I am a full-time writer. I make my living writing ebooks, brochures, copy and ads. My writing makes people a lot of money. I love what I do. But I get a little frustrated with the business amateurs. Business amateurs are the people who think you can buy a $5,000 item for $5 and then sell it for $10,000. Nice work if you can get it, but don’t shop here with me please.

I just bid on a job on an online copy writing site. My rate of course was well over the .10 cents per 1,000 words that most buyers want to pay. Shortly after I put my bid in I got back an email from someone who wondered why I “charged so much.” He could find THOUSANDS of other providers willing to practically pay HIM for the privilege of writing for his website. “Great!” I wrote back. “Then hire them. This is what I charge, but I don’t work for people whose primary concern is money, so I’m withdrawing my bid.” And I did. If I want to waste my time there are dozens of much more amusing ways to do it. Sorry. Engaging in conversations with narcissists is not on the list.

On another writer’s site, also one who assumes writers and providers can not actually live on $5 a month income, but party hardy on it (and seems to be catering to the adult porn industry of late) a buyer wrote with the same question on another bid for landing page copy. “I can get 300 articles for what you’re charging for one ($300),” she explained. “Yes, but will they have the value and convince your readers to buy your book as well as mine?” I asked? “Do you really think you’re getting a bargain by buying copy for $1 that doesn’t convince buyers to buy your book as opposed to paying $300 for copy that brings you even 50 buyers at $49 per sale?” She didn’t get it. She said, “Yeah, but $300 is a lot of money.” Oh. So you feel better about paying for something that brings you no value rather than paying for something that brings you 1,000 times the value? Pretty much - was her answer. I forgot to ask if her day job involves something where she wears a name badge on a uniform and smells like fries at the end of the day. Not that there’s anything wrong with that - but she should really plan on being there a while longer unless she changes how she relates to money, value, and worth.

Buyers, particularly those who think they really can get rich overnight by paying some hack in India $5 to write a 50-page ebook they can then sell for $49, continue to think like employers. They think they can swap their money for my time. They think they can wave a $5 bill in front of me and I’ll give them something in return that will make them $29,000 a day. Creatives like me can build those castles, but only buyers really think a person can actually LIVE in the damn things. Does it not occur to people that if that were possible we wouldn’t need you to sell that book for us - or that we’d write it and sell it ourselves? To get rich takes a great book, tons of marketing, and a whole lot more than these people are willing to do. I can tell. After all, they think “great books” can be written for $5.

Seriously guys. Lincoln already freed the slaves and most of us know about it. As long as you think you can get great content and graphics from someone who thinks of themselves as a product and is willing to swap time for money, then you’re going to continue to spend that big marketing budget of $30 a week and get nothing in return. Nothing that will make YOU any money anyway.

There’s a reason that rusty, 40 year old car in the want ads sells for $300 and that new Mercedes goes for $75,000. VALUE. If you want quality, you pay for it. If you don’t realize that you need to give up on the idea of becoming an overnight success and seeing your face on an Adsense landing page next to the 12-year-old who invented an app for downloading condoms through your iPhone.

Okay - you have to excuse me now. I’m off to write a 50-page ebook on how you can make $29,000 a day by finding writers willing to work for $1 an hour and then selling the book for $49 and recouping your cost and MORE in ONE day!!! I’ll be rich by the weekend.