WritingThoughts

38 responses so far ↓

• 1 John D Carmack // Apr 26, 2009 at

  Thanks for an excellent article, Laura.

  I’m not sure who you are referring to, but I doubt they are “misguided”. I write almost every day. Even on a subject with which I am familiar, I can do about 1,000/hr including moderate research. However, that includes the whole range from where I have the research items bookmarked and ready to go, so the whole article only takes 20 minutes, to where I started from scratch and took all day. I have always suspected that anyone who claims they can crank out articles in 5 minutes is using computer generated “articles” that will eventually backfire and get the web site flagged as spam.

• 2 --Deb // Apr 26, 2009 at

  The typing speed alone should be enough to make people wonder! Who really does believe these claims? Or is it just that they want to be able to believe them to justify paying less?

• 3 Lillie Ammann // Apr 27, 2009 at

  I can type about 100 words per minute, but I certainly can’t turn out a 500-word article in five minutes. I just finished editing a 1000/word article, and that took the better part of an hour. That’s editing an article that I had already written several days ago. Anyone who really stops to think can’t possibly beieve a writer can produce a quality article in five minutes.

• 4 Laura Spencer // Apr 27, 2009 at

  These are all good points.

  I’m not sure if these claims exist because clients want to believe them even when they go against logic, or if some clients are simply not knowledgeable about the writing process.

• 5 Rose@Auto Parts // Apr 29, 2009 at

  Writing quality articles takes time. Some people are too impatient. My average typing speed is 60 words per minute. I can reach to a 100–if I were only copying what I type. I usually finish a 500-word article for 30 minutes when I don’t have to research about the topic. Researching alone takes time. So a 5-minute 500-word article is a pure con.

• 6 Travel-Writers-Exchange.com // May 11, 2009 at

  Thanks for the article Laura. Quality writing takes time and some research. I’m not even sure what my typing speed is anymore. I used to be able to type between 50 – 60 words per minute. I think I’ve improved. However, I do notice that if I’m very passionate about what I’m writing, my fingers just fly across the keyboard.

  Organizations could use common sense when it comes to writes that claim they can type a 500-word article in five minutes. I’m sure they are some “legitimate” people who could possibly pull this off, but…

• 7 sue jeffels // May 12, 2009 at

  I can type 60-70 words a minute and, excluding proof reading time can usually write 3 500 word articles in an hour, providing it is a familiar topic that does not require much research, then add another 20mins proofreading the articles, which is around 26 minutes an article

• 8 Karen // May 12, 2009 at

  500 words for five minutes it is possible only if you rewrite the text. But here is the point in write and not in rewrite so that it is impossible to compose the text of 500 words for five minutes.

• 9 Laura Spencer // May 12, 2009 at

  Great comments! As most of you point out – 100 words a minute is possible, but not common. Plus, that doesn’t give the writer any time to research or proofread.

  The sad thing is that some companies that hire writers don’t realize examine this as closely as we have here.

• 10 Mary Ann // May 19, 2009 at

  You should always have your work checked by a professional editor, to make sure that your work is being read in the way you intend it. Also, you will need to ensure that your work is mistake free as this usually puts off the reader from reading further.

• 11 Matt Keegan // May 26, 2009 at

  I’m amazed that this folly persists. The quickest I can write a four or five hundred word article is about in fifteen minutes, but only if I know the subject quite well. Even then, I prefer to take my time making sure that I got everything included and that my article makes sense.

  You get what you pay for; five minute articles are long on promise, short on delivery.

• 12 Top Three Writing Resources This Week | Sarah Greenwood Freelance Writer // May 29, 2009 at

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• 13 Juliet // Oct 15, 2009 at

  Hi

  I am so glad that you have addressed this issue! It has been a great concern of mine. I think many people “write” articles by copying and pasting and then altering the words. It’s what I’ve picked up along the way from comments that some “writers” have made. Also, it explains why many articles don’t quite hang together when reading.

  Thank you,
  Juliet

• 14 Laura Spencer // Oct 15, 2009 at

  Thanks Juliet!

  I think that claims that are too good to be true often are. That’s all I have to say on the subject.

• 15 Jessie Fitzgerald // Oct 29, 2009 at

  Five minutes for 500 words is ridiculous! You’ve raised some excellent points. As 2010 approaches and I change courses within my business, I evaluate my hourly rates and find that writing within my specialty a 400-word article will take about 40 minutes: 5 minutes to research and plan, 20 minutes to write and 10 minutes to edit. I am an extremely fast writer and typist and these are where my numbers generally lie. Yet, to write the same quality article of the same length on topics I know nothing about–say, an automotive industry article, I would need to double my research time. At least double.

  Time tracking is a good quality control in writing. I find that I’m quick to write and then anxious to send off my copy. Really have to account for editing.

• 16 Laura Spencer // Oct 29, 2009 at

  Hi Jessie!

  These claims pop up from time to time in the writing world and when they do I’m always amazed by the number of people who believe them.

  Yet, a careful look at such claims shows that they are less than believable.

  Besides, even if it were possible to produce hundreds of articles a day by churning out an article every five minutes – who would want to do it for any length of time. It seems like a recipe for burnout to me.

  BTW, the time it takes you to write an article seems reasonable to me.

• 17 Michelle Rafter // Oct 29, 2009 at

  I’d really like to know what the subjects of the “articles” are that someone could produce three in an hour, including proofreading. I could see how someone might be able to write 500 words on “How to bake a cake” based on sheer experience alone, if they in fact knew how to bake a cake, and maybe research a few food websites in order to add some links. But 500 words on whether the stimulus bill is having its intended effect and helping relax the credit crunch small business owners have faced since the start of the recession? I wrote that story last week, including background research, dialing into a press conference call with SBA Administrator Karen Mills and doing several other interviews. I can tell you, it took a lot longer than 5 minutes, or even 25, or even a 100. But it paid a whole lot more than those 5 minute articles do too.

  http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/money/article/small-business-stimulus-program-gets-a-boost-michelle-v-rafter

  Michelle Rafter

• 18 Jenn Mattern // Oct 29, 2009 at

  I’m with Lillie. I can type over 100wpm, but it’s very different than writing (no serious thinking or creativity involved when you’re only typing). What these folks really should say is “I can swipe articles from EzineArticles, run them through a half-assed article spinner to swap out words, and call it a ‘unique’ article for you at 5 minutes an article. Any takers?”

• 19 Jenn Mattern // Oct 29, 2009 at

  Or maybe they write 100 word “articles.” *shrug*

• 20 Laura Spencer // Oct 29, 2009 at

  Hi Michelle and Jenn!

  I’ve always chosen to focus on quality rather than speed when I write. I really don’t think that the two are very compatible.

  I brought this topic up again because of this post(http://freelancewriter4hire.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/article-author-claims-700-articles-per-week-101-per-day-by-lance-winslow/) at Freelance Writer 4 Hire about a writer who writes 700 articles a week.

  It’s a bit unbelievable if you ask me, but it’s not the first time I’ve seen such claims.

• 21 How Long Does it REALLY Take You to Write an Article? : Freelance Writing Jobs // Oct 30, 2009 at

  […] where it’s due: Just got done reading Laura Spencer’s “Writing Thoughts vs. The Five Minute Article Writer.” It has me thinking a lot about article writing and what goes into writing a good […]

• 22 Brenda // Oct 30, 2009 at

  I think I’ve seen some of these “articles”. *snicker* I think there is a difference between writing and slamming some words down on a topic with no thought.

• 23 T.W. Anderson // Oct 31, 2009 at

  Ironically, that’s the same thing that the farm laborers said in 1830 during the Swing Riots that came about as a result of the threshing machine being introduced into the agricultural world. They claimed that it wasn’t fair that the farmers were using the machines instead of them, and after months of unemployment and lost wages they finally had enough and rioted.

  It is impossible for you, me, or anyone else to judge whether or not an individual is or isn’t capable of writing X amount of articles per hour, day, week, or month. While I will admit that his claim sounds a little far-fetched, I know for a fact that I can write a 500 word article in 10 minutes using Dragon Naturally Speaking, and my bank account and credibility over the last couple of years would beg to differ with anyone who makes a claim about the validity or quality of my work. On any given day I put out 2500-3000 words per hour of content on topics ranging across the board.

  If you head on over to the discussion boards at FWJ’s website (where I actually found the link to this topic, since it was the foundation of that continuation. http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com/2009/10/how-long-does-it-really-take-you-to-write-an-article/), you will see this very topic being discussed. As I’ve said there, a 500 word article is nothing more than a blurb. It is physically impossible to convey any truly detailed, in-depth information in an article that takes only a handful of minutes to read. You can substitute any topic you like for the sake of argument, but the fact remains the same: 500 words is a blurb. It is little more than the back of a DVD box describing the DVD you are about to watch. You don’t have enough space to impart a fully in-depth detailed analysis of the subject matter.

  That’s not to say that some people don’t spend an hour or more writing a 500 word article, but you are not imparting anything other than the briefest of information on the subject. A 3-4 minute read, at most. If you truly want to delve into the depths of something you need to write a dissertation, or an essay, not a 500 word blurb. For the person who said that they wrote a stimulus article that took them an incredibly long number of hours to complete…you still only contained the briefest of information regarding the stimulus effect, and while you may have put a lot of effort into it and gotten paid X for your amount of time, it’s still a brief moment in time that can only convey the very tip of the iceberg regarding stimulus.

  With that being said…it is incredibly naive to claim that just because you (not singling out anyone in particular; generalizing) cannot write a quality article in 10-15 minutes with a length of 500 words, then no one else is capable of doing so, because you think “it is impossible” to write something quality in that amount of time. The laborers of old said the same thing about the threshing machine. They claimed that it was impossible for the machine to achieve the same level of quality when it came to the harvesting of grain. Not only were the machines more qualified, but they were cheaper, more efficient, and moved the human race into the next stage of our technological evolution.

  Remember, just because you can’t doesn’t mean that others cannot as well. You are not the bar that everyone else is measured against. You are simply one writer out of many hundreds of thousands (perhaps even millions) on the face of this planet, and as technology introduces more and more ways for writers to have access to research material, not to mention software capable of allowing us to put out more and more content in a given day (I use Dragon Naturally Speaking for my work), the days of print writers and people who can only write 500 words in an hour are fading into the background, while those of us using the threshing machine are moving into the next phase of human evolution.

  Using my example from the other site, if someone were to ask me about “wine”, I could give them a 500 word article on wine, but it would be only the vaguest of “about” articles dealing with wine. There is not enough room to talk about the various vintages, how each grape grows in different climates, which melding of grapes work the best with each other, barrel aging versus vat aging, whites versus reds, pruning methods, harvesting methods, fertilizing methods, bottling methods, aging methods, and so on and so forth. All I can convey in that short little 500 word blurb is the briefest explanation of wine. This is true for every single solitary example you want to come up with. 500 words is not enough to cover more than a blip.

• 24 Laura Spencer // Oct 31, 2009 at

  T.W.

  I have to admit that I have never tried Dragon Naturally Speaking, so I don’t know how that would affect the benchmarks we are discussing. My gut feel about it is that an article spoken into a tool would need a lot of editing, but it might be possible to train oneself to speak in an organized, structured fashion and produce a salable article.

  I think that it is okay to look at benchmarks. Companies use benchmarks in their planning all the time. This particular benchmark is one that all writers and would-be writers should consider – so this is all good information. Of course, a benchmark is basically an average, which means that there will always be exceptions.

  While my experience may be different from yours, the writing process that we go through (not necessarily the method) is basically the same: research, organize, and proofread. The amount of time that each of these steps take will vary depending on the project, but to some degree all of the steps will be present in the writing process.

  One of my original purposes for writing the post was to highlight the actual writing process. So many writers only consider the time that they take to type an article as their writing time. However, there is so much more than typing to the writing process.

  Thanks so much for your comment. This has been a good discussion.

• 25 Michele // Oct 31, 2009 at

  It’s craziness. I think there are times that someone might be flooded with inspiration (about a topic they’re experienced with) and be able crank out a decent article in half an hour or so. It might not even need much editing–if they’re a quality writer already. I’ve actually had that happen. The articles sold and weren’t shoddy pieces. But it isn’t going to happen every day and definitely not in 5 minutes. That’s just ridiculous.

  I got really steamed one day when someone said: “All you have to do is change one word of a story and you can call it your own.”

  What???!!!

  Ugh. People….

  *sigh*

• 26 Matt Keegan // Oct 31, 2009 at

  Any company accepting these claims on face value isn’t logically thinking out the writing process. My quickest speed is 15 minutes for a 400 or 500 word article, but that is based on a topic I know intimately. If I had to do research, I’d have to add time to that number. Plus, it would read poorly and simply be far removed from my best work.

• 27 Matt Keegan // Oct 31, 2009 at

  One more point: T.W. says it takes him ten minutes to write a 500 word article, therefore what Laura has said is correct: it can’t be done in five minutes.

  T.W. is attempting to change the argument; hold to your guns, Laura!

• 28 Laura Spencer // Oct 31, 2009 at

  Thanks Michele and Matt!

  I didn’t catch the change from writing five minute articles to ten minute articles. Thanks!

  Personally, I hope that T.W. is as prolific and successful as he says that he is. I wish him nothing but good luck.

  However, I don’t think his experience is representative for most writers.

• 29 Mihaela Lica // Oct 31, 2009 at

  What an interesting conversation. I don’t believe that any coherent writer can put on paper 500 words in 5 minutes – writing is not “vomit” … or is it? 500 characters perhaps? I would give anything to have a writer able to do a good 500 words article in one hour!

• 30 Matt Keegan // Oct 31, 2009 at

  Mig, that’s a good word — vomit. Sure, getting something done quickly doesn’t mean quality is there. And therein lies the rub: even if someone has the ability to crank out text in mere moments, quality is woefully lacking.

  A good, no let me say an EXCELLENT writer, takes *pride* in his work to make sure that sentence structure is correct. Brevity, clarity, and shaping and tugging at words just doesn’t come automatically — it takes scouring through a draft and making subtle changes, tweaks and editorial enhancements to pull a compelling article together.

  I also take exception to 500 word articles being blurbs. First of all, the definition of a blurb is “short publicity notice (as on a book jacket).” See: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blurb

  Second of all, much can be said in 400 to 500 words about a whole host of topics with no need to ramble on. A top notch writer knows how to get his point across concisely, but that is something that takes time. Personally, I would rather spend my time on something and make it very good then to crank it out in the quickest time possible.

• 31 Laura Spencer // Oct 31, 2009 at

  Thanks Mig and Matt!

  Personally, I would rather take a little extra time and product top-notch article.

  It may cost a little bit more up front, but it won’t have to be rewritten due to grammar or spelling errors (or I’ll rewrite it myself for free)and a client can be sure that it is an original piece.

• 32 T.W. Anderson // Nov 1, 2009 at

  I think the key is that 500 words is just too little to impart any “real” information, IMO. And as to whether or not a 500 word is “quality” or not…well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

  A large part of the issue is that many print writers–that is, writers who grew up in the pre-digital era–have gotten it stuck into their head that it takes X hours of time to craft an article because of the archaic methods required back in the “old days”. We aren’t in the old days anymore. We are in the 21st century. Information is literally at the click of a button. I highly recommend reading Nick Usborn’s latest excerpt over at http://www.writersweekly.com/this_weeks_article/005678_10282009.html. It gives a very thoughtful look at the old versus the new.

  Now, I’ll admit that you probably *will* get a higher quality article if you take more time to work on it given the simple fact that the more passes you give it the more likely you are to find errors, ways to tweak it, and ways to refine it to the sharpest edge it could possibly be. But let’s face the facts…the vast majority of content writing is not Pulitzer Prize winning content. It’s what I like to call the “fast food” of the content industry. It’s cheap, it’s fast, and there’s not a lot of substance to it, but it provides a meal for a great number of readers. About, How To, Strategy articles…these are the type. People who want a steak dinner will spend more time/more money to have a better meal, while the gourmet chef’s among us will spend even more time crafting those particular “meals”. But again, that’s going to come down to the client in question, how much they are willing to pay, and whether or not the article in question requires a lot of research. But 500 words–regardless if it is a fast food or a gourmet meal–is still just a small portion. If you want the 5-course platter then you are looking at a series of 500 word articles, a book, or a dissertation-length article.

  Again…it is not up to you (any of you; not pointing fingers) to determine whether or not someone’s quality is up to YOUR standards or not. You are one writer, among hundreds of thousands. You are not the precedent-setting one-in-a-million. In fact, something I’ve covered in the past on my old blog, and just started covering on my new website, is the concept of being relevant as a writer in a global setting (http://www.completewritingsolutions.com/2009/10/being-relevant-in-a-modern-world/), and directly takes a look at understanding that you are just one of a great many writers who are just as qualified, and how to remain relevant and competitive despite that.

  It is very naive for people to claim that what is impossible for them is impossible for other people. I’ve personally written 500 word articles in 10 minutes, but I’ve also done 500 word articles that took me an hour or more. It entirely depends on the client, the pay, and the subject. Furthermore, it also depends on if they are after a fast food version or a gourmet version. Pay is always a determining factor. As to whether or not some writer claims he can do 500 word articles in 5 minutes…well, who’s to say he can’t? I’m certainly not going to judge him. I only worry about one thing: myself, my clients, and the quality of work I can provide them. No one gets anywhere in this world constantly peering over the shoulder of “the other guy”, always trying to compare and continually worrying about what they are doing.

  Quality depends on the person in question. What is high quality to you isn’t high quality to me. What is high quality to me isn’t high quality to you. Since the only person worried about the quality of the work is the client in question who is paying for it, it doesn’t really matter what you or I think, as long as the client is happy with the end result.

  The best course of action is to simply refrain from attempting to dictate whether or not something is or isn’t quality according to your standards. We all have different opinions, we all have varying degrees of experience beneath our belts, and based upon our bank accounts and credibility we can all be considered working professionals with relevant opinions. Just remember that the next time you try and claim someone’s work is or isn’t up to snuff, or whether or not they can or cannot do something.

  And yes, I am successful enough in my own right. Enough so that my wife and I can afford to take 5-6 trips a year throughout Europe, and we are 100% debt free. I’m 29 years old, and I’ve been freelancing for 2 years. I’ve also sold a few short stories (fiction), and prior to this I owned/operated a successful ceramic tile and natural stone contracting company in Colorado as a third generation contractor, specifically catering to the Front Range and ski-resort areas and specializing in the high-end residential projects. Business is business, regardless if it’s running a construction company or being a freelance writer: quality means more than anything else, and so long as you can deliver, the clients keep coming back for more.

• 33 Laura Spencer // Nov 2, 2009 at

  Thanks again for your input T.W.!

  I think that you and I will probably just have to agree to disagree on this subject. 🙂

  It does occur to me that we may be talking about two quite different things.

  You mention BLURBS, my post was about ARTICLES.

  You mention that you can complete a blurb in TEN minutes, my post specifically addressed claims of completing an article in FIVE minutes.

  Best wishes to you!

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• 37 Mike S // Nov 16, 2015 at

  What level of writing are you talking about? SEO writing or more measured pieces that take research and technical knowledge?

  When I use to do content writing for SEO, I could write 500 word articles in 10 to 15 minutes. When it was a subject I really knew, I could write a 500 word article in 8 mins.

  When I started using voice to text software, I could speak out my articles and get 5 minutes 500 word articles that needed a little bit of editing.

  What are these articles for, a money site, a blog just to share thoughts or linking building SEO articles? I care more about earning money—- My best work is going to be on my main site and with those I take my time but even still, 15 mins is more than enough time to write a really good engaging article on a topic that I care about. I save the 5 min articles for link building and building juice to get more traffic.

• 38 Laura Spencer // Nov 17, 2015 at

  Hi Mike,

  Thanks for your comments. Naturally this is an area where YMMV, but I still think five minutes is too quick even with voice recognition software and other tools.

  I’m not sure what is meant by money sites and in general I don’t write an article just to build links.

  Here are some general comments:

  I always recommend writing for people not machines. While it’s okay to keep the search engines in mind, one should always address the human reader.

  As you point out, research can take time. Length is important too. 500 words is fairly short, but I wouldn’t recommend rushing it just because it’s a short piece.

  I think it also depends on what you mean by “write.” For example, it takes time to proofread an article. If you skip this step, you’ll save time. But you run the risk of publishing a piece with errors. (FYI, not sure about this, but I’ve been told spelling and grammar errors can also affect search rankings.)

  Anyway, best wishes to you and for your writing career.

  Laura