Comments on: Guest Blog Post: Content Mills–Why Aspiring Writers Should Avoid Them

By: Violet Snow

Violet Snow — Sun, 09 May 2010 21:25:30 +0000

Those are all valid points, and I would probably not write for one of those sites nowadays, unless possibly it gave me a chance to write about a subject I wanted to express myself on and had no other outlet for. On the other hand, when I was new to writing, around 5 years ago, I was the botany feature editor for Suite101 for a year, writing an article and a blog post every week. It was easy, I learned a lot about writing for the Web, and now I make between $20 and $70 a month from those articles–not a lot of money, but I don’t have to do anything at all.

By: Judith van Praag

Judith van Praag — Thu, 06 May 2010 15:41:10 +0000

Oops, the excellent post above was written by Carol Tice, not by (although much appreciated) Victoria Strauss. Credit to whom credit is due. Cheers Carol!

By: Judith van Praag

Judith van Praag — Thu, 06 May 2010 15:37:55 +0000

Victoria,
Right on! I’ve done my own research on the subject. Point by point up to (but not including)#6 you drive my notes home. As for #6, I’m not sure the model will disappear.
After all, writing is a profession, a trade and a craft, if points 1 through 5 don’t matter to people, they’ll continue spewing and content mills will be their platforms of choice. So be it. Great post! Write on!

By: Miranda C. Spencer

Miranda C. Spencer — Thu, 06 May 2010 14:12:29 +0000

Best argument against writing for content mills I’ve seen! I will tweet this.

Your argument that mills may soon go out of business is the first time I’ve heard this idea, but it’s quite compelling. I truly believe content mills, work-for-free, and even the death of journalism are simply a phase, and that serious writing, for real money, will rise like a phoenix in the next few years.