Demand studio website

andrea peck · Jun 22, 2010

Hi everyone,
I appreciate any help I can get. I am new to freelancing and was approved by Demand Studios - but as I complete the application, I find myself a bit leery of giving away my social security number online...am I being paranoid? are they legit? Also, if you have time, can anyone recommend other similar online venues that are "real" and safe?

Thanks for any help!
andrea

Still Seaking · Jun 22, 2010

Demand Studios is legit.

SS

andrea peck · Jun 22, 2010

Thanks SS! I feel so much better!
andrea

AdamH · Jun 22, 2010

Completely legit. Prompt payments. Plenty of articles to choose from. Lots of time to finish them. And lots of great feedback from the editors.

One of the best sites I've written for.

andrea peck · Jun 22, 2010

Oh great! I am starting to feel much safer about the whole thing - thanks for taking the time to respond!
andrea

triceretops · Jul 19, 2010

Yeah, I'm with them now too, waiting for my bio approval, because I keep sending bad/low res photos. It won't stop me from claiming projects, but frankly, their guidelines, format and styel scare the living crap out of me. It seems tougher than AP style. I don't want to get blown out of their doors with a bad first article. And yes, I'm reading everything they have for the newbie writer. After 100 pages, I'm even more terrified.

Tri

Tirjasdyn · Jul 19, 2010

I'm a DS writer. You won't get blown away. Write what you know or what you have time to do good research for. Get a copy of the AP style guide and read the general guidelines and the various guidelines for article types. There is a review process, you may have to make edits. You'll learn and get better if you work at it.

triceretops · Jul 19, 2010

Thanks for that. I do have pro experience with two non-fiction books to back it up, so I'm not totally lost. I guess I enter my subject experience (related term) into the search function, and they'll show articles dealing with that subject? That would be a nice way to narrow it down.

Tri

SomberBee · Jul 20, 2010

I'm so glad I checked out this thread--I also recently was approved by DS but was feeling intimidated by the breadth of info just to get up to speed enough to start taking assignments. Pardon the dumb question, but I haven't found the info on the Web site yet--where does it mention their payment scheme? Like I said, I'm just diving in, so... Thanks in advance!

triceretops · Jul 20, 2010

SomberBee said:
I'm so glad I checked out this thread--I also recently was approved by DS but was feeling intimidated by the breadth of info just to get up to speed enough to start taking assignments. Pardon the dumb question, but I haven't found the info on the Web site yet--where does it mention their payment scheme? Like I said, I'm just diving in, so... Thanks in advance!

When you actually start writing and click on that, there will be a bunch of article picks come up from which you choose. The prices are right there next to them. Lot's of 15 buck articles.

Tri

joyce · Jul 21, 2010

I've been writing for them for about two years now with no problems. It's nice to know you're getting a steady paycheck every Tuesday and Friday for the work that was approved. I believe as you write more articles that are approved, more article options open up to you. I'm not sure where I heard this but I believe 10 is the lucky number. The greatest thing about the place is you can write and earn as much money as you want or need each week. I write according to monetary requirements each week.

In the writer's resource area there are examples of the various article forms to get an idea of how they should be written. Best of luck and welcome to DS.

triceretops · Jul 22, 2010

I just sent off my first article, after some help from a very pro DS writer, who helped me remove tons of passive. I had a big problem with that. From fiction to AP style is quite a change--a whole different world. I have two more to do before I can get steam-rolling along. But I AM sweating out these first stages of approval and getting the style-voice-format right.

tri

Carole · Jul 30, 2010

Once you find your groove, you'll do fine. I've been writing for DS since May, and I love the freedom I have. I can pull an all-nighter if I feel like it and earn more. Or, like when I had encephalitis two weeks ago, I can lie in bed and feel miserable without worrying about losing my job.

The hardest thing for me to get used to was that no two CEs are alike. Cuz, like, they are people.

Just about the time I thought I had something figured out, I'd get a rewrite request for something another CE never blinked about. But I only get maybe 2 rewrites a month, and I have never had an article rejected.

It's also difficult sometimes to view an article after a CE has his or her way with it. That bothered the heck out of me at first. But now I just kick them out of the nest once I am done writing and move on to the next article. Good luck! It can be very rewarding.

triceretops · Jul 30, 2010

Well, I've knocked out 14 articles so far in 4-5 days, and it's been interesting as hell. I stick to list and how-to automotive stuff, and some it really throws me for a loop because they are questions none of the experts have answered. I've had more than half of my articles approved with no rewrite. And only one that was really messed up, but I managed to fix it and send it in.

Damn, I love this place. I had no idea it existed.

Tri

joyce · Jul 31, 2010

I turned on the passive word checker in Word so it tells me when I'm just too damn passive. I never considered myself such as passive person until Word confirmed I'm not as direct as I thought I was.

After using that to analyze my articles for over six months now, my grammar score rose......though I really try not to let those scores bother me. The place has kept me around for 1200 articles, so I figure I'm not doing that bad.

triceretops · Jul 31, 2010

Heck, I can't even use "is" or "are" in any articles 'cause the editors flag it. It takes some skill and thought to really, really write passive-free, lean, factbased info. I'm learning as I go along. Made a few big errors in mixing up my format and style from list to "how to"

Tri

AnnieSisk · Aug 7, 2010

I'm so glad you guys have had good experience with Demand Studios. I had to give up on it after the fourth straight week of mind-numbing examination of article titles that I couldn't decipher, or required automotive or engineering skills to write, or made no sense . . .

Amb the Creative · Aug 8, 2010

I'm really interested in freelancing and joining this site, but I want to ask those who were accepted.

Do you need previous experience? Do you need to be published beforehand?

joyce · Aug 8, 2010

Amb the Creative said:
I'm really interested in freewriting and joining this site, but I want to ask those who were accepted.

Do you need previous experience? Do you need to be published beforehand?

Do you have a blog or any articles you have ever written anywhere online such as eHow? I've been there almost 2 years and I'd only sold one article through Constant Content and wrote a few things at eHow and Triond when I applied. Now eHow has changed and you have to be accepted through DS to write there.

If you do not have any writing samples to show them..blog, etc. perhaps start a blog, write an article for someone like hubpages, triond, constant content or other places where you do not have to be approved to submit an article. Then you will have some writing samples so DS will see your style. Also, do you have a college degree in something you could use as a reference to show them? You don't need a degree to write there by the way.

I'm not sure how true this is, but I've heard you only have one chance to apply. I've never heard that from the DS staff, just hearsay through the forums and such. Just letting you know to make your resume professional and geared toward writing, in the event there is only one chance.

Hopefully, someone with more knowledge than me drops some hinters on what you can do. Best of luck.

Kyra Wright · Aug 8, 2010

joyce said:
I turned on the passive word checker in Word so it tells me when I'm just too damn passive. I never considered myself such as passive person until Word confirmed I'm not as direct as I thought I was.

After using that to analyze my articles for over six months now, my grammar score rose......though I really try not to let those scores bother me. The place has kept me around for 1200 articles, so I figure I'm not doing that bad.

I never knew there was such a thing. I use the passive voice too much, so this will definitely be helpful.

I want to apply to Demand Studios, but I've never had any articles published online. I do have a degree in History (and am currently working on a PhD), so I do have some writing samples from various essays I've completed, but they'd need to be re-worked quite a lot.

sosasoser · Aug 9, 2010

I was told on these forums about two weeks ago that you can only apply to Demand Studios once. The person who told me that backed it up with a quote from Demand's FAQ. Since I was questioning how long to wait to reapply, I was a bit disappointed. However, I noticed that there was nothing physically stopping me from reapplying. So I did. I didn't change any of the contact information on my application. (Well...I might have changed my email address. I have two main ones that I use and I often get confused which one I'm using. I deleted whatever email they sent me from the first application.) Anyway, I was accepted a couple of hours later.

My suggestion is don't send them a writing sample from a blog post. That's what I did the first time. That's not the type of writing you would be doing for them. If you really want to get in, write a simple "How To" article like you would find on eHow. That's what they are looking for. Don't use the passive voice or even any to be verbs. That is what I did the second time.

I have since passed Demand's short probationary period and have written several articles for them in the last few days.

Sam Grover · Aug 10, 2010

DS is one of those things that is great if you can make it work. If you're taking 2 hours to write an article, it's probably not worth your time. But if you can get into the factory mindset and just churn churn churn it can be a really good moneymaker.

Don't confuse it with actual freelance work though--DS is very internally consistent and demands (lol) a really boring style. It's a good way to pay the bills, but I have not yet managed to figure out a way to leverage it into something more awesome.

triceretops · Aug 18, 2010

I've written about 65 articles for them in two weeks and made a shite load...but yeah, it's a very boring format and I have to really churn out about three or four a day to make it work. Their webiste is slow loading EVERYTHING...so there's your time expense, at least half of it. I write automotive and go after generalized topics that I can back with my experience and my published repair manual. They've been good to me...but it's slave labor. I'm trying to assembly line and strealine the stuff so it comes out faster.

Fechin Examiner pays a buck per article. Just found that out. They won't be seeing me anymore.

Tri

joyce · Aug 19, 2010

Yes, you can feel like you're working on an assembly line. I try to pick articles I have knowledge about so it cuts down on all the research time. I have good weeks and bad weeks. Some weeks I'm good and line up all my resources and pictures on several articles before I sit down and write them. I'll even sit with pen and paper while I'm watching TV and write the articles....when I'm being good. Those weeks I can make some decent money.

Then I'll have weeks when my get up and go has got up and left. I have to force myself to get motivated. I always want to kick myself in the butt when payday comes though.

I was accepted to write for Bright Hub in the gardening section, but I've yet to take the time to sit down and figure out all their rules, like linking to other Bright Hub articles. It can't be that hard, but just scanning their writing rules makes me feel like I'm studying for a college exam. I didn't feel that way with DS.

triceretops · Aug 19, 2010

Yeah, I hear ya. Who else pays on par with DS? I don't mind the 15 per, but who else is out there that has similar wages. Anybody know?

tri

Demand studio website

andrea peck

Still Seaking

Doing what I was born to do.

andrea peck

AdamH

Pumped Up Kicks

andrea peck

triceretops

Tirjasdyn

Outline Maven

triceretops

SomberBee

Ummm, yeah...

triceretops

joyce

I'm really shy...

triceretops

Carole

How 'bout some ether?

triceretops

joyce

I'm really shy...

triceretops

AnnieSisk

Amb the Creative

joyce

I'm really shy...

Kyra Wright

Skulduggery and haberdashery

sosasoser

New kid, be gentle!

Sam Grover

triceretops

joyce

I'm really shy...

triceretops