July 28th, 2006
How Long Do You Take To Write One Post?
Yes, just one. How long does it normally take you to research, draft, write, edit, and publish a single blog post on a normal day? While I’ll admit that it’ll vary from blog to blog, and niche to niche, after a while, most people usually end up building a specific posting schedule which they adhere to for most of their blogs.
I say “most” because that’s how it works for me. For most of my blogs, I have a 5+10+3 kind of timetable for each post I write. This translates to 5 minutes of prep (e.g. reading source material, uploading pictures), 10 minutes of writing (e.g. crafting a headline, paraphrasing, giving your own take on things), and 3 minutes of editing (e.g. spell checking, grammar, adding inline ads and affiliate links). For the most part, this works because I’m used to the topic, have written hundreds of similar posts, and/or because the niche churns out day after day of samey-samey type of news pieces (think product press releases and reviews).
But for this blog (and perhaps a couple of others), I find myself facing a completely different scenario. Some posts take up to two hours to write, while others of similar length take less than a third of that time. I’m not talking about linkblogging – done correctly or otherwise.
I’m talking about the subjective, experience-type posts (like two of Darren Rowse’s recent posts). Here, I’ll stick my neck out and give the obvious explanation: There’s really no textbook content for much of the stuff on blogging, and the like. You could probably flesh out your article indefinitely if you wished to and (try to) take into account the various perspectives your readers may have, or cut it into an easily digestible mini-piece.
That’s why I’m curious. How long it takes you to write these type of posts? Do you have a specific timetable for them, or do you just let the hands type until the brain runs dry?
P.S.: Yep, like how Easton did a few days back, I’m actually asking for comments. Help me learn more. 
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12 Comments
July 28th, 2006 at 2:10 pm
I’d love to help, but I’ve been sticking far too much on product blogs that I’ve forgotten what its like to write the longish posts you’re referring to.
July 28th, 2006 at 4:23 pm
on newsy posts they can take anything from 60 seconds to 5 minutes depending upon whether I add much of my own thoughts or just let them speak for themselves.
On ‘how to’ or ‘tutorial’ type posts it can take me anything from 30 minutes to 3-4 hours if I really need to research them.
July 28th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
My blog is a little different story, as it is more of a personal column and few of the posts count on timeliness. Because of that, sometimes I’ll think of a topic and have it written, edited, and published within 1/2 hour, but at other times I’ll think of a topic, or a few sentences (with no real theme yet) or sometimes just a title. Then I’ll save it to my drafts and, as time and inspiration permit, I’ll add on to the post, shaping it, until I end up with something I can use. I’d say it’s about 50/50 which method I use. In that case, the total time to construct a post is sometimes 1-2 hours, as I’m not always sure where I’m going with it until I flesh it out a bit.
July 29th, 2006 at 5:02 am
zellish: Hehe, I can understand that situation. No pressure.
Darren: Thanks for the answer. It is relieving to know that even the very experienced bloggers can take a few hours on a good, solid post.
Caryn: Ah, you brought up an interesting and related topic which I’ve been wanting to blog about for quite some time. I have the same mentality when it comes to drafts. When I get an idea, I make sure to pin it down as a draft with whatever I have at hand. Time seems to fly as I construct the post after that. Urghh…
July 29th, 2006 at 5:06 am
I typically use BlogJet do post to my blogs for these sort of longer posts, so I find myself saving and reopening drafts very oftenn as well.
Time-wise, this means I can spend hours over the course of weeks on a single post if I don’t finish it on the spot. If I force it down though, it normally takes 30 minutes to about 1.5 hours.
July 29th, 2006 at 5:12 am
Hmm. I don’t think too much about how long it takes me to write a post, but rather I budget a certain amount of time to complete all my posts on a single blog.
But I guess this is basically the same thing, but taken in another perspective. So, since I budget about 2 hours a day, each post probably takes around 20-30 min. (if my math serves me right that is)
July 31st, 2006 at 12:59 am
I find it really does vary. On a news type blog it can just take a couple of minutes but for a detailed piece it can take 30 minutes to a couple of hours not counting the time i spend thinking about it while doing other things (like on the bus or at work doing other things!)
August 2nd, 2006 at 1:49 pm
I typically take between 30-60 minutes actually writing each post. But sometimes it takes me an hour or two to choose what to write about. I wish I were faster. But there are “newsy” posts that only take a few minutes, as Darren indicated.
It’s challenging to try to find the right balance – to figure out how to use your time effectively. We all get only 24 hours a day, and most of us really only work for about 40-50 hours a week. And a lot of that work time gets sucked up waiting for pages to load, getting distracted, or simply wasting time.
So your post consists of an awesome question. “How long does -blank- take me?” Great question for any blogger to ask themselves.
August 3rd, 2006 at 10:58 am
Westen: BlogJet?!? No, no… go w.bloggar. Nah, just a personal preference since I don’t really need WYSIWYG.
Xavr: I haven’t had to budget time just yet, but when university starts again, I’m sure this will factor in.
Greg: That’s one thing I didn’t think of before you raised it. How many of us blog while on the move, I wonder?
Easton: Thanks. I once tried to count how much time I actually spent blogging, rather than wasting using TimeTracker. I still have a review of it over at my personal blog.
August 8th, 2006 at 2:21 am
[...] Reading the comments on one of my recent posts reminded me of something I’ve wanted to address in a long while: Do some of us keep too many drafts? [...]
April 23rd, 2007 at 4:51 pm
I’d love to help, but I’ve been sticking far too much on product blogs that I’ve forgotten what its like to write the longish posts you’re referring to
May 13th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
I typically take between 30-60 minutes actually writing each post. But sometimes it takes me an hour or two to choose what to write about. I wish I were faster. But there are “newsy” posts that only take a few minutes, as Darren indicated.
It’s challenging to try to find the right balance – to figure out how to use your time effectively. We all get only 24 hours a day, and most of us really only work for about 40-50 hours a week. And a lot of that work time gets sucked up waiting for pages to load, getting distracted, or simply wasting time.
So your post consists of an awesome question. “How long does -blank- take me?” Great question for any blogger to ask themselves.
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