I was greeted by a not so pleasant surprise when I opened my emails last night. I received a message from Demand Studios that all of my claimed assignments had expired. I didn't understand why it happened, the assignments were not due till next week. I logged on to my work desk on Demand Studios to find that I had been placed in the writer development program. In this program I can only claim three assignments at a time and those assignments will scrutinized by an in house copy-editor. If I pass their evaluation I will regain my regular writing privileges. This happened without warning, 67% of my articles have passed with no rewrite and mt scoreboard ranks me slightly above average. No explanation by Demand Studios of why I am in the writer development program only that it is where I am at. From scouring the Internet I realize that there are other Demand Studio writers who like myself were caught by surprise by the writer development program, additionally, it seems that the CEs were caught by surprise as well. This move by Demand Studios reminds me not to quit my day job yet.
May 31 Update
I finally got the axe, so I no longer write for Demand Studios. Been writing a little for Associated Content. The good part about Associated is that they are not as picky and you can residual income off your articles. If your articles are good enough you can recieve upfront payments as well. I am missing my extra income, but am enjoying my leisure time from writing.
5 comments:
I too, have been placed in Writer Development in DMS. I have 71% accepted articles, and I've actually had lower than that before but they hadn't put me in the Writer Development program. In fact, I had been able to increase my accepted articles, until recently when I fell back down again ... It actually scares me because unfortunately, I don't have a day job thanks to this economy.:( Do you have any advice or have you written any articles during this program yet? I have sent in one, and got it back as a rewrite. After editing that one, it got accepted. Just now I sent one in and it came back as yet another rewrite. I'm wondering if I make it to the third, if they'll accept it or if it becomes another rewrite, if I get "fired." :/ What's your experience with this Writer Development program and what else have you heard from other people about it? Thanks.
I have had two sent back as rewrites for things that normally get accepted. So I do not know what to think. Good luck, email me at pauldy43@gmail.com
I was actually fired today and its like a breath of fresh air. Granted, I am now jobless, I really can't say how happy I am. Demand Studios have SOOOOO many demands (no pun intended) and you can never get an article right. They have so many copy editors that all want different things. With the last three articles, only one of the senior copy editors gave me some great feedback and fully put, in immense detail, what was great about the article and what was lacking. The other two simply stated fix this, fix that. How was I really supposed to fix anything, if when I submit my article, they fix all of my mistakes.
In addition, they stated, in the dreaded e-mail, that your past work weighs heavily on their decision.
Its okay though
Best,
Justin
Ha! I just got the letter too. I have a high scorecard and have never had a rejected article. Although the letter said any draft would remain, my draft was gone.
The DS WDP is COMPLETELY BOGUS. I had very high scores. Hardly any rewrites or rejections. Then BLAMMO! They actually had the audacity to LIE to writers in the forums who were terrified of this program. One staffer said that there would be a "full portfolio review" with information on how to improve. WHAT A LOAD OF HORSESHIT. The bogus email I got said that the pending work WOULD NOT count toward the 3 article limit. LIES! ALL LIES!
A few reported making it through, but don't know how long that lasted, because they were also sent an email basically terrifying them some more with "we're WATCHING you." And I even had quite a few "excellent" ratings in the past month!
It is really a shame how DS treats writers. People who have slaved away for them for years just get dumped with no explanation whatsoever!
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