I have long wanted to do this--a blog for content writing. I have had good and not-so-great moments as a content writer. There definitely were no bad moments. One guy did not pay me for a resume I wrote for him. He and I assumed a different price and the miscommunication cost me it. This was in 2011. Otherwise, content writing has always been generous, though life as one, as a content writer, has neither been difficult nor easy.
Ghostwriting - The Beginning
I began by ghostwriting a novel. Even I couldn't imagine that my very first project was a ghostwriting project for a novel. It all happened on a Sunday morning when my cousin tapped me awake with a newspaper and I, going through the classifieds, spotted a strange "co-author needed" ad. I phoned or emailed and he "introduced" the concept of ghostwriting.
He visited me at my home and we had many a meetings over Cafe Coffee Day, after which I worked on about 8 of his 11 chapters. He was satisfied with one and dissatisfied with another but I learned a lot and I did my best. I was just about 22 years old then. Now, I am 28, on this date.
Articles and Pricing
The second project was a 400 article project with 40 articles in each domain from an IT solutions provider. Due to my lack of experience, I priced it at Rs. 25 per article, which would mean Rs. 10000 for the 400 articles. Finding the going tough, I told the CEO of the company that I needed Rs. 37.5 per article, which would make it Rs. 15000. The CEO agreed to pay me the amount. Still, I found it difficult, as it was Rs. 37.5 for 400 articles.
Avoiding Plagiarism
I quickly roped in other writers to offload some part of my work but they thought that I was paying them a pittance, while I got huge money for each. I was helpless. I was just getting Rs. 37.5 for a 400 word article and paid the other writers Rs. 25, retaining Rs. 12.5 for me, as I had to take time to check plagiarism and grammar. It became a daunting task to check for plagiarism and grammar.
Other writers tried to find many ways to outsmart me but I was, obviously, smarter than them. Not because I was intelligent or something but because I somehow instinctively knew the writing field. It probably was in my blood or genes. I could easily spot too many instances of plagiarism but I still paid them and corrected all of them myself.
I told them to rephrase at least but they couldn't comprehend the concept. I did double rephrasing after they rephrased the lines. Still, it wasn't workable and writing on my own seemed a better thing to do. So, I quit with all of them and started writing it all by myself with only one friend beside myself.
Better Pricing
Now, I priced the articles at Rs. 80 per article and the CEO mysteriously agreed for the price again. This made it a project worth Rs. 32000 (about $500). After the completion of the first 400, which was within just a couple of months, he gave me a project worth Rs. 80000 ($1200?). I was happy with this new project and started working all night. I wrote about 24 articles a day to get paid about Rs. 2000 ($30) within a single night.
So, my payments were around Rs. 16000 ($250) a week completing five projects a week, which meant 200 articles. Still, this didn't suffice and my friend left me, after I gave him a reprimand for not completing the articles in time. He was pressured by his bank to pay off his education loan and so took to work. He felt wounded that I was harsh with him. So, now, all on my own, I struggled to complete the articles. I paid my friend Rs. 65 ($1) per 400 word article, while retaining $0.25 for myself for the editing.
Even with him, I had a tough time. We made the mistake of procuring some PLR (Private Label Rights) articles and rewrote them. Yes, we did rewrite them still. However, he used only thesaurus and other shortcuts. I disapproved of this and told him to write but he argued that it wouldn't matter, as they were already PLR articles. I replied to him that Google wouldn't be kind and so their business would be affected.
Original Content
He persisted and I was happy to let go of him too, as I always believed in originality. Originality isn't anything difficult, as people think it is. You don't have to think anything out of the blue, out of nowhere. As you talk, so can you write! It is that simple. Like I am doing now, I am typing away my experiences for the past ten minutes or so. It doesn't take much to be so and to bring it to a form. It may take time to be unoriginal and to cover it up; covering up is a difficult thing. Originality is spontaneity. It is your own thing. It is unique. I NEVER USED PLR ARTICLES SINCE. Sadly, it was just once and we were learning. We couldn't pull it all off even at that price, which was way too low.
Expectations on Article Pricing
I would root for content writers and article writers here. Some content writers charge exorbitant prices and produce least quality content. We are not talking about them. I would talk about those who take less than a couple of dollars or Rs. 100 to complete a 500 word article. This is a sad state of affairs.
You are milking them, exploiting them. They are leading a tough life just because you do not want to spend on quality. If you want some "ta da, ta da" typing, that could be a price, as writers like me can complete such articles in 15 minutes to half an hour. Still, I think twice before taking such articles.
Zero Plagiarism Guarantee
If you are the type that prices too low, to about $2-3 per article of 400-500 words (which still is not the price I work for), I promise no plagiarism, which could be about 0%. I promise quality as well. The only thing absent would be the time-consuming research. I could write like a stream and get you a good quality but no rewriting, no research. This is agreeable at this price.
Research Writers - Research Writing
If your product or service demands research and prior learning, I would charge about $8-10-15 per 500 words. If you still want a higher quality, I would charge about $20 per 500 words. Come on, we are learning a subject in ten minutes that you took years to learn about. Sometimes, I come to realize what I am missing, what I am not and what I must be learning still. This takes the whole duration that I am into the content.
Recently, I have been writing about vaporizers. It took me just a few minutes to learn about them all. Then, it took me about three months to fully learn about the subject and grasp the concept, while I had written about 50 articles/descriptions of various types of vaporizers. This was for a vaporizer retailer, based in the US. I charged about $8 from my client in India and he got me about $7 from his client in the US for each 500 word article. Still, I feel the pinch, as learning about vaporizers takes me a lot of video watching, browsing and researching other articles. I write just one article a day to keep the content high quality.
The client in the US appreciated my work as, "the writer is good but there are still some ESL (English as Second Language) issues." This was for the first set of eleven articles. From then on, I ensured that that comment never came again. I checked their website to see that my content was placed without any editing. Not even a single word was edited.
The Content Writing Challenge
There really are many issues I deal with as a content writer. It's like running a great distance on a treadmill or is like a marathon. You never seem to reach your destination but at last, you breathe a sigh of relief. Like the 1000 article project, every article is a marathon. It never had been a sprint. It's always a marathon. Like it or not, some people are made for marathons. I am one of them. With difficulties and disappointments and wounds over pricing and getting paid, I still write because God made me that way. There really is nothing else I can do. I am just good enough to be a writer and that's sometimes, a great thing. A really great thing!
This article got one of my employers interested very much in much the same way. We still continue our association to this day since 2009. Here is that article:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Relative-Or-Absolute---Where-Am-I?-Oh-My!-I-Have-Been-Poor!&id=4057065
And this one below - a compilation of one liners I wrote in my teenage:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Philosophies?-One-Liners?-Quotes?-Humor?-Wits?&id=4038031
I took to some vituperative writing, since I was 19 or 21(?) and this blog was where it all began. The Landmark Forum article on this blog still receives about 350 pageviews from countries I never knew existed with US, UK, Russia, Germany, India and many countries being on the top of the list. The below is the blog:
http://rationalfilms.blogspot.in/
Yes, I have authored a book (eBook) titled "How To See God" and subsequently wrote a few forbidden subjects, which you might find on the blog above. The link to my book is here below:
http://amzn.to/1QyXVa8 (aff)
I also edited a shorter version of the book, which did well in the US and UK:
http://amzn.to/1O82qqC
Becoming an Author
I always dreamed of becoming an author, ever since I read the book Da Vinci Code, back in 2005, when I was just 18. That was the first book I ever read, though I was 18 by that time. It was late but I was happy to read Da Vince Code as my first. Now, ten years later, the dream came true. I am now a self-published author and know how to improvise from here, though it could be a tough game. I know I can crack it someday. Whatever I conceived of took about ten years to come to fruition. Teaching was one, which I accomplished four years ago and now authoring a book. There is still a long way to go. I am aware of the distance for I run marathons each and every day.
I don't want all things said in one article. I have more to say and discuss with the whole wide world. I will be back with some other article regarding content writing tomorrow. See you all. Cheers!!!
Ghostwriting - The Beginning
I began by ghostwriting a novel. Even I couldn't imagine that my very first project was a ghostwriting project for a novel. It all happened on a Sunday morning when my cousin tapped me awake with a newspaper and I, going through the classifieds, spotted a strange "co-author needed" ad. I phoned or emailed and he "introduced" the concept of ghostwriting.
He visited me at my home and we had many a meetings over Cafe Coffee Day, after which I worked on about 8 of his 11 chapters. He was satisfied with one and dissatisfied with another but I learned a lot and I did my best. I was just about 22 years old then. Now, I am 28, on this date.
Articles and Pricing
The second project was a 400 article project with 40 articles in each domain from an IT solutions provider. Due to my lack of experience, I priced it at Rs. 25 per article, which would mean Rs. 10000 for the 400 articles. Finding the going tough, I told the CEO of the company that I needed Rs. 37.5 per article, which would make it Rs. 15000. The CEO agreed to pay me the amount. Still, I found it difficult, as it was Rs. 37.5 for 400 articles.
Avoiding Plagiarism
I quickly roped in other writers to offload some part of my work but they thought that I was paying them a pittance, while I got huge money for each. I was helpless. I was just getting Rs. 37.5 for a 400 word article and paid the other writers Rs. 25, retaining Rs. 12.5 for me, as I had to take time to check plagiarism and grammar. It became a daunting task to check for plagiarism and grammar.
Other writers tried to find many ways to outsmart me but I was, obviously, smarter than them. Not because I was intelligent or something but because I somehow instinctively knew the writing field. It probably was in my blood or genes. I could easily spot too many instances of plagiarism but I still paid them and corrected all of them myself.
I told them to rephrase at least but they couldn't comprehend the concept. I did double rephrasing after they rephrased the lines. Still, it wasn't workable and writing on my own seemed a better thing to do. So, I quit with all of them and started writing it all by myself with only one friend beside myself.
Better Pricing
Now, I priced the articles at Rs. 80 per article and the CEO mysteriously agreed for the price again. This made it a project worth Rs. 32000 (about $500). After the completion of the first 400, which was within just a couple of months, he gave me a project worth Rs. 80000 ($1200?). I was happy with this new project and started working all night. I wrote about 24 articles a day to get paid about Rs. 2000 ($30) within a single night.
So, my payments were around Rs. 16000 ($250) a week completing five projects a week, which meant 200 articles. Still, this didn't suffice and my friend left me, after I gave him a reprimand for not completing the articles in time. He was pressured by his bank to pay off his education loan and so took to work. He felt wounded that I was harsh with him. So, now, all on my own, I struggled to complete the articles. I paid my friend Rs. 65 ($1) per 400 word article, while retaining $0.25 for myself for the editing.
Even with him, I had a tough time. We made the mistake of procuring some PLR (Private Label Rights) articles and rewrote them. Yes, we did rewrite them still. However, he used only thesaurus and other shortcuts. I disapproved of this and told him to write but he argued that it wouldn't matter, as they were already PLR articles. I replied to him that Google wouldn't be kind and so their business would be affected.
Original Content
He persisted and I was happy to let go of him too, as I always believed in originality. Originality isn't anything difficult, as people think it is. You don't have to think anything out of the blue, out of nowhere. As you talk, so can you write! It is that simple. Like I am doing now, I am typing away my experiences for the past ten minutes or so. It doesn't take much to be so and to bring it to a form. It may take time to be unoriginal and to cover it up; covering up is a difficult thing. Originality is spontaneity. It is your own thing. It is unique. I NEVER USED PLR ARTICLES SINCE. Sadly, it was just once and we were learning. We couldn't pull it all off even at that price, which was way too low.
Expectations on Article Pricing
I would root for content writers and article writers here. Some content writers charge exorbitant prices and produce least quality content. We are not talking about them. I would talk about those who take less than a couple of dollars or Rs. 100 to complete a 500 word article. This is a sad state of affairs.
You are milking them, exploiting them. They are leading a tough life just because you do not want to spend on quality. If you want some "ta da, ta da" typing, that could be a price, as writers like me can complete such articles in 15 minutes to half an hour. Still, I think twice before taking such articles.
Zero Plagiarism Guarantee
If you are the type that prices too low, to about $2-3 per article of 400-500 words (which still is not the price I work for), I promise no plagiarism, which could be about 0%. I promise quality as well. The only thing absent would be the time-consuming research. I could write like a stream and get you a good quality but no rewriting, no research. This is agreeable at this price.
Research Writers - Research Writing
If your product or service demands research and prior learning, I would charge about $8-10-15 per 500 words. If you still want a higher quality, I would charge about $20 per 500 words. Come on, we are learning a subject in ten minutes that you took years to learn about. Sometimes, I come to realize what I am missing, what I am not and what I must be learning still. This takes the whole duration that I am into the content.
Recently, I have been writing about vaporizers. It took me just a few minutes to learn about them all. Then, it took me about three months to fully learn about the subject and grasp the concept, while I had written about 50 articles/descriptions of various types of vaporizers. This was for a vaporizer retailer, based in the US. I charged about $8 from my client in India and he got me about $7 from his client in the US for each 500 word article. Still, I feel the pinch, as learning about vaporizers takes me a lot of video watching, browsing and researching other articles. I write just one article a day to keep the content high quality.
The client in the US appreciated my work as, "the writer is good but there are still some ESL (English as Second Language) issues." This was for the first set of eleven articles. From then on, I ensured that that comment never came again. I checked their website to see that my content was placed without any editing. Not even a single word was edited.
The Content Writing Challenge
There really are many issues I deal with as a content writer. It's like running a great distance on a treadmill or is like a marathon. You never seem to reach your destination but at last, you breathe a sigh of relief. Like the 1000 article project, every article is a marathon. It never had been a sprint. It's always a marathon. Like it or not, some people are made for marathons. I am one of them. With difficulties and disappointments and wounds over pricing and getting paid, I still write because God made me that way. There really is nothing else I can do. I am just good enough to be a writer and that's sometimes, a great thing. A really great thing!
This article got one of my employers interested very much in much the same way. We still continue our association to this day since 2009. Here is that article:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Relative-Or-Absolute---Where-Am-I?-Oh-My!-I-Have-Been-Poor!&id=4057065
And this one below - a compilation of one liners I wrote in my teenage:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Philosophies?-One-Liners?-Quotes?-Humor?-Wits?&id=4038031
I took to some vituperative writing, since I was 19 or 21(?) and this blog was where it all began. The Landmark Forum article on this blog still receives about 350 pageviews from countries I never knew existed with US, UK, Russia, Germany, India and many countries being on the top of the list. The below is the blog:
http://rationalfilms.blogspot.in/
Yes, I have authored a book (eBook) titled "How To See God" and subsequently wrote a few forbidden subjects, which you might find on the blog above. The link to my book is here below:
http://amzn.to/1QyXVa8 (aff)
I also edited a shorter version of the book, which did well in the US and UK:
http://amzn.to/1O82qqC
Becoming an Author
I always dreamed of becoming an author, ever since I read the book Da Vinci Code, back in 2005, when I was just 18. That was the first book I ever read, though I was 18 by that time. It was late but I was happy to read Da Vince Code as my first. Now, ten years later, the dream came true. I am now a self-published author and know how to improvise from here, though it could be a tough game. I know I can crack it someday. Whatever I conceived of took about ten years to come to fruition. Teaching was one, which I accomplished four years ago and now authoring a book. There is still a long way to go. I am aware of the distance for I run marathons each and every day.
I don't want all things said in one article. I have more to say and discuss with the whole wide world. I will be back with some other article regarding content writing tomorrow. See you all. Cheers!!!
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