I always wondered if there is still an ROI for writing a well researched in depth article.

If the insight in the article is actually unique, it'll just get regurgitated by other writers and AIs a hundred times, maybe even with better visuals and diagrams and that'll be the article that gets all the clicks.

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simonw 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

The ROI can still be massive even if only a few people actually read it.

It just takes one person who read the article (or found it later via search) to get a huge ROI if it resonates just right.

A job opportunity, an invite to some event, a potential collaboration - the right reader can unlock all kinds of opportunities.

	▲	johnisgood 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		This is very true, in life in general. You do a good deed on the street right before your interview, and lo and behold, the person you did the good deed to turns out to be your interviewer! These things (be it an article or a good deed) can definitely pay off.

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tommica 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Maybe the ROI is something more personal than getting clicks?

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jbreckmckye 4 days ago | parent [-]

It can be. But there is a certain existential dread, in the hours after sharing something, when you fear it might all have been toil in obscurity

	▲	LinguaBrowse 4 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I had some faith this time as I saw a good handful of readers opening the email just moments after I'd posted the newsletter out! And while I figured Hacker News would be a coin flip, for other sites that show link previews, I was optimistic that the cartoons would encourage a click, too. In a time where many writers are using soulless AI-generated poster images, just putting in a token effort to do something original goes a long way.
	▲	chistev 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I feel this way.

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LinguaBrowse 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Author here – the return on investment will be modest, no doubt. I started the newsletter in order to share any thoughts on various topics without having to please a social media algorithm to get seen. Winning a few new readers for my efforts is all I'm really looking!

As for the article getting regurgitated, I am not too worried. It is simply an awfully long, awfully dense article for any LLM to synthesise more than a handful of bullet points out of, so I think any derivative product is going to make for a far less engrossing read. Indeed, if you try asking ChatGPT about runtimes right now, you'll get a pathetically shallow and mainstream analysis.

There may well be clickbait articles spawned from this, but I'm optimistic that people will find the source and be able to tell in an instance that it's the Real McCoy.

	▲	jjkaczor 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		Naw - the internet enables "long-tail" content - but I say this as a person who occasionally writes VERY long "blog-posts" that are technically KB/how-to, magazine article length... Yes, AI will scrape it and regurgitate it - but over-time it will reach people who need to know - plus it is also helpful for oneself...