Dear Content Writers, How Much Time Do You Take to Write a 1000-word Article?

Disclaimers

This article is for content writers, who work for money. They have to meet deadlines; submit long-form articles within a specific time.

It is my neutral attempt to find a middle ground between employers/clients and writers, who frequently cross swords over the time taken for writing and number of words written in that time.

Employers and employees should not treat this article as my attack or appreciation against or for any individual, group, company, or organisation.

__________________________________________________________________________

The global lockdown has varied effects on professionals who work from home. Although a blessing in disguise as they can finish their daily tasks from the comfort of a couch, this pandemic poses another challenge for them. The ever-sceptical nature of employers has caused unforeseen troubles for employees in general and content writers in particular.

Writing, like any other art form, does not follow any rules. Especially when you are doing this job away from the sight (and site) of your employers or clients, it becomes all the more difficult to convince those captains of the company that you are working on a project assigned by them.

A little delay in submission raises a lot of questions in the minds of superiors, who might wrap their doubts in some awkward questions and shoot them at you. Before this situation spoils your relations with your colleagues and bosses, a clear understanding of how much time and efforts writing takes is must.

Every writer treats topics in their own style. However, when it comes to commercial writing, both — writers and employers/clients — have to reach a common ground. If you are a writer (a freelancer or a full-timer, experienced or fresh), you need to get your facts right. This will help you understand where you need to improve and deliver better results.

When you estimate the time of writing, you must not consider the time spent on research. Because your employers or clients will not buy this argument, “Sir, I have done in-depth research on this topic/article.” They are result-oriented; they never enter into the world of PROCESS.

When you are writing, you are involved in a process, which is beyond the imagination or understanding of clients or employers. What they are concerned with is the time you take and the number of words you write. For full-timers, it is an everyday challenge as they have to submit a specific amount of work at the end of the day.

According to the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education, students are advised not to spend more than 45 minutes on the composition question. David Cameron, author of Mastering Modern English, analyses that students are expected to write between three hundred and fifty to four hundred and fifty words in that 45 minutes.

However, the mental abilities of 10th or 12th graders and writers in their late twenties or early thirties differ. But if we consider Cameron’s analysis, professional writers are expected to finish a 450–500-word article in 50 to 60 minutes.

The argument does not end here. As mentioned earlier, when a writer writes, s/he is not just writing, rather a process is going on in their minds. And this process is thinking and writing. Apart from our primary (and obvious) understanding of ‘Thinking’, this thing also includes a quick reference check (dictionaries/grammar/Google), fact checks, revising a sentence etc. Probably these things set writers apart from typists or data entry operators, who just reproduce content from external sources.

Needless to say that writers must not be treated as typists, who feed a blank sheet with more than 400 words in just 10 minutes.

Proofreading is integral to writing; hence, writers must include their proofreading efforts in those 50 or 60 minutes of writing. You cannot ask for a few extra minutes to proofread your content. Remember, proofreading is not exclusive of your works.

Although proofreading does not include fact-checking, it is advisable to re-check the facts and figures you have mentioned in your article. Re-reading will give you a clear idea about the flow of your story. Moreover, while reading your own article, you get the idea about the time it takes to read.

Finally, try to improve your writing skills by writing more. This article is not to demoralize any writer, who takes more than 60 minutes to write 500 words. As mentioned above, writing is a creative art, which cannot be measured in numbers. My purpose of sharing thoughts is to create a harmonious rapport between clients and writers.

Written by: Jayesh Purohit, Filling papers with breathing of my heart; reaching for stars