!: By the end of today, any articles that we don't select to purchase will remain on your dashboard under Completed Work until you choose to remove them, allowing you to copy them to your personal files. To check the status of your article, click the title and the status will indicate 'Not Accepted' for non-purchased articles. You'll also be provided with an option to remove the article. We know that some of you compose directly in SEED, and as writers ourselves, we understand the importance of being able to save this work and potentially use it in other formats at a future time. We were able to expedite this change based on your initial feedback. (TIP: To ensure you never lose your work, we recommend you make a habit of saving a copy of your article to your desktop files.)
- Assignment sorting: Also in effect by end of day, you will be able to sort assignments by photos or text. This option is displayed as two checkboxes at the top of the assignment queue, and they default to list both types of assignments. Simply click what you want to see (text or photos), and only those options will display.
Reader Comments
(page 2 of 2)What is meant by source an expert ? If I am a trainer of dogs can I not consider myself the expert?
Ann, that does not make sense that you got money for no accepts, and you were viewed 2000 times so its a good question to ask!
I'm curious about the "open submissions". Is that something that will be coming back in some form? The reason I ask, I have worked with 2 different building contractors in the recent past in a management position. I simply couldn't do it anymore because of the "used car salesman" feeling it gave me.
I would like to share tips and things that contractors do to make more money or to cut costs that people should know about.
I have written my assignment but haven't been able to figure out how to submit it.
To whom? E-mail? How? What?
How many articles does Seed buy per topic?
Well I had one rejected about getting matts out of cat fur. I'm a groomer but I received their "does not fit" message. Do they know more about grooming than I do ?
I think Seed.com should disclose how many write for each assignment, how many are accepted for upfront pay or possible rev shares, an approximation, please. I think you may be wasting a lot of good writers' time. You really need to disclose what their odds are here. I'm going to write to Tory Jonson, CEO of Women For Hire and regular on abc'c Good Morning America. She highly recommended you around 1-16-10. I have talked with several good writers that have had many articles rejected even when following guidelines. I would like to expose the truth here so qualified people can take their talent elsewhere. Where are success testimonials?
Hi Marie,
Your question is perfectly timed. We've got a blog post going up about this over at the Seed Blog (http://blog.seed.com) in the next couple of days that will answer these questions.
But for now, I can tell you that we are only assigning pieces that have flat-fee (up-front) payments (we're not utilizing the rev share model at this time) -- so, that's good news, to start.
We're also developing a spotlight feature both for our blog and in an upcoming weekly e-newsletter, and its exact purpose is to highlight our Seed creators and their published work.
Stay tuned, and thanks for your questions and feedback. We truly are taking steps to refine our assignment model so that as many Seed creators can experience as much success as possible.
Best,
Kristi Anderson
Community Director
Can someone please explain how the editors can possibly review all the submissions they receive? Or is there really a cut-off as to how many can be taken by writers? Granted I am bitter at this moment because I have had a few 'article not chosen' and for the life of me cannot understand why....someone give me some positive reinforcement? Positive energy....? Insight to how editors can possibly read 1,000 submissions?
Sarah