How much should we "rewrite" articles to avoid copyright infringement?

[Paul Myers]

Whats the point of a very quick niche market?

If you meant to say niche site, the answer to that is simple: To trick the mechanical intelligence of a search engine into forming a conclusion which a working human intelligence rarely would - That the content is relevant and useful and deserves attention.

There are exceptions, but they're not usually created by people who leech off the creative effort of others.

So to your comment, "don't write things you don't know about.", what a load of crap

Did you not read the entire sentence, or are you consciously avoiding the part about citing sources?

you can't seriously believe that you shouldn't write about things you know nothing about.

I can't? What an astonishing revelation! And all this time I thought I believed that.

Thank you for the illumination...


Paul

[AmyBrown]

The good thing about threads like this is it helps pinpoint the people that I don't want to do business with. If you'll steal from someone else there's no reason to think you won't steal from me.

[Paul Myers]

Amy,

The good thing about threads like this is it helps pinpoint the people that I don't want to do business with. If you'll steal from someone else there's no reason to think you won't steal from me.

Here's the problem: Not one of these people is likely to ever acknowledge that they're stealing, because they don't understand the value of creative effort or original expression.

Read what some of these folks have said. We're talking about very different value systems here. Or, in some cases, the absence of any value system at all.


Paul

Originally Posted by Paul Myers

Amy,Here's the problem: Not one of these people is likely to ever acknowledge that they're stealing, because they don't understand the value of creative effort or original expression.

That's correct Paul ... plus the fact that some wannabe marketer is probably selling some lame ebook for $7 that explains "how to do article marketing and create articles in 3 minutes or less".

I would not put it past such an ebook that says go to eza pickout a high ranking article and copy it and change some of the wording.

James

[butters]

Ok heres my question, how do you truly make unique content.

The way I do my content is, I gather articles, take down the notes I want and just write. I don't copy and paste I just use the structure and the key points of there content as a guideline.

Would this class me as one of these people who rip off content? If so, how do you get your content, if no, cool .

Look I am not trying to give the wrong impression that I support people ripping content off and just basically changing it a little, no. My point I was trying to put across, it is so hard to even put out unique content because if you look at it most ways its already been wrote about and done. I am 19, I don't have the experience older people have had where they gain knowledge, so I am forced to look at others and write it to the best of my ability.

(Paul sorry missed the reference part, even thought I don't do that, only normally do that for a school paper.)

[Paul Myers]

how do you truly make unique content.

Understand what you're talking about. Say it in a useful, relevant and interesting way.

If you read 4 articles, synthesize what you've read, and add something to it, that might be unique and worthwhile. Or it might not. If you read more, understand your topic better, and add a significant expressive or conceptual contribution, that's going to be unique.

Here's a question for you: At 19 years of age, have you decided that your goal in life is to be a human article spinner?


Paul

[butters]

Originally Posted by Paul Myers

Here's a question for you: At 19 years of age, have you decided that your goal in life is to be a human article spinner?


Paul

I hate writing :P, I don't enjoy it which may be my problem but once I get my stuff going the idea was to out source that. When I write I try to put my views and thoughts into the articles and also try to put a bit of humor in there to. (If it is acceptable).

Hehe, nah my dream isn't to be an article spinner. I would love to teach one day, if it be online or offline, always liked the thought of it since I was young.

[Hillary Dale]

Originally Posted by Sandeep Shah

I have discovered some amazing topics which have huge audience but there are no websites/blogs. But there are a lot of offline magazines publishing information about it.

I am planning to use those magazines for content creation. If I take content from these magazines, to what % should I rewrite it to keep my nose clean?

I suggest you do your own research and formulate your own articles. Simply rewriting someone's articles does not make it your own. You can get ideas from those magazines, from there, write your own fresh article, and not just reword/ rephrase the article. Get information from other sources also.

[Paul Myers]

I would love to teach one day

What do you think writing is?

Every writer is a teacher. I'm not talking about the barely literate hacks who crank out keyword-focused drivel for pennies on the click. I'm talking about writers.

If you want to be a good teacher, you need to learn to study and understand, organize your thoughts, and express them clearly. There's very little that develops that set of skills like becoming a decent writer.


Paul

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by butters

Hehe, nah my dream isn't to be an article spinner. I would love to teach one day, if it be online or offline, always liked the thought of it since I was young.

I thought you might be a youngster...

Paul's too modest to say it, so I will. Click the link in his sig, sign up for his newsletter and really read the ebook that comes with it.

Switching gears, I read a historical novel years ago, set in the pre-Civil War American South. One of the characters was a young fellow who loved to read and study, hated hunting and fighting. The exact opposite of what was considered manly back then. He just wanted the world to leave him to his books...

Another character, one who embraced both the intellectual and the physical gave him some advice. Basically, he said that if you wanted the world to accept you, and the world painted its face and danced around the campfire, you'd better learn to dance around the campfire. You have to learn to fight so you can bloody the bully's nose and make him respect you.

It works somewhat the same way here. You may hate to write now, but learn to do it anyway. You'll get the chance to teach if that's what you want. You'll be able to string thoughts together in ways that make others sit up and take notice. They'll learn from you...

[Branlan17]

Yeah... Why not just write your own articles? It's a valuable skill since you appear to be pursuing, um, article marketing?

[rosetrees]

Originally Posted by Paul Myers

Get a clue, people. Learn how to learn, and learn how to think.

Which is what they should be teaching people in school - but don't. School is all about producing "evidence" that you have studied a topic. How to learn and how to think are ignnored.

Originally Posted by peter-act

OK, how would you rewrite Romeo and Juliet?

I once went to a performance of R&J in Sydney Opera House. The performance was in French, so helpful surtitles were provided. It had been translated from French

The bit I'll never forget? "Whatever you call a rose it will smell the same"

[GeekGranny]

Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet

If people would only use their mind to actually do some work... I sometimes wonder how some of these people even make blog post, forum post, and etc.

Oh I know what they do ... "Hey let me google it for the answer to this post and copy and paste it and change a word or 2" ...

James

Love this -- you hit the nail on the head. Most PLR chases me right off a site because I know that the job was done quick and dirty. As you say, Google it, copy and paste.

Authentic writing with real substance may take longer to create but it will work.

I had a bunch of old magazines too and just made a list of the topics and created brand new articles from the ideas generated from that list.

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by Sandeep Shah

I have discovered some amazing topics which have huge audience but there are no websites/blogs. But there are a lot of offline magazines publishing information about it.

I am planning to use those magazines for content creation. If I take content from these magazines, to what % should I rewrite it to keep my nose clean?

Okay, we've had the debate over the ethics of stealing content. Again.

(Can you tell where I stand? )

Coming back to your original question, here's a method you can use to utilize those offline magazines in an ethical way. I adapted it from a post Clayton Makepeace wrote on copywriting.

Basically, you grab a stack of magazines, which you'll be going through three times.

With notebook ready to take notes, go through each magazine and look at the topics. Note what areas of your subject are important and look for trends on what gets covered repeatedly. Write down your findings as you go. Also note any article titles which catch your attention - write them down. That's our first pass.

Second pass - we're looking for bits of content we can use. Facts, figures, ideas, resources, etc. Write them down for later use. Extract the main points in your own words. This pass will take the longest, as it requires the most reading.

Last pass - we're looking for bits of copy. Words, phrases, jargon with definitions. Expressions that catch our eye. Does a writer have a unique way of expressing a point? Copy it in your notebook word for word, along with the writer's name and where you found it. You can use this as appropriate, with proper attribution.

Follow this with a stack of magazines, fill in the blank spots with a combination of online research and real books, and you should have fodder for whole bunches of original, unique articles.

[peter_act]

[QUOTE=peter_act:OK, how would you rewrite Romeo and Juliet?[/QUOTE]

By the way, even young Will nicked the story from "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet" by Arthur Brooke, published some 30 years before.

So I suppose if it's good enough for a better writer than some of us, it's good enough for us!

[Paul Myers]

By the way, even young Will nicked the story from "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet" by Arthur Brooke, published some 30 years before.

So I suppose if it's good enough for a better writer than some of us, it's good enough for us!

You may want to look into this a bit. Brooke is one of the potential "real names" of the supposed owners of the shared pseudonym, William Shakespeare.


Paul

[Michael Taylor]

Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert

How would you "rewrite" Star Wars?

Maybe change the title to Space Battles? Maybe R2-D2, er, 2D-2R will be tall and copper colored and C-3PO, er, OP-3C will be short and make whirring noises. San Halo and his friend Backchewie will be space pilots or something, and help Duke Skywriter save Tia Piano from the clutches of Dark Daver.

Oh man, I'm totally taking this and selling it to Hollywood!