rerecursive

there is a lot of baffling writing on the internet. since i've started pursuing content writing more seriously, i've many times searched for or come across sites called things like "how to make money writing for the internet." this is all very well, and not too surprising, since one of the ground rules of said industry seems to be "teaching sells." people on the internet really like to read content about how to do things, and everyone like money, right?

the bizarre thing about these sites is that they often have little other content. i was looking recently at the site of an author who claimed that she had gone from quitting her job to supporting herself as an internet writer in under a year. that sounded promising, as it's best to learn from people who are experienced, so i looked further into her archives, wondering what she writes about. the answer, surprisingly, seems to be "how to make money writing for the internet." what?

things like this are actually very common. many of the blogging jobs that you see ads for are for topics like "business" or "productivity," which is all very well, except that these things are generally code words for, you guessed it, how to make money writing about how to make money on the internet. what it generally seems to boil down to is people publishing ebooks and blogs on this topic, and other people spamming the universe with links to these "resources." it's actually very similar to the pyramid scheme where you "make money stuffing envelopes" by getting people to send you a few dollars in exchange for a pamphlet about how they can make money stuffing envelopes.

an unfortunate side effect of this phenomenon is that it's almost impossible to use search engines to find information about real internet writing jobs. i've decided that if i ever have much success making money by writing for the internet, i should publish an ebook called "how to make money by writing for the internet about topics other than making money by writing for the internet." it's certainly an underexploited niche.