What are articles worth to you?

by ATH
14 replies
I'm considering writing articles - I can do about 10~15++ pretty easily in a normal workday, but I like to sleep on them until the next day and polish them up a little with fresh eyes.

Is there a reasonable standard range for wordcount? I fully understand that quality is a factor. I want to sell them in sets of 5 ("bulk") so that I have a bigger stream of work+income, and I like typing anyways so it's fun for me.

Thanks
-Adam
#articles #worth
  • Profile picture of the author Brendan Vraibel
    Check out the Warrior For Hire section and check out what your competition is doing and plan your services accordingly.

    I've never taken on article writing as a source of income so I'm only speculating here but I would probably think about writing less articles that are longer and higher quality. Article syndication is getting a lot of attention lately so there's definitely a market for them. The Google Panda update I think have caused the shorter articles to lose a lot of value.

    Just my opinion.
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    • Profile picture of the author nellterry
      It really depends on how well you write. If you can do 10-15 a day, I'm guessing they're of the shorter variety. Go for 500+ words minimum. Make sure they're good, punctuation and grammar error-free, and have valuable content (nothing spun or jacked from other sources). I also triple check stuff before I send it out; I usually find one or two errors I overlooked the first and second time around.

      All that being said, if you're going for private clients, it seems that the standard rate for internet content is about $8-$10 an article. This is based on my experience and the experiences of colleagues of mine on another forum for writers.

      If you work for content mills, the pay may be considerably lower than that to start. Try to get a WFH ad and a writer's website up and you can get these rates faster than you would working for the mills.

      Hope this helps!
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  • Profile picture of the author rooze
    I can't imagine how you could research a subject and produce 15 quality articles in a single day. I know my subjects inside out and if I write 3 articles in a day I feel drained at the end of it. Most good stuff takes at least a day for one 1000 word article.

    Now I can turn out crap just as quickly as the next person and could probably bash out 15 crap 500 word articles in one day, at a stretch. They're worth around $3 each. That's what I'd be putting into them and that's about what I'd expect to get out of them.
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    • Profile picture of the author NicoleBeckett
      Originally Posted by rooze View Post

      I can't imagine how you could research a subject and produce 15 quality articles in a single day.
      Ditto! I'm a very fast writer (heck, I had to be to produce an entire 30 minute newscast every day!), but there's no way I could write that much day in and day out. No matter how skilled you are, there comes a point where you're just not "sharp" anymore.

      As to your original question, Adam, the price you charge is going to be based on you - What sets you apart? What credentials do you have to warrant charging more? You don't have to settle for peanuts. Convince people that you're worth more than $2, $5, or $10 an article, and you'll find people that are more than happy to pay it.
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      Sick of blending in with the crowd? Ready to stand ahead of the pack? The right content writing services can get you there...
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    • Profile picture of the author Elluminati
      Originally Posted by rooze View Post

      I can't imagine how you could research a subject and produce 15 quality articles in a single day. I know my subjects inside out and if I write 3 articles in a day I feel drained at the end of it. Most good stuff takes at least a day for one 1000 word article.
      Ditto! I don't know why people keep thinking writing a gang of articles every day is so great. And writing a few original, high-quality articles is exhausting. I also agree that you should sleep on what you've written for a day so the mistakes jump out at you the next day.

      My limit is 10 400-word articles max. And that doesn't include submitting or bundling them the same day. Now unless you're super human and can write, research, and edit that many in one day, then you're the greatest.
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    • Profile picture of the author Marhelper
      Originally Posted by rooze View Post

      I can't imagine how you could research a subject and produce 15 quality articles in a single day. I know my subjects inside out and if I write 3 articles in a day I feel drained at the end of it. Most good stuff takes at least a day for one 1000 word article.

      Now I can turn out crap just as quickly as the next person and could probably bash out 15 crap 500 word articles in one day, at a stretch. They're worth around $3 each. That's what I'd be putting into them and that's about what I'd expect to get out of them.

      I used to write 10-15 quality articles (opinion of others) each and every day. I no longer aim to do so but it is quite possible.
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  • Profile picture of the author tomewer
    It depends entirely on what you are writing, how good your writing is, and who you are writing for.

    Pay can range from about $2 - $200 per article. Seriously. I have personally been paid $20 - $75 for articles.

    From your brief post it looks like you are a competent writer at the least, so you could make a decent living from writing. PM me if you'd like some help!
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    Quit your job and work on your own terms: Leaving Work Behind

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  • Profile picture of the author ATH
    lol, you guys have obviously never played an MMO. I was thinking in the $5-7 range, with an 8-12 hour day. I do my polishing on day 2 after I've slept on it, and that takes me another 20~ minutes per (tops) to clear up. So total I'm looking at 11-15 hrs for 10-15 $5 articles, which I think is perfectly fair, considering I'd be making less than minimum wage. I only want to do these a few days out of the month to keep myself from getting burned out and to generate another $200/mo (40 articles = 1 group of articles per week,) and to get some practice in on generating content for myself. After I did my first ebook, my skills went way up. I'm a self-improvement junkie, so this is as much for a little bit of extra cash as it is for bumping up my skills for myself.

    I'm a robot. I can ignore the entire world and type for 12 hours, less currently though because laptop keyboards are the only proof I have that satan exists.
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    • Profile picture of the author rooze
      Originally Posted by ATH View Post

      ..... because laptop keyboards are the only proof I have that satan exists.
      You're forgetting about CAPTCHA
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  • Profile picture of the author Tricerra
    I have days when I can put out 10,000 words and then I have days when I struggle to answer my email. Most days I am able to produce about 4000 words. That takes into account an out loud reading and editing in a 10-12 hour day. It is tough to keep the writing fresh.

    My average is about $10 per 500 words. It all depends on the type of work that I am doing. Now, on days that I use my Dragon Naturally Speaking it can be a lot easier to get more words out but I spend more time editing and formatting (since I don't edit well with my DNS yet) when I use the voice recognition software.

    Good luck with your venture.

    David
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    The number of ideas to use in content is odd--and 3 is too many.--Timo Everi

    Content to Copy--AdWords to E-Books www.tricerra.com

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  • Profile picture of the author RutledgeGroup
    Just sent you a PM. I have some questions for you. Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author futuretwitblog
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author ZenEight
      For one of my clients we have a group of 4 key writers who are paid $25 - $50 per article to write or re-write industry news.

      The majority of articles are between 400 to 1000 words with about 5 links each but some are over 1500 words. We don't pay by word count. We can probably find cheaper but they are reliable and have written for the client for over a year so the style fits.
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  • Profile picture of the author DoubleD3
    I am sending you a PM..
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  • Profile picture of the author ATH
    I'm getting PMs but I need 11 more posts to answer them. Well, 10 after this. Looks like I'm gonna have to form 10 opinions in the next 30-45 mins
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