Demand Studios

I had a friend who didn't submit a resume on the first go-round ... and because of that, that was all she wrote. Maybe give it a little time and try again using a different e-mail address.

To anybody thinking of doing this, a word of advice: Follow their instructions to the letter. Doing something like the no-resume person did will get you knocked out in a hurry.

On a side note:

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=173972

They're right -- it's NOT real journalism. But the money still spends.

 

No idea what the criteria are. It's not as though I consider myself the best editor in the world, but I am pretty good, and I've done it professionally for quite a few years. And I didn't make the cut, apparently.

I have written a couple things for them; they do pay promptly, or at least they did. But yeah, a lot of the 'How To' ones are ridiculous. They look like someone just picked out 100 random Google searches and turned them into story ideas.

 

just got my reply, two actually - one welcoming me as a writer and the other asking me to take the editing test. is this the norm and do any of you do both for them?

 

That's exactly how it works, although quite a bit more sophisticated. They watch what people search for (I don't know what mechanism they have for that), and then they turn those search phrases into the titles of articles. They put those titles in a queue, and then the writers go through queues and pick which titles they'd like to write for.

They rarely -- perhaps ever now -- take stories where the writer simply suggested a story and then executed it. Not how they work.

txsportsscribe, I came in strictly from the editing side; I don't know if they want you to take that test so you can edit, too, or if it's part of the writer job.

 

I also got both responses -- accepted as a writer, and the tests for the editor. I would have done both had I passed the editing test round, with a focus on the editing. Now I'll just write some when I find articles I can crank out quickly.

I applied for both. I don't think writers need to worry about the editing test.

 

I did tons of that. Even suggested some sources that I found. I didn't do any rewriting, which they asked you not to, but made suggestions on some structure. Did delete some repetitive sentences. Again, maybe I was too aggressive. Who knows.

 

i just finished the editing part 1 test and stuck strictly with spelling, style, etc. errors, of which there were plenty.

 

I was pretty aggressive and did OK...editing with track changes was weird for me. I didn't even like editing in notes mode when I was in print....but if you toggle back to the original view, you can get it straightened out.

 

It's not journalism, although DS pays for some people to belong to Society of Professional Journalists.

But it is information and sure beats digging ditches, as they say.

You can edit or write whenever you feel like it as often as you want. You don't need to pay for commuting or nice clothes or meals out. You can work while the TV or radio is on. And you learn stuff about a variety of things.

The articles rarely have original reporting. Information from the Internet or your own knowledge.