Cautiously Writing for Demand Studios
With all of the editorial and style guide changes going on at Demand Studios, I had stopped writing for them. I felt that $15 was not enough compensation for the frustrations I was undergoing.
It seemed that no two editors viewed the same article the same way and it got annoying. When things begin to get to me I always pull out my copy of The Serenity Prayer:
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
After realizing that this was one situation that I could not change, I did the only thing I could do. I had to stop writing for Demand Studios to protect my sanity and put my time to good use writing elsewhere. The last article I wrote for DS was in April of this year.
All was going along swimmingly until I received the following email from them:
Dear Felicia,
Thank you for all of your great work as a Demand Studios writer! Because of writers like you, the Studio has been producing more high quality articles than ever before.
We noticed you that you haven’t written for us in a little while and we want you back!
We are constantly improving our Studio to ensure that we are the best online writing studio around. We offer more assignments than anyone, giving writers all over the country the chance to earn significant income while working from wherever they choose. Whether you choose our flat-fee or revenue share method of payment, we are confident you can earn more money with us than any other freelance writing site on the internet.
We have added tens of thousands of assignments in the last 30 days. We hope you take this opportunity to log in to your account and browse through some titles. We are confident you will find assignments that interest you.
And remember, as an approved writer you have access to our Forums where you can ask questions, get answers, and read other writers’ opinions on topics.
We would love to have you back on the team.
If you have any questions please contact us at editorialteam@demandstudios.com.
Sincerely,
Demand Studios Editorial Team
Shock and Surprise!
Needless to day I wasn’t expecting this email, so out of curiosity I decided to test the waters. I logged onto my account and selected one title. I 
wrote it, submitted it and forgot about it. A day or so later I checked my account and found that it was approved (another shock and surprise).
I tried it again with another title and it was approved.
Burnt Once…
I’m cautiously writing for Demand Studios. I’m not going full speed ahead as I had done in the past. There is nothing more frustrating than writing 7 or 10 articles only to have to defend them to an editor who knows very little about the subject matter.
Not wanting to spend my time defending my writing, I’ll take it slow. As long as my articles are approved without a hitch, I’ll slowly keep writing. I don’t mind constructive criticism, but when I get re-write requests from someone that knows next to nothing about the topic, it’s time for me to write elsewhere.
So far so good…
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Comment by Jessie Fitzgerald Heekin on 9 July 2009:
Hello Felicia,
I have been reading your blog for a while, and I understand exactly why you felt cautious about writing for Demand. For me, I manage to average at around $60.00 per hour and I find a good community and great copy editors.
Yes, great copy editors. I have never had a problem. I am not saying that I have never had a rewrite, or have never had a bug. In fact, I’ve had two rewrites and I’ve had two bugs. The rewrites were reasonable and the bugs weren’t “worked out” perfectly but I was paid for both articles that had issues.
I have gained a lot writing for Demand Studios. I still understand that it doesn’t work for everyone. I just hope that you will find it a refreshing opportunity.
Have a great day Felicia.
- Jessie
Jessie Fitzgerald Heekin´s last blog ..JFHeekin: Working on my latest business how-to articles for @demandstudios. Overjoyed to have mostly start-up how-tos to write. Considering an ebook.
Comment by Moki Bobolink on 9 July 2009:
That’s very encouraging news. I have to admit after reading the post on writing for TextBroker and all the comments up there about Demand Studios, I had pretty much written them off. This is giving me hope to perhaps give them a shot.
I was curious about their acceptance of untried authors. I just joined TextBroker and have already gotten my first job with them. They don’t require a resume though, only a writing sample. I have never written professionaly before so my resume is only from my previous (corporate) experience. I am experienced in writing (a novel I’m working on publishing, blogs, reviews, etc), though none of it has been professional, yet.
Do they accept authors without much experience?
-Moki
Comment by Jessie Fitzgerald Heekin on 9 July 2009:
Moki,
Demand Studios is an opportunity for someone with the ability to write with journalistic integrity in accordance to their style guide. If you want to write for DS, they usually want you to have a certain number of years experience.
However, if you will go to http://www.ehow.com and sign-up, write three articles according to those style guidelines (which you can find here: http://www.ehow.com/about_us/faq_ehow.aspx#q69) and submit those articles as samples (go ahead and link your profile for the portfolio option)when you apply, you can show DS that you have the ability to write what they are looking for.
Let us know how it goes Moki.
Have a great day,
- Jessie
Comment by Alina Bradford on 9 July 2009:
Yep, I got this email, too. I checked on the forums and apparently everyone, even the regular writers, got one. It was some kind of burp in their email system.
Comment by Felicia on 10 July 2009:
Jessie, thanks for the informative response to Moki’s question.
Alina, I guess the Demand Studios ‘burp’ worked as I’ve written 3 articles that I wouldn’t have written if I hadn’t received the email. So far it’s smooth sailing. Only time will tell how long the honeymoon lasts.
Comment by Moki Bobolink on 11 July 2009:
Jessie,
Thanks so much for the information. I will be looking into it and see if I can meet their qualifications.
-Moki
Comment by Jessie Fitzgerald on 14 July 2009:
Moki,
You are very welcome. Please stop by and let us know how that works for you. I wish you success.
Felicia,
No problem. I tend to hesitate at times to think that I might be overstepping my bounds. Then I remember that social media means conversation, and I am always glad to enter a conversation at a high quality website.
I was just stopping by now to read the advice you gave me on your blog post about catch-all websites.
Have a great day, and good luck to everyone writing at Demand Studios.
- Jessie
Comment by Deanna on 16 July 2009:
Hi, I found you at eHow. I also write for Demand Studios from time to time and understand how you feel about being cautious. I’ve only had to do rewrites for two articles, but on one of them the rewrite made no sense. The editor said I wasn’t writing particularly on the appointed subject, when in fact I had. So I did a few wording changes and it was approved. I only pick one or two articles at a time and I am choosy about the titles I pick. Sometimes the titles make no sense at all! All in all, it is a good place to earn a few extra dollars.
Cheers,
Deanna
Deanna´s last blog ..It’s official
Comment by Deanna on 16 July 2009:
Sorry – I forgot the “s” when I typed in my blog in the last comment and it brings up the wrong blog. The right blog comes up with this comment. oopps!
Deanna
Deanna´s last blog ..Helping to Encourage Boys to Read
Comment by Lisa on 23 July 2009:
I went back cautiously, too. I love the new queue system, and have been bringing in around $1000 each week. This summer has been excellent for me. The kids are soaking up the sunshine and running around outside while I sit by the air conditioner and write write write. We’ve never been able to afford so many road trips and weekends out of town as we have this summer, it’s been great. I have nothing but praise for the changes DS has made over the past year. Every now & then you’ll get an editor who’s on the nutty side, but generally, they’re fantastic.
Lisa ´s last blog ..unCooking
Comment by Felicia on 23 July 2009:
Hey Lisa,
Your comment is inspirational. I wrote three articles for them since receiving the email. Everything went smoothly so I have no complaints so far this time around.
Good for you earning $1,000 each week.
Comment by Jeri Sullivan on 28 July 2009:
Hey Felicia,
I have been following your thread for the last week and took your advice about textbrokers.com. I have written my first 5 articles for them so now I have to wait for the review to be completed before I can write more. In the meantime, I do have a question about Demand Studios that I am hoping you, or one of your many followers, can answer. Since I am new to the freelance writing business, is there good way to showcase a resume that only shows a couple of Associated Content and eHow articles? I would love to work for Demand Studios and want to submit the best possible resume to hopefully increase my chances of landing a job. If you can give me some pointers, I would appreciate it.
Jeri
Comment by Felicia on 28 July 2009:
Hi Jeri,
Welcome to NJFM.
Regarding tailoring your resume to show specific articles for Demand Studios, that should be easy to do. If I remember correctly, in addition to a written resume, Demand Studios requested article links or actual article clips of your work.
It’s been about a year and a half since I applied so I’m asking my readers who have applied recently to help me out here. DS has made many website and policy changes in that year and a half.
Comment by Brenda on 3 September 2009:
Felicia, I am so glad to know it just wasn’t me getting frustrated with Demand Studios. I also stopped writing for a while because I was losing my head. They also sent me the same email but I didn’t bother to write again. But after reading your blog, I will give it one last shot and keep my fingers crossed!!! Cheers
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Comment by Pam on 23 July 2010:
Hi Felicia, I just found this post after looking up reviews on Demand Studios. I wanted to make sure DS isn’t a scam, so your article is actually reassuring.
To your reader Jeri and anyone else interested, I don’t have much writing experience but DS still accepted me. The writing sample and published work I gave them were articles that I wrote for my university newspaper. I’m sure even just a couple of published online articles in your portfolio would be good enough, especially if they’re on eHow.
Comment by kimberly cummings on 11 August 2010:
Well I really don’t know where to start. I write articles for Associated Content, Seed and did write for Demand Media. I started about a year ago for Demand and recently have gotten a lot of flack from them including a letter nothing like yours. It seems after doing a vast amount of articles for them and having fairly good responses and only 7 rejections in one year’s time, I have been sent a letter stating they do not require my services anymore. That is because I had trouble with one particular editor and wrote two grievance letters stating so. Needless to say I was scolded and told I would be put on limited account status while they did a review, however the review seemed to be unfair because after over a month time they have decided to let me go as a writer citing no specific issues just that they have decided that I am not right for their site. I was allowed to finish my work and all of them was processed without rewrites, as about 80% of my total work for them. I have learned something very valuable about this whole situation if you write for DS don’t send in a grievance you will get black-balled.
I have been trying to reach Mr. Rosenblatt about the situation because I really loved writing for DS but my emails have not been responded to so I have decided to leave information about the incident on the net see any one of the various sites I work for and type in my name and demand studios rejection.
I am a featured health and wellness writer for Associated Content and make very good money for both Associated Content, Constant Content and Seed.com.
kimberly cummings´s last blog ..Well today is FRIDAY YIPPEE
Comment by Felicia on 11 August 2010:
Kimberly, I’m so sorry to hear about your experience. Thanks for sharing it. I think a lot of writers will learn something from your unfortunate experience. There are so many other online sites to write for. I guess it’s time to start exploring a few of them.