Demand Studios

[goalmouth]

Anyone work with this freelance outfit? Saw its ad on Romenesko, am wondering what the pay scale is.

 

[ThatGuy]

They suck...they will edit you to death then reject your submission, I quit them a long time ago...I do stuff for Examiner.com and pick up a little pocket change...good people there

 

[RickStain]

I have a friend who makes pretty good part-time money for them. She's in pretty tight with the owner and gets a lot of choice jobs.

 

[cyclingwriter]

The pay is depends on how you look at it. They pay $20 (tops) for a 400 word story. So that sucks. That being said a 400 story can be done in about 30 minutes without having to call anyone. So, if you work an hour on two stories, you get $40 bucks, which isn't that bad. I justify it that way. In no way do I think of these as clips. It's just straight cash. They turn around pay in about three days as well, so if me and Mrs. Writer plan a night on the town, I do about four or five on a Monday and have money to spend.

 

[golfnut8924]

I signed up with them long ago but wasn't too impressed so I ended up never doing anything for them.

Just yesterday I received an email from them saying they are now offering health benefits for their freelancers. I didn't read the whole thing so I'm sure there are plenty of stipulations but I was quite surprised to see that.

 

[golfnut8924]

The pay is depends on how you look at it. They pay $20 (tops) for a 400 word story. So that sucks. That being said a 400 story can be done in about 30 minutes without having to call anyone. So, if you work an hour on two stories, you get $40 bucks, which isn't that bad. I justify it that way. In no way do I think of these as clips. It's just straight cash. They turn around pay in about three days as well, so if me and Mrs. Writer plan a night on the town, I do about four or five on a Monday and have money to spend.

How much research is involved with doing a 400-word story for them?

 

[Moderator1]

I got "approved" to write but couldn't get anything to work when I went to register so I never went back and tried again.

 

[cyclingwriter]

The pay is depends on how you look at it. They pay $20 (tops) for a 400 word story. So that sucks. That being said a 400 story can be done in about 30 minutes without having to call anyone. So, if you work an hour on two stories, you get $40 bucks, which isn't that bad. I justify it that way. In no way do I think of these as clips. It's just straight cash. They turn around pay in about three days as well, so if me and Mrs. Writer plan a night on the town, I do about four or five on a Monday and have money to spend.

How much research is involved with doing a 400-word story for them?

That depends on the story. I do a lot of travel pieces for them..so I write about places that I travel to for my real job. I write what I know about the hotels, restaurants, nightlife etc. I then just fill in their filler stuff..addresses for hotels, web sites etc...so for me it takes less than 30 minutes. That being said there are a lot of "jobs" on there that take longer, and I simply avoid. I have no interest in learning how to build a hydrogen car or write it about fr $20.

 

[tapintoamerica]

It seems easy at first blush. Many of the assignments are "lists." But they're lists on things like, "Hotels Near the Paducah Airport." The list involves tracking down things like pet-friendly policies and proximity to golf courses and baggage-fee policies of the airlines that serve the city.
And don't get me started on the "How To" stories. I'm not exaggerating when I say a common example is "How To Fix the Radiator on a 1998 Chevy Suburban."

 

[goalmouth]

Thanks for the info.

 

[MileHigh]

I edit for them and have gotten lots of former Rocky people on board with them. From the editing standpoint, you work it as much as you want. The health benefits are based on how much you work in a given month.

 

[Roscablo]

I got accepted last week to write and was given editing tests to edit. I was excited about editing for them, but apparently didn't pass the test. I really don't know what they were looking for. I'm pretty sure I didn't mess up anything on the tests, which were your garden variety editing test, and have plenty of experience. But I've heard stories of people with even more experience not getting to take the test, so who knows what the want in an editor.

As for writing, if you can find stuff you don't have to waste a lot of time researching it can add up to some nice extra cash.

 

[playthrough]

That editing test is baffling. My wife didn't pass either, and she's the best editor I know.

 

[txsportsscribe]

what the heck, i just signed up after reading this thread. mostly out of curiosity.

 

[golfnut8924]

The pay rate seems pretty reasonable for the word count. But most of the articles they want require a decent amount of research, like how to fix a radiator on a 1998 Chevy Suburban as someone else mentioned. So banging out 400 words for 20 bucks seems like easy cash but how much do you have to surf the net to find your material for those 400 words and then work it into the style that they prefer?

 

[Roscablo]

That editing test is baffling. My wife didn't pass either, and she's the best editor I know.

My wife said they probably just put the applications on a board and someone throws darts at it to pick who makes the cut. I actually wondered if maybe I edited the test too aggressively. That's the only thing I can think of that I did wrong.

 

[Double J]

I'm not going to judge what some people will do or put up with to make money, but if I knew how to fix a rad in a Chevy Suburban, I'd get a job fixing rads in Chevy Suburbans and make a **** of a lot more than $20 with my knowledge.

 

[golfnut8924]

I'm not going to judge what some people will do or put up with to make money, but if I knew how to fix a rad in a Chevy Suburban, I'd get a job fixing rads in Chevy Suburbans and make a **** of a lot more than $20 with my knowledge.

haha seriously

 

[beanpole]

I was just laid off, so I signed up for an editing gig with these guys. They want me to edit at least 12 hours a week, and I figure I can clear at least $15 an hour. Decent spending money to supplement unemployment.

 

[Desk_dude]

In some states you can only make a certain amount if you're collecting unemployment.

Demand Studios will report your income on a 1099.