Another example of why it might take you longer to write an article: numbers.

I used to cover education for a newspaper, and I would write these huge 2-3,000 word stories on test scores several times each year. But a major part of putting those stories together included going over stats and data with a fine-tooth comb. Even now as a freelancer, there are many instances when I have to go back and carefully check numbers. For example, I did a freelance piece recently about physicians and medical errors; I had to interview sources, read journal articles, and then doublecheck numbers. I worked as quickly as was reasonable, of course, but I wasn’t about to sacrifice quality at the altar of “hey, look how I fast I wrote that!”

I thought it was funny about the naptime not being over. I’m expecting a fourth girl in early February and I currently have three young girls. The first two go to school while I am usually stuck at home with our third daughter.
In my case, I need to do better time management but so far notice the time I can work is when they are playing with each other or if the first two are in school and the youngest is napping would be perfect for me to work.
I need to work on DEmand Studios articles so then I can get paid. I got only $15 from them so far.
I am also looking for more writing jobs as well.

That said, it took me a lot longer to pin down my interview sources and then actually interview them. If I was just counting the writing time, it wouldn’t have been a big deal at all, but unfortunately, the story required quite a bit more than that.

But I receive 25 cents to $1 a word depending on the type of writing. I’m not just churning out copy that requires little legwork — not to say there’s anything wrong with that. I’m just not that type of writer, which requires better typing skills than I possess.

Dragon Naturally Speaking might be an option for some and I would consider it if carpal tunnel was an issue (not yet), but I “think with my fingers” as I write/type.

It is true. When your talking about a real article of quality that will go into the 1200 words ratio, then you’ll want to treat that thing like a college course paper. Interviews. Notes. Getting your research and sources correct. That’s real article writing in my opinion. Depending on what it is — I think the time limit is up to you. 700 articles in a week? I’ d like to see that writer’s topics and what was exactly in those articles. I mean you can write 300 word blurbs all day, and it may just be concocted info you grabbed from a light search or two on the net. That’s filler for hire stuff. I don’t think it matters how long someone can complete something, its what the product is and the quality of the content. I’d prefer someone that can write 5 good articles that takes them 4 days then someone who pumps out 50 in 2 days, but their all generic and not really attention grabbing.

But for the ones without research, I can write them within 30 minutes or less. I have three very young girls and I don’t get to write as often as I should for income. I would love to make more money with my writing. That’s for sure. For the past year or so, my income for writing is pretty laughable. Hopefully one of these days I would be able to surpass my monthly income goal.

It all depends on how well I know the subject, but I don’t like to write on something I have no interest in learning about, anyway. The article would read like a technical manual.

Typing speeds help. I type 80wpm so I can work at double the speed of someone who types at 40wpm.

On average, it took me around 10 minutes to write 300 words. Then I’d spend 10 additional minutes editing the articles.

As I needed quick money, this little experiment proved to be profitable: in a few hours I had an article pack ready for sale. The client who bought it not only loved the articles but also gave me a testimonial. What else could I ask for?

While I understand some writers do need more time even when they’re familiar with the subjects they’re writing about, the truth is that many of us can write pretty fast if we know a topic thouroughly.

Sticking to your niche is just common sense. That’s why writers who specialize make significantly more money in their niche than they do out of it. They know the topic, they are qualified to write about, and it doesn’t require research. I had someone quiz me recently on how I was able to make 75+ dollars an hour on Demand Studios writing home improvement articles and it came down to this: I was a third generation contractor who grew up in a 750+ million dollar family industry. I was on job sites from the time I was 5 years old. I was running 25 man crews by the time I was 19, and I had started my own company when I was 22. My dad made me serve an actual apprenticeship 7 year apprenticeship. I spent 15 years in the field as a working professional. I know the industry intimately, and believe me when I say that when it comes down to writing about ceramic tile and natural stone installations, design, procedures, and etc., there is no one more qualified than myself. I can go to DS, pull 5 articles, and knock them out in an hour, making 15 bucks a pop, without even batting an eye. My record is actually 7 articles in an hour. Why? Because it’s my niche. It’s something I know better than anyone else, because I have a hands-on experience with the subject that you can’t get from reading a Wikipedia article or something on DIY.com or from a Home Depot manual.

Why don’t I do that regularly? Because I choose not to. I’d rather write travel articles based upon my extensive travels throughout Europe. I’d rather write about food, wine, green-thinking, and work on my fiction.

If someone asks me to write an article about wine and it’s 500 words….I’m sorry. The topic of “wine” in general could be broken down into several BOOKS, not just one article. To write a 500 word article on wine you are really only going to be able to give the absolute basics…where it comes from, how it’s made, an example of different kinds of wine, and that’s about it. You are giving a brief, 500 word “about” wine article. Now if someone wants to really know about wine, they’ll read a book, which contains dozens, if not hundreds, of articles dedicated to wine, going into the process behind each different vintage, cabernet vs shiraz vs merlot vs chianti vs melnik vs chardonnay vs muskat vs misket vs pinot noir vs the types of grapes used in each, the different processes used to age each particular wine, whether or not you should do steel vats or age it in a barrel, why you leave the skins on, why you remove the skins, the proper time in the holding tank for each different grape, how to blend the different vintages together, why you need to bottle it in a cool, controlled climate, which types of grapes grow best in which types of regions, and so on and so forth.

That’s why I comment on 500 word articles being “blurbs”. Taking just the example above, there is no way under the sun you could write anything more than a brief “about” article regarding wine, or ANY other topic. If you want more detailed information you need more articles, longer articles, more research, and more time. In 500 words I can tell you ABOUT anything you want, but if you really want to KNOW the object/person/subject/whatever, then it takes far more than 500 words can ever convey.

I also write for DS and I love it… I write health and fitness articles at $25 a pop… Here’s a tip, try and pick headlines that are similar to the articles you have already written for DS…. This will cut down the time on research (since you have the links) and this will cut down on familiarizing yourself with concepts when you already are familiar with them because you already wrote about them…

Also, you need to set a goal as to how much time and money you want to make writing… For example, my goal is to make at least $100/day writing.. That would take me about 4 hours at the most based on writing for DS… For me $3,000 a month is more than enough to pay the bills and take care of the kids…

This is very true… I try to find projects or articles on topics that I have already written on several times before, because I have a great understanding of the topic… It saves a lot of time…. If i’m writing on topics that I have previously researched and written on, I can do about 500 words in 15 minutes…

I also write in-depth research articles on topics I have a solid foundation of knowledge on… I typically do 500 words in about 30 minutes….

So, I stick with the articles and topics that I know I can make good money for the time it takes me… I try and make at least $20/ hour writing articles, otherwise I might as well get a different job…

Later, as a freelance I got 5 cents an inch from the same paper, so it would only pay if I cc’d the local radio news, and the State dailies plus a rewrite or two for farming newspapers and/or magazines. Isaac

The killer is the research time, but, as prolific author Isaac Asimov maintained, the key is to do your research once and then write it many times.

IMO a 500 word article is nothing more than a short little “about”. There is (IMO) no way to convey any real depth of meaning or character about a topic or subject in just 500 words. All you can really do is give “the basics”. Who, where, what, how, why, etc. To take your example on maple trees I can simply Google “how to identify maple trees” and within 2 minutes of scanning websites I can quickly find at least half a dozen “ways” to identify maple trees, at which point I start typing the various “ways” to identify maple trees. Within 10 minutes I have a 500 word article that clearly, concisely, and informatively tells the reader all they need to know about how to identify a maple tree, using half a dozen different methods described by professionals in the field. The article will include sources and references.

Now, if a client wants a thoroughly detailed “how to identify maple trees” project then that is more than I can convey in 500 words. At that point I would break down the half dozen ways and give each of them their own specific article that explicitly details the hows and whys of each specific method.

Agree to disagree. I have yet to see any 500 word or less article that is anything more than a “blurb”, or an “about”. Regardless of the topic. There’s just not enough room to convey anything more than they very basics.

Put it another way…if the average human being speaks 120 words per minute…I can read a 500 word article in just over 4 minutes, assuming I speak 120 words a minute. There is no way, in any language, that you can convey anything other than the briefest of detail regarding a given subject. Anything of substance will be far more than 500 words.

Maybe that’s the difference. A 500 word blurb on something basic doesn’t take more than a few minutes, even if your typing style is hunt-and-peck (not “you” specifically T.W., “you” in a general sense). A 500 (or more) word article that educates and informs is quite different. Which is why it takes longer.

As a side note, most of my articles end up being well over 500 words. While my primary client prefers an average of 650, most of my articles end up longer. As you say, 500 words isn’t really enough space to provide the necessary info for most subjects. Apparently it’s better for SEO or something. Who knows. I just know I get chastised if my articles exceed 1500–which I think is ridiculous. My goal is to educate and inform. My client’s is to rank high in search engines.

Still, I average about $27 per hour. I’m pretty happy with that.

It’s irritating to me when I am looking for information, and I come up with something like “Tips for what to do when a baby is crying” See if the baby is tired, hungry, or needs a diaper change. Duh, McFly! That’s what I seem to come across often though. Of course I could write those in ten minutes. Anyone could.

I do believe though that someone who has written hundreds of 500 word articles could do it pretty quickly. You definitely develop a routine, a process, and an eye for the word count without checking.

500 words is not enough word count to be willing to spend more than 10-15 minutes creating it. That’s my take on it. I consider 500 word articles the same as I do 250 word articles…blurbs. They are the “fast food”. Quick, easy, and cheap. I’m not writing Pulitzer prize stuff…I’m writing quick little “about” articles regarding a subject. I’m imparting a little bit of information, but that’s it. There’s not enough room for more than just the “basics”, and as such, I don’t need to be spending hours of time trying to research something that’s nothing more than a skim-through of the product/topic/whatever.

However, once you cross the 500 word threshold you start getting into more “detailed” territory. If I’m into an 800 word article I’ll probably take 45 minutes to an hour to write it. I’ll probably come back and spend 15 minutes on it a few hours later and give it an edit. Depends on the pay, of course. The more they pay, the more time I’m willing to spend on the article.

As a general rule of thumb…I don’t spend more than 12-15 minutes on a 500 word article. There’s not enough room to divulge enough information to require more than 15 minutes of time.

1000 word+ articles are the only ones I spent any real amount of time on. I’ll generally spend an hour or so researching the topic, then rough-draft the article within 45 minutes to an hour, then come back and do 2 to 3 different edits on it. When it’s all said and done, I’ll probably spend 3-4 hours on a good, well-researched, thought-out, and polished 1000 word article. Beyond that, the time only increases.

However, again…it depends on the topic. I recently wrapped up a project for a client covering Poker, in all its forms. It was around 500 articles. About 50% of them were 250 word articles, and the other 50% were 500 word articles. I spent 3 days prior to starting the writing actually researching poker, because I had no idea regarding the variations, the terms, or the various rules. By the time the whole project ended up completing I averaged 24 USD an hour, including research, for the time invested in doing the project. Right now I’m 2 years into freelancing (will cross the 2 year mark in January). I am extremely comfortable making 25-30 dollars an hour. 90% of my work is 250 and 500 word articles. Website content. Fast food. Content for the 21st century generation of readers who want it now, want it fast, and they want it compiled into quick, easy-to-read blurbs that tell them the basics of what they need to know so they can get on with their day.

My problem is, if I know a lot about a topic I tend to write more without realizing it. Then my 500 word article becomes a 1000 word article and I have to find places to cut it back. So it takes just as long to write an unfamiliar topic as a familiar one.

In the case of the 500 words, it was mostly a matter of “google and rewrite” or “blog what you know.” In the case of the 800 words it was “find and interview five people on an obscure topic, then draft an article and then revise it twice.”

The 800 words, btw, paid $250 – nowhere NEAR enough, and it was a MAJOR publisher. The 500 words, however, paid $40 – for just a half hour of work.

Go figure.

Lisa

The writing itself is a snap – I’ll get down 1000 good words in 40 minutes when the Muse has struck – the time is used up in the hours (and more often days) to research a topic, understand it completely, mull it over consciously and subconsciously, decide on an angle and begin to build the article mentally…. This doesn’t include interviews or traveling for on-site research.

For the churn-and-burn articles (and yes, I do write these, to the scorn of some of my colleagues ) 500 words takes about an hour if I am somewhat familiar with the topic.