I've been blown away by the response to my 7 Reasons I Won't Write a $15 Blog post. It's been around the world, to Jerusalem, Italy and who knows where-all else! It is by far my most popular and retweeted post ever in my year-plus of posting my Make a Living Writing blog.

Many who signed the petition have written me on email as well to ask what's coming next, and what more they can do to help. I do have some things planned – I'm hoping we can organize to raise public awareness about the issue of low pay for writers, and shine some light on the high-profile players involved.

But in the meanwhile, here's the best thing you can do right now, on your own, about content mills and other writing ads that promise ridiculously low per-article fees:

Ignore them.

I didn't say it would be an easy thing, did I? But really, that is the single best action you can take. Don't send them snarky emails – I know, it's tempting, and I've done it myself in the past.

Don't waste time on your online forums discussing the insulting nature of these pay rates ("$25 for 1,000 well-researched words? Unbelievable!"), dissecting the ad, emailing the poster for more details, or telling friends about it. Don't be distracted by these ads, or get depressed or discouraged by them. Skip right over these writing "opportunities," and move on to finding ones that pay appropriately.

Don't spend time worrying that the content mills are driving rates down or lowering standards for online content. These are things that we as individual writers can't control. Stay focused on what you can control – your efforts to market your business.

The more time you spend in productive marketing activities – cold calling, in-person networking, working your online social network, writing query letters, researching legitimate publications and corporations that pay professional writers a fair wage – the more good-paying accounts you will have. That's been my strategy for several months now, and I've landed four major new clients recently with projects mostly paying around $1 a word. So don't let lowball ads make you think they are all that's out there. They're not.

As I accumulate petition signers, plans will firm up for the next step in my larger plan to fight the virtual sweatshop companies. Until then, keep building your business!