Writing is a Numbers Game
The only way to make any significant income writing online is to write a lot of quality content, it’s just that simple.
Image by Tech Writer Boy via Flickr
I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble but if I do I didn’t mean to.
If you are writing to make money from it the only way you are going to make any significant revenue is to write a ton, and I’m not exaggerating, a ton of good, quality content.
It has been my experience, which I must admit hasn’t been that long ( a little more than six weeks) that the average writer will have to publish at least 500 to 1000 articles in order to make decent money from writing.
Why?
The average article may get anywhere from 10 to 30 or 40 page views each day (and believe me 30 page views is rare). On a site that pays $1.50 per 1000 page views, each page view is worth $.0015. At this rate 30 page views would earn you $.04.
I think you see where I’m going.
If you got a thousand page views per day worth $1.50, in one month or approximately 30 days, you would earn $45 which is not bad but how many articles or entire sites are getting 1000 page views per day. At this rate ($1.50/1000) you would have to have 300,000 page views each month just to make $450.
So, back to my point, you will need to have a ton of material being viewed to make any significant centavos.
Is it possible to get 300,000 page views or more in a month? Of course (thought I was going to say “no way” didn’t you?). You will just have to write like a fiend, promote it like a shotgun, email it like you’ve lost your mind and post it like you work for the government.
But it can be done.
Every now and then you will produce a golden egg. An article that takes off like you never dreamed it would and keeps bringing in readers without stopping. I have one article like that: “Did Michael Jackson Really Molest Children?” on Musicouch.com.
Right now it is at 674 page views with no indication of stopping. The article has literally taken on a life of its own.
When I wrote the article I didn’t know how well it would do but it has gone far beyond anything that I thought that it would do.
And that’s the key. You don’t know how well an article will do. That is why you simply have to keep on writing. Some articles that you think will do well don’t and others that you think will not do so hot surprise you.
You can’t predict what will happen and you shouldn’t try.
Just write.
After all, it’s a numbers game.
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August 3rd, 2009 at 3:58 am
I agree with you Tony. Very good article, you have to produce a lot of material to make any moneyy. I think i only have around 25 articles articles online and hope to produce a lot more, which will hopefully make a difference in my income.
August 3rd, 2009 at 5:40 pm
So trure…great article!
August 3rd, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Its scary how your article is based on the truth for this website. Thank you for sharing,nicely done.
August 3rd, 2009 at 7:31 pm
very good insight. I’m learning a lot from Triond each day. Very good presentation of statistics, too. Thanks.
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Great article!
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Your so right.Very few folks are going to get rich writing so just have fun with it and enjoy yourself . Not everything has to pay off in monetary gain.
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:54 pm
thank you all for your positive comments. they are humbly taken in.
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Right on the mark. Freelance writing is like any other job–lots of hard work and time investment.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:43 pm
Good work, there are creative ways to get more page views and have them continually grow………. link past articles, submit your work to sites like Reddit, StumbleUpon, etc…
You will reach ALL your writing dreams!
Blessings.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
August 4th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Tony, you are wise. Right now I can’t put your theory to the test because of a bout of carpal tunnel in my right wrist; but as soon as I recover the Old Soldier (that’s me) will be hitting the keys like a true believer because I know you’re right. http://www.writinghood.com/literature/flash-fiction-as-poetry/
August 4th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Hi Tony.
You ask if it’s possible to get 300,000 page views in a month, and then you say of course it is. However, even though it is possible—-if you take the amount of time you put into writing and multiply that by 3 to get the amount of time you should invest in promoting your work on the myriad of sites it would take in order to get any possible 300,000 views per month—- it is not probable, even if you have accounts on every major online write-for-money site in several different languages. Ask the most popular and best-paid writers from triond how many views/dineros they earn, and you’ll see why it’s not probable. If you continue to write for the love of money you will eventually sell yourself short.
Triond only has a few thousand members, and even though online communities grow everyday, you would have to be a very popular writer to get those hits without the kind of effort I mentioned above. When I say popular, I’m talking Stephen King popular, Terry Goodkind popular. Possible—-yes. Yet, the likelihood of being able to do so AND have quality content is very small. You should not put all your eggs into triond’s basket.
I’m not trying to discourage you from doing your best, but, all that energy that you put into marketing could be devoted to the actual writing that you want to do. If you have talent and the right amount of determination, you’ll find an agent to do that work for you and let your mind focus on what you WANT to write.
Your graph is one that charts the incomes of Australian technical writers. Tech writers are trained professionals who ace their English courses in grammar and could correct the errors of most University English professors, not to mention they must learn the jargon that their prospective employers require. Even most good writers couldn’t get those jobs. This chart is far from indicative of how the average English writer will fare on the money scale. In fact, lower that scale to one tenth of its value, and it may be closer to true for the latter even though the scale is representative only for the former.
If you want to write for money, then you’ll never have enough. You’ll get stuck in an addictive pattern that you won’t get out of easily. There are thousands of writers in the world who are successful, but make only a modest living—-never enough to support themselves, and there are millions of writers who want to be successful but don’t have the discipline for it. So, if you’re one of those Alex Haley’s or Pearl Buck’s that has the gall, and the energy to make it, then you will. Just don’t sell yourself for the money, enjoy your chosen field: Writing is a profession like any other; if you don’t love the job, it will never satisfy you.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Mr. Sears,
I am not “putting all of my eggs into Triond’s Basket” nor did I suggest to do such a thing. It is interesting to me how people who make negative comments seem to read something in the article that is not there. It is very posible to get 300,000 page views because I have seen writers who have millions of page views and they are earning substantial money. If you had put the effort that you put into writing this elongated comment into writing an article you could have been on your way to 300,000 page views.