Article Writing, PLR Packs, and Subscriptions
Since getting things back on track here and putting my services back online, I’ve had several email messages asking about the status of my writing services. In some cases I’ve had people almost begging me to put my PLR article subscription services back online, and I’ve also received some wonderful ideas and suggestions as to how I can do this in easier ways.
One person for instance, suggested something that had never occurred to me before: He said I should record my articles, then hire cheap transcribers to put the audio into text for me. And I have to say that’s a wonderful idea! 
That suggestion also reminded me of a software program called Dragon Naturally Speaking. When I tried that software in years past, it was too slow for me and ended up being more frustrating than not. I type WAY too fast - over 120 words per minute when I’m in the zone - so slowing down for software is difficult.
My other problem though - whether with transcribers or software - is that I don’t think well when my mouth is running. In fact, I’m horrible about spitting things out without thinking, and I seem to have the hardest time thinking if I’m talking. This is one reason I don’t like telephones 
Using the software would work best if I trained myself to slow down, because I could then review what I’ve “written”, and revise as needed before putting it out. So this is something I’m keeping under consideration for trying soon.
Someone else suggested that I simply reduce the number of articles I deliver each month, and make it monthly instead of weekly. That too is an excellent suggestion that I’m taking under consideration.
There are many other factors involved in providing PLR articles though - whether through subscriptions or not - so I’ll explain those here too…
1. First and foremost: I have a thing for high quality. Any kind of writing which has my name associated with it must be the best. I can’t stand the practice of hiring cheap writers and passing off mediocre or low quality content as acceptable, just because it’s PLR and you’re supposed to rewrite it.
I’m not a complete perfectionist but I do insist on excellent quality with most of the things I do. And this creates problems of course, if I want to outsource some of my work. Hiring other writers who create high enough quality gets very expensive, very quickly. Last fall when I was trying to keep my PLR subscription services going, I spent close to $5000 for the level of quality I wanted - for approximately 6 weeks worth of content - and that just wasn’t sustainable for me at that time. In fact it created a cascade of money problems that I’m still fixing today 
2. My second issue is primarily with the Alternative Health content service I was providing. I have close to 20 years real life, day-to-day experience with this topic, thus those articles were written from an expert level. And unfortunately it’s almost impossible to outsource that content. There are very few herbal and alternative health experts out there in general, and it’s extremely rare to find one who’s willing to write web articles full time. Hell even if I could find one I strongly doubt I’d be able to afford paying them and still make a profit with the way the system was originally set up.
And that brings me to my next point…
3. I’ll be blunt here: I’m sick of the whole “limited sales” fad. People who buy Private Label articles have come to expect sales to be limited… and the more the better. There are people who will not buy PLR articles if they’re sold to more than 10 people, and there are those who are fine with 100 sales being made. Generally though, the more people the articles are available to, the less attractive they are to most buyers.
These expectations are ridiculous. The whole point of PLR is that you can rewrite it, customize it, break it up, put it together, whatever… but you can make it be as unique as you’d like. So what does it matter if 100 other people buy it or 1000 others do?
From a business standpoint especially though, this practice is suicide. People who sell PLR content - especially in an ongoing subscription service - have created both a job and an income cap for themselves. With the current practice of limited sales, anyone who offers PLR content has to keep working just to maintain a certain income level. And if they want to increase their income? They have to work even more.
And guess what? Outsourcing doesn’t help. Even if you’re getting freelance writers to create your content for you, when you want to increase your income you WILL be increasing your workload. Because if you’re the one finding, hiring, and managing those freelancers… not to mention covering your own butt when one of them flakes or disappears… you are doing more work in order to make more money. And you’re STILL limited with how much of an increase you can create.
So it’s just another form of the rat race.
I don’t know about you, but I personally prefer evergreen income streams. I want to create a product or promotion system once, and have sales potential for many years to come. Unlimited sales potential.
And that’s basically where I’m at these days. I’m looking at creating more products which can be sold for years to come without an income cap. I have stock photo packages in the works for instance, and I’ve been brainstorming several ebooks too. I may release the ebooks with PLR rights but I won’t limit the number of sales for them if I do.
The same applies to article packages. I’m thinking about creating PLR packages like I use to, and just not putting a sales cap on them.
I also have my recently released Affiliate Datafeed Profit System plugin, and I’ll soon have add ons available for that. Future editions are already on the planning table too, and we have a list of ideas for additional software related products too.
Will I start offering my subscription PLR services again? At the moment it’s still under careful consideration, so the best I can say is “I don’t know”. I have a lot of things to consider first, so it may be some time before I know for sure one way or the other.
I really do appreciate all the email messages I’ve gotten praising those services though. It feels good to know so many people really enjoyed it and was able to put it to good use.
