Lots you find this blog by searching on the term “word count,” so it seems appropriate to finally give all of you exactly what you’re looking for – a post about word counts.
My word count? I’m doing a lot of editing right now, so it’s dropped a lot. But when I’m writing full time, I’m happy if I average 2,000 to 2,500 words a week. That number includes days when I do research, marketing or paperwork and don’t write anything, others when all I write are blog posts, and yet others when all I do is write. Last year, I filed 70 stories and wrote about 150 blog posts, which based on a very rough approximation, was about 127,500 words, or 2,450 words a week.
What’s your word count? Take this poll to share the average number of words you produce a week. If you’re not sure what that number is, here’s one way to find out: Tally the stories you’ve written over the past year, or six months or some other period of time that’s long enough to include all the types of writing you do. Count the words in each (I keep track of word counts in the same spreadsheet I use to track invoices, and WordPress tells me how long my blog posts are) to come up with a total annual word count. If you counted a year’s worth of stories, divide the number by 52 to get an average weekly word count. If you added up less than a year’s worth of stories, divide the total word count by the appropriate number of weeks (i.e., if you counted six months of stories, divide by 26).
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Great idea! I’ve not done an annual word count tally for myself before, though I imagine last year would be a good bit lower than usual, given the way the recession has hit our industry.
I also know that I get a huge word count boost every November, however, while participating in National Novel Writing Month — a minimum of 50,000 words in 30 days, in addition to my paid work!
Thanks Jennifer. I get the same boost every May doing my blogathon – 31 days of blogging definitely ups the word count. If you’re interested, I’ll be announcing details about this year’s blogathon soon.
Michelle Rafter
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My first writing session of the DAY is at least 1000 words, and then I switch back and forth between deadlined projects as necessary.
I couldn’t earn a living as a writer if I only wrote 1000 words a week.
And, for the record, yes, quality is more important than quantity, I am known for my quality, & I do not write for content mills.
Thanks Devon. It’s illuminating to hear about other writer’s work processes.
Michelle
Writing for the content mills, as well as adding blog posts and writing other articles, so it’s above 3000 words a day, let alone a week. Of course, a well written 500 word article could be worth more than 20 mediocre articles, and take just as much time to write.
It’s hard for me to conceive of writing 3,000 words a day. You must be mentally and physically exhausted by the end of the week. Good for you – but I would really urge you to reconsider the content mills work – use if you must to gain confidence, but then go find better paying work. It’s out there.
Michelle
I’ve sent out a few query letters, got some responses but didn’t get any writing offers yet, a friend showed me how to write them. I have heard that working for content mills can hurt you with some employers, and the first result under my name in Google is my AC articles. I started out with a few articles there several years ago. I am writing full time now, mostly for Demand. This is strenuous but it beats my other job options at the moment, couldn’t get hired as an accountant out of school and food service or retail seem even more draining, as well as lower paying.
Keep sending out query letters: if you got responses that’s a step in the right direction – follow up and ask the editors what they liked/didn’t like about your pitches and then use that information to work up others. Work your network: as colleagues move to other publications, ask them to keep you in mind for stories. Look for work at whatever hyperlocal news sites have popped up in your area – or build one yourself. Look for internships at established publications. It takes persistence and faith in yourself.
Michelle