Articles vs backlinks for SEO

I have a few question, that the answer is vogue on the web, and hopefully get some answers here.
1. Which one brings more value to the site, having an article or a link from directory or a related blog.
2. If you write 1 article a week and submit to 50 article sites without spinning anything, does that bring any value to the site or no.
3. I believe search engines treat the keywords book, and books differently, so which one is good to use for your main keyword and title and why….
Articles vs backlinks for SEO

See original post by msultani