Article Writing

Alexa's offline suggestion has a lot of merit. The first place I typically start is with published books. While I don't "start" offline, I often end up going that path later on.

I start with Amazon. Most books that are listed there allow you to have a sneak peek inside of the book to help with the buying decision. Unfortunately, they only throw up the first 10% of the book limiting our ability to use the actual content as research. Lucky for us, we don't need the actual content to get started. What we want to look at is the table of contents.

It is important to mention this first. I would stick to actual published books for this method over self-published titles for one specific reason. If one of the big name publishers prints a book, there is enough of a track record for the topic for them to take a shot on it. They also have a pretty strict group of editors that keep things in check. Many times authors will have to submit an outline for the book beforehand as well, before the O.K. is even granted on the book.

This is not a slight to self-published authors, but there is currently very little quality control on that side of the publishing business still.

Anyways, the table of contents will give you valuable clues as to what information is important to this market. Chapter titles, sub-headlines, etc can be used as a starting point for your research. If the author can write a chapter about a specific topic, odds are that you can easily write an article.

Depending on the time you have to get the work done, and pay associated, you probably want to consider buying books and products for your research. Double this if you find yourself working in a specific niche for long periods for various clients, or if you get handed a larger contract with a higher payout but more content needs.

One last thing to add, in Alexa's defense again, the price you are being paid for the article will often correlate to the amount of research you can devote to it. If you are only getting paid $5 an article, and expecting to support a family, you are not going to realistically be able to do a ton of research. Higher paying gigs will allow you to research more, while offsetting the time lost writing with higher pay.

If you end up buying the books, you may even consider billing this to the client. Of course you would need to notify them in advance, but this can be done with your correspondence with your clients before accepting the work. Once again, higher paying clients are going to be much more receptive to this.

I happened to be the first to reply, this time: you can hardly blame me for it turning out to be "different"! (Actually you're quite mistaken: it didn't, anyway - many agreed with me ).

Sorry you thought so.

Looks like the professional writers in the thread, so far, all agreed with my perspective? "Go figure".

No, of course not. You're the only person here who's mentioned $7. There are writers here asking $200 for an article, and getting it from regularly returning clients profiting from their work. (Do you want their names? I doubt, somehow, whether you're a potential client for them, given your perspective).

That's just being insulting for the sake of it. And you're totally wrong: I practice exactly what I preach. I only "preach" it because I make such a good living from it (purely as "my own client", I mean, i.e. as a "customer" - I have absolutely no writing services of any kind to offer to anyone else, so please don't imagine that I'm "promoting" anything, here ... nor have I ever done so in the past).

I saw none. I offered a simple answer to a simple question, briefly explaining my reasons for it, and others here "in the trade" supported it.

"None taken", as they say.

We just have very different understandings and/or experiences of how articles produce income, I suspect. There's no harm in that, at all.

It's just a shame (and perhaps especially for others here in the OP's position?) that the perspectives of those "in the trade" are dismissed out of hand as "crap" in quite such an offensive way, and our motivations for posting called into question into the bargain. I don't mind your disagreement at all: you have every right to express it. But in my opinion dismissing the well-reasoned opinion of a successful professional (supported by others in similar positions) as "crap" just isn't the most appropriate way to do so. Just my perspective.

Within mere seconds you can buy Kindle books, read them, digest them, and put them to use. And that's one way of seeking information offline, even if they happen to be online.

Another one is to access Jstor or one's university library which have a lot of books/journals released in electronic version.

And $7 for an article? I don't have English as my first language, and I often make grammar/spelling/syntax mistakes, but even I wouldn't dream of writing an article for less than $30-$40 on the topics I'm specialized in.

Hi Irish802,

The advice on interviewing an expert is a good one.
Firstly, you get a chance to learn more about the topic.
Secondly, you get quality content to give to your readers.
Thirdly, you build credibility for your branding.

Please share your progress if you manage to get any "experts" on board!

could you find another topic that you would be more comfortable with?

good luck

I could be wrong here (after all I'm merely a genius
and not a god), but when I read Rose's post (which
happens to be geographically located just beneath
your own) I really thought she was replying to what
goindeep said, for the most part? :confused:


...Also, I would point out that a handful of professional
writers in a single thread can very well be considered
to be "many" in many cases?


...And finally, just one more question in response to this
statement, if I may?

Great, maybe you can help this blind, stupid fool with my current
article? Can you get me a link to what F. J. Lovret said about how
to wield a yari and make the switch from chudan to jodan and
back again? It would save me so much time, because I have
no idea which issue of the Budo Shinbun it was published in,
or even what year? Thanks in advance! :rolleyes::p

That's one of the problems with Kindle: being an author is just as simple as being a blogger.

However, I should have specified that the way I use Kindle is sort of a "shortcut" to going to the bookstore/ordering the hard-copy and waiting for it to be delivered/visiting the library, all which take time. Instead, I just buy and read the virtual version of the printed book, which was written with the intention of being sold offline, by a publisher, so that limits the number of authors wanna-be and increases the quality. But even then, before deciding to buying a book one must be sure of its content and not buy what is "featured" or even best-sellers without reading a few trustworthy reviews.

The only problem is that in some niches these Kindle books, as an alternative to the printed books, are non-existent, so we're back to square one. :rolleyes: