Is Demand Studios the new Associated Press?

I recently wrote an opinion piece defending Demand Studios after another blogger chose to label them as a scam based on the fact that their pay is somewhat low and they make frequent requests for rewrites of articles. I still side with Demand Studios on that issue, but I do want to point out a better (though not perfect) article about Demand Studios at ReadWriteWeb. This article doesn’t try to portray the writers as victims but rather tries to analyze the effect of such a large content mill on the Internet as a whole. The basic premise is that Demand Studios has a content creation system in place (using both automation and live reviewers) that results in an assembly-line style article that RWW compares to Henry Ford’s original automobile production line. The article takes issue with the quality of the content being produced, and that is a more legitimate criticism than the exploitation of writers.

4000 Articles a Day

According to the RWW piece, Demand Studios produces approximately 4000 articles a day through its combination of freelancers and editors. The one issue that I have with the article is that they use this as an indictment of the quality. They ask:

The bigger question is: there are surely many examples of good Demand Media content on the Web, but how many of the 4,000 articles it produces every day aren’t?

To me this is a poor argument. Yes, I’m sure that some of the 4000 articles aren’t great, but no one can judge what the percentage of this is so it is a specious question. I mainly read blogs by single authors. Mass produced blogs leave me a little cold. As a follower of individuals I can tell you that even the best bloggers put out lousy articles on occasion. Lord knows I do. No one is brilliant every day.

The better point the article makes is that the Demand Studios assembly line style and fast turnaround time creates a certain sameness to the articles being written, that there is a Demand Studios style, and it isn’t very interesting or incisive. I don’t read enough of their types of articles (like I said, I follow individual bloggers) to know if this is true, but it seems like a legitimate possibility.

In the Eighties the Definition of a Content Mill was “Associated Press”

Way back in the eighties, I served as the Associated Press Wire Editor for my college newspaper. Having an AP feed back then was as close as you could get to having Google News now. Article after article printed out on the dot matrix printer they provided, and I looked at them all (while dressed in my linen Miami Vice jacket) to see if they were relevant. I can tell you that AP’s style (they do have their own stylebook after all) was pretty bland even then. For most articles, you got the facts, and nothing but the facts. There was little room for color or individuality. A single article might get published in 500 different newspapers all over the world. Any sort of colorful writing had to be killed in case someone out there didn’t get it, or worse, was offended by it. Another interesting similarity between the Associated Press and Demand Studios is that AP has always used a number of low-paid writers (they call them stringers) to freelance for them. In the eighties, the saying was, “You can’t spell stupid without UPI and you can’t spell cheap without AP.”

Obviously Demand Studios is not identical to AP. The journalistic standards and the general level of talent at AP are considerably higher than at Demand Studios. AP is more selective about who they hire and more stringent about the sources for their articles. It is the similarities though, not the differences, that catch my eye. Both organizations tap a worldwide pool of writers. Both organizations exist to provide content to other organizations. Both organizations rely heavily on freelance work. Most importantly, both organizations have writing philosophies based on a universal cookie-cutter style.

I believe that sort of generic writing was the beginning of the end for newspapers, and I think that it can only have limited success on the Internet. A certain number of people will be satisfied with these articles, and search engines may never be able to tell good articles from bad articles, but there will always be plenty of room for individuals with distinctive voices to keep writing. A loyal audience that comes back again and again is in most cases preferable to a large number of casual readers who never return.

Demand Studios is a company that is filling a content niche quite successfully. The fact that they have enough writers and customers to be publishing 4000 articles a day shows that they are filling a need that exists on both sides. That said, if someone else comes up with a better way to do it, then the market will change again. I think Demand Studios does a lot of things well, but I also think there is plenty of room for improvement. If they can make a profit doing things their way, then surely someone who improves on the concept can do even better.

For Further Information:

• Is Demand Studios Worth Your Time?
• The Answer Factory: Demand Media and the Fast, Disposable, and Profitable as Hell Media Model
• About Hub Pages: An Interview with Ryan “Hup” Hupfer
• FakeAPStylebook on Twitter

Demand Studios is NOT Evil

Do you know what I’m sick of reading? I’m sick of reading articles about how freelancers are underpaid. I’m especially sick of reading articles that point a finger at a particular company or website and accuse them of causing the problem. No one caused this. If you want to point a finger at anyone or anything, point it straight at the Internet. The Internet made it possible for anyone who can put a sentence together (and plenty who can’t) to be a writer. Some created their own blogs (like me). Others became freelance writers.

Everyone is a writer

Writing isn’t like engineering or chemistry. Most people know how to write. There are people who write especially well, either because of training or talent, but there are millions of people who can write a basic article or blog post that is good enough for the Internet. Some of those people aren’t out to make a living as a writer. Their day job pays well enough or they have other means of support. They just want to get published. Others realize that they need to become better writers if they want to make a living. They take less money so that they can develop their skills as well as their portfolios. You can complain about these people all you want. It doesn’t matter. They aren’t going anywhere.

Companies are in business to make money — Shocking!

On the flip side there are companies that cater to these writers. Demand Studios is one of those companies. Demand Studios has clients who want articles written for them. Some of those companies are major players, others are small businesses and a few are fly-by-night dreamers. The client tells Demand Studios what kind of article they want written and Demand Studios then finds writers to write the articles. The pay is not high, but it is far from the worst in the industry. One of the key complaints against Demand Studios is that their editors are strict. Writers are frequently told to make rewrites and edits. For some reason, these rewrites are viewed as onerous. The prevailing complaint is that they pay far too little to expect so much. Because of this, many writers refuse to do the rewrites. This is viewed as a fault of the company rather than the writer. The company is too demanding. They should settle for less or they should pay more. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.

The bottom is where people start

For most writers, especially the inexperienced beginners who are attracted to low-paying assignments, a strict editor is the best thing they can possibly hope for. They need to have someone guiding them. Having a good editor is like having a free writing instructor. The editor isn’t just fixing your article. The editor is teaching to become a better writer. Not all editors are great. Strict doesn’t always mean good. Some Demand Studios editors may suck. The wonderful thing about freelancing is that you don’t have to work for someone you don’t want to work for. If you don’t like writing for someone, stop writing for them.

You choose who you write for

As I said earlier, Demand Studios has many clients, both large and small. They have those clients because they provide quality articles for low prices. If the prices were higher, they might lose clients. If their articles were of lower quality, they might lose clients. This is their business model. I don’t write for Demand Studios. I don’t write for them because I have clients who are willing to pay me substantially more money. I have a high paying specialty (software documentation), fifteen years of experience, a graduate degree and some really terrific contacts in the industry. I don’t need what Demand Studios offers (although I often need a good editor). On the flip side, when I was twenty-two years old and trying to establish myself as a writer, I would have jumped at the chance to write for a company like Demand Studios. I wanted then what they offer now: experience, guidance and money. Unfortunately, that was twenty years ago, and the closest thing I had to the Internet was AOL on a 2400 baud modem.

More skills and experience equals more money

Don’t get me wrong. I would like Demand Studios to pay higher rates. A higher rate would attract (I hope) a higher caliber of writer and help create a better product. I also know that you can go on Elance or Odesk and find plenty of people who pay less than Demand Studios and expect more. That is the nature of the freelance writing world in 2009. The low end is far lower than it used to be, and there is more competition for even those jobs. The good news is that you don’t have to write for anybody you don’t want to write for. You can start your own blog and market yourself from there. I did.

I now have no trouble finding clients who are willing to pay me a substantial rate to write. It isn’t luck that got me there. I struggled for years. I made mistakes. I learned. I now have skills that most of my competitors don’t have. I have a strong resume that gets me interviews and offers. I’ve even gotten smart enough, over the years, to turn down offers when they aren’t right for me.

Move on, move up

If Demand Studios doesn’t feel right for you, don’t write for them. All I ask is that you give up on complaining about them or the people who write for them. Focus your energy on something productive. Go write something.