The dilemma of Demand Studios
By Amy Green
Perhaps you’ve noticed advertising for Demand Studios on the Society of Professional Journalists’ Web site or in Quill, SPJ’s bimonthly magazine for members. Maybe you noticed Demand Studios at SPJ’s convention last August in Indianapolis.
Demand Studios is the creative arm of Demand Media, an up-start Web enterprise that has undertaken the Herculean task of providing answers to every question any Web user might ask. The start-up uses a mathematical algorithm drawing from Web data rather than editors to anticipate these questions, generating some 4,000 articles and videos a day with titles such as “How To Draw a Greek Helmet” or “Dog Whistle Training Techniques.” WIRED magazine published a thorough article on Demand last fall.
Already the start-up is among the largest suppliers of content to YouTube, where its 200,000 videos comprise more than twice the content of CBS, The Associated Press, Al Jazeera English, Universal Music Group, CollegeHumor and Soulja Boy combined. Demand also posts content to 45 other sites, includingeHow.com and Livestrong.com, which attract more traffic than ESPN, NBC Universal and Time Warner’s online properties (excluding AOL) combined. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently commissioned Demand to produce travel articles that ran online and in print.
To pen and shoot this massive volume of material Demand has reached out to freelance journalists during a time when the recession and fast-moving technology have left our industry in chaos. The catch? The pay. The average Demand writer earns just $15 for articles that top out at a few hundred words, and filmmakers generally earn $20 a clip. Other freelancers copyedit for $2.50 an article, fact-check for $1 an article, transcribe for $1 or $2 a video or offer themselves up as experts to be quoted for free.
I don’t have to tell you how terrible these rates are for freelancers, and understandably some of you have complained about the advertising, reasoning the relationship supports an enterprise that is unhealthy for quality journalism and undermines SPJ’s reputation among freelancers. So I’d like to clarify precisely what is SPJ’s relationship with Demand, and that is Demand is an advertiser for SPJ and nothing more, infusing SPJ with revenue during a time when revenue of course is down. SPJ does not endorse Demand’s business model in any way.
“We are treating them as any vendor who wants to buy ad space on SPJ’s Web site, who wants to sponsor an exhibit at the convention or who wants to buy memberships for their employees,” SPJ President Kevin Smith wrote me in an e-mail about the matter. “We have never denied a media group the right to advertise based on their corporate philosophy. Rupert Murdoch is controversial and does things that violate our Code of Ethics, but we’d afford him the right to advertise and sponsorship, if he chose. In some ways, as a journalism group, we have to create an opportunity for free speech.”
This column is the product of a thoughtful conversation among SPJ’s freelance committee and the organization’s national leadership.
Today the journalism crisis has raised fundamental questions such as what is a journalist, and SPJ aims to be an organization for all journalists including citizen journalists who perhaps lack the training we traditionally receive in journalism schools. The frustration we feel for organizations such as Demand is natural, but really we feel frustrated with an emerging business model that has upended our industry but that is gaining ground. Remember, we are journalists who champion a free exchange of information and ideas. We feel frustrated we no longer hold a monopoly on this.
Whether to embrace Demand is a personal decision on your part akin to embracing, or not, Geico, another SPJ advertiser. If you are a seasoned journalist then I believe, in fact, that you should not work with Demand. I believe the model is unhealthy for quality journalism and takes advantage of struggling journalists. I believe journalists who work for such low rates only depress rates for everyone. Web start-ups offer these rates because they can. People do it. The marketplace supports it. So don’t do it. But perhaps you disagree. Perhaps you feel an enterprise such as this represents the future, and that by turning out a high volume of work you can make the model pay. Perhaps you are a citizen journalist, and the pleasure of seeing your work in print is payment enough.
While Demand might not offer high rates, the start-up does offer reliability, Jeremy Reed, Demand’s senior vice president of content, told me during a phone interview. Demand freelancers can bank on steady pay checks, which in itself is valuable.
“For us it was the principles of SPJ,” said Reed, a former freelance writer himself who was at SPJ’s convention in Indianapolis. “The people that are attracted to that society and career are exactly the type of writer and copy editor that we wanted to attract.”
No matter how you feel about Demand remember that SPJ offers many valuable resources for freelancers, including a lively committee of knowledgeable freelancers and an online database where freelancers can show off our work for editors. Also remember it’s possible this trend eventually will exhaust itself as unsustainable. I mean, how long can a business survive without appropriately compensating the people who drive it?
___
Amy Green is chairwoman of SPJ’s freelance committee. She is a journalist in Orlando, Fla., whose stories have appeared in PEOPLE, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor and many other publications. She specializes in faith, the environment and social issues. Visit her Web site at www.amybgreen.com.
January 15th, 2010 at 11:39 am
Fine article, Amy, but some of your facts need, well, fact-checking. Copy editors receive at least $3.50 for articles, most of which are little more than a one-page Word document. CEs also perform fact-checking, so the $1 payment is erroneous. Editors also have access to many higher-paying assignments, and the company is introducing a Senior Editor level of assignments at higher compensation. The leaders of the editing units are nothing short of sensational, and they continually introduce ideas and improvements to make our jobs easier.
January 16th, 2010 at 5:44 am
Amy,
Thank you for tackling the issue of new media and its relationship to status quo journalism. I’ve been a freelancer for a long time and during that time; I’ve witnessed a renaissance in the way information reaches the public.
In addition to being a long-time freelancer, I’m an editor, I’m a business owner, I’m a member of SPJ and I’m a writer for Demand Studios.
I stumbled upon Demand Studios not long after they hit the ground running in 2007. I was trying to move from print media to the net and after working with a knowledgeable and highly professional editor for Demand, I stuck around to enjoy the company’s phenomenal ascent.
While you, like many others, attempt to explain the Demand Studios model by reducing it to pay-per-article issue—that thinking falls short of the actual writer’s experience. As a traditional journalist, either you freelance or you work for someone else. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, you’ve put in “X” amount of hours for “X” amount of pay.
The only accurate way to compare the money made for Demand Studios to money made from reporting or other forms of journalism is on a “time in/money out” basis. On an average day, I make approximately $100 working part time for about four hours a day. The articles I write garner $25 apiece and I usually write about four before attending to other clients.
The writing is educational in nature, as you mention Demand attempts to provide “answers to every question any Web user might ask.” While that might not set well with some, stop and think about it for a moment. Demand is responding to what consumers want. While traditional media historically decides to publish what they think the readers “should want,” Demand realizes that its survival depends upon catering to the consumer. And with that, Demand takes a giant leap forward in the area of consumer advocacy.
Journalism is changing, but take heart, in the end; it will serve the interests of the public much better.
January 16th, 2010 at 9:03 am
Glenda, I appreciate the clear way you discuss the pros and cons of journalism and DS. I have been following some of the angst and defense of DS on the blogs and understand the concerns of “real” journalists about the DS business model. But, to paraphrase your comments, DS is about answering questions, not reporting news.
That having been said, I confess that I write for DS and I enjoy it. I do not think of myself as a journalist. Rather, I am a researcher and writer. In my previous life I was a psychologist, manager, and someone who worked several years in advanced information systems.
I enjoy researching a topic and then sumarizing, gisting, and offering a list of additional resources for someone who wants more topic-relevant information. As I look at the background of many writers on DS, they do not call themselves journalists either. So perhaps one may conclude that journalists are writers, but not all writers are journalists.
January 16th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Amy, good thoughts. I would ask you to maintain an open mind instead of immediately condemning DS to the trash heap because of the “low pay”. After long thought, I decided not to return to my tutoring job last fall because, while I was employed by another and earning the highest tier of pay (due to my college degrees), I was also cutting into that pay by having to buy gas to commute to my students’ homes in a small community about half an hour away from my home, buy computer paper and printer cartridges, print lesson activities for all of my students at my expense and send my payment and time invoices by fax, again, at my expense. DS has enabled me to stay at home and earn at least what I was earning as a tutor. One big upside to working for DS — I don’t have to pay more for gas, send pay invoices or buy computer paper and printer cartridges.
While this economy is still a mess, DS has been a badly-needed bridge allowing out-of-work reporters and videographers to work and earn while they continue to look for other work.
So, instead of saying that DS is “bad” for journalism, look at the other side of the equation and realize that this company has allowed hundreds, if not thousands, of journalists to continue working as journalists. The DS model is called “service journalism”. In addition, this model of journalism “converges” with the electronic provision of information. Thank you for allowing us to present our side of the story.
January 16th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
I always find these arguments interesting. Journalists are up in arms about Demands Studios advertising at SPJ but the same journalists were strangely silent when SPJ partnered with Helium.com, a “citizen journalism” content mill paying writers a lot less than D.S.
“SPJ has always been committed to inspiring and educating current and future journalists through professional development,” said Dave Aeikens, President of the Society of Professional Journalists. “Partnering with Helium allows us to continue this commitment by providing a vital stepping stone for our members to establish and build their digital credibility, while also opening our doors and embracing those who wish to become better citizen journalists.”
January 16th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
Amy,
Having worked as a reporter, freelance journalist or in some area of professional research and writing for more than 20 years, I understand your point of view. Perhaps a couple of years ago, I would have gravitated more toward the elitist view that “journalism” was defined within set parameters, and as a writer, you were either in or out.
However, as traditional media continues to pare itself down and fewer opportunities are available for established journalists (forget those who are entirely new to the field), I feel that discouraging journalists of all stripes and colors from accepting content work in lieu of waiting to grab those brass ring assignments behooves no one, given the economic climate. You may as well tell seasoned pros and their wet-behind-the-ears juniors to deliver pizzas, drive a garbage truck, become a receptionist, live at home with mom and dad, and collect government benefits until they can achieve a certain status within their field.
What most professional journalists will never admit is that they are working for a pittance in return for status. I work for Demand, and I am proud to say that I have a contract job that utilizes my existing skill set. The income I derive from working for sites such as Demand exceeds the average reporter’s salary. The last “professional” job I was offered paid $13 an hour (before taxes), without benefits. Rather than sit in my ivory tower with my prestige title and a paycheck that couldn’t begin to cover my living expenses, I made the choice that can sustain me.
January 17th, 2010 at 9:01 am
The pay rate seems to always be the hook in these types of blogs and articles dismissing Demand Studios as a viable source of income for writers and journalists, followed by the “ethics” of writing such articles as ‘How to Change a Toilet Ring”. But I was struck by the quote from President Smith, “Rupert Murdoch is controversial and does things that violate our Code of Ethics, but we’d afford him the right to advertise and sponsorship, if he chose.”
Apparently the code of ethics for journalists can be quite fluid when it comes to getting advertisers cash.
January 17th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
I don’t know if I’m the first person to say this (I hope I’m not ripping off anyone), but it’s always struck me as mildly applicable to the ease of writing/publishing online: “Everyone should write. But not everyone should write in the same way or in the same medium. Even fewer should write for an audience.”
January 18th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
I’m impressed with the quality of comments on this blog… usually with this type of article, there are a ton of comments (from people who have never written for Demand) to the effect of, “yeah, that’s right! Demand sucks!” I guess that points to the professionalism of SPJ; I just wish you had more of an open mind, instead of the conflict of interest (accepting advertiser money from a publisher that you recommend your members “not work with.”)
I too am a DS writer, and a seasoned (15-year) journalist and freelance writer. I’ve been a TV show host, I’ve been a radio news anchor at a major market radio station, I’ve written for newspapers and magazines, I’ve written books and how-to courses, I’ve interviewed thousands of people for a range of media, and I write for Demand.
Yes, I still send out queries to publications. But how many $1,000 assignments are floating around out there, waiting for the right pitch… and how many writers are vying for the same spot in a magazine? If a publication accepts 30 freelance submissions a year, that’s 30 writers who can get an assignment from it, or 15 writers lucky enough to get 2 assignments each.
As Melissa pointed out, it’s an elitist view that says journalists must sit and wait for the relatively few freelance gigs that pay top dollar. That stance allows a very few freelancers to make a full-time living, as a you’d need to land at least one to two assignments at $1 per word, each and every month, to make a half-decent living (assuming the average assignment you get is 2,000 to 5,000 words; if the articles are shorter, you’d need to pitch a heck of a lot more).
With all the researching, reading, idea generation, pitching and waiting for a response, how much does an average freelancer actually make for every hour of their time, anyhow… even WITH “brass ring” assignments coming in every few weeks?
On the flip side, you can work for Demand and make a guaranteed $20-$25 per hour (the average amount DS writers make — can newspaper reporters say the same?) writing as often or as little as you like, taking assignments that fit your expertise (there are thousands to choose from), no pitching, no waiting. And boy, the portfolio sure builds up fast, too! Believe it or not, many of the articles produced by DS, especially by long-time freelancers, are top quality.
Personally I prefer a combination method, but I certainly wouldn’t want to rely on the shaky premise that I needed to keep pitching consistently, never knowing when my next paycheck would come in, or from where, in order to be considered a professional writer.
January 19th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
You should also investigate the writers and editors at the high end of the pay scale who are contributing the most content by volume. Each earned $6000+ in one month.
January 21st, 2010 at 5:58 pm
I love the hypocrisy that is evolving in this business. It’s OK to take Demand Studios’ money for advertising, because it pays our bills, and then we will issue a mealy-mouthed criticism of their pay model.
Why not have the guts to speak the truth. The DS model — just like that of any other content mill — completely takes advantage of writers. The companies make millions, the writers make squat. Yet so many “writers” don’t have the gumption, knowledge, guts, or whatever, to do the work and make the effort to make it as a PROFESSIONAL freelancer. Instead, they settle for these ridiculous low-pay scenarios and try to argue the merits of a pay system that hurts them and everyone else in the business.
I’ve been in journalism more than two decades. I turned in an assignment today that pays 50 cents a word; next up is one that pays $1 a word. Both are for very low-hassle clients. Real work is out there. You need to stop being wimps and go after it. Or maybe not. Then the professional writers out there will have less competition for REAL work with REAL markets, and the rest of you can keep working for peanuts, and feeling proud about it.
February 4th, 2010 at 12:59 am
Thank you for explaining your relationship with Demand Studios. I found an article called “Why Demand Studios Sucks” to be quite eye opening.
LINK: http://hubpages.com/hub/Demand-Studios-4-Reasons-Why-It-Sucks
March 17th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
It’s pretty obvious if you look at demand studios over-all, there is a a lot of problems. I’m really not sure why so many people defend demand studios, its not like you are actually an employee of demand studios anyway. I just stopped writing for demand studios after getting sick of rewrites etc. There are more problems with DS than just pay rate. Here are the reasons i left DS.
-Pay rate(Self employed making $15 dollars a hour = CRAP). Adding in research time, title searching, rewrites, rejections, the average person does NOT write more than 1 article an hour. Claims of writing 3-4 articles a hour EVERY hour are absolutely BULLSHIT. I do not buy into that at all!
-Rewrites. Not only is $15 dollars an article absolutely crap, having to write that article over again to please the editors is even worse! Even after rewriting the article you can get rejected and paid nothing!
-Editors. Editors are anonymous and are often rude, insulting, and over-demanding. I.E Please rewrite this article because i think it makes more “sense” this way.
-Garbage titles. 90% of the titles are complete garbage like “how to power a generator with a exercise bicycle.” Sorting through pages of that is very productive. Keyword searches sometimes help, but not always.
The only way i see demand studios as good, is if someone REALLY has no other options to make money. Because the pay really is crap when you add all the self employment taxes, rewrites etc. If i was a professional writer id be ashamed to work for Demand Studios. A professional writer who writes for demand studios is like an anti-climax.
P.S I’m not a professional writer. I don’t have any writing credentials, and i have written over 200 articles for demand studios.
March 29th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Straight up: if you are an out-of-work writer with bills to pay and a rumbling in your stomach, if there is urgency to making the rent and you absolutely must have money by the end of the week, DS will put a little money in your pocket. It is soul-deadening work beneath contempt for anyone who has spent time in a newsroom. The editors are anonymous, which seems to give some of them the idea that they can act like tyrannical pricks on a whim, and many do. The best I can say is DS editors are unequivocally among the dumbest human beings I have encountered after three trips around the world. Most are bitter about the state of the industry and they take it out on other people. I hope they enjoy the $3.50 a pop they get from their ignorance opinions on articles covering topics on which they know next to nothing. I would change careers before scribbling another DS “article” for those cretins.
April 1st, 2010 at 7:43 am
Gotta agree with the shared experiences regarding Demand Studios editors. Most of those nimrods would actually introduce errors and violate AP style on the copy I submitted. Bad enough to get $15 for an article, but even worse to have mistakes added to your work. Not one of them seemed to have the slightest clue about the subject matter during the blessedly brief time I wrote for that site. One editor would contradict the directions from another editor. Several asked questions such as “What’s engineering?” or would offer such helpful instructions as, “First, you must explain how to remove the wings from the buffalo before cooking the buffalo wings.”
I am not making this up. The editors I encountered would seem to be functionally retarded. Or drunk, judging from the rewrite requests emailed to me at 3 a.m.
Demand Studios is a surreal trip down the rabbit’s hole, straight to craxy land. For desperate scribes only, and even then, consider temp work first.
April 7th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
I happened upon this blog while searching and I have to say that it’s interesting to hear the journalist’s side to DS. I personally write for DS, but am not a journalist, nor did I go to school for journalism or writing. I use DS to add “spending money” to my bank account in addition to my traditional 8-5. Having said all that, I certainly understand the opinion that DS isn’t “real” writing (or even “real” writers, like me) – it’s not.
While I feel for those who see this as a barrier to their craft, try to remember that there are “salespeople” at Wal-Mart just as they are at Fortune 500 companies. It’s all about how well you do your job and what somebody is willing to pay for that level of talent. I’m hoping for you that the economy picks up and true journalists are able to achieve great positions again soon.
April 19th, 2010 at 5:54 am
I guess some of these DS editors,edit an article for the sake of editing.It would raise questions from DS Auditors why an editor has never rejected a single article in a month.
April 26th, 2010 at 6:02 am
I think the difference between a trained journalist and a “content producer” is obvious. No stigma for the content writers here. It’s a quick buck. DS acknowledges that the company looks for content. Period. The words are filler for the advertising template. I agree with Ms. Green that people, even dull people, will finally have an epiphany. Until that happens, I’m waiting for an Internet search engine that puts the “content mill” material in the sidebar with the advertising and leaves me a choice of well-researched articles by professionals.
April 30th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Low pay and frustrating work is just the start of what Demand Studios has to offer, I am have learned from experience first hand. The worst of it is when they owe you $100 for work that they have published and are now making money on but will now not pay what is due because you are no longer working for them.
May 7th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
hey guys,
started up a forum where Demand writers can meet and talk about Demand without worrying about being fired.
forum is free and open to all. link is by my name.
thanks for letting me comment.
p
May 26th, 2010 at 6:27 am
I found this blog as I was looking into freelance opportunities. I’ve done some writing for textbroker but the pay is very low. I am curious if the average is writing 1 per article or 2 for most writers at the site. It is true that the commute to a job can really eat up money (and time). I also heard that the DS application process needs to be carefully done in order to reduce chances of rejection. I do think it is not really journalism but more a site similar to yahoo answers where common questions are replied to but in more depth.
June 1st, 2010 at 3:13 am
Demand Studio’s “applications” are not carefully reviewed but performed by a computer algorithm. Add some SEO friendly words to your resume and you’ll be accepted. People with graduate degrees in literature can get turned down while kids with a blog get accepted. It’s just about what fits the business model to churn out dumbed down “content”.
DS should in no way be affiliated with the term “journalism”. I have seen more grammatical errors and spelling errors in the forum posts by “top writers” in the brief week I worked there (and subsequently resigned) than in a year of teaching English. The titles are all generated by machines. Writing for Demand is writing for a computer, not human beings. It’s a corporation out to exploit an industry with a high supply of talent in a tough economic period.
Maybe you need it to pay the bills, we’ve all been there. But it’s not a “journalism” or “writing” site. It’s SEO marketing content for dummies.
And shame on SPJ for taking their money. I don’t care how desperate someone (or in this case, an organization) is for cash. Have some pride.
June 20th, 2010 at 11:26 am
The content editors must have been culled from the lowest ranks of the unemployable. Some of the most breathtakingly stupid human beings in the long, sad history of morons have been plucked from obscurity to toil in continued obscurity at that godforsaken website.
If you enjoy having imbeciles infuse your work with egregious errors, factual mistakes and poor grammar that would embarass a microcephalic — all while displaying an astonishing mix of arrogance and ignorance to go with their “power” to approve or reject a $15 article — by all means, sign up for DS and indulge in the masochism.
July 1st, 2010 at 7:17 pm
We all know that the market for journalism and journalists has changed dramatically in the last decade. I think we all need to be flexible and find the niche that fits us.
I know that $15 an article is poor pay. I have been paid several hundred dollars for articles that were not much longer than those required on DS. Many people have made much more! But that was not the norm for me. I was a community reporter for smaller cities and towns. I made $1500 to $2000 a month in Canada at my various jobs with only ‘living allowance’ increases. These jobs included driving all over, struggling to reach sources, writing 8 to 20 stories a week. Taking photos. Waiting and waiting and waiting at events. I worked long hours. Weekends… evenings… I’m sure many of you have been there. And I had a love-hate relationship with it
Mostly I loved it. It was my career and I loved the variety and challenges of it.
However, I am now a mother. I choose not to spend so much time away from home which means most journalism jobs are not an option for me. Only freelancing is. And freelance jobs are not easily found. Especially in Canada when so many newspapers are union and part of the two bigger chains. I write an article every month or two and that is after sending out many query letters, researching publication and brainstorming ideas. Sure the pay is usually pretty good but the amount of time that goes in beforehand is extensive. At a place like DS the articles are there, available and waiting to be chosen. They are easy to write and require little research and virtually no interviews or driving (I’ve just started and this is what I’ve seen so far). I can write them while at home with my children and am done within 20 minutes to an hour. If I do two a day, five days a week I can add an additional $600 to my families income. I can also keep writing and hold onto my former identity a little longer.
So yes, $15 an article is not great pay but there are so many more factors to consider.
July 11th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
DS is a nightmare. Writers struggle for ridiculous pay to churn out drivel edited by incompetents with the erronous title of “content editor.” Drivel is then published on websites chock-full of Google AdSense and paid advertising to generate revenue for DS. The drivel serves simply as a placeholder to get unsuspecting Google searchers in front of targeted advertising.
I seriously doubt anyone afffiliated with DS gives a hoot about content quality, accuracy or any other random measure of worth.
It’s all about getting as many people as possible exposed to advertising. Saturating, no, drowning the Internet with garbage for high search-engine rankings is the core strategy.
The folks at Google are being punked and they don’t seem to realize it.