Words on the Page

Your Online Business Planning Session: Part Four

Posted on by lwidmer

So you’ve come a long way in putting together your plan. Feels good, doesn’t it? It will feel better once you secure some business. That brings us to our Marketing Approach Honestly, this post could be a book. In fact, it is. Once I’m done editing it, anyway. So this isn’t going to be a…

Your Online Business Planning Session: Part Three

Posted on by lwidmer

I have a new URL! After much stress thanks to WordPress, I customized this URL – you’ll now find this blog at http://www.wordsonpageblog.com/ Update your bookmarks! Great weekend. I managed to act as much like a slug as possible yesterday. I earned it. We had the meditation group over on Saturday, and we spent the…

Your Online Business Planning Session: Part Two

Posted on by lwidmer

Yesterday was frustration from stem to stern. I had some unexpected free time, so I spent it trying to move this blog. That set off my usual tech headaches as, one more time, I prove I have no aptitude for anything labeled “easy” or “simple.” My husband surprised me with a date to a hockey…

Your Online Business Planning Session: Part One

Posted on by lwidmer

Good day yesterday. I finished the second article and sidebar and was able to invoice something. Finally! I have to get in touch with the other clients today to see where we stand on revisions and invoicing. Time Lori gets paid, I think. I heard you yesterday – you were saying “I have to get…

It’s Nearly 2012: Do You Know Where Your Business Plan Is?

Posted on by lwidmer

Good day yesterday. I had an unexpected lull in a pile of work (waiting for interview sources and feedback), so I was able to devote a large chunk of my day to my manuscript. I like where it’s going, and I like that I had time to get the story elements aligned. I had inadvertently…

My Very Own, Highly Subjective List of Top Blogs I Like and Maybe Even So Will You

Posted on by lwidmer

Had a good workday yesterday – for a Monday. I managed a few smallish proofing projects, a revision on another project, and some transcribing and writing on an article. Today, probably more of the same. I’m trying to get a few of these November projects done so I can invoice. In all but one case,…

Tire Kickers

Posted on by lwidmer

Lovely weekend. We managed to get outside and enjoy the unusually warm weather. I was tempted to open the roof on the convertible yesterday! We weren’t able to fit in all the relaxing we wanted to, but I was able to be lazy for a few hours. That’s more refreshing than a nap sometimes. In…

Things That Make My Head Explode, Part Six

Posted on by lwidmer

Don’t forget to sign up for the Mastering the Invoice for Maximum Profit Webinar – you can still save money! Register before December 4th and pay just $39.95. Or join the Five Buck Forum and spend just $15 for both forum access and the Webinar. Click here for more details. Didn’t get a ton done…

Monthly Assessment: November 2011

Posted on by lwidmer

A few more chances to save: Sign up for the Mastering the Invoice for Maximum Profit Webinar by December 4th and attend for $39.95. Or join the Five Buck Forum and get both forum access and Webinar attendance for just $15. Plus a chance to win an Amazon gift card. Click here to join us….

Repackaged or Respun, It’s Still Theft

Posted on by lwidmer

Just one more day to save $20 on the Mastering the Invoice for Maximum Profits Webinar! Register today and attend for just $29.95 (a $49.95 value). Make 2012 your year to improve your business processes and earnings potential. Click here for more info. Yesterday was another fruitful one. I completed a draft for the second…

Wendy

Article spinning seems to be the Wheel of Fortune of (Bad) Internet Marketing and mill-type writers. Get several articles for the work of one (or none if you plagiarize). All you have to do is clean them up a little to get them to make sense. It's not something I want my name connected to.

Jennifer Mattern

Spinning is definitely theft (at least in the U.S.). Our copyright laws are pretty clear on the issue of derivative works. It's infringement if you don't have permission from the copyright holder of the original. Any time you take one article and spin it, it's a derivative work. Without permission, that makes it theft.

Where it gets really sketchy is when spinners pull multiple articles together. Technically they're still creative derivatives rather than using them as true sources, but it would likely come down to how much of each article was used. I can't imagine spinning would be effective pulling a paragraph from here and another from there though, which is probably why this style isn't well automated yet.

D

It's theft, and if people see it being done to their work, they need to take action.

Some will argue that it's simply "slanting" to different markets — but you "slant" your OWN work for markets. You don't take someone else's unsourced work or works and try to pass it off as your own.

That's why legit publications always want your source list — so they can fact check.

Lori

Wendy, that's because you're a professional. Professional writers don't touch what smells that badly. 🙂

Thank you, Jenn and D. I appreciate the clarification. I wasn't certain it was legally defensible. Glad to hear it is!

That's a scary thought on the spinning of several at once. That may be the only way around litigation. Too damn bad, too.

You're right, D. Writers do need to take action. If we vigorously defend our rights, we stand a better chance.

Paula

I don't know any real writers who would even be tempted to spin, but I have seen some supposedly professional writers (well, bloggers who claim to be professional writers) brag about how much they earn by doing "mash-ups," that aren't far removed from spinning. Mash-up a few of your own articles, sure, but not someone else's, and certainly not mine.

Lori

Damn right, Paula. Someone mashes up mine, I might have to do my own kind of mashing up.

Ashley

No writer who is concerned about reputation would do this. At least, we can only hope. What makes me especially sad is that I see this attitude daily even outside the writing world. Maybe people have always been this way and I've been missing it, I don't know. But I frequently see people do the bare minimum of work and try to get away with it. Many times they succeed. Sure, you might be able to pull a paycheck that way, but I always want to ask why they are OK with living a life based on mediocrity. I would be embarrassed about myself. Ashamed, even. I certainly wouldn't want to brag about how much I could make living that way.

Lori

Ashley, it's exactly why I think content mills are so dangerous to a writer's career. Even if you come up with original articles, there are "writers" working for those places that simply spin other articles. That's not right.

Devon Ellington

I don't know why the comment came up with only my first initial. It's me–Devon– but "D" will do, I guess!

Lori

You're too cool for a full name, Devon. You're the Cher of the writing world. LOL

Amelia Ramstead

When I was first sending out feelers and trying to figure out the whole "freelance writing" thing, I did some writing for a content mill. I do want to emphasize that I NEVER spun or rewrote someone else's article. My work was done primarily from research, which was sourced, or from my own life experiences. I did find one of my pieces somewhere else on the web, with the holy heck spun out of it. What I really hated was that they had (for some reason) left my name attached to it, and it was barely legible since it had been clearly run through spinning software. I tried very hard to get the thing taken down, but no luck.