Masterpieces vs. Cheap Knock-Offs
Imagine if you had an artifact in your possession–some priceless treasure that was hand-crafted and one of a kind. It was made by hand and perhaps took the artist months to complete. Let’s say it’s a vessel of some sort, a very classic vase. It was etched in fine gold and signed by the artist on the bottom, scrawled with his own finger into the soft clay before the vase was fired in the kiln.
You could see that something like that could be worth hundreds or thousands of dollars. Maybe more.
Now, let’s say it’s an important historical artifact. Someone comes along and makes replicas of the thing.
To the untrained eye, they may look alike. Someone may hold the original in one hand and a replica in the other. They might say, heck, this $10 one is just as good as the original.
Of course, we know it’s not. Because, to the trained eye, they are not the same. They don’t look the same. They don’t feel the same. The same quality of materials did not go into both. The same level of craftsmanship and quality did not go into both.
And, that’s where we are with a lot of content online.
In a discussion forum I visit somewhat regularly, a frequent topic of discussion is the value of articles.
There are plenty of people there that can’t see where an article could possibly ever be worth more than $30. And, plenty more think that no one should pay more than $15 for an article.
They look at articles they buy from their writers, and they think that what they get for $30 is just as good as what a high quality website or magazine might pay hundreds of dollars for. And, there are those that think the articles they get for $5 are just as good as those that people paying $15 or $30 get.
The thing is that they are like the untrained eyes who cannot spot the difference between an original artifact and a cheap replica. To them, both articles look “just as good.” But, they’re not.
Quality writing is about more than putting a bunch of words on a page and calling it a day. It’s also more than just being accurate too.
Mind you, accuracy is important. You don’t want an article, especially one designed to inform, giving out inaccurate information. However, just because all of the information in an article may be correct doesn’t mean that it’s a good article.
It may read fine, it may be good enough, but it may be completely boring. It may lack substance that really engages the reader. It may lack the nuances in writing that separate high calibre writing from mediocre prose. It may lack the additional details that show the author to be well-versed in the topic, and know the ins and outs.
When you combine an article writer who is not a strong writer or is not a good researcher or is not a very well-versed expert on a topic with an article buyer who doesn’t know their topic that well either, it’s understandable why the article buyer thinks the article is “just as good” as a more authoritative piece, well-written by someone who readily understands the topic. The article buyer is unable to recognize what the article may be lacking by virtue of the fact of lacking that understanding of the topic.
Plus, if they are not heavy readers, if they skim rather than comprehend what they read, then two articles widely different in terms of quality may appear the same to such a person because they aren’t fully reading either one. They’re not looking at content with the critical eye of an editor or a traditional publisher. They’re looking at it and, if they don’t see any obvious spelling, grammatical or factual errors, assuming it’s “good enough.”
And, I’ve learned that there really is no arguing with that mentality. Real writing takes some work and effort. It’s a craft, not a commodity. Some people buy it like a commodity and, through the global marketplace, they may be able to purchase content at very cheap prices through writers in countries with lower standards of living, but that still does not necessarily mean the writing is any good. It may be grammatically correct. It may be spelled correctly. It may be factual. But, it may also lack in nuances. If, for example, your audience is an American audience, can someone who has never lived in America really understand what life is like here? Can they really relate to the reader?
It’s not just differences in nationality either, but differences in cultures and the subtleties of language. And worldviews. And so much more that goes into writing a piece.
That’s not to say that foreign writers cannot write well. That’s not true at all. I’ve hired writers from outside the U.S. before. And not $5 article writers either. The thing is that if they are capable of a higher level of writing, they are very likely going to be working for higher paying clients.
For example, let’s say that in a foreign county, $5 is considered a fair price for an article. And let’s say that here, in the U.S., $30 would be considered a fair price for a similar article. Because of different standards of living, that $5 article may be equivalent to that $30 article domestically. It may be the same percentage of a typical week’s wages, for example.
Now, let’s say that someone comes along, recognizes that U.S. writer does quality work and offers to pay that writer $300 instead of $30. It’s very probable that the writer is going to jump at the chance, no? If someone is willing to pay you $300 rather than $30, all other things being equal, you’d probably prefer to get paid $300 rather than $30, right?
So, the same thing would happen for the $5 article writer, right? If someone came along and offered him $50 an article, wouldn’t he jump at the chance? With his current buyers, he’d have to write 10 articles to make that $50. All other things being equal, wouldn’t you think he’d prefer to write one article for $50 than to write 10 articles for $50? Likewise, wouldn’t he rather write 10 articles for $500 than 10 articles for $50?
So, if a writer reaches that higher pinnacle of pay, they’re probably not going to mess around with cheap article writing anymore, right? As long as they can command $50 or $300 for an article, they’re going to stay at that level.
That means the likelihood of a $5 article being “just as good” as a $50 article is pretty slim, unless the writer happens to be trying to build a portfolio or hasn’t discovered his or her worth yet.
In most cases, that $5 will never be “just as good” as a $50 article. A $15 will never likely be “just as good” as a $50 article. The $5 and $15 article buyers may swear up and down that they are, but the chances are that’s merely because they cannot recognize the difference.
Now, on that note, they would argue that if they cannot recognize the difference, their readers will not either. But, you know, most people just know. They might not understand how to write a quality article themselves, but they can spot the difference. They may not be able to explain it or put it into words, but they can recognize that one article is a better read than the other.
A lot of these cheap article buyers buy articles on a regular basis, stuffing their blogs and websites with tons of cheap articles so they have plenty of content. But, one quality article can trump 10 or even 100 cheap ones. They might spend $50 to get 10 articles that are “good enough” but then not get as many readers as someone who spent $50 on a single quality article.
I’ve seen it happen. I’ve purchased articles for $30 and $50 and on up, and they keep getting readers year after year after year. Meanwhile, others buy tons of $5 articles month after month just to keep up. They see it as money well spent because they think they’re getting a good return on it. Maybe they are. But, maybe they’d get “just as good” of a return if they invested in fewer, but higher quality, articles.
But, of course, they cannot see how low quantity, high quality can be “just as good” as low quality, high quantity.
I think the statement ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ applies somewhat. The value of an object could be very high to someone for particular reasons that are lost on someone else. In the same way, an article could be worth $30 or $100 to someone based on how badly they need it and what it will do for their site. If he sees it as something that could bring in a huge number of visitors, its value will definitely go up to him and he’ll pay $100 if that’s what is it takes to get it.
Print magazines — except maybe for literary or small press mags — are far more likely to pay market rates than the majority of websites are because if they are to sell, the quality of their content must be first-rate.
On the other hand, many websites are interested in little more than good SEO fodder. If a piece is relatively coherent and at least moderately informative, while weaving all the right key words and phrases into its content, that’s good enough for their owners — and really all they want — because their only concern is to amass lots of content at low cost. Sites like eHow, for example, buy literally tens of thousands of new articles every month in their attempts to claim and hold the top position in search results.
Interesting aside (speaking of eHow): I’ve just learned that the relatively new search engine Blekko has recently banned eHow and 19 other “content farms” from its search results in an effort to fight Web spam. Learned this just yesterday from Courtney Ramirez’s guest post at Get Paid to Write Online.) This is definitely a step in the right direction!
There will always be a vast difference between those who appreciate good writing and are willing to pay for it and those who view writing as a commodity, care little about quality, and want to buy massive amounts of it for a mere pittance. Fortunately, there are many in the first group. It just takes some doing to find them. Unfortunately, thanks to the Internet, the second group is also large (and growing?) and definitely here to stay. No question about it, it’s a sad state of affairs. But the reality is that writers are the only ones who can put a stop to it by refusing to do assembly-line writing for rates that fall well below a living wage. That’s not about to happen anytime soon, though, because writers need money and will often take it wherever they they can get it due to a (real or perceived) lack of other options.
Thanks for linking to this post, Dan! Didn’t see it the first time around, and it covers an issue that, in one way or another, affects all writers everywhere.