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Comment by grantheaslip | Hacker News Reader

> Moreover I have hired a talented writer via Freelancer.com to keep my niche blog updated to gain more search engine traffic (he takes $1 per article!).

$1 per acticle? I know the articles on the site (http://www.minimotherboard.com/, via a comment) are short and not really original content, but assuming he's spending even 10 minutes per post, he could be earning more working the drive-thru at McDonald's. I suppose he's agreed to it, and it's not your fault he's undervaluing his work, but that strikes me as insultingly low. I really feel for the guy if he's been forced into writing for what is essentially table scraps.

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Just taking the latest artcile on the jetway mini-itx mobo, it's only 200 words. Your comment on the writer (quote not included) is 81. How long did it take you to write?

If she can bust out one article in 5 minutes, even with breaks of a few minutes in between to stretch or just clear her head, the writer can do 15 of them in an hour. And that's assuming kreci is her only client. I can see her making over US$100/day quite easily, and depending on where the writer is situated (and it seems that she is not a native English speaker/writer based just from her word usage alone), making between 25-30k year could possibly be no small potatoes.

FYI, I just wrote the preceding in 5 minutes and it's 118 words.

Maybe I'm just a slower writer, but 15 articles an hour seems impossibly fast, especially considering that the articles require some degree of research. Do you honestly believe someone could write 100 of those articles every day? Even if it were possible (and I'm not really sold on that), that sounds absolutely soul-crushing.

And yes, you (and other commenters) do bring up a good point in that $1 has a lot more value in many parts of the world. And while it still strikes me as a bit exploitative, I fully understand how untenable my complaining about this is considering basically every piece of electronic equipment on my desk was probably made by someone earning the around the same, if not less. The same is probably true of the clothes I'm wearing.

I know a reporter who can bust out 10 full-length newspaper-quality articles in an hour. 15 shorter pieces is certainly doable. You just have to be habituated to the sort of writing you're doing (and be a fast typist).

"the articles require some degree of research"

Step 1: Read 4 paragraph press release or product description page

Step 2: Regurgitate with your rote spin ("The technology continues to get smaller and more powerful with the new xxx yyy from zzz. Featuring foobar processor and bazbot spiffo support, the yyy can meet the small form factor needs of today's HTPC and silent PC enthusiast.")

Step 3: Submit to kreci

Step 4: $1.00

Step 5: goto 1.

Often the people articles like this are outsourced to live in places where $1 is a fairly large amount of money (for the amount of time they spent writing the article).

If he's from India, that's one nice meal at a decent place.

Keep in mind this freelancer is probably from overseas where the cost of living and wages are very different from the US. If this person is from India they would make a lot less working for McDonalds there.

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