Studio Blog

Today post comes from Jennifer, one of our titling managers that heads up the titling team:

Ah yes, the awkwardness of awkward-sounding titles. We’ve all seen them, and we’re sure you’ve run across them. They beg the question, “So, where do these nonsensical titles come from?” Not to fret, there is a method behind our madness.

First things first: Some ridiculous-sounding titles do slip through the cracks and end up in the queue when they shouldn’t. It’s a natural human defect, and we apologize. So, if you run across any titles that sound out-of-whack, flag them by contacting the editorial team. We want our writers to think analytically enough to flag a title and say he/she can’t write something if it seems too far off-the-beaten path. And if it’s a mistake, we’ll gladly change it.

Now, onto the titles that may sound ludicrous but aren’t. To help, we’ve compiled a guide for how to approach these titles.

• What is the topic? Is it a niche-driven or expert-driven topic that only someone with experience in that field would know? Does the title contain jargon that doesn’t make sense to you but might to someone else? An example would be “How to Lieback in Crack Climbing.” While this may sound like perverted sexual innuendo, it’s actually a real technique in rock climbing.

• What is the format of the title? Does “How the Layout of a Tennis Court Is Important” sound funny to you? It should. It sounds funny to us, too. But instead of trying to answer the question—which will no doubt sound goofier than the title itself—try focusing on the format. This title falls under the “About” format, so obviously it’s not a “How to” or process-driven “How Does” article. The format steers the angle of the article, so the writer should essentially answer the question “About the Layout of a Tennis Court & Why It’s Important.”

• Is the title too simplified? Some titles may seem too basic for a 400-word article. An example is “What Is Inside a Football?” Your first response might be a bare, one-word answer like pigskin. However, this title lends itself to a broader approach, such as giving an overview of how footballs are manufactured and the different materials that are used. Make every word count as you answer the question posed by the title and the associated format.

Remember, as a general rule of thumb, titles are carefully constructed for maximum worth. No matter how absurd a title may seem, it should not be altered (except for spelling and punctuation). While it may sound impractical—either grammatically or because it just doesn’t seem plausible—there is a good reason. So, as John Hiatt would say, “have a little faith me,” or in this case, us.

-Jennifer

In my world and yours, today is just another manic Monday. Nevertheless, questions are brewing here at Demand Studios, so I thought I would take the opportunity to address some of them.

• I've been writing "About" and "How Does" articles, however, when I search for them on eHow, they don't show up. Where are they getting published?

Great question! The reason articles have not been showing up in searches is because they have not been published yet. Fear not, however: They have not disappeared. Articles under the new formats will debut on eHow this fall and changes are being made to the site to accommodate the additions of these articles.

• I have a title in my queue that doesn't seem possible to complete. What should I do?

As mentioned in a previous post, the best thing to do is contact us. From there we will determine the best course of action for your title. Sometimes, it might be necessary to change the title altogether and other times we may just ask you to address the title with a particular angle in mind. More insight into our title producing process in a future post.

• Help! I forgot to include an important piece of information, photo credit, resources in my article! Can you please fix it for me?

While we do have the ability to edit articles, please understand that with over 900 writers in our system, we cannot possibly accommodate special requests like this at all times. Please be sure to double and triple check your work before submitting it for review. While you're at it, save your work in a separate text document just in case.

• I have been approved as a writer, but can't seem to claim any assignments at all. What am I doing wrong!?

Please make sure that your bio is filled out as well as your tax information. You will not be able to claim assignment if you don't fill out this information first!

Are there any other specific questions you've been wondering about? Leave comments and we'll do our best to answer them.





-Liana

Photo by -bast-

We’ve cooked up a little something new here at Demand Studios that we hope will inspire our writers to think more creatively. We’ve changed our title-creation rules to allow a free-form approach to making titles, easing the limits established by titles with rigid prefixes like “How to,” “How Do/Does,” and “About.”

Authors can now take cues from the “About,” “How Does,” and “How to” format designations as helpful guides for the types of article that Demand Studios wants the article to reflect.

For example:

- “What Is Natural Philosophy?,” while smartly clothed in the guise of a question (the way most people will search for it), translates to a general knowledge article About natural philosophy.

- “How Are Crayons Made?” is a more succinct and natural way of phrasing the question, “How Does Crayon Manufacturing Work?”

- “Refinishing Antique Furniture” is a fresh spin on the shopworn “How to Refinish Antique Furniture.”

As we stretch this free-form concept a little further, authors may begin to see assignments such as:

- “Best Ways to Naturally Cure Acne,” which is nothing more than a How to article on eliminating pimples;

- “Why Do Stars Die Out?” and “Causes of Global Warming,” both How Do/Does titles

about nature and science, describing a process;

- “Definition of Limited Democracy,” an About title that explains the limits of democracy is; and

- “Does He Still Love Me?” is a search-focused title for an article that tells you How to know if the man in your life still loves you.

In the end, it will be the author’s responsibility to determine how the attached format applies to the title and to proceed accordingly. If the article lends itself to numerous angles, but the format indicates a specific approach to the assignment, focus on fleshing out the article from that approach.

We believe this development will produce more diverse content and titles (which aids our SEO efforts), while giving our writers—the driving force behind Demand Studios—greater power and responsibility.

For more information about free-form titles, please refer to our updated Demand Studios style guidelines. Please note, we have also updated our format guidelines as well, so feel free to look through each. If you have any questions, please contact the editorial team.

[caption id="attachment_191" align="alignright" width="229" caption=" "][/caption]

We recently discovered that some of our writers aren’t receiving email alerts from Demand Studios about article rewrites, title approvals, flagged articles and expiring assignments. The problem is with specific email providers that don’t allow “trigger emails” through to their users. If you are using Comcast, Verizon, SBCglobal, ATT, Bellsouth or Prodigy as your email provider, you likely aren’t receiving important information we send you. These are the providers we are aware of, but there very well could be more. We are working on a solution, but here is what you can do to stay on top of your article and title submissions:

• Visit www.demandstudios.com daily. The status of your articles and titles will always appear on the site.
• Verify that your email account settings allow emails from no-reply@demandstudios.com. You can do this by adding the email address to your “safe sender” list.

It may be necessary to contact your provider if this step doesn’t alleviate the problem.

This cartoon is by Dave Walker

Hello hard working writers of Demand Studios! I wanted to take a moment out inform you about changes that have taken place in regards to the "About" format we currently have. The format guidelines and template have been updated to now include 18 subheads including the following:

• History
• Significance
• Function
• Types
• Time Frame
• Geography
• Features
• Identification
• Size
• Effects
• Considerations
• Misconceptions
• Benefits
• Prevention/Solution
• Warning
• Theories/Speculation
• Potential
• Expert Insight

These new subheads are meant to be more broad, and should allow you more wiggle room to write a well-rounded article. As you know, when writing the "About" format, you must use at least five of the above suggested subheads, with the ideal word count being 75 words for each section.

We believe these new subheads will definitely give writers a wider range of material to work with and in turn contribute to the quality of their work. If you currently have an About article in draft mode, and you've selected a subhead that is not included in the new list, that subhead will still be available unless you change it. Click here to read about the new format guidelines.

Comments or Questions? Please leave us a little note on this post.

-Liana

It’s recently been brought to our attention that there is a Yahoo group for Demand Studios writers. We think it’s great that writers are talking to and helping each other, but must note that Demand Studios staff did not create and does not moderate this group. Any answers you find there are from other writers and not from Demand Studios.

Creating a community of writers and content creators is very important to us. We have this blog to communicate with you more frequently and very soon we will introduce the Demand Studios Forums! We are excited about being able to provide a place for our writers to get to know each other and form a community within Demand Studios. Keep an eye out for the Forums announcement!

I hope you are all just as excited about this as we are!

photo by Dano

Given the success of and the appreciation demonstrated by writers for the “About ___” and “How Does ___” formats, we are pleased to announce that Demand Studios is introducing yet another new article type this week. The new titles will be available to our best writers. This article type will present educational facts in a short, digestible format of 150-200 words. Specificity is the highest priority; we are looking for dates, names, and other interesting morsels of information about the given topic. Because “Fact Sheet” articles will be significantly easier to produce, the compensation has been set at $5 per publication. Titles will be available soon so keep an eye out for them. Fact Sheet Guide Lines

Attention Golfers and Golf enthusiasts. We are looking for a few more writers for: Golflink. Previous experience writing about golf is necessary. If interested, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the site and please send us an email: editorialteam@demandstudios.com

The Demand Studios Team works hard at creating and reviewing titles before they are approved and released to writers. Sometimes, however, questionable titles may slip through the cracks of our system and make their way into our queue of new and unclaimed assignments. If you ever run across a title or subject matter that you know or think is illegal, dangerous and/or impossible to write about, please report it to the editorial team. Do not attempt to write the article. We will investigate to determine the title's merit and carry out the appropriate action.

Demand Studios is currently only open to people who live in the United States and U.S. citizens living abroad. We still receive a lot of applications from international writers who wish to write for us, but at the moment we cannot accept them into our system. This is because in order to write for us you need to submit a W9 tax form, which is only used for U.S. citizens or U.S. resident aliens.

Foreigners need to submit a W8 form, which we have yet to add to the Studio. However, we are working on incorporating this form to our site in the near future and when that happens we will be able to accept your applications.

Thank you for your patience and continued interest in becoming part of Demand Studios.