Associated Content Producers Spotlight

I have a problem with AC’s Assignments or as they were more formally known, C4Cs”  My problem is that I feel pressured to claim them; especially when I see a topic that is even the slightest bit interesting to me.  For a while I didn’t even bother looking at the assignments available.

I used to think of assignments as way to keep ideas coming for those times when no ideas come at all.  Now I consider the whole thing one big pressure cooker.

What usually happens is I scan through the listing of assignments (or C4Cs) and if a title catches my eye I read the rest of the information.  Inevitably I see how much time is left to write and submit the article and it’s all downhill from there.

If there is a week or more left on the due date then I instantly feel pressured to claim the assignment because if I don’t it will be snagged up by someone else.  And for sure that will be THE one that could possibly skyrocket me to AC fame!

If there’s only a couple of days left to claim the assignment, or worse only one day, then I am almost certain to compulsively claim the assignment.  Again, my brain is convinced that there will be dire consequences if I do not claim the assignment before someone else does.

What really gets my goat is that after I claim the assignment I start thinking rationally about the topic and realize I am either really not interested in the topic or don’t know as much about the topic as I thought I did.

Of course releasing the claim is a whole other bag of guilt bombs what with the warning pop-up and everything.

I did it again this week.  I claimed 2 assignments that I was surely positive, positively sure that I could write 2 really good articles.  Now after attempting a few times to actually write the articles Irealized I have no desire to write about the topic at all.  I chickened out and released the calls.  And yes I feel guilty about it.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Wow it’s been a really long time since I”ve posted to this blog.  That sucks and I do apologize for my obvious laziness.   Anywho…

If you belong to Associated Content then you should have received an email today that announced one writer will be getting $500.  Why?  Because there’s a special content drive going on.  Only articles submitted as display only will be eligible to win excluding poetry, prose and fiction.  Entries must have 400 words and follow normal submission guidelines.  There’s only 4 days left though because the content drive ends February 28,  11:59 Eastern time.  It didn’t specify though if that’s AM or PM.  Official rules can be found HERE.

I have recently been having a problem with a leaky faucet. Today I had no water in my kitchen.  If I had given my husband one of the following articles a few months ago, the problem might have been solved before now.

Check out these plumbing articles.

How To Fix a Leaking Faucet
Guide to Plumbing Emergencies
How to Install a Self-filtering Faucet
How to Install a Kitchen Faucet
Replacing a Worn or Damaged Seal in a Faucet

If you haven’t made your way over to E’s ning site then you really should.  His mudpit is rumored to be Mudpit.

One last thing.  Some of us are really having a great time on Facebook.  If you’re looking for another way to hang out with CPs then go sign up at facebook.  You can find my profile here and AC’s groups here and here.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Last week I had the pleasure of talking with Associated Content’s Public Relations Manager AC_Laura.  Our phone call was supposed to be an audio interview but due to my inadequacies with recording equipment I wasn’t able to capture Laura’s voice.  She was so kind though to answer my questions through email.

She tells me that the photo she gave me to post isn’t “professional” but it doesn’t really matter, she’s still adorable.  Here’s a look at our AC_Laura.

Me: The content producers haven’t had much of a chance to get to know you so can you tell us one very specific thing about yourself that you think the content producer’s should know?

Laura:  I’m always looking for interesting stories to share with the outside world. One of the things that makesAssociated Content a great place is the huge number of Content Producers with amazing personal stories. I’d love to get the word out about those people and groups. Please contact me anytime you come across something that strikes you as noteworthy and worth sharing.

Me: How old are you?

26. I’ll be 27 in January.

Me: Did you move to New York to work for AC or were you already a resident of the Big Apple?

Laura: I moved to NYC in 2004 for my first job (as a publicist at a book publisher) after 4 month post-graduation stint at a dude ranch in Wyoming. I grew up in Pennsylvania and now I live in Brooklyn.

Me: Are you a college graduate?  If so what did kind of degrees do you have?

Laura: I graduated from the University of Richmond in 2004 with a BA in History & a minor in Religious Studies. My concentration was in Eastern European history.

Me: Tell us one of your most embarrassing moments.

Laura: There are many. My most recent embarrassing moment was when fell flat on my face walking across a busy intersection two weeks ago. It was raining and my shoes were slippery and my stuff went flying everywhere. People asked if I was ok (which was surprising, considering that this is NYC and you’d expect them to step over you and be annoyed that you got in their way) but I know everyone else was laughing at me since it was a cartoon-style pratfall.

Me: Are you married?  Got kids?

Laura: Not married, and no kids or pets. I wish I could have a dog but my schedule is not pet-friendly and I even have trouble keeping plants alive. Someday I’ll live somewhere with a lawn and space for a puppy (and kids).

Me: What’s your favorite genre of books to read?

Laura: I love fiction, especially historical and magical realist. I like nonfiction if it has a narrative that reads like a novel and I’m in a book club that is reading entirely post-apocalyptic fiction which is awesome, if a little scary. The best books I’ve read recently are The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz andLiberation: Being the Adventures of the Slick Six After the Collapse of the United States of America by Brian Francis Slattery.

Me: What kind of music do you listen to in the car?

Laura: I don’t own a car but my iPod on the subway features a lot of classic rock with a healthy serving of pop music. I especially like The Black Crowes, the Cold War Kids and will happily own up to loving 80’s and 90’s pop music.

Me: What kind of personality do you have?  Are you bossy, happy go lucky, mean, driven etc?

Laura: I just took an informal survey of my coworkers Darnell and Brenna (we all sit in the same area) and they both said “bubbly,” so I’ll go with that.  I’d also add blunt, social, motivated and a little sarcastic.

Me: What moment in your life are you most proud of?

Laura: Getting a book onto the New York Times Bestseller List. And getting my own apartment without having to ask my parents for help.

Me:  Is working for AC your dream job?

Laura: Yes, it’s awesome. My coworkers are a real inspiration to me. Every one of them is smart and dedicated to making Associated Content the best it can be.  The community of Content Producers and AC’s story in general are so unique and exciting that I want to spread the word about them because I think it is a story worth sharing, so it makes my job easy.

Me: Were you drawn to the written word all of your life?

Laura: Absolutely, I’ve been an avid reader since I was little. I remember reading my first chapter book (which I still own) in the back of the family van on the way through a national park.

Me: What made you decide to start up AC’s blog again?

Laura: It was one of my goals when I started here to revive the blog and make it a part of the Associated Content experience. The blog has always been of great interest to AC but it was difficult to maintain consistently without a dedicated blogger.  I get help from other departments because maintaining a blog is hard work. I hadn’t tried blogging before this and I have tons of respect for bloggers now.

Me: What do you hope to accomplish with AC’s blog?

Laura: The purpose of the blog is to keep CPs abreast of developments at the company, to highlight exceptional CPs and content on the site, to address events and developments in the world that affect the AC community and to be a public-facing platform and voice for all things AC. How am I doing?

Me: Do you think we’ll ever see any posts by guest bloggers, specifically from the top content producers?

Laura: That’s a great idea! Yes. Would you like to write one soon? If anyone is interested, please message me. I’m AC_Laura.

Me: If this were your last day on earth what would be your one final statement to the content producers?

Laura: Success in the Web 2.0 world is all about self-promotion. Drop your modesty and get out there and get your story heard!

Thanks you Laura for an enlightening conversation and a great interview!

You can visit AC_Laura’s AC page here.

Popularity: 18% [?]

With the economy being in the crapper everyone is looking to scrape together extra money for the upcoming holiday season. Here are some content producers that have found ways to make money online and have written articles about it.

Princess G. has been a content producer for 2 years now and she has an extensive library of making money online tips.

Check out her article, Make Money Selling Art Trade Card Supplies.

Excerpt:

“You can make money by selling needed supplies to art trading card makers and artists. Many artists are willing to buy pre-cut watercolor paper, card holders, pens and inks, colored pencils, paints, collage papers and tons of other types of supplies used in making art trading cards.”

Melanie Marten has had amazing success writing for Associated Content. She has over 1 million page views with nearly 900 articles published. She has written some fantastic content on how to make money online.

Check out here article, Make Money Selling Homeschool Lesson Plans Online.

Excerpt:

“With the hundreds of homeschool websites on the internet, you will find many places to advertise your homeschool lesson plans. Start by creating a basic website with your lesson plans for sale listed. You could also sell them on eBay or homeschooling classified sites. Offering one free lesson plan for potential customers to examine is a great idea. It will let the homeschooling parents know that your lesson plans are worth the money.”

SophieLC is a single mom from Galway who has worked hard to build an online business.

Check out her article, Make Money Online Monetizing Blogs: I Cracked the Code.

Excerpt

“Doing an online search for money-making opportunities will bring up on your computer screen millions of blogs and websites, all promising to give you the ultimate solution to you current money problems”

Timothy Frazier has been a content producer for quite a while. He has a wide variety of articles on all kinds of topics.

Check out his article, Blogging for Money.

Excerpt:

“It’s certainly not time for me to quit my day job and become a full time writer, but if the trend continues as it is that day will eventually come for me, and a lot faster than I first thought.”

Tammy Forner has written 6 articles since she became a content producer and from the looks of her topics has much success coming to her.

Check out her article, Be a Successful Work at Home Mom and Make Money Online.

Excerpt:

“Anyone who wants to be a work at home mom and make money online by blogging needs to realize that both methods for making money blogging are legitimate, but are not for those that think this will be a way to get rich quick. Although blogging can be fun at times, it is work.”

Melanie Winters is a stay at home mom who has been writing for Associated Content for over 2 years. She may only have 19 articles in her library but she’s made it to clout 5.

Check out her article, How-To Earn Money for the Holidays.

Excerpt:

“you do not need to be an upgraded member of a site in order to add an additional stream of income to your checkbook. I will highlight the ones that will pay off if you upgrade on them, but again, it is not necessary to do so! Also, the programs that I recommend do not require you to purchase anything or take a trial test drive of any product that might cost you money”

Kristie Leong is one of AC’s Top 1000. She’s written over 1,400 article and is quickly nearing a million page views.

Check out her article, How to Make Money Photographing Food.

Excerpt:

“Wouldn’t it be great if you could earn income from something you enjoy? If you’re good with a camera and you enjoy good food, you can combine your two passions into a potentially lucrative business.”

Naomi Kent is fairly new to AC but she’s already well on her way.

Check out her article. Work Online – 5 Ways to Earn a Living on the Internet.

Excerpt:

“The good news is, you’ll be doing what you like to do on your own terms, so it doesn’t always feel like work. Persevere, and you will soon be reaping the benefits from making your own hours and being your own boss.”

Popularity: 20% [?]

With no announcement or warning, Associated Content started compensating their contributors for articles distributed via their web site partnership arrangements. We don’t have any official word so the following is early-observation conjecture.

Background
First, you have to know when submitting an article to AC, the author has several choices, one of which is “Distribution: Would you like to make this content eligible for distribution with approved AC partners?” This selection is only available under a couple of conditions:

1. The article must NOT be previously published.
2. If submitted as “Exclusive,” it is automatically eligible for Distribution consideration.
3. If submitted as “Non-Exclusive,” you have a choice in Distribution consideration.

Keep in mind, even non-exclusive submission are going to experience a publishing delay as a content manager must review them.

Distribution Payments
AC has been trying for a long time to figure out a decent way to compensate their contributors for articles sold to other sites. Since it is virtually impossible to track the amount of traffic these articles receive on the partner sites, it looks like AC has fallen back on a simple one-time payment for such articles. Reportedly, it is a $2.00 flat payment. At least, that is what the early returns are showing.

At this point, we don’t know if the payments may vary by partner or if AC is marching forward on some sort of traffic-based compensation from the partners. There has been no official announcement from AC about this new policy. Were all just guessing and hoping. The good news is, AC seems dedicated to finding new ways to fairly compensate their authors.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Dust off your keyboard and clear your schedule, Associated Content is giving away $5,000. If you write the winning article that is. For one day only, Associated Content will host the ultimate Call For Content contest and accept submissions from registered content producers for a chance to win some big bucks.

On June 3rd AC writers will have from 9am to midnight (Eastern Standard Time) to submit their entry. The C4C contest is open to all United States residents who are over the age of 18.

Associated Content has already announced the theme of the contest. This is what the announcement has to say regarding the topic: “ With a theme of “What’s Next?” appropriate to Internet Week, here is the assignment:

Pick any topic or subject you have enthusiasm or expertise in. Then, project ahead to next year, and explain — in a text article, video or audio clip — why that topic will be relevant to online consumers who search for content related to whatever their interests might be.

The topic can be a person, a destination, an event, a technology, a trend, even a “how-to”—any unique topic you think will break through with people in a new way in the next year. Text submissions are limited to 400-500 words. (Video and audio must not be longer than 2 minutes.)”

Official Contest Announcement

The Official Contest Rules

Register to Submit

Popularity: 5% [?]