Staff copy/content writers: how many words per hour?
November 9, 2015 9:39 PM Subscribe
New job, need guidance. How many words should I try for each day if I want to a) keep my job while b) not building unsustainable expectations or burning out?
I'm a good writer with copy writing experience, paid to write for four hours per day at base level clerical rates (a buck or two more than Australian minimum wage). My projects consist of 500-700 word pages that are being used to improve the seo of websites belonging to a network that fulfils and delivers orders of widgets. My employer is an IT company whose business is networking the sales and deliveries of widgets from independently owned widget retailers. It is the network-supplied websites for these widget retailers that I am working on.
If I push myself, I can research and write two of these 600w pages in four hours, but I can't do that five days a week. I've been averaging one every 3-4hrs, including thinking breaks but my employer is asking for one per hour or twenty per week. Each one involves research to get the information and/or inspiration required to write a new fresh 600 words about their particular widget specialities, if any.
I work from home so my employer is not looking over my shoulder. I want to keep the job but I don't want to keep it at the expense of hating the creative drain it incurs.
BUT, I could well be a slacker who is just arsing off and most everyone would be able to research and write 600 words of high-quality retail copy per hour. What do you reckon?
I'm a good writer with copy writing experience, paid to write for four hours per day at base level clerical rates (a buck or two more than Australian minimum wage). My projects consist of 500-700 word pages that are being used to improve the seo of websites belonging to a network that fulfils and delivers orders of widgets. My employer is an IT company whose business is networking the sales and deliveries of widgets from independently owned widget retailers. It is the network-supplied websites for these widget retailers that I am working on.
If I push myself, I can research and write two of these 600w pages in four hours, but I can't do that five days a week. I've been averaging one every 3-4hrs, including thinking breaks but my employer is asking for one per hour or twenty per week. Each one involves research to get the information and/or inspiration required to write a new fresh 600 words about their particular widget specialities, if any.
I work from home so my employer is not looking over my shoulder. I want to keep the job but I don't want to keep it at the expense of hating the creative drain it incurs.
BUT, I could well be a slacker who is just arsing off and most everyone would be able to research and write 600 words of high-quality retail copy per hour. What do you reckon?
600 words an hour -- proper, quality words -- is completely unreasonable. Welcome to the world of online content writing, where people try to lowball your efforts!
My own comfortable pace would be the same as yours, one every 3-4 hours.
posted by jess at 10:26 PM on November 9, 2015 [3 favorites]
My own comfortable pace would be the same as yours, one every 3-4 hours.
posted by jess at 10:26 PM on November 9, 2015 [3 favorites]
Best answer: I lead the (small) content team of a (small) digital marketing agency in Portland, OR USA.
I write about 15-18 1000-1500 word blog articles, similar to what you're describing, each month. I also end up creating a fair amount of other content each month as well, random newsletters, rewrites of landing pages. In addition, I've been doing a couple of content audits for clients and leading a few social media training sessions.
I don't think it would be possible for me to only write that amount of content at that pace for very long. I need the "break" of other work that is challenging and entertaining in a different way.
If you can ask for other tasks to break up the draining writing work and try to find a more manageable pace. Personally, I could sustain a pace of 2 per day, but that'd be pushing it and by sustain, maybe I could last a year if that's all I was doing.
posted by paulcole at 10:36 PM on November 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
I write about 15-18 1000-1500 word blog articles, similar to what you're describing, each month. I also end up creating a fair amount of other content each month as well, random newsletters, rewrites of landing pages. In addition, I've been doing a couple of content audits for clients and leading a few social media training sessions.
I don't think it would be possible for me to only write that amount of content at that pace for very long. I need the "break" of other work that is challenging and entertaining in a different way.
If you can ask for other tasks to break up the draining writing work and try to find a more manageable pace. Personally, I could sustain a pace of 2 per day, but that'd be pushing it and by sustain, maybe I could last a year if that's all I was doing.
posted by paulcole at 10:36 PM on November 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
Mrs. unix says:
"I'm a novelist, with journalistic and non-fiction content writing experience.
When I write fiction, I can generally write about 1,000 words an hour, but that doesn't involve research, and it isn't usually for four hours straight (and those "he said," "she said"s sure help!).
When I was writing feature articles for various companies, I could write about the same number of words per hour (1,000 or a little less), but research would generally be about a separate hour (so 1,000 words in twoish hours with research). The topics also tended to be ones that I enjoyed and was already interested in/knowledgeable about, which helped.
I'd say 600 words per hour with research is asking too much. A 600 word page with research every two hours sounds more like my experience. If you're spending 3-4 hours on each 600 word page and its research, you might be overthinking it or doing too much research, etc.
This is assuming you're submitting your work to an editor and/or copy editor. If you're expected to submit pristine copy too, it'll take longer. I usually write fairly clean first drafts, but even so, editing takes awhile - and it's really hard to edit yourself (in my experience).
One thought I have is that your employer may not care as much as you do about the quality of the writing, which could explain why they expect you to write faster. At that point, you'll have to make a choice between writing sub-par copy faster, or sticking to your writing guns. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and have a hard time working on any project where I'm expected to sacrifice quality for speed - but I'm also blessed with a financial situation where I can turn down gigs that aren't interesting or are too creatively draining.
Writing SEO copy would be crazy draining for me, but I have my doubts about manufactured SEO as a marketing tool anyway, so part of it would be disliking the whole concept.
I don't know what the rest of your schedule is like, but you might be able to do more with less creative drain if you split it into two (or multiple) sessions throughout the day rather than four hours all at once.
Either way, it sounds like your employer's expectation of 600 words per hour, including research, isn't reasonable."
posted by unix at 10:41 PM on November 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
"I'm a novelist, with journalistic and non-fiction content writing experience.
When I write fiction, I can generally write about 1,000 words an hour, but that doesn't involve research, and it isn't usually for four hours straight (and those "he said," "she said"s sure help!).
When I was writing feature articles for various companies, I could write about the same number of words per hour (1,000 or a little less), but research would generally be about a separate hour (so 1,000 words in twoish hours with research). The topics also tended to be ones that I enjoyed and was already interested in/knowledgeable about, which helped.
I'd say 600 words per hour with research is asking too much. A 600 word page with research every two hours sounds more like my experience. If you're spending 3-4 hours on each 600 word page and its research, you might be overthinking it or doing too much research, etc.
This is assuming you're submitting your work to an editor and/or copy editor. If you're expected to submit pristine copy too, it'll take longer. I usually write fairly clean first drafts, but even so, editing takes awhile - and it's really hard to edit yourself (in my experience).
One thought I have is that your employer may not care as much as you do about the quality of the writing, which could explain why they expect you to write faster. At that point, you'll have to make a choice between writing sub-par copy faster, or sticking to your writing guns. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and have a hard time working on any project where I'm expected to sacrifice quality for speed - but I'm also blessed with a financial situation where I can turn down gigs that aren't interesting or are too creatively draining.
Writing SEO copy would be crazy draining for me, but I have my doubts about manufactured SEO as a marketing tool anyway, so part of it would be disliking the whole concept.
I don't know what the rest of your schedule is like, but you might be able to do more with less creative drain if you split it into two (or multiple) sessions throughout the day rather than four hours all at once.
Either way, it sounds like your employer's expectation of 600 words per hour, including research, isn't reasonable."
posted by unix at 10:41 PM on November 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: You are writing for a content mill. You are unlikely to keep this job long term so I actually wouldn't worry about that. Content mills typically churn through writers because either a) you produce 14,000 words a week until you have a breakdown and quit; or b) your write at a sustainable pace, they bitch the entire time, and then they fire you.
The only other option is to beat them at their own game. You say you're producing quality content and they've told you they want quality content, but they probably don't care about quality or at least have standards vastly lower than yours. So, you know, for every piece reserve an hour for research and an hour for writing. Come up with a formula -- like, I would literally have a list of adjectives in one tab and a content template in the other -- and churn out the content. For the rare piece where no research is required, congratulations: they can pay you to read Metafilter.
posted by DarlingBri at 10:43 PM on November 9, 2015 [14 favorites]
The only other option is to beat them at their own game. You say you're producing quality content and they've told you they want quality content, but they probably don't care about quality or at least have standards vastly lower than yours. So, you know, for every piece reserve an hour for research and an hour for writing. Come up with a formula -- like, I would literally have a list of adjectives in one tab and a content template in the other -- and churn out the content. For the rare piece where no research is required, congratulations: they can pay you to read Metafilter.
posted by DarlingBri at 10:43 PM on November 9, 2015 [14 favorites]
I realized the other day I've been earning my living by writing in a variety of corporate and media jobs for twenty (!) years now. When I worked at a daily newspaper I regularly wrote 1,000 words in about an hour and a half. This was my window at the end of the day after driving/phoning around gathering info and taking pics for stories. I didn't start from scratch at 3.30 and file at five, I had the bulk of it planned ready to bang out. It was very, very formulaic. Literally. Lede, three pars supported by three quotes from three sources, kicker. Over and over. I absolutely systemised it so I could crank it out faster. My system involved taking notes in a particular format and creating working files for each story in the paper's content management system so I could plug in outlines and quotes through the day and then in the afternoon I had time to work on ledes and clean up the copy. If you are going to churn stuff out for a content mill there will be a formula. Work out what it is, then create your own workflow to optimize your output. It is super mechanical but it will save your sanity. Good luck!
posted by t0astie at 1:12 AM on November 10, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by t0astie at 1:12 AM on November 10, 2015 [5 favorites]
Best answer: I've worked for places like this, and it can grind you down fast. If you can find a way to mindlessly churn out enough words to make the word count they're asking for, without stressing yourself out over quality, do that. If they have problems with your quality (they probably won't, as long as you're coherent and spell OK) they'll let you know.
Try to think of this like an assembly line job. It is not art, you are not trying to impress. You need to produce words like you're slapping widgets together on the line. Do not think of this as writing. This is just making the words happen on schedule.
And if ultimately you just can't keep up, don't tear yourself apart over it. Churning out words and words and words and doing it fast, that's not something everybody can do. It's not unlikely your bosses will make you feel worthless, like you're ruining everything with your stupid slowness, no matter how hard you work. Don't buy into any guilt trips or mind games. They are trying to intimidate you and let you know you are easily replaced, and that's messed up.
Some of these places are a notch above telemarketing on the sleaze scale. Hopefully you have found one of the better ones, but be prepared to learn some formulas and shortcuts and write like a robot.
You may want to set up a speech recognition program. It will save your wrists, and with practice you may be able to just talk your way through an article faster than you could write it.
Good luck.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:58 AM on November 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
Try to think of this like an assembly line job. It is not art, you are not trying to impress. You need to produce words like you're slapping widgets together on the line. Do not think of this as writing. This is just making the words happen on schedule.
And if ultimately you just can't keep up, don't tear yourself apart over it. Churning out words and words and words and doing it fast, that's not something everybody can do. It's not unlikely your bosses will make you feel worthless, like you're ruining everything with your stupid slowness, no matter how hard you work. Don't buy into any guilt trips or mind games. They are trying to intimidate you and let you know you are easily replaced, and that's messed up.
Some of these places are a notch above telemarketing on the sleaze scale. Hopefully you have found one of the better ones, but be prepared to learn some formulas and shortcuts and write like a robot.
You may want to set up a speech recognition program. It will save your wrists, and with practice you may be able to just talk your way through an article faster than you could write it.
Good luck.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:58 AM on November 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I work from home so my employer is not looking over my shoulder.
Yeah, what's going to happen is you are saying now you are going to write all of this content for this rate in this many hours.
What is actually going to happen is you are going to get tired and fall behind and it will take you longer to crank out the copy for the same rate. So you could end up making half the minimum wage.
This is also a job writing crap copy. At the very least it should allow you to turn off the job at a specific time and go and play tennis or whatever you do for fun. It should not be something that dominates your life.
Do it for a bit and try to find something higher up the food chain - those writing jobs exist and you can do them.
posted by Nevin at 6:43 AM on November 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yeah, what's going to happen is you are saying now you are going to write all of this content for this rate in this many hours.
What is actually going to happen is you are going to get tired and fall behind and it will take you longer to crank out the copy for the same rate. So you could end up making half the minimum wage.
This is also a job writing crap copy. At the very least it should allow you to turn off the job at a specific time and go and play tennis or whatever you do for fun. It should not be something that dominates your life.
Do it for a bit and try to find something higher up the food chain - those writing jobs exist and you can do them.
posted by Nevin at 6:43 AM on November 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
Going against the grain here, but I think 2 600w articles in 4 hours is reasonable. I write online content similar to what you are describing and I charge my employer 2 hours per article as a rule. There are occasions where I can churn one out in an hour if the inspiration and the knowledge is there and other occasions where I don't understand the material at all and I take longer to research, process and put something together. In those instances I communicate with my employer and explain why a particular piece has taken longer than usual and they have always been happy to pay me the extra (or accept less work in your case I guess!)
posted by xx_becky31_xx at 6:44 AM on November 10, 2015
posted by xx_becky31_xx at 6:44 AM on November 10, 2015
Response by poster: I am really glad I asked this question.
Mr Unix's comment about making "a choice between writing sub-par copy faster, or sticking to your writing guns" was the nub of the matter. Net financial gain for the win so I sucked it up and wrote 4 x 600 word pieces full of industry and retail word compost in four hours today. It wasn't that bad, I had a bit of fun with it, but it wasn't anything I'd want to put my name to. Wow, Anaïs, I wonder if I am the first writer who ever had to write tosh for dosh.
posted by Thella at 10:50 PM on November 11, 2015
Mr Unix's comment about making "a choice between writing sub-par copy faster, or sticking to your writing guns" was the nub of the matter. Net financial gain for the win so I sucked it up and wrote 4 x 600 word pieces full of industry and retail word compost in four hours today. It wasn't that bad, I had a bit of fun with it, but it wasn't anything I'd want to put my name to. Wow, Anaïs, I wonder if I am the first writer who ever had to write tosh for dosh.
posted by Thella at 10:50 PM on November 11, 2015
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