Quality or Quantity
As I sat here, struggling to get my brain into gear to write three or four articles due in the coming days, it occurred to me that a lot of people don’t put themselves through such hell. Or, to put it another way, I wondered why I worry so much about quality when most folks only seem to be concerned with quantity.
One of the jobs I have at the moment is a one-off to produce five articles. Simple enough, right? Well, yes, apart from the fact that the subjects are all things with which I am completely unfamiliar. That’s not a problem in itself – it only becomes one because of my darned honesty and principles. I absolutely refuse to produce sub-standard crap that could have been written by a machine or is copied and pasted from half a dozen other sources to create some kind of Frankenstein article.
My buyer will get five articles that have been researched, are completely original and which are around the 700-word mark, instead of some half-English gibberish that just about manages 450 words, including the byline and title.
The up-side of this is great: I virtually always get comments from buyers along the lines of “really great”, “exceeds expectations” and other such loveliness. The down-side is that I’m effectively underpaid, because I’m doing more research and work for the pieces I produce than someone who just bashes them together between re-runs of American Idol.
So I have to ask you this: which is more important to you?
Well someone has got to be the bad guy, maybe today is my turn.
It would depend on a few other considerations.
One of them would be exposure. If the site is paying 50cents per article and some undisclosed percentage of its ad revenue then I would expect the site to have a high rating and some targeted exposure. Basically I would view that site as a showcase and view my time and effort as a means to pay them to host it for me. Obviously the work would be as good as I can polish it.
On the other hand if it is a small site with off the mark content, which is playing take it or leave it “because someone will do it if you don’t” tactics. Well then my quality would probably drop. Frankenstein no, but proper polishing and editing would go out the window.
I would probably also post under the pen name of “Loki Mendacious”
I’m with you on the showcase thing. That’s how I view sites like Associated Content, HubPages and Helium: they pay badly, but the main thing is the publicity – getting your name out there (and a few pennies for the effort). Here I was talking mostly about writing on demand – especially ghostwriting, where there’s no byline anyway.
And I have to ask… Loki Mendacious?
Spike, you don’t know how to do bad work do you? I always enjoy reading your stuff, wherever I find it.
I’m still trying to convince myself writing for the internet will work for me. But when I see you doing it, and a few others I know, like Chris Champion and so on, well it gives me hope that I can stay at home, listening to my dogs bark and dig up the backyard, and still make money. Not that I’m earning much yet – I don’t believe I’m ever going to achieve Adsense payout, even though I blog quite often. Not enough traffic, not enough clicks.
I’m learning all the time.
Hiya Carolyn! Thanks for dropping in. I don’t know about not being able to do bad work – you should see some of the junk I’ve produced in the past – but I do know that blogging income is tiny. That’s why I’m focussing more on the writing side for the moment: the income is better, quicker. OK, so in the long term a blog can do that whole ‘residual income’ thing, but when the rent needs paying, well… they won’t wait for me to hit AdSense payout!!
Hi again Spike, I’ve often felt that Elance is to high falutin’ for me. I look at the jobs available and I look at the size of the budgets and I think, whoah, am I am to that? I’m lucky in that I don’t have a real pressing need to earn a living (thanks to my husband being the family worker), but I would love to be able to pay more into the families’ coffers with my writing.
I’ve earned a bit with paid blogs, and enjoyed doing it, but… But I’m yearning to get some decent money for my efforts. Although, having said that, I have to say that the money I’ve earned from ads was pretty good for the small amount of work required.
I’ve enjoyed my time with Orble, met some great people, but it’s too easy to get bogged down in the crap discussions that sometimes happen. Never on my blog though, so I’m not the one getting the traffic!
Anyway, I have a few writing things going at the moment, so I’d better go and get on with them. Thanks for replying to my words,
Cheers,
Carolyn
“I look at the jobs available and I look at the size of the budgets and I think, whoah, am I am to that?”
You know what? I thought the same thing, and still do. I’m still undervaluing my services. The thing is, the people who bid at the lower end write crap. Seriously. Look back at The Word Philes 1 on here: many writers’ BIDS suck badly, let alone their articles.
Elance is the one forum I’ve found where people are willing to pay for good work. It’s much tougher competition, but you’d be providing them what they want: quality, well-researched content. I think you’d be surprised by just how high your scores would be on Elance’s tests, and how the buyers there would be pleased with your work.
Gosh, I’m blushing, Spike. It may have something to do with the flu vacc I had this afternoon (not, repeat not, related to so called ‘swine flu’). My husband booked my son in for the shot because he’s going on a school trip and they wanted the kids vacc’d and my dear hubby thought I should have a shot too. I think it’s because he loves me and doesn’t want me to be ill. Well, that’s what I want to think!
I got an email from Elance this arvo, I might have to have a proper look there tomorrow. If you think I can do, who am I to doubt your words?
Thanks Spike.
The way I see it, what have we got to lose? If you get work and they’re happy, you’ll get more. If they’re not, we can go and hide on another site…
Good luck with that ‘flu jab. Never had one, myself. I was thinking of getting one this year, but they couldn’t fit the pig in the syringe…
Well you did ask. Here is the background to the name.
Loki
Pronunciation [loh-kee]
–noun Scandinavian Mythology.
a trickster god, born of Jotun ancestry but accepted among the Aesir as Odin’s adopted brother: father of the monsters Fenrir, Hel, and the Midgard serpent, and the instigator of Balder’s death.
mendacious
Pronunciation [men-dey-shuh s]
–adjective
1. telling lies, esp. habitually; dishonest; lying; untruthful: a mendacious person.
2. false or untrue: a mendacious report
I think my previous answer in essence still stands.
If the jobs has any promotional value, then quality first.
If the job is for a poor outlet for minimal pay then although I wouldn’t do a cut and paste job, I would minimise any time used and cut post-editing and polishing to the bone.
If the poor outlet has some promotional value to your name, or ‘risk’ then I would observe grammar, obvious faults and do some polishing but I would keep the polishing firmly under control.
After all any time you waste on these jobs, is time not spent on other more prestigious jobs.
The etymology was less of a concern (I’m familiar with Mr. Loki, his hung-upside-down brother and his problematic offspring…!
). I was intrigued as to why you’d chosen him, more than anything.