Studio Blog
Welcome to the Demand Studios Blog – a resource for writers, contributors and freelancers alike! Come here for answers to your questions, Studio news, writing tips and more.
Posts from March
Ever wonder what it's like to work for Demand Studios? We checked in with our community of freelance creators—writers, copy editors, filmmakers and titlers—and asked them to share their experiences. Hundreds of people chimed in about why Demand Media works for them. Tune in daily to read their firsthand accounts.
My name is Allen Cone. Simply put, copyediting for Demand Studios is a lifesaver. When I was laid off from my job as a newspaper copy editor in May, I didn't know how I'd be able to pay the bills when my six weeks of severance and unpaid vacation time ran out. The national employment was dire, especially for media jobs. But just a few weeks after losing my job, I stumbled onto an ad for freelance copy editing. Little did I know that I could support myself and my family on being paid $3.50 per article. It adds up to impressive money while working at home whenever I feel like it. No long and expensive commuting costs. No need to buy better clothes. No buying junk food. While editing thousands of articles, I've improved my editing skills. As a news junkie who spent his whole working life in a newsroom, there is life after newspapers.
My name is Allen Cone. Simply put, copyediting for Demand Studios is a lifesaver. When I was laid off from my job as a newspaper copy editor in May, I didn't know how I'd be able to pay the bills when my six weeks of severance and unpaid vacation time ran out. The national employment was dire, especially for media jobs. But just a few weeks after losing my job, I stumbled onto an ad for freelance copy editing. Little did I know that I could support myself and my family on being paid $3.50 per article. It adds up to impressive money while working at home whenever I feel like it. No long and expensive commuting costs. No need to buy better clothes. No buying junk food. While editing thousands of articles, I've improved my editing skills. As a news junkie who spent his whole working life in a newsroom, there is life after newspapers.
“Writing is something that you can never do as well as it can be done. It is a perpetual challenge and it is more difficult than anything else that I have ever done.”—Ernest Hemingway
Most talented writers will tell you they’re never quite satisfied with their first drafts. As I type this, I do so knowing full well that even after I’ve written the last sentence, it’s not over. I’ll begin to hone and painstakingly revise this blog post. Then, I’ll ask Jennifer, my fellow Studio editor, to copyedit it for me. Still, at some point, I’ll just have to take a deep breath and click “publish.”
There is no surefire mathematical equation or formula that makes for glorious writing. Sure, we have grammatical rules and style preferences, but following these rules and preferences won't necessarily win you an award.
When we set out to clarify our current ratings system, we struggled to define each number on the scale in a way that is objective and finite. Because of its artistic nature, great writing is hard to define. In an effort to provide an accurate ratings at scale, we’ve tried to define it anyway.
And so, after much deliberation and research, we’ve developed the ratings checklist you see below. The goal is to ensure accuracy and objectivity across the board in that writers know exactly what comprises each rating, and multiple copy editors reading the same article will assign the same score.
Please take a moment to carefully review the checklist below. We suggest printing it out and using it as a reference to weigh the quality of your articles before you submit them. The higher your average scores, the more opportunities you will have within the Studio. We want you to succeed within our community, and we hope you’ll use this as a tool in your success.
Structure Rating Checklist
Content Rating Checklist
Most talented writers will tell you they’re never quite satisfied with their first drafts. As I type this, I do so knowing full well that even after I’ve written the last sentence, it’s not over. I’ll begin to hone and painstakingly revise this blog post. Then, I’ll ask Jennifer, my fellow Studio editor, to copyedit it for me. Still, at some point, I’ll just have to take a deep breath and click “publish.”
There is no surefire mathematical equation or formula that makes for glorious writing. Sure, we have grammatical rules and style preferences, but following these rules and preferences won't necessarily win you an award.
When we set out to clarify our current ratings system, we struggled to define each number on the scale in a way that is objective and finite. Because of its artistic nature, great writing is hard to define. In an effort to provide an accurate ratings at scale, we’ve tried to define it anyway.
And so, after much deliberation and research, we’ve developed the ratings checklist you see below. The goal is to ensure accuracy and objectivity across the board in that writers know exactly what comprises each rating, and multiple copy editors reading the same article will assign the same score.
Please take a moment to carefully review the checklist below. We suggest printing it out and using it as a reference to weigh the quality of your articles before you submit them. The higher your average scores, the more opportunities you will have within the Studio. We want you to succeed within our community, and we hope you’ll use this as a tool in your success.
Structure Rating Checklist
Content Rating Checklist
Ever wonder what it's like to work for Demand Studios? We checked in with our community of freelance creators—writers, copy editors, filmmakers and titlers—and asked them to share their experiences. Hundreds of people chimed in about why Demand Media works for them. Tune in daily to read their firsthand accounts.
I'm Cheryl Jones. I have a journalism degree and spent my career as a medical writer. I began 25 years ago at a medical publisher before moving into the pharmaceutical industry. I work for pharmaceutical companies writing sales training and physician education materials. I also work with researchers writing clinical manuscripts for medical journals and preparing presentations for medical conferences. Because of recent pharmaceutical mergers, my job is very uncertain, and I'm laying the groundwork in case my position disappears. Demand Studios gives me the opportunity to continue writing about health and medicine while learning a style new to me: Web content writing. Plus it gives me a chance to break away from clinical writing and write in a more conversational, friendly tone.
I'm Cheryl Jones. I have a journalism degree and spent my career as a medical writer. I began 25 years ago at a medical publisher before moving into the pharmaceutical industry. I work for pharmaceutical companies writing sales training and physician education materials. I also work with researchers writing clinical manuscripts for medical journals and preparing presentations for medical conferences. Because of recent pharmaceutical mergers, my job is very uncertain, and I'm laying the groundwork in case my position disappears. Demand Studios gives me the opportunity to continue writing about health and medicine while learning a style new to me: Web content writing. Plus it gives me a chance to break away from clinical writing and write in a more conversational, friendly tone.
Ever wonder what it's like to work for Demand Studios? We checked in with our community of freelance creators—writers, copy editors, filmmakers and titlers—and asked them to share their experiences. Hundreds of people chimed in about why Demand Media works for them. Tune in daily to read their firsthand accounts.
I'm Barbara Bryant, and I've been writing professionally for 25 years. The flexibility to write as many or as few articles as I like, on a broad range of topics, is very appealing. I appreciate the guidance I receive from editors and the opportunity to research—study, really—the topics I cover. The work I do for Demand Studios also enhances my other work. I can use the information I collect for my Demand Studios articles in the newsletters I write for my other employer. And, yes, the prompt payment for articles is most welcome. Demand Studios encourages me to learn and continue to improve my writing skills.
I'm Barbara Bryant, and I've been writing professionally for 25 years. The flexibility to write as many or as few articles as I like, on a broad range of topics, is very appealing. I appreciate the guidance I receive from editors and the opportunity to research—study, really—the topics I cover. The work I do for Demand Studios also enhances my other work. I can use the information I collect for my Demand Studios articles in the newsletters I write for my other employer. And, yes, the prompt payment for articles is most welcome. Demand Studios encourages me to learn and continue to improve my writing skills.
Ever wonder what it's like to work for Demand Studios? We checked in with our community of freelance creators—writers, copy editors, filmmakers and titlers—and asked them to share their experiences. Hundreds of people chimed in about why Demand Media works for them. Tune in daily to read their firsthand accounts.
My name is Dave Brooks, and I am a 30-year-old writer and editor in Southern California. I first heard about Demand Studios while visiting the BlogWorld trade show in Las Vegas. I've spent years looking for a steady source of work to augment my income as a magazine editor. By spending just one hour per day writing travel pieces for Demand Studios, I am able to bring in an additional $400 to $600 per month. And I'm writing about the places I love—I recently spent a week writing about nightclubs in New York City. While the pay is much less per article, I've gotten really good at writing for Demand Studios and feel a sense of security knowing that I can earn as much as I want. I am proud to be a regular contributor to Demand Studios.
My name is Dave Brooks, and I am a 30-year-old writer and editor in Southern California. I first heard about Demand Studios while visiting the BlogWorld trade show in Las Vegas. I've spent years looking for a steady source of work to augment my income as a magazine editor. By spending just one hour per day writing travel pieces for Demand Studios, I am able to bring in an additional $400 to $600 per month. And I'm writing about the places I love—I recently spent a week writing about nightclubs in New York City. While the pay is much less per article, I've gotten really good at writing for Demand Studios and feel a sense of security knowing that I can earn as much as I want. I am proud to be a regular contributor to Demand Studios.
Every day, our talented community of writers, editors and filmmakers come together to create and share helpful, amusing and inspiring information on just about everything under the sun. And once in a while, a project proposal lands on our desks that so perfectly encapsulates this spirit of sharing information that it deserves to be this month’s Demand Studios Grant Winner!
Leonard Dozier, a Demand Studios writer since October 2009, is working on an audio anthology capturing some of the best African-American speeches and songs from pre-Civil War slavery to the inauguration of President Obama. Leonard will use this $1,000 grant to finish recording, licensing and distributing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” to effectively bring some of this country’s most memorable speeches and songs back to life. This is such an inspirational idea with a creative approach, and we are very pleased to be supporting Leonard in his endeavor.
Congratulations Leonard, and best of luck with this great project!
I was asked to discuss freelance writing and taxes today. The truth is, I’m not your girl. I was never good in math and after four years in the accounting department of an upscale retail chain, it was agreed by all around me that I needed to return to publishing. Though I joke that taxes are the reason I married an accountant, (with my apologies to Mr. Ng) it’s probably not too far from the truth.
The good news is that I can point you out to some helpful resources to assist you with any questions you have regarding taxes. So if it’s OK with you, today will be lots of links to other places, mostly (for disclosure purposes) my own freelance writing blog.
What Every Freelancer Needs to Know About Taxes
How to Solve Freelance Tax Problems
When a Writer Needs to Hire a CPA
Easy to Forget Income Tax Deductions
Introduction to Quarterly Taxes
3 Ways to Reduce Your Freelance Writing Taxes and Help Yourself
Tax Tips for Freelance Writers
20 Tax Deductions for Freelancers
Year End Tax Tips for Freelance Writing Businesses
When Your Freelance Writing Business Gets Audited
From other resources for freelancers around the web:
1. The IRS has provided a guide to estimated taxes that you shold keep handy.
2. Here are some Frequently Asked Questions about freelance taxes from the Anti 9 to 5 Guide.
3. One of my favorite freelancing blogs, Freelance Switch, has a terrific post about Saving for Freelance Taxes.
I hope this helps to answer any of your questions. Taxes are confusing enough, when you freelance it can get overwhelming. One thing I finally did this year was to hire a tax professional to handle my business taxes just because they were becoming such a headache. My husband is a talented accountant but his happiness is essential for my happiness, if you know what I mean. Some freelancers don't mind taxes. I don't feel the love.
Whether you pay annually or quarterly, it's in your best interest to brush up on all the rules and ensure your taxes are paid on time. To not do so will only lead to fines and audits and worse.
Deb Ng is founder of the Freelance Writing Jobs network. Feel free to follow her on Twitter @debng.
The good news is that I can point you out to some helpful resources to assist you with any questions you have regarding taxes. So if it’s OK with you, today will be lots of links to other places, mostly (for disclosure purposes) my own freelance writing blog.
From the Freelance Writing Jobs Network:
Tax Tips for UK FreelancersWhat Every Freelancer Needs to Know About Taxes
How to Solve Freelance Tax Problems
When a Writer Needs to Hire a CPA
Easy to Forget Income Tax Deductions
Introduction to Quarterly Taxes
3 Ways to Reduce Your Freelance Writing Taxes and Help Yourself
Tax Tips for Freelance Writers
20 Tax Deductions for Freelancers
Year End Tax Tips for Freelance Writing Businesses
When Your Freelance Writing Business Gets Audited
From other resources for freelancers around the web:
1. The IRS has provided a guide to estimated taxes that you shold keep handy.
2. Here are some Frequently Asked Questions about freelance taxes from the Anti 9 to 5 Guide.
3. One of my favorite freelancing blogs, Freelance Switch, has a terrific post about Saving for Freelance Taxes.
I hope this helps to answer any of your questions. Taxes are confusing enough, when you freelance it can get overwhelming. One thing I finally did this year was to hire a tax professional to handle my business taxes just because they were becoming such a headache. My husband is a talented accountant but his happiness is essential for my happiness, if you know what I mean. Some freelancers don't mind taxes. I don't feel the love.
Whether you pay annually or quarterly, it's in your best interest to brush up on all the rules and ensure your taxes are paid on time. To not do so will only lead to fines and audits and worse.
Deb Ng is founder of the Freelance Writing Jobs network. Feel free to follow her on Twitter @debng.
Hmm, what time is it? I thought so. This is taking too long.
Here I sit, waiting for brilliance to pull alongside me, third mug of coffee turning as arctic as my moribund brain cells. Tom Waits moans in the background, slurring the relentlessly optimistic lyrics of “Somewhere”—the Bernstein-Sondheim meditation on the redemptive power of love—into a dirge.
No, I’m not namedropping. Waits isn’t actually sitting at my elbow, poised to spike my cup of java with a shot of Wild Turkey (I can’t envision the ramshackle singer guzzling Johnny Walker Blue). It’s true I did meet him once, at a theater event where he offered me one of the beers he had secreted in the pockets of his forlorn overcoat. A story for another time, unless I want to continue stalling. Always a temptation.
I’m listening, of course, to a CD, part of the “soundtrack” I program each morning before beginning work. That music usually doubles as a muse, but inspiration refuses to arrive. Repeatedly, I look at the assignment. Not a single thought enters my head.
The assignment being for me to compose a blog on the culture of the CE community.
All the usual jumpstart tricks fail. I free-associate, and I cluster. I write the old-fashioned way, with pen and legal paper while employing my “opposite hand.” I switch from pen to goose quill to no avail. I put on sunglasses and pretend I’m Lady Gaga assembling her memoirs (don’t recoil, it’s only an exercise). Legal pad tossed aside, I try composing in cuneiform script on ancient parchment. Still nothing comes.
Nothing but panic. This is due within the hour.
Can’t be done, that’s the conclusion I reach, at least not by this reporter. The words won’t pour onto the page because no single culture exists within this community. Instead, we represent a collection of diverse cultures, experiences and perspectives, such a hodgepodge of biographies that the mind boggles at how magnificently this group functions as a team.
You want a culture? Okay, I’m ready to take a stab. Ours is a culture of perfectionism. We relentlessly hone, and that can be something of a curse. Most people can sit at home and read anything—a novel, an op-ed piece, a comic book, the ingredients on the back of a cereal box—and accept it for what is. We rarely can peruse any form of written material, including works by professionals of the highest reputations, without finding some flaw, without mentally rearranging the order of a phrase or a passage, or revising the words entirely to serve the perceived intention of the writer.
Our passion for excellence, that addictive longing to “get it right,” defines our culture as much as it defines us. Why else would we plant ourselves in front of these screens and obsessively squint at all those words upon words upon words, thousands of them daily, until they start to blur?
Chalk it up to love, love of language, love of elegant phrasing, and an overpowering lust for clarity. And it is that last, this devotion to clear expression, that makes this intermittently tedious but exhilarating vocation so valuable, so ultimately rewarding.
We do nothing less than teach the world how to communicate, and we should never forget what a noble enterprise this represents. When we mentor writers through our detailed notes, we help them to reveal themselves, their hopes, their needs, their fears, their secrets, the things they know. We help them to find the words to tell us who they are. We create an atmosphere conducive to the compassion that engenders respect, and we facilitate the flow of ideas. We elevate the human spirit.
We teach people how to push nouns against verbs to topple the illusion that we are irreconcilably different from one another. Our culture—whatever that word means to you—promotes and enhances the exchange of feelings and opinions, an ongoing communication in which we can learn that there is more that unites us than divides us, that ambition in different guises, our glorious human frailties and strengths, and our simple need to be heard and understood, to emotionally touch and be touched, serve as common bonds. Ultimately, we recognize how we share everything with everybody.
And you thought we were just editing.
Here I sit, waiting for brilliance to pull alongside me, third mug of coffee turning as arctic as my moribund brain cells. Tom Waits moans in the background, slurring the relentlessly optimistic lyrics of “Somewhere”—the Bernstein-Sondheim meditation on the redemptive power of love—into a dirge.
No, I’m not namedropping. Waits isn’t actually sitting at my elbow, poised to spike my cup of java with a shot of Wild Turkey (I can’t envision the ramshackle singer guzzling Johnny Walker Blue). It’s true I did meet him once, at a theater event where he offered me one of the beers he had secreted in the pockets of his forlorn overcoat. A story for another time, unless I want to continue stalling. Always a temptation.
I’m listening, of course, to a CD, part of the “soundtrack” I program each morning before beginning work. That music usually doubles as a muse, but inspiration refuses to arrive. Repeatedly, I look at the assignment. Not a single thought enters my head.
The assignment being for me to compose a blog on the culture of the CE community.
All the usual jumpstart tricks fail. I free-associate, and I cluster. I write the old-fashioned way, with pen and legal paper while employing my “opposite hand.” I switch from pen to goose quill to no avail. I put on sunglasses and pretend I’m Lady Gaga assembling her memoirs (don’t recoil, it’s only an exercise). Legal pad tossed aside, I try composing in cuneiform script on ancient parchment. Still nothing comes.
Nothing but panic. This is due within the hour.
Can’t be done, that’s the conclusion I reach, at least not by this reporter. The words won’t pour onto the page because no single culture exists within this community. Instead, we represent a collection of diverse cultures, experiences and perspectives, such a hodgepodge of biographies that the mind boggles at how magnificently this group functions as a team.
You want a culture? Okay, I’m ready to take a stab. Ours is a culture of perfectionism. We relentlessly hone, and that can be something of a curse. Most people can sit at home and read anything—a novel, an op-ed piece, a comic book, the ingredients on the back of a cereal box—and accept it for what is. We rarely can peruse any form of written material, including works by professionals of the highest reputations, without finding some flaw, without mentally rearranging the order of a phrase or a passage, or revising the words entirely to serve the perceived intention of the writer.
Our passion for excellence, that addictive longing to “get it right,” defines our culture as much as it defines us. Why else would we plant ourselves in front of these screens and obsessively squint at all those words upon words upon words, thousands of them daily, until they start to blur?
Chalk it up to love, love of language, love of elegant phrasing, and an overpowering lust for clarity. And it is that last, this devotion to clear expression, that makes this intermittently tedious but exhilarating vocation so valuable, so ultimately rewarding.
We do nothing less than teach the world how to communicate, and we should never forget what a noble enterprise this represents. When we mentor writers through our detailed notes, we help them to reveal themselves, their hopes, their needs, their fears, their secrets, the things they know. We help them to find the words to tell us who they are. We create an atmosphere conducive to the compassion that engenders respect, and we facilitate the flow of ideas. We elevate the human spirit.
We teach people how to push nouns against verbs to topple the illusion that we are irreconcilably different from one another. Our culture—whatever that word means to you—promotes and enhances the exchange of feelings and opinions, an ongoing communication in which we can learn that there is more that unites us than divides us, that ambition in different guises, our glorious human frailties and strengths, and our simple need to be heard and understood, to emotionally touch and be touched, serve as common bonds. Ultimately, we recognize how we share everything with everybody.
And you thought we were just editing.
Ever wonder what it's like to work for Demand Studios? We checked in with our community of freelance creators—writers, copy editors, filmmakers and titlers—and asked them to share their experiences. Hundreds of people chimed in about why Demand Media works for them. Tune in daily to read their firsthand accounts.
I'm Allen Moody. I've been writing for newspapers for the past eight years but have pretty much made the transition to writing solely for the Web. I think Demand Studios is great since you can pick the topics you want to write about and write them when you feel it, which can be at strange hours of the day. Plus, I can lounge around all day in my South Park boxers, which for some reason newspapers wouldn’t let me get away with.
I'm Allen Moody. I've been writing for newspapers for the past eight years but have pretty much made the transition to writing solely for the Web. I think Demand Studios is great since you can pick the topics you want to write about and write them when you feel it, which can be at strange hours of the day. Plus, I can lounge around all day in my South Park boxers, which for some reason newspapers wouldn’t let me get away with.
After all of this talk about copyediting, we want to make it even easier for you (the writer) to understand what our CEs are looking for when they're editing your articles.
We are happy to share a document created for our CEs, chock-full with examples and tips for approving and rejecting articles.
This information includes advice and rules copy editors use when deciding to reject or approve your work. Use this document as a tool when you write your articles; it will help you navigate common mistakes that are guaranteed to get you a rewrite.
This document will live in the Resource Center for you to access at any time.
Enjoy!
We are happy to share a document created for our CEs, chock-full with examples and tips for approving and rejecting articles.
This information includes advice and rules copy editors use when deciding to reject or approve your work. Use this document as a tool when you write your articles; it will help you navigate common mistakes that are guaranteed to get you a rewrite.
This document will live in the Resource Center for you to access at any time.
Enjoy!
