I knew the 300th post was coming up, but it caught me at a time where I’m feeling a little singed around the edges.

Although my November earnings were higher than my October earnings, my residual income was down by a little over $200; nothing to lose sleep about, but something to take into considering when relying on residual income. My upfront payments with Demand Studios made up the difference.

I find that writing for Demand Studios, is like having a job. I’ve got to admit that this time around, the writing experience is a lot better than what I’ve experienced in the past. It seems like they listened to the writers’ complaints and took steps to make things better. Better writing experience or not, it still feels like a job.

Singe Out (Not Burn Out)

I think the approaching holidays along with the desire to spend most of my time away from the computer has led to a little singe out. It started just before Thanksgiving. It’s not that I’ve got writer’s block and have nothing to write about, I just don’t feel like writing.

So, if my posts here are a little sparse over the next couple of weeks, it’s not because I’ve abandoned my blog or online writing career, it’s just that I’m feeling the need to spend more time doing things that don’t require reading glasses (I’d really like to get the guest bedroom painted before Christmas).

Oh, BTW, if you haven’t signed up for Xomba, give it a shot. I’ve found that posting one or two Xomblurbs in the morning while drinking my coffee tolerable during my singe out. The earnings are also beginning to trickle in at a steadier pace.

Just for grins, I opened the e-mail expecting to find an ultimatum of “update or leave,” but I was surprised with the type of ultimatum I received. In essence, they told me that I had until XX date to update my bio or else they would update it for me.

WHAT!?

With such a curious ultimatum I signed into my account and updated my bio. No, I did not include my education or any of that other information. I only updated my 50 word narrative and added a “fun fact.” Additionally, I added a free photo from stock.xchng to accompany my nom de plume. The photo is so obviously not me.

Back on the Merry-Go-Round

Since I had logged into my account (after several moths), I figured, oh what the heck, let me get back on the merry-go-round to see if I can try writing a few articles. I was able to find several titles that interested me so I’m giving Demand Studios another shot. After all, the holidays are around the corner and I could use the additional money.

I’m taking it slow. I’m only writing 1 or 2 a day to test the waters. If things go smoothly I might increase my productivity. I don’t want to run into the same frustrations I had run into in the past.

A Few Things Have Changed

The twice a week payment structure is something that I had not had the benefit of enjoying in the past and I find that to be an attractive feature. Additionally, I see that they are now going to offer health insurance to eligible writers. That’s also something positive. They do seem to be trying to keep their writers happy.

Only time will tell if I can tentatively add Demand Studios back into my freelance writing arsenal. It would be a nice addition to the residual income I’m already receiving.

In my never-ending search for better ways to earn money I came across My Work at Home Mom Blog. Similar to my experience with eHow, the blog owner, Maria O’Brien, started out writing for eHow through an outfit called The Writers Research Group.

The Writers Research Group was my intro to eHow. Although they provide content for sites other than eHow, as with Demand Studios, I wrote exclusively on the eHow project.  They paid less than Demand Studios. Their rate was $10 per article and an additional $1 if you suggested an approved title. The other difference is that they didn’t pay weekly. They paid 60 days later.

Back to eHow

Maria O’Brien is now writing for eHow and earning compensation through the eHow Writers Compensation Program. In essence, you write the “How to” article under your username and get paid based on traffic, ad revenue, article popularity and so on. The idea is similar to that used on Suite 101, Associated Content, Bukisa and other shared revenue content sites.

The difference that I see here is that Maria is doing well residually writing for eHow. If you read her blog, you’ll see that her earnings have increased steadily each month. In June it was around $400, in July around $500 and $600 in the month of August. I’m sure you see the trend here.

Don’t have to hit me with a brick

My mom didn’t raise a fool. I decided to sign up for an eHow account and try writing articles directly under my eHow user name.

What I like about writing for eHow directly is that my articles are approved instantaneously. No waiting for a week or so for an editor to approve my article.

Terms and Conditions Violation?

I read through the terms and conditions to see if I was violating anything by having dual accounts. I couldn’t find anything so I decided to write to Demand Studios to ask the question.

Here’s the response:

Hi Felicia,

Please refer to this blog post. If you have more questions, let me know. You can do both, but the accounts must be separate.

http://www.demandstudios.com/blog/2008/09/03/the-difference-between-writing-for-demand-studios-and-ehow/

In essence, writers can write for both Demand Studios and eHow as long as the accounts are not combined.

What are you waiting for? If you write for Demand Studios, why not try writing for eHow directly and build a residual income stream?

(To see how much I’ve made on eHow so far check out my post: My eHow Experiment)

Get Who Moved My Cheese and Read it

You’ll have a better appreciation for this post if you’re familiar with the book Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, M.D. If you don’t have it, go out, get the book and read it. It’s an easy read and you can finish it in about an hour or so.

As a freelance writer, keep a copy near and read it every couple of months or so. It’s amazing the additional insight you’ll gain.

My Cheese and Demand Studios

The four main characters, Sniff and Scurry (two mice who react to situations as situations arise) and Hem and Haw (two ‘intelligent humans’ who analyze situations when situations arise) are placed in a maze with cheese stations from which they gain their purpose for life. The ‘Cheese’ in this book is a metaphor for money, wealth, health, status, whatever it is that makes people happy in life.

The book begins with all four characters enjoying an abundant amount of cheese at Cheese Station “C.” The insights begin to unfold when each character reacts to the dwindling and eventual total consumption of the cheese supply. When you read the book, you’ll see aspects of your own personality in each of the characters. Hopefully the more you read the book, the less you’ll relate to the undesirable character traits and see yourself in a more positive light.
[smartads]
Demand Studio Cheese

When Demand Studios recently changed its editing criteria, I got pretty annoyed. I mean after all, “I’ve been writing this way for them for months.” For about a week, I sang the same annoying song to my friends and family about how I spent so much time writing articles as I’ve always written them only to suddenly have them returned to me for rewrites. “How dare they!” What a pompous fool I was.

I’ll Fix Them

So, in full Hem and Haw mode I analyzed the situation and I decided that I’d fix them. I just won’t write for them anymore (They moved my cheese from cell station C). I mean let’s face it, as a freelance writer, I’ve always done it this way and that’s just the way I’m used to doing it!

I resolved the problem by not doing anything. After all, what’s a hundred or two hundred dollars a week? Why should I have to change? So, like Hem and Haw, I sat at that cheese less Cheese Station C until…

In Comes the Cheese Book

I call it Divine intervention, but for some reason I was prompted to pull out my copy of “Who Moved My Cheese.” I haven’t read the book in quite some time so I sat down and started to read it again.

Like a lightening bolt, I saw Demand Studios as my cheese and my reaction as Hem and Haw, the two ‘intelligent’ humans who sat around complaining and not doing anything about the situation. Sniff and Scurry, on the other hand, noticed the dwindling cheese supply so they put on their sneakers and ran through the maze looking for new cheese.

The Lesson I Learned

While it’s a daily habit of mine to scour the Internet looking for new opportunities (cheese), my current dilemma with Demand Studios doesn’t have to be an ‘all or nothing’ situation. If I take a little time to get a better understanding of their new editorial guidelines and modify my writing accordingly (and stop being so Hem and Haw like about it), I could partake of the old cheese while Sniffing and Scurrying around looking for new cheese. A win-win situation.

I’ve made a pact with myself never to blog angry so when reading this post, please keep that in mind. I’m not angry, just a bit frustrated.

Here’s why I’m Frustrated with Demand Studios:

I wrote/am writing a series of articles on how to rescue a particular pet breed. The articles are about rescuing the same pet breed but in different states and cities. For instance, today I wrote about rescuing the pet breed in New York, the other day it was Virginia, San Diego, etc.

Things were moving along swimmingly, the articles were being approved without incident until suddenly things came to a screeching halt. One editor received the article I wrote about saving the breed in Atlanta and returned my article for editing. Below are the editor’s comments:

Good article but it’s important to provide the full picture and be more dispassionate. It’s true that pit bulls become particularly dangerous when raised a certain way, but their disposition to begin with is extremely aggressive. They can rip apart flesh like no other animal. Many serious dog bites in every city in the country are from pit bulls. And we know about Atlanta, but aren’t there other places in the country where pit bill “rescues” are needed? And from whom? Vick’s in jail…

Wha??!!!
In all fairness, to explain the editors Mike Vick comment, here’s the opening sentence to my article:

“Michael Vick’s dog fighting conviction did much to bring attention to the plight of the Pitt Bull.”

So, I sat down, took a deep breath, composed myself and prepared the following response:

1. You’re right, Pit Bulls need to be rescued in other places than Atlanta, but since the title is “How to Rescue a Pit Bull in Atlanta” I chose to honor the title and write about Atlanta.
2. Your comment about being dispassionate about the topic seems a bit odd to me. If I write in an aloof tone, then I’m not doing the title of the article any justice. Your comment “They can rip apart flesh like no other animal. Many serious dog bites in every city in the country are from pit bulls,” does nothing to entice the reader to rescue a Pit Bull. As a matter of fact, it is in direct contradiction to the title. The title is about rescuing Pit Bulls. If I explain how they rip people apart, who would want to rescue a Pit Bull? My first step advises people to separate the fact from the fiction when it comes to Pit Bulls.
3. You’re asking me from whom should Pit Bulls be rescued? I think that’s beyond the scope of this article. The title is about “How To” rescue a Pit Bull. Pit Bulls are rescued for many reasons. The reader knows why they want to rescue a Pit Bull, I’m just telling them how to do it.
4. As far as Mike Vick is concerned, the use of his name was to show how even though he did something considered unacceptable; his actions have brought the plight of the Pit Bulls to the forefront. Discovery Channel is now airing a show “Saving Mick Vick’s Pit Bulls.” While we all know he’s in jail, I use him as a catalyst in this article to show that his actions have raised awareness. “

I hope the editor took my comments in the vein in which it was meant. I tried not to come off as a know it all or angry, but I was confused and frustrated.

Well, it really didn’t make any difference because the editor rejected the article saying:

I didn’t realize until recently that writers were only picking titles already in the system. This one is unfortunate and I hope they redo the titles. You’re doing a fine job. But I have to reject it because we need to explain how to adopt a certain animal everywhere, not just in one lone city. And I really think we need to present both sides, since pit bulls are, simply, a dangerous breed.

Just to put a little icing on the cake, I submitted the following title to Demand Studios: “How to Rescue Pit Bulls in Texas.” And guess what…they approved it.

Go figure!!!

How can writers succeed at Demand Studios with such contradictions? The double standards are making me nuts (I’m sure I’m not alone)!

Lesson Learned: Keep searching for other freelance writing opportunities. When I find them, I’ll share them. In the meanwhile, Demand Studios writers…hang in there!