Writing Content and Articles -- Am I Taking Too Long?

It can take me days or weeks to write a 2,000 word article, especially if you include research and making samples to photograph (if it's a tutorial). On the other hand, sometimes I write an entire 2,000 word article in a single day. I always put it aside for a day or two before I go back to revise it, so it seems to take longer than it really does.

Of course, I rarely only have one writing project at a time. I normally have three or four that I switch between.

Three hours sounds perfectly reasonable to me for a 500-word article. I often take more than that, but my articles are highly technical and need extensive references and fact-checking.

If you write a 500-words article using your own thoughts and words, 3 hours is not bad enough. What matters most is your article has good content and has great flow of words.
Just ensure you also meet deadlines and company requirements to keep you on the right track. But try to work faster next time. 3 hours is good enough when starting with this job. That's my opinion ... don't know for others.

I think it would depend partly on how much you are being paid. From a purely financial standpoint, I mean. If you're doing this as a money-making venture, are you satisfied with your hourly wage?

If you're making $200 for the 500 words/3 hours, then that's roughly $70 per hour, a very good hourly rate! If you're making $50 for the 3 hours, then that's about $17 per hour, which is not bad compared to some other jobs.

If you're doing this for experience and your portfolio, or for some fun money, then the pay may not matter as much. But if you're doing this to pay the electric bill, the hourly rate is something to consider.

I wrote for a content site for a few months a couple of years ago. It was interesting - I love researching stuff - but I took too much time on each article so made very little money. So I quit. But the pay rate per article was very small. Only the fast writers were able to make good amounts of money.

On average, I can write a 500 word article in about 20 minutes if I'm real familiar with the content, but I'm also a very fast writer. I'd say the average I've seen for those working for me over the years is about an hour and a half...so you are slower than most FOR NOW. Here's the thing though; the magic comes from repetition. The more you write, the faster the words naturally come to you.

Also, try to start articles by researching the top 3-4 most important things about a topic beforehand so you have an idea about your flow and your sub-titles. On average, this takes me 3-5 minutes...but most writers can spend an hour or better just getting an outline. The key is not to try and become an expert before ever writing a word; just get your main ideas together and how they fit into the story you're about to write. The faster you start writing, the more your personal brand will show through.

Another thing that really helped me early was adding a 2nd monitor to my PC...that makes a massive difference! I always have my sources up on the left monitor and Microsoft Word on the right, so I don't have to mess with alt-tabbing every few minutes. For some writers this can hurt them though because they constantly want to look at the info screen for guidance....don't do that! Just read your source slowly until you have a good grasp of it, then start typing. It's completely a confidence thing.

If you have a large monitor though, then you can also hit the Windows key plus the left arrow on your research, and the Windows key plus the right arrow key on your article to have a split screen view. Trust me though; two monitors is way, way better.

Really, the biggest thing about being a great writer is being a great researcher; the faster you can find good information, the faster you can talk about it. So get in the habit of scanning articles for critical information, and figure out how it can fit your idea of the story. Again, that's the confidence shining through and you have to believe in yourself for that to happen.

For example, this is almost 500 words and I'm at the 8 minute mark, because I know what I'm talking about from personal experience. That lets me write quickly without having to stop and think about the actual words, because my knowledge and my writing style is carrying most of the load. Your goal is to do that with every article...just get something on paper to work with. If this was an actual assignment, then I would go back through and polish it a little more, then look for sources that fits with what I'm talking about. The words are mine though, and that's why I'm a lot faster than most. I hope that helps.

Seriously? That's blazing fast for most writers.

Speed comes with time and experience. Focus on the quality first and when you're confident in that area, you can start working on speed. When I started, it would take me a lot longer than you to write those 500 words. Now I can do it in half an hour.

It's also important not to forget that these things are best taken in context. A reported piece (no matter the length) is going to take a lot longer than a blog post on a topic that you're familiar with. And for some of us (guilty), fiction can take hours upon hours, even if it's just 500 words.

cyanideenid said:

But the thing is, I'm a slow writer. I know I am. I wonder if that's Okay?

Click to expand...

You'll get faster. On deadline, I could bang out a 250 word article in about seven minutes. But my editor was screaming at me the entire time.

Jeff

It depends rather on what you are selling that article for and what your income requirements are.

I have just started doing this. I have to write between 300 to 500 words. I usually write slowly but judging from what I just read I think I'll have to speed it up a bit.

As has been said, you'll get faster in time and your research skills will also improve once you have a good base of sources and an effective research method down.

It can take me an hour or more to write a 900 word piece on something, even when I'm familiar with it, and that isn't counting additional research. Varies, really.

Good to see that you're writing strong content for firms, though. I wouldn't worry too much about your speed if that's the case - as long as you're ultimately making a decent wage for the time you're spending.

If it were for some horrible content mill, then yeah, I'd worry about you making anything!

Everyone's comments are helpful but as a 38 year freelancer, I always ask my client what their deadline is. I know my standard turnaround time and I incorporate potential setbacks such as hurricanes or visiting relatives . And yes , if you are as good as your reputation, then they wait with bated breath for your product.

I think it depends on what kind of research is involved. I wrote a 500-word article today about smart glasses, and I used one site for the research. So it didn't have to take me long. But then I've written around a 900 word "things to do this week" article in my city, and that took me several hours.