

Ask HN: Do you write your own content? - mrconkle

Most of us are very tech savvy but if you&#x27;re like me an average writer. Do you write your own blog posts, website pages, email newsletters etc? Or do you freelance it out?
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quantisan
Writing is a skill. If you don't work on it, you will always be an average
writer. The question then, is do you treat writing as a means to an end or a
skill to be mastered?

I've been writing my own blog for 7 years. It still takes me at least half a
day to write each of my posts (about 500 words). I post infrequently because
of that. After all these years of writing on my blog, I only have a couple
hundred subscribers. If I outsource it to post more regularly, would I be more
efficient and effective? Probably.

The thing is, my writing is noticeably better over the years. I started out
just brain dumping ideas and try to slip in screenshots whenever I can so my
posts didn't look too pathetic (e.g. this one in 2008
[http://www.quantisan.com/trade-of-the-day-bailed-out-of-a-
wr...](http://www.quantisan.com/trade-of-the-day-bailed-out-of-a-wrong-
position/). Nowadays, I do the opposite. Getting your idea across simply and
effortlessly for the reader is most important (e.g. this one from March,
[http://www.quantisan.com/more-problem-solving-less-
solution-...](http://www.quantisan.com/more-problem-solving-less-solution-
glorifying/)). In recent years, my posts are getting more likes, more shares,
and have been on HN a couple times.

Writing is like programming. Anyone can do it but to be good at it, you need
to keep doing it and put in the effort to improve. Or, you can spend $300 for
somebody else to do it for you.

~~~
gadgets15
How do you deal with continuity and being able to write articles weekly?. This
is my biggest problem, if you are not dedicated and have other side projects,
it will be very very difficult to sustain. Users want fresh content and will
quickly disappear if you are not dedicated.

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gadgets15
I do both on my blog ( [http://upgadgets.com](http://upgadgets.com) ), write
my own and outsource some. The issue here, is just continuity and keep doing
it. Make sure if you are outsourcing your articles to do the following:

1- Posts should have relevant pictures/video attached (Go to google > images >
usage rights > and choose rights accordingly)

2- Make sure you read the articles afterwards to check any errors

3- Have a list of articles you want to write about each week and send them to
your freelancer

4- Even better, if your freelancer can come up with ideas for your Blog posts

5- Compensate your freelancer accordingly (ie bonus if articles are really
good)

6- Hire more than one freelancer if you want continuity. If one of your
freelancer goes on holidays or is not interested anymore, you should have a
backup ready.

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BorisMelnik
Yes. I've been a student of programming and design for over 10 years, but I've
found I really love to write. The great part about writing technical content
is the research involved. Sure you can just slap up a few paragraphs and
publish it, but a truly successful post in my eyes has solid references.

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mck-
I think the good side-effects of blogging or writing in general makes it worth
your time and effort. It will make you a better coder for one, since it's both
about elegance and readability, and expressing your thoughts structurally.

So my answer is yes :)

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iancarroll
Certainly my own blog posts. Copy for homepages, I tend to outsource editing.
I'm probably going to have to outsource non-technical support articles too.

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garysvpa
I let the expert do that for me. I freelance it out.

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mrconkle
Hi Gary, curious as to what freelance service you use?

