The problem that I see is that those who oppose content mills on principle alone seem to place a prohibitively high price tag on their work. While $500 for a 1500-word story might to them be “meh,” for many of us, that is the equivalent of a week’s salary. And those of us who work in print realize that a story on the front page of the special features section doesn’t even pay that anymore. So unless everyone is getting paid by The New Yorker, I suspect that there’s some fudging of the numbers. Sure, I would love mill writers to be paid more so that even higher-quality content with new information and professional interviews to freshen up old topics. But there has to be a happy medium somewhere between $15-20 and $500 at which one is willing to define as “fair” considering the effort expended.

After having a very bad experience with a famous “client” (who sought me out), for whom I ghostwrote a +250-page book (published and sold) and never got paid a dime for my time or efforts, I realize that even the real deals sometimes aren’t real. In this economic environment, I need to work for clients who pay reliably and on time. Show them *my* references? No … they need to show me theirs.

There were travel topics, but they were things like “Top hotels in Ann Arbor” (never been there). There were science topics, but they were on obscure topics about which I knew nothing. Even the gardening and pet topics were very specific and rather obscure (how to cure a particular plant disease or prepare a certain breed to show).

Am guessing that content mill writing for big money is a specialized area in itself. Yes, pretty rocks or string beans are great subjects to know about, but ONLY if the content mills are interested in multiple articles on precisely those topics. And the likelihood is that they don’t want in-depth info on string beans more than once. Even a basic knowledge of geology isn’t helpful: I did search, and the topics, again, are very niche. No one wants an article on how tsunamis occur: they want to know the precise way in which to measure outcomes. And I don’t know!

Sites like Examiner do let you actually write in depth about topics you know well, which is great.. the potential down side, of course, is that it’s up to you to generate readership (which may be easy or hard).

Lisa

The reason I’ve been able to make so much money off of content sites is I simply stick to the things I enjoy talking about on a daily basis with friends and family. I’ve read up on these things over the course of my life because they were passions I enjoyed learning more about, or things I enjoyed doing. I don’t write specifically related to my professional experiences as a business owner (although being a business owner gives its own set of unique niche areas you can write in), but rather based upon my experiences living life so far.

If you’ve ever traveled, you can write about it. Like cooking string beans? Write about it. Have a great way to groom a dog? Write about it. Obsessed with pretty rocks? Write about it.

Most of the content sites are really easy to use because you can simply plug in the keywords related to your hobbies/passions, and then blam…you are presented with dozens of opportunities to make money without ever having to research, query, or deal with other people.

Now, granted…if you have to research it, and it requires photos you don’t easily have on hand, then it drives your productivity down, which makes content sites not-so-profitable for some people, but as long as you stick to what you know and work the system to your advantage, it’s fairly lucrative as an alternative.

If you can stick to what you know and what you love…you can easily make 40-50 dollars an hour using traditional content sites, and the best part about it in my eyes is the simple fact that since you are writing about things you enjoy talking about in the first place…it’s not really work. You are getting paid to talk/write about your hobby.

My majority of writing used to be content mill websites when I was pregnant because I just couldn’t deal with strict deadlines. I couldn’t promise a client that I would have 2 articles done for them in 48 hours if I was suffering from morning sickness or was so dead tired I couldn’t keep my eyes open past 8pm.

Like I said you never know what is going on in a person’s life and what their situation is, so it’s best not to judge others.

OTOH, have yet to figure out how to make serious money on content site writing. By the time I’ve researched, written, templated, photo researched and uploaded, and then “Web 2.0-ed,” there’s no way I’ve spent under an hour total.

I’d think, though, that Deb is right: if I were an auto mechanic or DIY expert or programming geek, and ALSO had a pile of public domain images easily available, I could clean up big time with WiseGeek, Demand, etc.

To each his own.

Lisa

It’s like the age-old vegetarian versus meat-eater argument. Neither side is more “right” than the other side…each have their own merits, pros and cons. But it is a debate that will continue on until we no longer eat plants OR animals, but instead only eat a goo like in the Matrix or other movies =P

Ironically enough, the only time the debate comes into play (rates/content sites) is when the content-mill haters start in with their anti-content drivel. In two years of time I have never since a single, solitary post made by a content writer who works for content sites complaining about what “the other side” is doing. In fact, almost all content site writers are happy with their current situation. The only people you see complaining about “the other side” is the content-site haters. Every day another topic springs up from one of them, berating content mills and people who work for them.

It’s kind of fun to watch, in a way. One side is completely content and happy to let the other side go on doing whatever it is they want to do, while the other side can’t go even a day without shouting at the top of their lungs, all in a panic over what their opposites are doing.

Money talks, BS walks. I’ll let my paychecks do the talking for me.

If there is a problem with the quality on content sites, and I don’t know that there is, fussing isn’t going to fix it. Higher caliber writers writing for them could.

If the problem is pay, be a more active learner. The more you know, the more you can intelligently write about quickly. As Deb pointed out, if you know a lot about the topic you’re writing on and don’t have to research, the pay isn’t half bad.

That math thing is getting a bit stale.

I don’t think the market is drying up at all, I find so many good opportunities every single day – for different types of markets. This time of year isn’t notoriously slow and the economy looks like it might be picking up a bit. Who knows? 2010 might be your year.

The writing industry has always been full of elitist snobbery and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon. I’ve always felt the whole thing to be very simple: don’t like it, don’t do it. Easy.

My question is, is there anyone who can honestly say they’ve never stumbled across some good/useful information (even if you do have to take it with a grain of salt) on one of these content sites? I have; and while obviously I’d cross-check what I read there, they can be an okay source of simple answers to simple questions. So I won’t knock them too hard.