What is a Content Writer’s Responsibility
July 13, 2007 by Deb
Filed under Freelance Writing
A couple of weeks ago, I learned of someone who is selling bundles of “PLR” or Private Label Rights articles. For $10 or $20 the purchaser gets a bundle of 20 articles to do with whatever he pleases. The seller sells the same bundle to various webmasters and content purveyors for $10 hoping to make hundreds of dollars. At least this is the way I understand it. Do feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
If this is indeed the case I’d like to know why someone would want to purchase the same content 20 or 30 other people have on their websites, what’s the point? Is it that they don’t care or will they rework the articles to fit their own websites?
I’d also like to know about the writer’s responsibility. Let me explain.
Those of us who have dabbled in web content writing know that there’s plenty of content out there that’s a little less than accurate. Joe Middle School Student does not. Say Joe comes upon one of these hastily written bundle articles and assumes it’s accurate. Say it is not. Let’s also say that Joe is trying to find more information on the Internet, but because the same bundle of optimized information is sold over and over again, all he can find are the same ten or twenty articles, or the same rewritten content. Does he trust that this is the only information out there and risk his grade? How does he know the content was bought in a bundle or run through an article spinner? Or is it not our problem what type of information our children come across. We’d be appalled if we thought our kids textbook content was purchased at $10 a bundle, yet we’re supposed to be ok with whatever information is pumped out online?
Writers….when did we stop caring about the information we put out there? Knowing that not everyone knows the web content business as we do, what is our responsibility?
I’m thinking that 20 articles selling for a dollar or two each probably didn’t take too much time to write up and research. I’m also thinking that anyone buying these articles is strictly looking for Adsense revenue and may not be all that interested in whether or not the articles are well researched.
Now, if writers want to sell themselves short and pump out a bundle of articles for a buck or two a pop, that’s their prerogative. I certainly don’t begrudge them their right to sell themselves short. What I worry about is the information out there. I worry about what people are reading and what they’re believing to be the truth. Most folks believe if it’s in print, it has to be the truth.
It used to be if I had certain symptoms or heard of a particular health condition, I’d look it up online. There’s no way I’d trust what’s out there now. There was a time when I thought the Internet was the best research tool for high school and college students, now I urge them to use the library first. I also know how the content business works. Most Americans know nothing about PLR articles or cheap web content. They’re trusting us as writers to put out information that’s accurate, well-written and well-researched. Isn’t it our responsibility to ensure they get it?
I’m not looking to rehash the low paying vs. high paying content debate. I wondering why we’re not being more responsible about what we put out there.
I couldn’t agree more. My professional writing career has been primarily in newspapers, but I’m trying to establish a freelance career. Those pay-for-a-batch job listings are tempting, but I’m resisting (despite my need for a paycheck!), knowing that what I could produce in those kinds of quantities (for that kind of pay) would be sub-standard. Unless you’re really Web savvy, it would be easy to get duped by some bought-by-the-bundle info no one’s bothered to check for accuracy. I don’t want to be any part of it.
You are absolutely right with your comments about “Joe Middle School”, Deb. I teach high school science classes as my day job and freelance on the side to make ends meet financially. I’m constantly having to grade students harshly because of what they find on the internet and put in their essays and papers that just isn’t accurate. Their favorite is Wikipedia, unfortunately, and that’s all user entered with little to no real research put into it. I’ve had to ban that site completely from my list of allowed sources for my classes, but now you have me thinking about other websites as well. I might now have to limit information to .org or .edu websites that have been pre-approved. That’s not going to be fun.
I think the face of the Internet is just changing quickly. I’m not saying that it is ok to spam search engines or provide low-quality content under the guise that it’s written by an expert. At the same time, this type of writing does has a place for some people who want to draw traffic. I think (and hope) consumers/students are beginning to realize that the Internet is a tool for finding information, and just like using a card catalog or magazine index, research is never quick. I had a professor in college once who made us provide biographical information for all authors of sources we used (print AND online). It was a wake-up call as to how much information in general (not just on the ‘net) is not really written by an expert.
That’s not the only case though. I learned from a colleague that sometimes web masters would buy one article off a writer, spin it into tens of rewrites, then sell the pack and make hundreds. Without informing the writer.
I would love to scream “exploitation”. Then I remembered the part where we were hired as ghostwriters.
As a writer then, why are we letting this happen? Why don’t we care enough about what we put out there. Don’t we have a responsibility?
Exactly. The question is how it could be done.
A number of months ago, one site I’d been writing “original” articles for then turned around and started asking her writers to take articles that she’d taken from some of these sites, reword them so that they were at least 60% changed and she was submitting them as her own work. She wasn’t even paying for them. She would search for sites that used similar articles to what she needed and just copy and paste them into a document.
I left that writing group/job, but I know many of the other writers stayed thinking it was easy money.
So for some, the money is all that matters. I could have used the money, but plagarism is one of those things I just can’t tolerate and in my own opinion that’s what it felt like.
Too many people just want the fast buck and are not true, professional writers. Just the other night I was watching TV, and within the course of an hour, on two different “game shows” when the contestant was asked, “What do you do?”, they both answered “I’m a writer”.
It seems everyone today is a “writer”. Many college kids become “writers” on the internet instead of delivering pizzas for extra cash while in shcool. To them its a fast, easy way to earn some “party” cash.
This wasn’t the case before the internet. You had to go to journalism school, work your way up from the bottom, and finally break through. And while you were climbing up from the bottom, you gained all the years of experience from everyone around you.
Most of today’s writers have no concept of what goes into a quality piece of writing. All they know is that someone is paying a penny a word, and they need those few bucks!
The point of PLR articles is that there IS a limited amount, with the information (presumably) already researched. The buyer buys the right to chop up the article as he pleases to make it an original presentation, or to combine them.
Some writers do hash out the penny per word only because they don’t know any better. The ones who don’t care are the ones who scare me—as well as those many “legitimate” job postings you can find that are seeking research paper writers. Hm… I wonder what those will be used for…
As someone who’s still in school, I can state that we students tend to have teachers who are well aware of the dangers of the Internet and teach us how to responsibly check for information. As a note to Heather, she could do what I’ve had some teachers do: ban all but .edu unless the student gets special approval.
In a sense, the Internet is developing its own check system. Writers and researchers learn to be discerning, which helps them in all genres if they apply it outside of the Internet. But that discernment helps them to get a feel for who’s just parroting and who’s a separate commentator.
I can find in many cases more accurate information online than I can elsewhere—my genetic disease, for example, has better information available online than elsewhere, because of all the commonly-accepted outdated information on it.
Sometimes, it’s the not-experts who are far enough from a topic to be willing to think outside the box to help someone. How many tutors do you know that would admit that yo-yo’ing can help some people memorize? (That’s not to say that I like wikipedia—it’s good for giving a rough idea of some things, but as an info source, I’d sooner trust details in a fiction novel.)
As a web content writer, I am aware of my bias, as I hope we all are!
-Misti
I believe that as long as there are websites that are solely intended as a money making venture based on google adsense (or other ads), then there will be poorly written content on the Internet. I don’t know if there is anything that professional writers who write web content can do about those who are simply putting articles together with the right keywords to drive traffic to their site in hopes that the traffic will then click on an advertisement. We can warn others about the risk of trusting content found at many sites, but I don’t see how we can stop bad content from being written and published on the web. Ahhh, capitalism.
I taught high school English up until 8 years ago, and although it doesn’t seem that long ago, students then were still unsure about doing any type of research on the Internet. I required them to have at least one source from the Internet, and I got flack from students and parents alike. I’ve often wondered how I would handle it now that so much research is done online, and I know how inaccurate a lot of the information is floating around the web. I think that I would have to teach the students how to find trusted sources online.
Deb, you asked when did we stop caring about the writing we put out there. I didn’t stop caring and I’m sure that 95% of the people who read you blog haven’t stopped caring. But there will always be people willing to cut corners to make a buck, and if truth and accuracy are the corners they are willing to cut to make a buck, how can that be stopped?
I’d like to broaden the complaint, because it’s not confined to the internet. I write articles for textbooks and encyclopedias. Sad to say, I’ve found errors even in the big-name encyclopedias. In all publications, online and off, the research is only as good as the underpaid flunky who’s gathering it. And errors are only caught if the editor/expert reviewing the material is very alert and conscientious.
I agree with Robin — the majority of the people who produce the crap content most likely never visit your blog, Deb. In other words, we can discuss this until we’re blue in the face, but if the culprits never visit, it’s not going to change very much!
I also agree with something else Robin said — that if she were teaching now, she would concentrate on teaching her students how to determine whether an Internet source is valid. I am a firm believer that teaching critical thinking skills is a better approach than censoring or trying to stop something from being written, and that goes for the Internet just as well as for any other type of media.
I also want to voice my disagreement with the many people who said they don’t trust the Internet (or Wikipedia) anymore. First of all, Wikipedia is not always wrong — I’ve actually found it’s great for background reference, or a starter point for a more detailed research project. Second, I myself still do a lot of research on the Internet. Sure, as a writer of web content I’ve also learned how to separate the crap from the truth, but there are still many honest, reputable websites from where I can find information. To find them I just have to practice those critical thinking skills I’m going to teach to my kids someday.
Years ago, teachers taught children how to use the card catalog and Dewey decimal system to look up information in the library. Teachers today need to teach students how to evaluate information on the Internet. There is a lot of good information on the Web, but it has to be separated from the trash. Teachers need to help children distinguish which sites are legitimate. Telling kids to only use the library is not the answer. There is plenty of good information on sites such as the National Institutes of Health, American Cancer Society, The CIA World Factbook, many university sites, etc. that is much more up to date than library resources, especially since libraries are putting more of their budget into electronic sources and fewer into print materials. The person who said she would never look up medical information online should try eMedicine.com, a site that contains free physician-written articles almost always less than 18 months old on most diseases and disorders. This site beats print references for timeliness, completeness of information, and quality review and editing by medical professionals. Just because there are plenty of crappy sites doesn’t mean there aren’t good ones. Instead of complaining, educate yourselves and your children about which types of sites are reliable.
I agree that as writers, we have a responsibility to put out credible information. However, I don’t agree that students are so unwitting. The first thing that students learn is that one is to use the internet for ideas, but not for serious research, unless one is using a scholarly journal or a site known for credibility (such as government sites). Sure, today one can’t type “Maya Angelou” into a google bar and click on the first thing that comes up, but we need to be giving students a bit more credit. Any student deserving of the grade knows how to research. It’s not some lost art – kids can still use libraries and most can use a search engine efficiently.
As a college student, I use the internet for almost everything – even when I’m writing scholarly works. I resent the idea that college students are somehow responsible for flagrant idiocy and would like to add that people are always people, no matter the age group. I have a boss who is a college graduate and can barely string two words together when writing a memo. On the other hand, I’m a second-year who has been published in credible publications. I have never seen “party” money, being that my education costs me $20,000+ per year and some days, I just need to splurge and have a meal or two.
I have no use for generalizing those in writing culture and laying the blame will certainly get us nowhere. We’ll have much better luck by setting good examples in both our writing and attitudes; perhaps we can persuade our colleagues to do the same.
I agree Debbie. We have to set the example and not take on what is probably easy work that allows the same ‘plagiarized’ work to continue to make the rounds.
I’m still at a loss for ads from graduate students who want someone to write thesis and papers.
It’s the same thing as writers demanding a fair price for our work and not letting cheap companies lower the standard financially.
I don’t think we need to point fingers, but I do wonder what our responsibility is as writers. Is it that writing is a job and we do our job and collect our pay and that’s it, or do we go beyond to make sure the information is accurate and well-written. What is our responsibility as writers?
Deb asked -
“Is it that writing is a job and we do our job and collect our pay and that’s it, or do we go beyond to make sure the information is accurate and well-written. What is our responsibility as writers?”
It all comes down to work ethic, doesn’t it? Whether in my writing job now, my teaching job years ago, or my restaurant jobs I had while putting myself through college, I’ve always known I was responsible for not simply putting in a days work and collecting my pay, but for doing the best, most accurate work I could do. My father taught me that nothing less would do because my work is a reflection of me.
I believe my responsibility as a writer is to do all I have to to make sure what I write is well written and accurate. I believe that is everyone’s responsibility as a non-fiction writer whether you are writing web content for a site thats main purpose it gain revenue from adsense or you are writing for the American Cancer Society’s website. Whether your name goes on it or not. It came from you. Your name is linked to it somehow.
For me the question isn’t “what is our responsibility as writers?” The question is how can we possibly get others to live up to their responsibilities?
I think it’s a similar mindset that has led me to never write articles in some areas, generally medical and financial topics. I just feel like these are areas where I have little base of knowledge to draw on, and my vague understanding of these topics could do someone real harm. I probably could research mortgages or a serious disease by only using government and university sites, and find credible information to use, but this feeling still holds me back. However, I have no idea how to spread this feeling to other writers who might be a bit too eager to write on any topic regardless of their ability to do it justice.
I agree with you, Lorie, and several others in the above comments. Our responsibility as writers is primarily our own writing. Whether we write PLR articles or feature pieces for big name magazines, our reponsibility is to research and write the most accurate article possible regardless of the pay. As Lorie says, though, a writer should know when they are not the right person for a specific topic and choose another.
PLR articles are not necessarily a bad thing, as long as the subject is well researched enough to provide accurate information. Many of these articles are too short to provide much more than a few key points and a starting point for more information.
I think that it is also our responsibility to charge accordingly. Those of us who provide quality, researched content (everyone here, I believe), need to try to take jobs that pay really well whenever possible. (I do understand that everyone needs some quick money now and again, especially when you’re a full-time writer, but I’m talking in general.) If we all start accepting lower prices for our work, consumers will begin to think that’s all it is worth.
Also, for those of you who haven’t, invest in a copy-checking service (copyscape is only 5 cents per article). I know that you guys wouldn’t plagiarize on purpose, but every now and again, a sentence you write might be identical to another sentence on the web. This can happened especially if you do a lot of writing on one topic–you might accidentally “copy” yourself! It might be a fluke, but too many people are doing it on purpose for clients to believe that it was an honest mistake.
That’s the real danger of all these “writers” on the market–they’re giving all of us a bad name with the low quality and plagairism. Instead of focusing on how we can get them to change, I think we should focus on setting standards for ourselves so that we’re set apart.
Writing Blogs is about sharing information that YOU know or that YOU are interested in. Kudos to you Deb for saying something about it.
There is so much in the world and in daily life to write about. Resist the temptation to purchase something that is already written for you.
It’s your name and reputation at stake.
Though you do make a good point Deb, I think it’s unfair to assume that all PLR article batches are slapped together and not researched properly. A few years ago I began writing batches of articles for a person not knowing that they were PLR articles. I worked my butt off researching and writing intelligent and informative articles. The pay was crap but it was a start. Then I found out that these articles were being sold over and over again and the person I was writing for was making tons of money doing this.
While most of my work now consists of writing original articles for clients I have no problem writing up a batch of PLR articles and selling them myself without making a “middle man” rich. The person that buys the articles needs to rewrite them in order to make them unique but the facts that I provide are valid.
Yes, it would be wonderful if every webmaster wrote their own unique articles from scratch but since they don’t I see nothing wrong with selling article bundles as long as the writing is still professional. Just my two cents
I don’t mean to imply PLR articles aren’t well written – but if the same batch is being sold to 100 different people, they’re part of the problem.
I see nothing wrong with selling content, and that includes bundles of articles, to webmasters. I hate seeing the same content over and over and over again…even if in some cases it’s spun or rewritten.
You didn’t imply that PLR articles weren’t well written- you stated it outright several times. I like this blog a lot and think it’s usually well done and helpful, but this entry is a little offensive.
PLR sellers are usually people who started writing PLR articles for others to sell and eventually got a little wiser and decided to go into the business for themselves. The articles are not necessarily slapped together or poorly researched, and the writers are not selling themselves short unless they are not able to sell many packages. No one would do this if the end result was only a dollar an article, and no one would go back and buy more PLR from someone who produced low-quality work. The writer has an extremely vested interest in producing high-quality articles and marketing them in order to sell the packages many times. The articles can’t be judged by what rights were bought- only by who wrote them.
PLR sites are normally membership sites that keep a membership of a few hundred people, or less, and offer all of them the rights to the articles posted. The package idea is a little newer, but the concept is the same- to sell a limited number of each package. It’s not a scheme or a way to earn slave wages. Most people who buy it either use it as a starting point for a page or combine it with other content they’ve purchased in order to have unique content.
It’s not the ideal situation, perhaps, but not everyone is able to write their own web content, and I think it’s better to buy PLR content than to just steal content from someone else’s site and populate your own site with it. Since that happened to you, I would think you’d be all for PLR, as the people have indeed paid for the right to use the articles.
Writers absolutely have a responsibility to provide accurate information and to research everything they write. Why assume that they wouldn’t do this for their PLR articles?
I do like your blog, and normally your posts and information are helpful. But, I fear that this post is exactly what you didn’t want to see on the internet- sparsely researched and possibly misleading.
How is selling to PLR sites different from selling your story to a newspaper like Gannett whose contract then allows all other Gannett papers to pick up the article and reprint it without additional compensation to the writer. I don’t sell to Gannett papers because I don’t like the contract, but I don’t see PLR as much different
L.S.
Thanks for the clarification and the smackdown. I apologize for offending you and other PLR writers as that wasn’t my intention. My biggest issue with PLR sites is that the same exact articles are sold dozens, if not hundreds, of times. Now, IF the articles aren’t well written and researched, that can be a problem. Even the well-written articles are a problem though if you’re selling them over and over and over again. How will we learn new things if we’re only reading the same articles over again?
You’re right though, I shouldn’t have made the assumption that just because PLR articles are sold for next to nothing, the content isn’t valuable. There’s a lot of poorly written content out there however, and I do wonder if those who hastily throw together an article feel any sense of responsibility towards the reader.
Tish,
I see a big difference between the two in that people all over the world can log on and see this blog right now. They might become a little frustrated if every single blog carried the same information.
A person reading a syndicated newspaper column in New York City isn’t going to read the same newspaper column in Milwaukee or Sheboygan. Therefore he won’t wonder why he keeps coming across the same exact article every time he picks up the newspaper.
This has been a very enlightening discussion. I learned through the comments here and through some emails that PLR doesn’t necessarily mean hastily packaged and put together. I was offered links to several PLR sites and some had great content for sale while others were indeed poorly written.
I guess it’s like much of the other web content. Some good, some bad. I just wish more writers would write for the reader and not the advertiser.
L.S.
I think you’re also writing something poorly researched. Deb didn’t say anything that isn’t true about PLR articles. Her first paragraph described them perfectly. As a person who buys content on a regular basis I can assure you most PLR articles are poorly written and slapped together in a half assed manner. Buying content taught me one thing: You get what you pay for. If I’m looking to stock a new site it’s a given that if I’m paying twenty dollars for a batch of articles they’re not going to be more than fluff pieces. This is the reason I stopped buying content on Rent-a-Coder and E-lance. I also found that by paying more money, I get thoughtful, accurate content. Funny how that works.
Deb didn’t come out and say all PLR writers turn in poor work. She said she worries that content such as this isn’t well written. Much of it is not.
When I first began to purchase content I had a rude awakening. Many writers were sending me samples that were horrendous. These writers had long and impressive resumes mostly ghostwriting for other content buyers. This made me realize that I was helping to pollute the web by buying fluffy and badly written work.
Deb asked if writers have a responsibility and I believe they do. Content buyers also have a responsibility too.
Actually Deborah did do research. I saw her ask about PLR articles at several different places and she spent some time trying to understand wheat they were. I also remember some people giving her links so she could look at the sites.
I just wanted to put that out there for the person who says she’s didn’t research this.
It’s like the economic saying: Bad money drives out good. Bad content is driving out good–spewing virally into every crevice. I had already had trouble finding out things about a serious medical condition I am dealing with. And I know how to research! Good old Craigs–free listings, amateurs and greedheads piled on it.
Carys-
You are entitled to your opinion, based on the ones you bought without checking writing samples first. That’s your perrogative. I can assure you that all PLR articles are not like that and that it’s irresponsible to say they are. You likely bought the cheapest ones you could find and then got upset that they weren’t the best quality on the market. You already admitted to doing that on bidding sites.
The reason you didn’t get the best work on RAC and Elance is that you chose the lowest bidders and then expected the work to be top notch. You paid $20 a batch for full rights and then complain about the quality? Those aren’t PLR articles that will make more money over time- if you offer $5 an article and ask for full rights, expect to get what you pay for. I see buyers all the time that wonder why they can’t get quality work for minimum wage. Why not offer more on those sites and have more freelancers to choose from? Funny how that works…
Melissa-
I know she did, I saw the posts. I just wondered why she assumed it was all poorly written and/or that it all contained inaccurate information. There’s good and bad- the same as with any web content. I think perhaps asking to see some PLR articles, researching the rights that are sold, how they are used and how the membership sites work would have made the whole issue a little more clear.
L.S. –
Your comment shows that not only don’t you research, you also don’t read a comment before firing off a response. Carys’s comment clearly states that she was appalled by the poor quality of the samples writers were sending in, which means she was checking samples. Carys also states that she has already learned to pay rates that correspond to the quality of content she wants to buy.
I personally respect Carys for stating that good content is the buyer’s responsibility as much as the writer’s, and I think your lecture was unnecessary and overly defensive.
L.S.
You proved Deb’s point perfectly when you wrote:
“The reason you didn’t get the best work on RAC and Elance is that you chose the lowest bidders and then expected the work to be top notch. You paid $20 a batch for full rights and then complain about the quality? Those aren’t PLR articles that will make more money over time- if you offer $5 an article and ask for full rights, expect to get what you pay for. I see buyers all the time that wonder why they can’t get quality work for minimum wage. Why not offer more on those sites and have more freelancers to choose from? Funny how that works”
Deb said the same thing when she wondered about the quality of a batch of PLR articles selling for $10. Thanks for confirming her (and my) suspicions.
I agree that many PLR articles are horrible, and I think I can say that because I have been writing PLR articles for the past few weeks.
After seeing some terrible PLR articles my clients purchased, I decided to set out and write/distribute my own. I put a lot of research time into them and make sure every PLR article is just as fact-based and well-written as an article I am commissioned to write for just one person/company.
My feeling is, at least with the topics I write about, that the information is going to stay the same whether there are two articles or two thousand articles about the topic. Let me explain what I mean. I agree that it is annoying to see the same exact article over and over again. However, let’s say you were searching for information on hydrogen for a school science project. Hydrogen is always going to have the same atomic number, chemical symbol, number of protons, number of electrons, etc. If you do a search for hydrogen, the articles you find (the fact-based ones) are going to contain the same information because it never changes. So in this case, I think it is reasonable to find many articles containing the same information because the information can’t vary from one instance to another. Constantly-changing topics like politics, technology, etc. are another matter.
I also agree with the poster who said it is in a PLR article writer’s best interests to write well-researched and quality PLR articles. In an online business, where you don’t meet your clients, reputation is everything. You may make a few dollars with your first offering, but if you offer terrible quality, then you won’t get any repeat buyers.
In case anyone is wondering more about PLR, what makes it such an attractive option for writers is that instead of writing a batch of 50 articles for one client, you can write a batch of 50 articles and sell them to 50-100 people (some sell to anyone, but I limit my packages). Instead of having to haggle with a client to pay you $15 per article (I don’t want to get into a rate debate; this is just a number I am throwing out there), you can have 50 or 100 people buy your article package for $20 each, making $1,000 or $2,000 for the same amount of work that would have only brought in $750 if you were selling 50 articles to one client at $15 per article.
Private Label Rights? Head smack! I thought PLR meant plagiarized!
Why would you assume that all web content writers are illiterate and produce poor copy without researching facts. Don’t you think this is very judgmental of you? I am appalled by the amount of times you continually insult writers.
What gives you the right to assume that every other writer out there who doesn’t fit your criteria as a writer, is a fool who has no business in “your” craft?
I am really in shock by your statements, and very appalled by your self righteous attitude.
If I am wrong, then please state that you are no longer going to continue to judge all web content writers as producers of content that is obviously beneath your scholarly standards.
“Deb said the same thing when she wondered about the quality of a batch of PLR articles selling for $10. Thanks for confirming her (and my) suspicions.”
You might want to actually read what I wrote. You don’t sell the full rights for $10. You sell the package many times for $10 and make a few hundred dollars, or more, for each batch. I hope the people who skim these posts, can’t understand them and then reply to them are not web content writers. It would be an irresponsible career for them to get into.
Okay, people, take a breather!
The ones being insulted here ARE the shoddy $10 packages that are minimum wage (or lower), not necessarily PLR articles in general. So those of us who don’t write the shoddy packages can relax.
I would have appreciated less striking at PLR content or at least an acknowledgment that there is good (though more costly) PLR stuff out there, but it’s Deb’s blog, not mine. (Thankfully.) And the issue with shoddy work applies to ALL web writing and writing, not just PLRs. Though it is a major web issue, particularly because a large number of website owners demand so much work for far too little pay.
-Misti
The problem is that there are no “shoddy” plr packages.
One package of ten articles sold to 60 clients for ten dollars each = $600.00
How do you think that is shoddy or low pay?
Misti said
“I would have appreciated less striking at PLR content or at least an acknowledgment that there is good (though more costly) PLR stuff out there, but it’s Deb’s blog, not mine. (Thankfully.) And the issue with shoddy work applies to ALL web writing and writing, not just PLRs. Though it is a major web issue, particularly because a large number of website owners demand so much work for far too little pay.”
You’re right. Though I did state in the comments I didn’t mean to imply everyone who writes PLR writes poor or inaccurate content. There are plenty of great writers out there producing web content and ,yes, even PLR articles.
I do take issue with PLR in that so many people can flood the Internet with the same articles over and over again, making it difficult to find new information. If this information is in accurate, what then?
Charisse writes:
“Why would you assume that all web content writers are illiterate and produce poor copy without researching facts. Don’t you think this is very judgmental of you? I am appalled by the amount of times you continually insult writers.”
Why I don’t recall saying or even assuming this at all. I know not ALL information is poorly written, I do know there’s a lot of it out there that is. I never called anyone illiterate. I don’t choose to call names.
Now, say someone writing a bundle of PLR articles isn’t a very good writer.(Mind you, I’m not saying everyone who writes PLR are bad writers) Say 60 web owners purchase the same poorly researched content. What then? The Internet is flooded with poor content. Do we want our kids reading half the garbage that’s out there? Many of us are diligent in teaching our kids the best places to research and knowing what they do online. Many parents aren’t so diligent. So, as a writer, what is the responsibility? That’s my point.
You also said:
“I am really in shock by your statements, and very appalled by your self righteous attitude.”
If it’s self righteous to expect writers to write well, then so be it. Guilty.
And finally you said:
“If I am wrong, then please state that you are no longer going to continue to judge all web content writers as producers of content that is obviously beneath your scholarly standards.”
I’m not judging any web content writers, I’m judging poor content. I’m challenging all writers to take responsibility for what is put out there. No one is beneath me and I’m no better than anyone else.
Charisse Marie,
You’re very defensive and angry. Deb obviously touched a nerve. If you would calm down enough to read what people are actually saying you would see Misti did specity she didn’t necessarily mean PLR articles when she used the word “shoddy”.
I think Deb’s question is valid. As writers don’t we have a responsibility not to churn out fluff and nonsense?
Charisse Marie your website lists dozens of the types of articles you write, but I wonder how many of them you’re actually qualified to write? Internet research doesn’t make one an expert. Do you call and interview sources? Do you take classes in certain subjects? With all the worry about inaccurate content how do you, or any of us, know the content we write is accurate and we’re not just repeating more innaccurate information? Bad content on the Internet affects all of us, whether we want to admit it or not.
Kate Malone Says:
Charisse Marie your website lists dozens of the types of articles you write, but I wonder how many of them you’re actually qualified to write? Internet research doesn’t make one an expert. Do you call and interview sources? Do you take classes in certain subjects?
I am so offended by this statement I barely dignified it with a response.
I have enough common sense and intelligence to perform my own research and write articles that are worthy of publication.
Good grief!
As for Deb,
Yes, I feel you are extremely self righteous. You are constantly belittling writers of Associated Content, and are constantly downgrading writers who you believe are “poor writers” and reducing the wage pool for everyone else.
You are constantly talking about all of the poorly written content that you find on the Internet, then you post these threads judging the writers of the content.
Honestly,
I don’t understand how you’ve attracted so many readers, when you are constantly insulting writers for AC, PLR articles, and Ghost writers.
You made snap judgments regarding PLR articles and called it low pay-when in fact it is an EXTREMELY LUCRATIVE form of writing.
You are so concerned with saving the Internet from trash and I really wonder what articles you are talking about.
The ultimate responsibility of ANY WEB CONTENT found on the INTERNET is that of the WEBMASTER who publishes it.
As you can judge by the majority of people answering this post, ghostwriters are hired by webmasters to fix content that is full of errors.
Another issue- I am so sick of people slamming Indian writers. You know what, if I was in a third world country, you better believe I would be trying to snap up the writing jobs in America.
Could you write an article and submit it to a Hindi site and have perfect grammar?
Half of the “poorly” written content that you are always griping about is written by people in third world countries who are trying to make a living.
Americans and those who are fluent in English do not try to make a career out of poorly written content.
Many people start in Associated Content because it gives them a place to launch from. They don’t need to be bashed or ridiculed continuously for grammar mistakes that you noticed while editing the world wide web.
I am totally fed up with these self righteous judgments regarding the content that you are finding on the Internet. Also, I don’t need to pass my writing before your eyes or Misti’s eyes for approval.
That is the job of an editor and the webmaster.
However, this whole thread about PLR articles is insulting and doesn’t promote fact.
The first of which is that PLR articles are extremely lucrative.
Deborah makes friends easily for the very reasons certain people find her self righteous; She cares about responsibility and respectability and she genuinely wants to see us succeed. It doesn’t hurt that she’s just a nice person.
I believe she’s so popular because she spends so much of her personal time furthering the causes of writers, including fair wages. She cares about what children are reading just as she cares about fair wages for writers.
Deborah helped me personally by taking the time to answer my many questions about writing and steering me in the right direction when I first began my freelance job hunt.I admire her and consider her an inspiration. The many copy cat blogs similar to hers speak volumes.
Many writers are appalled at the low quality of many of the articles that we come across but most of us don’t say anything because we don’t need the argument. I know I don’t want people coming to my blog and calling me names. I applaud Deborah for saying what needs to be said and bringing these issues to light.
Thank you, Deborah!
Yes, a nerve has been touched. Especially since several weeks ago I created http://www.websitecontentplr.com and have given writers the opportunity to earn $600.00 per set of 10 articles free of charge.
I am not charging writers a dime to host their sets. I am solely doing this to help them make money.
I am shocked at this very thread.
LOLs. Now Deborah is repsonsible for the mistreatment of Indian content writes in America.
As an editor I feel it my duty to clear up a misconception. It may be my job to clean up copy – tighten sentences, take out stray apostrophes, etc. – it’s not my job to rewrite poorly written articles or hire ghostwriters to do so. It’s a writer’s responsibility to send in good, clean copy regardless of whether or not an editor is on staff. To presume an editor or webmaster will always clean up a writer’s mess isn’t professional.
Yes indeed, a webmaster or editor has a responsibility to ensure clean copy. As an editor I’ll return any article or manuscript that is riddled with errors. I will either suggest the writer clean up the copy or I’ll reject the piece outright.
I don’t understand why any writer would hand in terrible copy because it’s the editor’s job to clean it up. It’s poor business, it’s irresponsible and it’s grounds for dismissal. It’s the writers responsibility first and foremost to provide clean content.
I agree with you Melissa 100%. My point is that if someone is going to put crap on the Internet the fault rests with the website that put it up there. Not the person who doesn’t know how to write.
A lot of people write horrible books, it is the publishers decision whether that book is published or not. It is the editor’s job to make sure that the book is error free and grammatically correct before it is published. Of course, it is only common sense, that if someone wants their work published, or wants repeat business, that they will perform to the best of their abilities.
That doesn’t negate the fact that personal opinion and tastes play a role in what the finished product looks like.
In my opinion, if someone buys poorly written content and posts it on the web, they are the ones held accountable-especially if it was sold as ghostwritten material and the original author sold all rights.
Even with the best education and grammatically error free writing, picky editors will have their way with the final work.
When it comes down to it, the writer is not the one in charge of what is published- in any form of media- unless they are self publishing.
Once the editor makes those changes, and the author sells the rights, the writer is free from liability.
Therefore, the finger points back at the webmaster and editor that published the work.
Of course it is different if all rights haven’t been sold.
I’d like to clearn up another misconception, something I learned the hard way. I read many resumes of content writers who feel they’re successful because their articles make it to the top of all of the Google search pages. All this means is they know how to use keywords properly. An article can achieve the highest ranking and still be grammatically or factually incorrect. Thus, it is indeed in a webmaster’s best interest to hire the best wrier and not the cheapest or the one who knows
SEO best.
High ranking keywords can drive traffic to a site but if the article isn’t well written people won’t stick around and they won’t return. Once I learned it was more important to hire a good writer as opposed to someone who knows how to use kewyords properly my traffic and my sales improved greatly.
Anyway Deborah, I’m sure you’re ready to close this subject. I wanted to let you know that I appreciate your bringing these issues to light. Even though they make you unpopular in certain circles, they’re the things writers need to discuss. Kudos to you for having the guts and thick skin to educate others.
Deb,
I find it interesting how the real issue here isn’t being addressed. Specifically that the same article is being sold multiple times. As a “net surfer” I might find it frustrating to search for information only to come up with the same article over and over again, especially if it’s not well written in the first place. You’re wondering why certain writers don’t feel a responsibility towards the people who are looking for information, correct?