In Defense of Content Mills

If you stick around as a freelance writer long enough, you are bound to get sucked into the debate regarding whether or not content mills are good for the writing community. Content mills are websites that offer writers a small payment for their writing, and most professional writers agree that the payments that they offer are so low that writers are better off spending their time creating a respectable portfolio than putting up work on websites that are looked down upon by old school editors. While it is generally a mistake to sell yourself short, there is a time and a place for writing for content mills like Associated Content, and people who choose to write for these sites can often improve their writing dramatically without dealing with the pressure of delivering professional grade content for a picky client.

There are a number of positive reasons for a writer to chose to write for a content mill. For starters, content mills provide new writers with a sandbox to play in as they learn to stand on their own feet and discover their voice as a writer. Some content mills like Associated Content have a tight community of like-minded individuals who can provide a writer with feedback and encouragement. Other content mills offer writers the opportunity to make $15 to $25 per hour so long as they can keep their nose to the grindstone and fulfill client orders as efficiently as possible. Some professional writers may scoff at the concept of churning out a 400-word article for less than $10, but the fact of the matter is that it is possible to earn a respectable living writing at this pay grade.

Other writers make the argument that a person might sully their reputation by writing for a content mill and have trouble when they attempt to move on to a position with a professional firm. Although there are certainly editors out there who are resistant to the changing dynamics of how content is bought and sold, the fact of the matter is that these editors are so stuck in the 20th century that a modern professional writer would be better off freelancing on their own. Print is not dead; it simply isn't printed anymore.

Like it or not, content mills are here to stay. Today's publishers need writers who know how to create content that engages readers while attracting the attention of search engines, and writing off SEO content as "keyword stuffing" does not change the fact that SEO is a critical factor in today's content marketplace. Experienced writers simply have to accept the fact that things have changed, and the days of highly paid staff writers are nearly over. Associated Content attracts more page views than nearly all of the most respected news sources, and it is increasingly clear that "the people's media" is here to stay. The old guard is reminiscent of laid off factory workers who are waiting for the factory to open back up once the jobs have gone overseas. As Dylan put it, "your old road is rapidly aging; please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand, for the times, they are a-changing."