Reading some of the replies to this thread, is it no wonder there are so many shit articles out there. Oh, lookie, I'm the first one on page 6!
10 rewrites. Less than 10, around 4 - 5 for original content. I find it hard to cough up more than 5 original content articles because of the research. It gets worse if real life interferes and I end up being very unproductive! : / So much. Then there comes the editing and proofing post writing. That ones takes up the most. I get so insecure and awestruck when I hear people can cough up so much. I wonder what food they eat. I want some of it if it can magically make me more efficient.
To be honest, I have never done more than 5 articles in a day. I do take ages writing an article if I am unfamiliar with a subject. If I know the subject, like internet marketing in general or about anime/manga, then it becomes so much easier. I don't have to do research because I can write from experience. That does help and so when that happens, I can write 500 words + within 15-20 minutes. If I have a lot to say then I can go on and on. I try not to.
I prefer to concentrate on the quality of my articles and on my writing style. I am able to write about 5 articles a day on a well known subject. In case I need to do some additional researches, I spend hours for it.
As many others pointed out, There are several variables to consider. When doing the usual sales blurb for Internet marketing crap, one can nearly write blindly and get a lot of articles done in a day, because not only is the scheme/outline/pattern/blahblah nearly always the same, but the product is, too. Once you are familiar, say, with how search engine optimization works, the bullshit bingo is done quickly, because as strange as it sounds, the customers want it that way, instead of demanding something that's different from the 5387 other SEO tools out there. That's why all those e-book landing pages look and sound the same. Unfortunately, I usually don't get to make money that easily. Speaking six languages, I would often be given complex scientific papers full of abbreviations (often without their explanations), business reports, user guides and instruction manuals for translation -- or for creating them from scratch, without any base to start from. This takes a lot of research and investigation and sometimes questions and clarifications are inevitable, no matter how much one tries not to bother the customer. It also means searching and reading a lot before ever typing the first word, dealing with layouts, and so on. Even although I hold an engineering and a business degree and have an above-average understanding of both areas plus several others due to personal interest, I am often happy if I can finish some complicated passages in a day, especially if graphics need to be included, too. On the other hand, when it is a subject that I like and take a personal interest in, the protection of wildlife or atrocities of the powers that be, for instance, I can churn out a well-structured, chaptered report of several pages in record time, as long as no footnotes or other forms of proof (i.e. nothing to look up or hunt down) are required. To those who are worried because they are slow at typing or need longer to research subjects: don't worry. Nowadays the media -- all of them, print, audio-visual and digital -- get filled with so much copy & paste or automated submissions that a well-researched, well-structured and well-written text will be needed to stand out from the crowd. People that merely swap sentences and words will soon be made obsolete by more and more sophisticated software. Like always in life, a long term investment might just be preferable to a short-term straw fire. Just my two cents, of course, no offense. What I meant is: don't stress over words-per-minute counts but do what you feel comfortable with. Good luck.
I am with everyone else. If its a topic I know well then 15 or 20 of 500 words but if its one that requires extensive research or I'm feeling bleh. LOL. then it goes a bit more slowly.
If i need to do some research to produce an article, then I will rewrite it using a few related keywords, so that the effort into research is not wasted. If the first article takes an hour, the next 4 articles should take just 15 minutes. However, I do not have the energy to type so much in a day. At the most, I can write just 10 articles.
I really like this post. I am writing down almost every name. They will go into my never hire file. I'm making a list and checking it twice, going to find out who is foolish and who is right. However, why are you burning each other, just lining up to the microphone, saying words that make you unworthy of hire, and jumping into the fire. Some like the one above, destroying the image of his county, is doing it again. You people do not realize how much harm you are doing to prove how unprofessional you are. I hire professional people, regardless of country, to do work for me. Do you really think the buyers of your services enjoy reading these posts? You are giving every reason not to hire you, yet you laugh at those that can help change your lives. Pretty soon your market dry up, thanks to displaying your incompetency -- look that word up and paste it on your pennies of pay. Sorry to the few that made a sensible post and knew how to spell the word quality. My well paid research writer from India is worth ten of you. She is a true professional, never foolish enough to make stupid remarks.
An article like that would probably take me 45 minutes. However, I tend to write high quality articles on my blog, and that takes me 2 hours usually.