Can you make $4k/month from article writing?

Prospective writers! Are you paying attention?

I could continue this back and forth until kingdom come and pull this thread further off track; but that would be rude. Instead, let me show you guys a few lessons that contentwriting360 kindly left behind for us regarding argumentative writing. Heed these lessons, and you will be much closer to hitting that 4k per month!

Solid start. When possible, you want to name or confront the opposing party directly. It gives strength to your writing, instead of a passive aggressive "I don't like what this guy is saying."


Right idea, poor execution. A great argumentative tactic is to show empathy, understanding, and respect to your opponent. However, you must do so in the most honest and professional manner possible. The best that this author could come up with was "honest" and "cool". They are weak descriptors. Further, the poster goes out of their way to diminish themselves as the lowly newbie who just joined. Don't make this mistake. It's the equivalent of rolling over and showing your belly. As you will now observe, it leaves the opponent open to go in for the kill.

What should he have written?

I appreciate your opposing point of view. You obviously have experience in the field and a passion for the subject at hand. Even those of us with opposing points of view can see that.


Again, right idea and wrong execution. You want to point out flaws in the opponents arguments as quickly and definitively as possible; but make sure they are strong arguments. The poster here chose to go with the "you're following me around" mantra, a very weak insult that shouldn't be used unless the argument stretches for weeks and there is nothing left to say. It now leaves the respondent to reply with something like this:

And how the heck can one come back from that? "You're a stupid face" or something equivalent? Publishers aren't going to pay for that kind of content.

What should he have written?

It seems that my point of view is much different than yours, and undoubtedly in the minority amongst established writers who charge more than a penny per word. Mastery is in fact not an unattainable trait for a writer to gain (such as in copywriting, syndication content, etc.). What I should have said was either:

I preach that mastery cannot be achieved so that prospective clients do not click away looking for someone better.

or

I merely misrepresented my personal philosophy, which is that there is always room to grow. Regardless, trying to fit my point of views into the validity of a title was quite foolish, and I should know better as a writer.


The OP brought their philosophy into the game. You see the technique used often, as a means to deter potential counterarguments. A respondent who puts down someone's philosophy is nothing more than a religious troll, right? It makes one think that this would be the master stroke to use while creating an argumentative piece.

In this case, it unfortunately isn't. Let's see what the respondent would say:

That's the end of the lessons folks. The rest is just personal drivel directed at me, and I will debunk that personally .


Trust me, I am well aware of that much.


I hate to break it to you, but even I am not good enough of a writer to completely debunk your intelligence because of one incorrect point in one thread. Any hits to your ego or your perceived intelligence are self created unfortunately, and I do not hold the degrees to counsel those types of problems. Sorry .


Never said you couldn't have yours. Did I at any point say "shut up, you need to stop speaking?" Didn't think so. If anyone seems to have a problem allowing someones opposing point of view to be voiced, it is yourself. Once again, that comes down to the whole facing your own demons bit.


But you believe that you were right, hence the continued responses. Don't back down on your original point now, that just makes you look weak and like you didn't believe it in the first place. Take a stand one way or the other. Either openly admit that you were wrong in what you said, or stand by it. You know, like an adult would. A 22 year old shouldn't have to teach you that.


Lol, you obviously put much more value on my "thanks" count than I do. If that's all it takes to intimidate you, you're going to have a rough go here my dude.

If you must know, I think I'm right because I trust my knowledge and the arguments I craft to support it. I may be a cocky little kid (who isn't at my age), but I am far from close minded. You haven't provided a suitable counterargument that would cause me to step down from my position. So why exactly should I feel that I am incorrect?


My customers seem to think so too . You're going to have to do a lot better in the insults department. If you haven't already figured it out, I'm a few levels above you in that department.


I'd call it intelligence, tenacity, and a few other positive adjectives as well. You're the one hung up on cool. But hey, view me however you have to. My ego is such that I'm cool with the pedestal no matter what it was built on.


NO. Not even close. Heck, I'm not holding my breath on your company ever getting close. No, no, no, no and no. I hope you weren't planning on using that as a marketing tactic (We're in the same writing league as Joe Robinson!), because I'm going to point them straight to this.


I merely respond to what you write. Ball is in your court.


Once again, man up and let's call a spade a spade here. What you mean to say is that you wanted to send this as a PM because you are feeling butt hurt; but felt that you had such a strong argument that you would go public with it and try to talk me into a corner.

How'd that work out for ya?


Well then, hopefully you will recognize this as a hard lesson that you needed to learn .

It's my favorite kind of dance. See who gets talked into a corner first. I'm quite good at it.

A worthy opponent indeed .