A Demand Studios - Oops?
Recently I’ve received various comments to my recent post Demand Studios is a Keeper expressing some frustration and dissatisfaction with them lately.
I started with Demand Studios about 2 months ago and was relatively pleased with them. After all, $15 a shot for a quick article isn’t too bad considering some of the low prices people are offering for content.
Things were going along swimmingly for a little while. I would write a couple of articles, get them approved and receive payment by the end of the week. All was going well and then suddenly, it seems like someone poured sludge into operating system. Written articles sat awaiting approval for an extended period of time, weekly payment didn’t quite match the article count and bookkeeping became a little sloppy.
After this slow down, I too decided to slow down. I stopped writing as many articles as it was frustrating waiting to see if the articles were going to be approved and even more frustrating when payment was slow. Just one e-mail from Demand Studios explaining the problem would probably put a lot of the writers at ease. Since that didn’t come, I chalked it up to internal database problems and decided to work on some of my other projects.
Interestingly enough, last night I received this e-mail from Demand Studios:
Dear Demand Studios Contributor,
In June, Demand Studios experienced some technical difficulties that may have resulted in moderate to significant data loss in your articles. While we know this problem resulted in the complete loss of some articles and many others having to be rewritten, we are unable to identify exactly who and what was affected. The problem has since been resolved.
In order to compensate you for this inconvenience, we will be issuing you a one-time bonus payment of $15, courtesy of Demand Studios. We understand that this may not completely cover the loss you encountered, but we hope you accept this payment with our sincere apologies. The payment will be posted to your PayPal account today.
We thank you for your patience as we continue to improve Demand Studios. Feel free to contact us with any questions.
Sincerely,
The Demand Studios Team
Well, I guess a little notice after the fact is better than no notice at all. In view of this mishap, I’ve decided to better track my Demand Studio writings on a spreadsheet. Although I was not one of the writers who suffered a loss, I’d rather be able to recompile my article information rather than guess.
Lesson learned. Always know the status of your bacon (or tofu for vegans).
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Comment by Misha Safranski (2 comments.) on 7 August 2008:
The Demand Studio website was undergoing some changes during this period of time, and there were some technical glitches. Things have been straightened out for the most part, and they are adding new features/article types. There is no set day for review, so it’s wise to write as many as you can and submit them ASAP. It’s also wise to write everything in a word processor, just in case. Articles that are approved by Wednesday at 5pm Pacific Time are paid out that Friday. HTH!
Comment by Misha Safranski (2 comments.) on 7 August 2008:
One other note, there is a yahoogroup for Demand Studio writers - DSWriters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Misha Safranskis last blog post..Things heard out of the 13 year old’s mouth…
Comment by Felicia on 8 August 2008:
Thanks for the info Misha,
I didn’t know about the Yahoogroup for Demand Studio writers. That’s good to know. I’ll check it out.
Comment by Nancy (1 comments.) on 19 August 2008:
Not wild for Demand Studios any longer. I applied a few weeks ago, got accepted and wrote two initial articles for them under the “How To…” portion. They were immediately accepted and I chose two more articles. My internet promptly went down for a week and I missed the deadlines. Following that, I chose another article under the “How To…” and submitted it. I did this one the EXACT SAME WAY I did the other two and it was sent back for revision in less than ten minutes, saying the format was incorrect. Befuddled, I wasn’t sure what to change. I tried messaging the “editor” as to what to change, given the other two I had done were done in the same way, same format. The response was to deny the article entirely and now all that’s offered is really crappy assignments that no one wants, like, “How To Make a Vaccuum Bra”.
I’m done with Demand Studios.
Nancys last blog post..A perfect example of the "Precious Darling Syndrome"
Comment by Felicia on 19 August 2008:
Oh no, not the dreaded “Vaccuum Bra” article!
Lately there have been quite a few changes at Demand Studios. I notice that they are taking quite a bit longer to review articles and they don’t pay as timely as they had originally.
I currently have about 9 articles awaiting approval. I understand your frustration. It seems that they’ve hired a bunch of new editors that might be the reason for the change in format issue.
I’ve found lately that I do better by suggesting my own titles. I’d rather write about anything than to have to write about the “vacuum bra.”
Comment by JS on 26 August 2008:
I applied to Demand Studios as a writer many months ago. Then on 8/4/08 I got my first email from them “re-inviting” me to join even though I’d never been invited in the first place. Still I went to log in and get started but they hadn’t bothered giving me a password.
I requested one, waited 24 hours and still didn’t have one so I emailed tech support. I got a password on 8/7/08, logged in and suggested 5 new How To article titles. I eagerly awaited an email from them and didn’t receive anything. After 2 weeks I noticed that 4 of the articles had been approved on 8/7/08, almost immediately; however, they never had bothered telling me this. The articles weren’t clickable even though they were still marked “approved,” and tech support went through 3 days of telling me first one thing and then another, (first it was “a bug” in their system).
Finally, without really checking, Demand Studios insisted that their emails to me “must be” in my spam folder (they’re not, they never were, I checked regularly), and that I would have received 2 emails per article in total, one confirming their approval and one warning me they’re about to expire. Their tech support person is now resorting to absurd, smart-alecky remarks like “Because you didn’t see them in your spam folder…” despite my stating and restating that that’s not the case.
Clearly they’re trying to cover their butts and admit no error. I’ve requested that they resend the emails to me with full headers showing when and where they sent them, and have also requested the email address of this tech support person’s supervisor. No response yet.
They also suggested that it was “likely” that my articles had been picked up by another writer now and so why don’t I just make up some other things to write about. Likely, or *definitely*? Hey, this is $90 we’re talking about. Demand Studios still have not given me a straight answer.
The way I see it Demand Studios owes me $90 for lost wages, or they need to re-approve the articles so I can write them, or they need to prove that the lost emails are somehow my fault (even though I’ve received all other correspondence from them and have never had anything from them go into my spam folder). If none of that happens I’m filing a complaint against them with the BBB and also filing a case in small claims court in their home city of Bellevue, WA.
It’s been one thing after another with this company. They’ve already left a sour taste in my mouth and I haven’t even started work for them yet. If anything changes I’ll come back here and let you know how it concludes.
Good luck, folks, and watch your backs.
Comment by JS on 26 August 2008:
(Oops, make that $60; still, you get the point. I want my dough.)
Comment by Felicia on 27 August 2008:
Woah!
Sorry to hear about your troubles with Demand Studios. Although I’ve had a few hiccups with them, it’s been nothing to that extent.
It sounds like there was an e-mail mix up.
As far as suing them, you’re probably going to waste more time and energy and aggravation than its worth. I know you’re frustrated with the situation, and understandably so, but I would suggest that you spend your time making money elsewhere.
Don’t let Demand Studios upset your ‘creative writing Chi.’
Which ever way you decided to handle it, please come back and let us know what happened.
Good Luck.
Felicia
Comment by Joe Wappel on 10 September 2008:
Hello All
I’ve been just been invited to join Demand Studio. ANy problems with sending them my SS#?
Joe
Comment by Felicia on 10 September 2008:
They’re legit. It’s just that they’re going through a few growing pains right now.
I believe that when I first signed up I didn’t submit my social security number, but after I earned a certain amount (I believe it’s $600), they made me supply them with my ss#.
Comment by Anonymous on 10 September 2008:
Hello Joe and Felicia,
You need to supply the SS# because when you earn over $600, you will be issued a 1099 for earnings reporting. As well, you will need to complete a IRS W-9 (Request for Taxpayer Identification Form). You can download it from http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf. I’m not sure how the different clients (Demand Studio, Textbroker, etc.) handle this.
As I mentioned in an earlier comment, you might want to file for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) for “individual”. That way, you supply the EIN instead of your SS#.
I hope this clarifies the main reason you’re being asked for your SS#.
Comment by Alyssa on 10 September 2008:
Ooops! I was trigger happy - The last comment about the 1099 and IRS w-9 was from me, in case anyone has any comments or questions.
Comment by Frank on 10 September 2008:
Interesting read, Felicia. I was accepted not long ago by DS and haven’t begun any writing until today, which happened to be when I found your posts.
Curious if you think their growing pains too painful right now, or is this place definitely rebounding from the summer fiasco?
Comment by Felicia on 10 September 2008:
Hey Frank,
To be honest, I think I’m going to take 5 from Demand Studios for a while.
I’ve been writing for them for a while without incident, until they started making a lot of changes. I’m sure in the long run the changes are all going to work out for the better, but I’ve got to manage my time as efficiently as possible.
I’ll wait until their editors begin to agree on how the articles are supposed to be written and then maybe I’ll be able to go back and write for them. Recently I’ve had articles approved and not approved for the exact same reasons by different editors. Since you never know which editor is going to get your articles, it’s a crapshoot as to whether or not they’re going to approve them.
While Demand Studios is legit and will pay upon approval, my time is precious and I’d prefer not to write articles and hold my breath to see if they’re going to approve it.
It might work out well for you because being new, you don’t have the ‘old Demand Studios writing habits’ to break.
Comment by Jen Brister (14 comments.) on 10 September 2008:
I don’t know if you saw it on their blog, but they just posted a call for people to write for some of their other websites…I wonder how that’s going to go…
Jen Bristers last blog post..Dancing with Myself….
Comment by cin (2 comments.) on 18 September 2008:
Hi!
I will chime in here because I have been loving DS lately. My experience has been like this…
First article accepted piece of cake.
Then the next few were rejected. I learned it was for simple stuff… I never read the guidelines and was not spacing properly and such.
Then I got into a good spell of getting things accepted but it seemed to take forever to get paid. I am too busy and frazzled to actually track anything so I can’t tell you how long it took but I have lately noticed that my stuff is getting accepted and paid VERY QUICKLY over the last month or so.
As for the crappy titles… they are the pits. I suggest all my own now. It’s tough at first to come up with something but once your mind gets in that groove it’s great.
They have recently started a blog and new, less strict writing formats. To me, DS just seems to be getting better and better.
cins last blog post..Another Day Another Flood
Comment by Felicia on 18 September 2008:
Hi Cin,
It looks like they’re making a few changes with the articles and formats. This could be an improvement, but the jury is still out.
I haven’t done any work for them in the past week. I guess the recent e-mail from them with the new formats will entice me to look things over and give it another shot.
Comment by cin (2 comments.) on 18 September 2008:
OH! And I absolutely cracked up at the vacuum bra comment! That, and the PLASTIC SKIN WIG, have been on my nerves for several weeks! ROFL!
cins last blog post..Another Day Another Flood
Comment by Jen Brister (14 comments.) on 18 September 2008:
Someone PLEASE write about the plastic skin wig so that we can all move on!
Jen Bristers last blog post..Get Paid to Blog (new opportunity)
Comment by Susan S. (2 comments.) on 23 September 2008:
I just started writing for Demand Studios and noticed that the article template requests images. Under US copyright laws, any original, creative content, even on the Internet, is deemed protected by copyright unless you have explicit (written) permission to use it. I have emailed DS about this (haven’t heard back yet), since I don’t want to “lift” an image from a site I’m writing about, and I don’t feel comfortable requesting permission to use an image if I’m not the end user who could vouch for where it would be placed (and the TOS states that writers are not employees/representatives of DS). Anybody else encounter this? How do you handle the image question?
Comment by Felicia on 23 September 2008:
When I post images to my articles, I use the free Stock photo site http://www.sxc.hu.
You can use those photos without fear of copyright infringement. Some of the photo owners request that you notify them when you use their photos and others request written permission, but in general, they are free to use.
Comment by Susan S. (2 comments.) on 23 September 2008:
Thanks for the tip. I downloaded one image and emailed the photographer to confirm how to list credit - and if I don’t get a reply I’ll presume to just use the name listed. I’m curious as to whether DS expects writers to also be art directors, though, or whether the image uploads are optional. When I do photos with magazine articles, I get paid a lot more. It would help if there were more of a “getting started with DS” tutorial, in addition to the style guide.
Comment by Felicia on 23 September 2008:
Although photos are not required at Demand Studios, they are encouraged. I only use one photo at the beginning of the article. I don’t use photos for each step.
As far as a tutorial for them, unfortunately, you sort of learn as you go. They recently made quite a few changes so I’m getting the hang of it all over again. I haven’t written any of the articles on the newer formats (other than How to). I claimed a few this week and am going to give it a try.
Have you visited the DS blog? They seem to address some commonly asked questions there.
Comment by Lisa Russell (2 comments.) on 18 October 2008:
I had a few rejected a couple months ago, and put them up on ehow’s wcp program immediately and one of them has already earned more than $15 in just 2 months. I was told to make specific changes (that were lame and off-topic) and when I made them, I got a rejection note saying that I didn’t make any changes at all. I lost about 8 articles completely because of that glitch in June. After that, a flock of new editors were hired who all seemed to have different rulebooks to follow. So I printed out the DS rules, and made sure that my articles were perfect and lo and behold an editor asked me to change something AGAINST the policy. When I pointed that out they became nasty, rejected it and I sent an “I quit” letter, but so far my account is still active. Last week I wrote one for the first time in months.
Lisa Russells last blog post..More Investigative Reporting
Comment by Felicia on 18 October 2008:
I’ve severely cut back my writing on Demand Studios for similar reasons (I write about 1 or 2 a week). Not so much for rejections, but since I just a few weeks ago realized that I can write for eHow directly, I could kick myself for not doing it sooner.
Between Demand Studios and Writers Research Group (the organization I wrote for before Demand Studios), I wrote about 250 articles that are now on eHow under someone else’s name. If I had an eHow account, I would be earning residual income from those articles. Oh well, better late than never.
Comment by Asa Yarborough on 31 October 2008:
I encountered some of the same problems with Demand, but not lately. Their payments are timely and accurate, a freelancer’s dream in that regard, and the slow payment period was due to a technical glitch (I asked). They certainly are growing quickly. I also asked about the editors. There have been some new hires who are still learning the system, but the managing editor, Richard Lally, has set up at the Help Desk to help all writers with complaints or issues. He’s a gem, courteous and clear, he’s helped me get several articles passed and he’s explained what was wrong with articles that were rejected in a way that was mentoring and helped me to avoid rejections with other pieces. I don’t know where they found him, but I googled him and he’s the author of 19 book, all with major companies, three of them best sellers, so he really knows his stuff. You can reach him through the Contact Us link by writing to his attention with all editorial issues. It’s a great new service.
Comment by Felicia on 31 October 2008:
Thanks Asa,
I recently started writing for them again (started last week). I’ve got to say that so far so good. I’m pleased to see that the notification of payment and the actual payment were timely and accurate. As far as editing goes, I haven’t had a problem since I started writing for them again.
What ever the glitches were, they seem to be all ironed out. Only time will tell.
Comment by JS on 7 November 2008:
Up until this week my experiences with Demand Studio have been positive. I wasn’t happy when they decreased the amount of pay for suggested titles but that was a change I could live with. Three or four weeks ago I was thrilled when the amount of titles I could claim at a time increased, I took this as a positive sign, after all, if they didn’t like my work they wouldn’t have increased my work load.
This week I was shocked when I got an email saying that there were no longer any titles for me to claim. I immediately emailed the editorial team (several times) and was told that do to my high number of rejected articles it was decided that I wasn’t interested in learning how to write a proper article for DS. I was stunned. The week before I’d had two rejections but hadn’t thought to much about them, I thought the articles were sufficient and the editor didn’t. It happens.
What I couldn’t understand was the comment about the high level of rejections. I sat down and figured it out and realized that approximately 3% of my articles were rejected. I’m a farm kid and in my experience a 97% efficiency rating is really good. I emailed DS asking what they considered a high number of rejections but haven’t heard back form them yet. I also pointed out that sometimes the editors comments aren’t very helpful and that it would be nice if they had a way to appeal rejected articles.
I’ll just have to wait to see if they answer me.
Comment by Felicia on 7 November 2008:
Wow,
JS,that’s a first. You’re right, 97% is pretty efficient if you ask me. I just don’t understand their reasoning.
While you’re waiting for them to get back to you why don’t you sign up with eHow and write articles there directly? I recently started writing for eHow and have found it to be a positive experience so far.
You won’t get the upfront payment like you get through Demand Studios, however, you will earn residual income over time. In my eHow Experiment post, I share how much I’ve made.
You should look into it.
Good Luck
Comment by Veronique (11 comments.) on 9 November 2008:
Please inform on how to become a contributor with Demand Studios. I have made two separate accounts from two different computers and chose different topics to write about. They sent an email to me stating at this time they have no topics for my current experience. I’m good enough for Suite 101 but not Demand Studios? LOL
Since the new site is up, I have tried applying for other jobs, but the system won’t allow me. I think there is definitely wrong with their system. I’m seeing all the topics they claim to have available for writers on the front page, many of which I would love to write about.
Thank you.
Comment by Felicia on 9 November 2008:
That’s very odd! In my opinion, Suite 101 has stricter editing guidelines than Demand Studios does. If you can write for Suite you should be able to write for Demand Studios.
What topics are you choosing as your area of expertise? I don’t know if that has anything to do with it.
Just had a thought. Have you tried writing for Writers Research Group? They provide content for eHow also. Their pay is different and you have to wait 60 days in order to receive payment, but it is a legitimate operation.
Comment by Veronique (11 comments.) on 9 November 2008:
I know, something isn’t right. They only allow you to choose five topics. The first time I filled out pets, relationships, sports & fitness, travel and wedding and added a few to other topics not listed. Personal finance, legal, parenting, food and drink. I gave them links to my writing samples for two different online magazines I have written for and a few other published works on the net.
I have heard of Writers Research Group, I think I will give them a shot as well. I have only two articles on eHow and plan to add more articles regarding massage therapy. It may be a glitch on their site. I had even written an email to them explaining the areas I have expertise in, but never heard anything from them in return.
Thanks Felicia, maybe one day I will be able to write for them. LOL
Have a good day.