In my last post, I wrote about a writer who toils for a content mill called Demand Studios. She called it “like working at McDonald’s, but for writers.” Yet she defended the practice.
A friend of mine whom I respect, a veteran editor/writer, also writes for Demand. She confirms that it’s burger-flippingesque, and swoops in with some strong opinions, though she prefers not to be quoted by name. Doesn’t want to risk her shaky relationship with Demand. I feel for her. A lot of writers feel stuck. They go for what seems like easy dough. They find it’s not easy at all, but feel uneasy about letting go.
“Demand Studios is a sweatshop for writers, no question about it,” my friend says. “Demand demands a LOT, while giving very little to the people that are making them money. Some of its boosters claim they can make $30/hour writing articles. I have no idea how that’s possible. I may not be the fastest writer on Earth, but jumping through all their editorial hoops generally takes me a minimum of two hours, for a whopping 15 bucks. I believe that’s less than the current minimum wage. And the clips are extremely lame, as they ask you to write in these formats that sometimes bear no relationship to the topic at hand.”
That last point is a zinger. A lot of writers who sign up with content mills figure they’ll at least score some solid clips they can show to real pubs that actually pay money. But if you’re shoehorned into some goofy format, what kind of showpiece is that?
Real money-paying editors take clips from sites like Demand with a grain of salt. For one thing, what kind of credibility do content mills have as sources of information? When was the last time you went to a Demand-fed site for solid background info, or for any sort of reliable information?
Also, real editors like to know that you’ve pleased other real editors with quality writing and research.
I’ve said before, the quality of the content-mill editing generally sucks. Remember this post about the laughable editing of a couple of articles on eHow? Ironically, these were articles about writing. Bad editing hurts a good writer like my friend because she might get edited by someone with far less talent than she has. It hurts an average writer because he or she won’t get the kind of feedback from a good editor that could make a story better. Believe me, that’s a huge advantage of aiming high, of getting your foot in the door at a real publication. I learn something from my editors every time I write a story. I always get a little “try this” or “maybe you should add some info about that,” and my article always gets better.
I also hope you’ve looked at the comment my friend Carol Tice posted. Carol pointed out that Demand Studios had to release a bunch of information about their business in advance of an initial public offering they plan to file. What a world. Demand freely admits that it’s losing money—even though they pay you peanuts. Yet if their IPO succeeds, they’ll walk away with $125 million.
I don’t want to come across as a complete snob here. As I said in my last post, content mills can work for some writers, particularly those who don’t need to earn money. But as my friend who’s currently in a love-hate relationship with Demand says, “I despise companies that make money off of writers’ low self-esteem and seeming inability to demand what they’re really worth. If we all refused to work for them, they would be forced to pay a decent wage for our work.”
Amen.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Hey Rob.
As a (copy)writer myself, I’m not a fan of Demand either, but at the same time I can’t call it a “sweatshop.” I hear that term alot, and, sorry, but it bugs the shit out of me. It’s not even close to being one.
In most cases, it takes about an hour to write out an article. Hell, sometimes not even that long. They are just crap, words thrown together to resemble an article.
Take out a few dollars for taxes, and we are talking around $12 an hour.
There are not that many jobs out there that pays $15 an hour.
Yes, the articles are empty. … Yes, the “writers” can make more….
And, yes, Demand can very well make a lot, and I mean A lot OF MONEY (nobody knows for sure how much), but so what? They are a business. Making money is their purpose.
Another thing that so many needs to keep in mind is that while they pay out $15 an article, how much are they getting when they turn around to sell it? $20? $25?….
They don’t have that right to make profit from each article sold?
And if you add it all up over time, and, well, it adds up.
Like I said, I don’t care too much for Demand either, Rob, but I do wish my fellow writers would tell the whole story.
Unless, I am missing something here???
Whats is really screwed up, Rob, is that so many media outlets, like, say, USA Today are looking to save more money, so they hire out such cheap mills, like, well, Demand.
Look at USA’s travel tips section in their site.
The thing is, they are STILL losing money, because so many readers do not like those empty, short, “no shit, really?” articles, so they do not come back again.
Websites, magazines and newspapers have lousy, boring articles.
So, what do they have to do again? Yup, advertise even more, losing even more money.
THAT’S the main reason why they are losing money. The recession just started it.
And Demand is just making matters even worse for them.
Okay, I’m done now, Rob. heh heh.
I ordered your free report. I’ll be reading it tonight.
Thanks. :-)