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What Exactly Is A Rewrite?

Rewriting – love it or hate it, it’s part of the job of many web content writers. A typical situation is that a client asks you to write a series of articles for a particular purpose, such as to publish them on a website. At the same time, the client asks you to rewrite those same articles so that they can be used for article marketing to drive traffic to the site.

Today, I’m answering a freelance writing question that one of the writers on my writing team didn’t quite get around to asking. The situation was that I had written some articles for a client based on original research. The client needed rewrites which I didn’t have time to do, so I asked a writer to do them. When they came back, some of the articles were so different that they were practically new articles, and that wasn’t what the client was looking for. I realised then that it can be difficult for writers to know what clients want when they ask for rewrites.

Here are some of the types of rewrites I’ve been asked to do in the past:

1. Rewrites where the titles and subheads are based on the same keywords, but are different, and where the first and last paragraph and one of the middle paragraphs is different.
2. Rewrites where each individual sentence must be rewritten so it means the same thing but says it in different words, but using the same keywords.
3. Rewrites where you put the same information in the same order as the original.
4. Rewrites where you put the same information in a different order from the original.
5. Rewrites where you have to change sentences AND substitute keywords.

It’s no wonder that people get confused. As usual, the thing to do before you start is to clarify the brief, so that you can deliver what the client wants first time. Rewrites rarely pay well and if you have to make revisions, then you generally end up out of pocket. And watch out for No 5. I did this once, and went back to the client and argued for a rate increase, because I was effectively writing brand new articles.

Although I wouldn’t want to spend all day doing rewrites, doing simple rewrites (such as No 3) can be a great way to boost your income if you have done the original research and are a fast writer. It’s not creative, but it can help to pay the bills.

There’s one final point about rewrites. Some clients think nothing of asking writers to rewrite other people’s content for their sites. All I’m going to say is that using several sources is research; stealing from a single source is plagiarism. Nuff said!

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