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Hello everyone,
If you come across a travel-related Fact Sheet, chances are it’s for a new site we’re adding assignments to on Demand Studios: Travels.com. If you grab one of these titles, please make sure your facts relate to travel, not history or encyclopedic knowledge. Think about what information you’d want to know if you were traveling to an area.
For instance, “Facts about Las Vegas” could include information about the average price of a hotel room, the most popular casinos on the Strip, the best season to travel to Vegas, tips on how to score free drinks or cheap food, or activities for families with kids.
Use fun facts and other trivia sparingly. They can add color and relevancy to an article, but exercise your best judgment about their relevancy.
Thanks
Due to popular request, here is an example of a Fact Sheet article to reference. - Liana
The Cost of Having a Baby
It is a fact of life that babies are expensive. Some studies suggest that the average cost of raising a baby through his first year of life is $10,000. It's far more if you include the cost of the delivery. The following is a breakdown of these expenses. Keep in mind, though, that there are many variables that could raise or lower these estimates.
Delivery
An uninsured mother can expect to pay, on average, about $15,000 for her baby’s birth. Insured mothers pay about $1,500 on average. Child Care
Aside from the baby’s delivery, child care is the biggest single expense. In the first year, you could spend as much as $6,000 in day care tuition.
Feeding
Between formula, bottles and baby food, it will cost about $2,300 to feed your baby in the first 12 months. If you exclusively breastfeed, though, you eliminate most of this expense. Diapers
If you use disposable diapers and wipes, expect to spend at least $600 in the first year.
Baby Gear
It is amazing how much stuff babies need. From car seats to cribs, you could easily spend $1,500. Medical
Babies have several checkups in their first year of life. Depending upon how much health insurance you carry, these checkups could total anywhere from $100 to $1,000. If your baby gets sick or has special medical conditions, the costs will grow. Clothing Baby clothes may be small but they’ll still cost you. How much? About $600 in the first year.
The Cost of Having a Baby
It is a fact of life that babies are expensive. Some studies suggest that the average cost of raising a baby through his first year of life is $10,000. It's far more if you include the cost of the delivery. The following is a breakdown of these expenses. Keep in mind, though, that there are many variables that could raise or lower these estimates.
Delivery
An uninsured mother can expect to pay, on average, about $15,000 for her baby’s birth. Insured mothers pay about $1,500 on average. Child Care
Aside from the baby’s delivery, child care is the biggest single expense. In the first year, you could spend as much as $6,000 in day care tuition.
Feeding
Between formula, bottles and baby food, it will cost about $2,300 to feed your baby in the first 12 months. If you exclusively breastfeed, though, you eliminate most of this expense. Diapers
If you use disposable diapers and wipes, expect to spend at least $600 in the first year.
Baby Gear
It is amazing how much stuff babies need. From car seats to cribs, you could easily spend $1,500. Medical
Babies have several checkups in their first year of life. Depending upon how much health insurance you carry, these checkups could total anywhere from $100 to $1,000. If your baby gets sick or has special medical conditions, the costs will grow. Clothing Baby clothes may be small but they’ll still cost you. How much? About $600 in the first year.
Hello All,
As the Demand Studios copy editors have caught up with the editing of your articles, we wanted to take a moment to remind you of the benefits of writing our Fact Sheet titles. This is a format that was created to offer you a shorter article option with a quick turn-around. Each fact should only be one or two sentences long and the total article length should only be about 150 to 200 words. We know many of you stayed away from Fact Sheet titles in the past because of slow review times, but now that we have added more editors and sped up the review times we wanted to get this article format back on your radar. They are quick to write and quick to edit, which could result in quick cash for you.
Editorial Team
As the Demand Studios copy editors have caught up with the editing of your articles, we wanted to take a moment to remind you of the benefits of writing our Fact Sheet titles. This is a format that was created to offer you a shorter article option with a quick turn-around. Each fact should only be one or two sentences long and the total article length should only be about 150 to 200 words. We know many of you stayed away from Fact Sheet titles in the past because of slow review times, but now that we have added more editors and sped up the review times we wanted to get this article format back on your radar. They are quick to write and quick to edit, which could result in quick cash for you.
Editorial Team
Always wanted to be a travel writer? Here’s your chance: We’re looking for writers for Travels.com, our new site dedicated to all things travel. Previous travel experience is necessary, either national or international, and previous travel-writing experience is preferred. If interested, please send a quick summary of the places you’ve visited and a writing sample to anna.roth@demandmedia.com. All writers for Travels.com will still write directly through the Demand Studios publishing tools at $5 to $15 per article on titles of our choosing. All articles will have bylines.
Are you an outdoor enthusiast? Do you spend your weekends climbing, hiking or mountain biking?Demand Media's premier outdoor adventure site, www.trails.com, is looking for writers with extensive backgrounds in hiking, biking, camping, skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, rafting, canoeing, mountaineering, trail running, bird watching and even fishing.
If your love of the outdoors is equaled only by your love of writing, send a summary of your outdoor experience and a relevant writing sample to soren.bowie@demandmedia.com.
All writers for Trails.com will still write directly through the studio at $15 per article on titles of our choosing. Author's bios will be included on all published articles.
As you may have noticed, a bio is required of all writers who have been accepted into Demand Studios. Because these bios have a possibility of being attached to the articles you are writing, it is to your benefit to keep them as professional as possible. Below are some guidelines you should follow while filling in your bio as well as examples on what you should and should not include.
A bio should include your name and be a short reference to your experience in as a writer. If your writing experience is limited, you may include areas of expertise, work experience, educational degrees or side interests. Keep it conversational but concise and follow all AP Style rules. Also, make sure it is a maximum of 50 words.
Good examples: Mary S. Yamin-Garone has been a writer for 30 years. She has served as a newspaper reporter, feature and freelance writer and an editor for government, business and fitness. Mary holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and journalism from the State University of New York at Albany. She is a third-degree black belt in Karate.
Rachel Stepanovich loves fitness and shares what she learns from her daily adventures in her writing. In addition to writing for Demand Studios, she writes for several online sites including Associated Content and Helium. She also runs her own blog (http://getfit.blogspot.com) and is a mother of three.
Bad examples:
I live with the love of my life (my husband!) and three cats. I love knitting, traveling and taking care of my grandkids.
I am a stay-at-home mom who adores her two children and writes on the side to earn extra income. I was born and raised in Texas until I moved to Florida after getting married. I love to write!
-Liana
Good examples: Mary S. Yamin-Garone has been a writer for 30 years. She has served as a newspaper reporter, feature and freelance writer and an editor for government, business and fitness. Mary holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and journalism from the State University of New York at Albany. She is a third-degree black belt in Karate.
Rachel Stepanovich loves fitness and shares what she learns from her daily adventures in her writing. In addition to writing for Demand Studios, she writes for several online sites including Associated Content and Helium. She also runs her own blog (http://getfit.blogspot.com) and is a mother of three.
Bad examples:
I live with the love of my life (my husband!) and three cats. I love knitting, traveling and taking care of my grandkids.
I am a stay-at-home mom who adores her two children and writes on the side to earn extra income. I was born and raised in Texas until I moved to Florida after getting married. I love to write!
-Liana
To Source or Not to Source: Tips for Better Writing
Posted by Admin | February 12, 2009 | Leave a comment
Many of you have asked about sources. What is our policy? What kinds of sources are acceptable? Here’s the lowdown, plain and simple:
Print, broadcast and online news media all include sources in their stories. It’s a journalistic standard, and Demand Studios is no different. No, we’re not talking about our Resources field, which is used to suggest further reading or link to a reference. We’re talking about including sources within your article.
Incorporating sources and citations within your articles not only lends a tremendous amount of credibility to your work, but it can increase your article limit as well. Citations are like music to our copy editors’ ears, and they are less likely to send an article back if you include them within your text. The quality of your work will be higher, and therefore, the perception of you as a professional writer will be better as well. In short, it does nothing but benefit you as a writer—inside and outside of Demand Studios—to include sources within your articles.
When incorporating sources within your article, be sure to cite them. If you pull information from a source, such as a stat, attribute it (ie: According to BLANK). If you quote an exact phrase, put it in quotation marks and attribute it. If you summarize a study, credit it.
Some credible sources we look for are scholarly books and journals, studies, organizations (such as the American Cancer Society) and professionals (for example, if you’re writing an article on how to cope with divorce, quoting a marital psychologist is great). If you’re relying on the Web for your article, search with caution. We’ve said this before, and we’ll say it again: Don’t use Wikipedia. Likewise, don’t use any general informational sites such as: About.com, wikiHow.com, Ask.com, HowStuffWorks.com, AssociatedContent.com, HowToDoThings.com, Helium.com, Suite101.com, etc. Any sites that end in .gov, .edu and .org are—for the most part—reliable resources.
- Jennifer
Print, broadcast and online news media all include sources in their stories. It’s a journalistic standard, and Demand Studios is no different. No, we’re not talking about our Resources field, which is used to suggest further reading or link to a reference. We’re talking about including sources within your article.
Incorporating sources and citations within your articles not only lends a tremendous amount of credibility to your work, but it can increase your article limit as well. Citations are like music to our copy editors’ ears, and they are less likely to send an article back if you include them within your text. The quality of your work will be higher, and therefore, the perception of you as a professional writer will be better as well. In short, it does nothing but benefit you as a writer—inside and outside of Demand Studios—to include sources within your articles.
When incorporating sources within your article, be sure to cite them. If you pull information from a source, such as a stat, attribute it (ie: According to BLANK). If you quote an exact phrase, put it in quotation marks and attribute it. If you summarize a study, credit it.
Some credible sources we look for are scholarly books and journals, studies, organizations (such as the American Cancer Society) and professionals (for example, if you’re writing an article on how to cope with divorce, quoting a marital psychologist is great). If you’re relying on the Web for your article, search with caution. We’ve said this before, and we’ll say it again: Don’t use Wikipedia. Likewise, don’t use any general informational sites such as: About.com, wikiHow.com, Ask.com, HowStuffWorks.com, AssociatedContent.com, HowToDoThings.com, Helium.com, Suite101.com, etc. Any sites that end in .gov, .edu and .org are—for the most part—reliable resources.
- Jennifer
Why are Some Words, or Part of Words highlighted in Red?
Posted by Admin | February 11, 2009 | Leave a comment
Hello All,
Some of you have probably seen some words, or part of words, highlighted in red when you preview your articles. This is a filter that highlights inappropriate language so an editor can easily spot it and remove the word/s that don't belong in the article. However this filter is even highlighting letters next to each other within a longer word if they form an inappropriate word, which is something you can ignore. For example, if you're writing about scrapbooking, letters two through five will be highlighted every time you write scrapbook.
Don't worry too much about this because it will not be highlighted when it's published on the designated site.
Johan
Some of you have probably seen some words, or part of words, highlighted in red when you preview your articles. This is a filter that highlights inappropriate language so an editor can easily spot it and remove the word/s that don't belong in the article. However this filter is even highlighting letters next to each other within a longer word if they form an inappropriate word, which is something you can ignore. For example, if you're writing about scrapbooking, letters two through five will be highlighted every time you write scrapbook.
Don't worry too much about this because it will not be highlighted when it's published on the designated site.
Johan
Hello DS Writer Community,
Many of you have noticed that there are new categories when you go to find assignments. The new category system was meant to make searching for titles easier, though we know there have been some recent bugs causing mis-categorized titles. We’re working on fixing this.
Here is some background on how the categories work behind the scenes of Demand Studios:
Demand Studios has a categorization system (taxonomy) that titles are fed into. The categories that you see when you browse articles are only meant to help you find the topics you’re interested in. This is not the category that will be carried with the article to the destination site.
Because Demand Studios sends its published articles to multiple sites (eHow, Livestrong and others) and those sites have their own categorization system, we ask the writers to choose the categories when they grab an assignment. That is why you are being asked to add the main level category, sub category, sub-sub category for each article
-Demand Studios Editorial Team
Many of you have noticed that there are new categories when you go to find assignments. The new category system was meant to make searching for titles easier, though we know there have been some recent bugs causing mis-categorized titles. We’re working on fixing this.
Here is some background on how the categories work behind the scenes of Demand Studios:
Demand Studios has a categorization system (taxonomy) that titles are fed into. The categories that you see when you browse articles are only meant to help you find the topics you’re interested in. This is not the category that will be carried with the article to the destination site.
Because Demand Studios sends its published articles to multiple sites (eHow, Livestrong and others) and those sites have their own categorization system, we ask the writers to choose the categories when they grab an assignment. That is why you are being asked to add the main level category, sub category, sub-sub category for each article
-Demand Studios Editorial Team
Demand Studios is introducing revenue share!
We've been listening to your feedback and many of you have expressed interest in this type of program as a way to earn more money in the long term. We are excited to roll this program out and anticipate that revenue share will be a way for our writers to earn more over time!
Starting today you will see titles in the list of available assignments that will be paid on a revenue share basis. These titles have been chosen for the program because we expect them to perform well and hope to ensure that they become profitable for their writers.
Soon you will be able to see your earnings for each revenue share article you write in your Payment History section. Payment for the revenue share program, based on the combined earnings of revenue share articles, will be made monthly. Payment schedules for flat fee articles will continue to be weekly.
Revenue share articles should be written to the same high quality standard as all Demand Studios articles. This will help the performance of the article and could increase your earnings.
If you have questions head to our FAQ or ask them in our dedicated Forum thread. Stay on the lookout for titles available for revenue share - the program is open to all of our writers!
Revenue share is still in its early beta phase and we welcome your comments and feedback. We want to do all we can to ensure the success of revenue share at Demand Studios so that we can provide our writers with more potential to earn.
We look forward to seeing your earnings increase!
-The Demand Studios Team
We've been listening to your feedback and many of you have expressed interest in this type of program as a way to earn more money in the long term. We are excited to roll this program out and anticipate that revenue share will be a way for our writers to earn more over time!
Starting today you will see titles in the list of available assignments that will be paid on a revenue share basis. These titles have been chosen for the program because we expect them to perform well and hope to ensure that they become profitable for their writers.
Soon you will be able to see your earnings for each revenue share article you write in your Payment History section. Payment for the revenue share program, based on the combined earnings of revenue share articles, will be made monthly. Payment schedules for flat fee articles will continue to be weekly.
Revenue share articles should be written to the same high quality standard as all Demand Studios articles. This will help the performance of the article and could increase your earnings.
If you have questions head to our FAQ or ask them in our dedicated Forum thread. Stay on the lookout for titles available for revenue share - the program is open to all of our writers!
Revenue share is still in its early beta phase and we welcome your comments and feedback. We want to do all we can to ensure the success of revenue share at Demand Studios so that we can provide our writers with more potential to earn.
We look forward to seeing your earnings increase!
-The Demand Studios Team
