Here's what I cannot understand – no matter how you add it, subtract it, multiply it or divide it, if you are making $1,500 per article as opposed to $10 per article, you're making more money. Period. Tacking on extraneous things like marketing and interviewing doesn't change the fact that per article, per hour, you're making more money. And so what if you spend let's say 30 minutes or even an hour marketing? You're still holding much more money at the end of the week, and you've worked nowhere near as hard as you would on a slew of $10 articles.

And if you write 2 of those higher-paying articles a day, you've just earned $3,000. How many $10 articles are you going to have to write in one day to make that? Yea, that many. I don't think it's possible to write 300 articles a day much less two well-researched ones in one hour.

To be honest, I don't trust the arguments of those who beat the $10-article drum so loudly. I suspect there's some payment for the advocacy taking place. At that point, they've sold their opinion and it's now tainted by company speak.

Wendy, I see people on Twitter who are constantly "on" sales-wise. It's annoying, but even these people grow business despite their in-the-face approach!

I guess for me, I know what type of client fits. Okay, so it's a bit more work when you're starting out or branching into other areas. But the point I'm trying to make is that NO WAY is it never not a good idea to spend time marketing.

Today I contacted two clients. Total time spent – 4 minutes. The contact doesn't have to be long, detailed queries all the time. Today, I introduced myself via Twitter and asked how I could help. Another client is in PR. Just a quick note to him asking if there's something I can help with. Really. Four minutes.

Paula, you echo Wendy and Devon here. I agree. If you don't know how to market, it's going to seem hard. But what some of these people don't do is put ANY effort into it.

There is a ton of free advice out there. In fact, all the tools needed are here. I have query letter samples, marketing tips, everything. All neatly labeled and easy to find. And I'm not the only writer who does this. Plenty do. It's a matter of overcoming inertia and fear and getting going.

I suspect most writers spend a lot more than 15 minutes scrounging up a new client, too. I don't see how you do it! Kudos!

One factor you didn't account for Lori is that the people saying it's harder to target and nab a decent job are not professionals. (I think what they really mean is it's easier to be lazy.)

You said you spent as much time – a whopping 15 minutes, LOL – querying a low-paying article as you did higher-paying markets. That's because you know how to query. I highly doubt people accepting $10 per article even know how to approach real markets. And you know what? I'm happy keeping it that way. If they're too lazy to figure out how to market themselves and their ideas properly, they'll never crack the majors, leaving more work for those of us willing to act professionally and put in the (little) effort required.

I don't care what kind of excuses they spin. Whatever amount of time it takes you to write an article, why wouldn't you sell if for a decent wage rather than a pittance? The article is the article. Why not sell it for a fair pirce?

You're not going to change their minds. Let them spin in their pennies, while we build our businesses and careers earnign a living wage for our QUALITY work.