Which would you prefer – writing an eBook or writing articles?
This just popped into my mind as I’m actually doing a bit of both today. I have a 170+ page book to write for a regular client, and about eight articles to write for another regular of mine.
Piling up the pages of a new book...
So it got me thinking. Is one type of writing job better than the other, or is it best to do a bit of both?
Let’s start by being mercenary about it. In terms of payment, articles generally pay more because they are shorter. Books are usually paid for per page, and it works out to be less than you would get for an article of the same length. The reason is because the eBook is generally a lot longer of course – you are essentially trading off the higher payment for the safety of knowing you have a larger body of work to complete.
But I find they require a different mindset as well. With a batch of articles I usually start with the easiest one (for me) and then progress through the batch at random. With an eBook you can’t really do that – although on occasion I have been known to complete a later chapter or skip ahead if ‘ve been stuck on one specific bit for some reason.
EBooks are wonderful to write if I like the subject matter, I am engaged with what I am writing and I can write undisturbed. This enables me to really get into it, and I generally enjoy the work once I get started. For some reason I always find it harder to get the ball rolling though – and I’ve never figured out why. I think it’s just the thought of having all those pages to do!
Articles don’t present the same challenges in the same way as eBooks do. I work out how many I need to be writing each day, and off I go. If I need to stop to go out for some reason, I can just finish the article I’m on and pick up again when I get back. You need to be very disciplined to write an eBook, because you have your set number of pages to do – say, a hundred – and you have your deadline – let’s say a month – and then it’s up to you to deliver it on time. For me, I just work out how many working days I have and then figure out how many pages to do each day. I still have to sit down and get started though!
So I guess I’m saying that I’m sitting on the fence with regard to the question posed in the title of this post. Where are you sitting? Do you prefer the brevity of articles and the higher payment they should command (provided you are visiting the right websites), or do you like getting your teeth into a good eBook and waiting for the nice payment that comes at the end?
I think in the end I like to have a balance of both going on.
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Interesting concept. Being only an article and content writer (along with making
Squidoo lenses), I hadn’t thought about the challenges of writing an eBook.
I have to admit it wasn’t something I originally set out to do either. It just so happened that the job came along, so I took it! Since the first one I’ve written quite a few more. I quite enjoy the change of pace.