Best of AC-Text PMA Acceptance Speech, Michelle L Devon

I've been with AC going on my second year, not quite having been with the site from the beginning, but close to it, and as such I've seen AC go through a lot of changes. The site has been redesigned, the forums overhauled, the submission process changed -- twice -- and new rules, regulations and policies show how Associated Content is a growing, living, thriving company that offers something to just about everyone -- readers, bloggers, writers alike.

I watched last year's PMA awards with curiosity when they showed who was in the running for the awards and updated them weekly. This year, shrouded behind the veil of the awards committee, the only clue we had to the winners was supposition and nominations in the forum.

There were several people in the forums who nominated me for an award, and for that, I am grateful. They say it's an honor just to be nominated, and I must admit that's true. I was humbled and honored by each person who threw my name in the hat.

Don't get me wrong though, being nominated was cool, but winning is pretty cool too!

As a freelance writer, I didn't know what to make of Associated Content when I first stumbled upon it. I subscribed to a writers group for posting freelance paying leads, and someone in the group posted a link to Associated Content. Much debate ensued about whether AC was a legitimate paying job for writers, and arguments sparked up about how much they paid and the future of the site.

The site was in its infancy at that time.

So I waited and watched the site change and grow, read the things people who wrote for the site were saying, and eventually, I signed up so I could give it a shot first hand. My first article with AC was a print magazine article reprint that the rights had reverted back to me, and I put it up just out of curiosity. Once I received that offer, I took some keyword articles I had written for a client who had not paid me and I posted them for payment consideration.

Soon, I was making a few bucks for articles that would have been a complete waste of my time and loss of money for me, articles that I either couldn't sell to a publication, articles I had written for print and the rights finally reverted back to me, articles I had sitting on my computer gathering figurative dust. The possibility of being paid for an article that normally would have just sat was more than welcome to me! Plus, AC allowed me to write about anything that I wanted to write about, without having to worry about what the publisher wanted, or meeting a deadline, or writing on spec on a particular topic. AC soon became an outlet for me.

In truth though, it's not the site itself that brings me back day after day, but rather the people on the site, the other writers, and the people behind the scenes at AC. Mike, Sam, Leah, Jason, the other Mike, and the rest of the gang who work for AC and frequent the forum and constantly throw themselves to the wolves trying to walk that thin line between what is best for the company and what is best for the Content Producers deserve a nod. We're often harder on them personally than we should be, but something tells me that at the core, these folks really do have our best interests at heart.

More than them though, it is my fellow CPs who have made this site a great place for me to return, time and again, to write, read, rate and comment. I stumbled into the forums over a year ago and there have met some fantastic people who help break up the monotony of the day, spark ideas for creative endeavors, and just provide untold support and encouragement.

In other words, it's fun, and it's you guys, the CPs of AC, who make it that way for me, with every kind word, with every comment on an article, with every subscription or addition to your favorites, with every e-mail, with every forum post... it is you guys, my fellow CPs, who make this site the great place it is.

...and it is you guys I have to thank for this award.

A writer without readers is a very sad thing indeed. So even though I won't be sharing the cash with you all (snickers), I must honestly say that I share the award itself with each and every one of you who nominated me, who have read my content, who have commented to me, or who have interacted with me in any way on this site.

I would be nothing here without you all.

My article that won Best Text for the 2007 PMAs, Confessions of a Writer: The Ugly Truth about Being a Writer, is actually an article I wrote and submitted for free to AC, based on my personal experience with the publishing industry. I had someone tell me I should have put it up for payment review instead of for free, because it was worth payment.

Little did I know that a year later, I would be paid for the article, more than any other article on the site has ever paid me, and honored and touched by the award all at the same time. This same article was nominated for the Preditors & Editors Reader's Poll Awards this year as well, and the final tally put it in as a Top Ten Finisher for 2007 for the nonfiction article category with Associated Content as the publisher of record.

Just goes to show that sometimes a free submission does pay off, right? I'm very proud of this article, and hope you all will take the time to read it, particularly if you have any interest in writing and publishing a book in your future.

So thank you to both AC and the CPs here on this site, too numerous to mention and too fearful I'd leave someone out, but thank you nonetheless for all you have given to me, the happiness, the friendship, the fun, the support and more. You guys rock! If I could give you all an award myself, I surely would.

So with 2007 down, and 2008 already on its way, what are you goals for the next year on Associated Content? I never dreamed last year I would be eligible for much less win a PMA, so if I can do it, you can too!

Set your sights high, shoot for the stars, and keep writing!

Love and stuff,
Michy

"I am a writer. It's not what I do; it's who I am!" - Michelle L Devon