Suite101.com....any experiences?

It looks like a lot of headache for little money. They say they don't like opinion columns but they allow movie reviews. Like, huh? And photos for every story? Yet there's "research stories" with footnotes rather than reporting on actual events.

If anyone has had success here I'd like to know how you did.

 

I very cautiously suggest that if I was going to freelance write on a regular basis, I'd start with Demand Studios.

Disclaimer: I do quite a bit of freelance work for Demand myself, both writing and editing. And I'm aware of all the arguments against them. All I know is I do work, I get paid, like clockwork, twice a week.

 

Agree with SF. Never had a problem with Demand.

 

Don't do it. My experience is filled with angry, impatient editors who lack basic communication skills.

 

Yep, there are definitely a few of those. I've been pretty horrified by some of the comments I've seen by fellow editors.

I think it's a combination of A) some editors aren't very good and/or hardasses; B) everybody wants to go fast to make money; C) a kind of built-in class warfare between some writers and some editors at DS.

But TIA, as I said: They've never failed to pay me every dime they owe me, and now twice a week. And if I'm a writer, I can put up with a little attitude to make money.

My advice to everyone I know who tries DS is this: Try go get past the tone of the message, which sometimes sucks, and simply see if what they're saying is right. Will save you a lot of angst.

Having written all of that, it occurs to me TIA might have meant Suite101, and then I have no idea.

 

I echo what the other folks have said. Demand Studios is a remarkable deal. You can work from anywhere on a flexible schedule. But you have to understand that it's a unique world. There are some little tricks that you learn over time. For example, cool your jets before you tear into an editor, who can make your life hell by targeting your stuff and sharing your name with other editors.

I don't know how long it will remain a lucrative option for writers, but I've been working for Demand Studios for more than a year. It's not as personally fulfilling as writing a front-page story, but there is an opportunity to make what a lot of newspaper people would consider a fair amount of cash. If you put in enough time there, you can make up to about $50,000 a year before taxes. Essentially, you can make $20-$25 an hour on the high end to $10 to $15 an hour on the low end. At the high side, it's a full-time job. On the low side, it's a nice source of emergency money.

 

Fortunately, I haven't seen any of that in the writer forums or group. It probably happens, though.

Oddly, the more you work there as an editor, the more you get some things that are actually harder, and slower, to deal with. So it can be less money.

I wrote six things to find out what it was like from the writing side. While I have no doubt you can make considerable money once you learn how to do it and get up to speed, I found myself spending at least an hour on each one, and that rate isn't so hot. So for now, I'm sticking with editing.

 

Once you learn which stories you can do quickly, you can cut down that time. Some formats take less time than others. Also, the time that it takes to find the web sources is the biggest issue.

I write most stories in about 40 minutes at this point. Of course, I've always been a quick writer. If I pick the wrong title, though, it can be 60-80 minutes. I am part of a special assignment group, too. They pay $20 per story, and the stories take about the same amount of time.

It's a nice supplemental income for me. I can plug in my headphones and rock out to some good music for a few hours and come out of it with $30-$50 I can use to take the family out one night.