An article writer is someone who specializes in writing topical information for a website, blog, magazine, book, or journal. These authors may specialize in a specific genre or subject. Furthermore, article writers may work for specific companies as writers or as freelancers, accepting commissions from various publishers or writing articles independently and submitting them to publishers for possible purchase.
An article writer is traditionally someone who contributes to a periodical, such as a magazine or newspaper. Current events, news, and other topics of interest to the publication’s readers may be covered the article writer. Many newspapers and magazines compensate writers for accepted submissions, but others do not. When publications do not pay for submissions, writers may benefit from the publicity generated their articles being published. When an article writer is building a reputation as an expert in his field or owns a business, this is frequently the case.
New media is a different story, and many article writers now specialize in writing online content, which can be quite different from traditional print articles. Some writers write blog articles for both their own and other people’s blogs. Others contribute to major websites and online publications with articles. The pay for new media writing varies a lot: Some writers are paid a flat fee, while others may be paid a percentage of any advertising revenue generated their article. As with print media, some online article writing is unpaid, and the article writer reaps the benefits of the article’s publicity as well as backlinks to his or her website or blog.
Many businesses that want to have an online presence but don’t have writers on staff can hire an article writer to keep their website and blog updated. Several online businesses also provide custom content to businesses that require a steady stream of new content for their websites. These companies’ writers are often referred to as “content writers,” and they may specialize in writing in a way that promotes high search engine rankings, a practice known as “search engine optimization” (SEO). An article writer may work as an independent contractor for a Web content provider or solicit Web clients on their own.