Lee Gomes, technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal, does a bit of investigative journalism on one of the more charming opportunities brought to us via the world wide web.
That’s a sarcastic “charming” btw.
The opportunity: writers wanted. “To generate original content for websites. ”
Why? So the sites will rank high on search engines, earning ad dollars for their owners.
Gomes’ article focuses on the clutter aspect. “Legitimate information . . . risks being crowded out by junky, spammy imitations.”
What bothers me a lot more is that these people are scamming writers. The guy Gomes talked to, for instance, offers $100 for fifty 500-word articles. Cheap s.o.b.
25,000 words later — I bet you’d never even see your money.
but can i at least claim to be a published author???
Yeah, well, that’s what they’ll tell you!!!
RESUME
Work experience:
* Cobbled together 25,000 words’ worth of bogus website copy emphasizing keyword density over grammar or factual accuracy.
* Scribbled original limericks on the walls of public toilets through the Northeastern United States. If they were funny, they were mine, I swear it.
But, back to Amazon. Will THEY publish it?
John
Hmmm — like, “The Duke of Earle’s Collected Original Website Copy, Brought to You Exclusively By Amazon”?
:-D