How to Be A Sucky Superhero
As noted previously, I consider the Demand Studios Copy Editor to be my arch enemy.
He is the Joker to my Batman, the Lex Luthor to my Superman, the [insert forgotten enemy here] to my Aquaman.
If you don’t know about the Demand system, you can check this earlier post that tells you a little more about how it works.
But there are ways to make these arch rivals pay for the torment that they put you through.
Basically, that’s by not bothering to rewrite something they send back your way.
“But wait,” I can hear you cry. “That’s my money, Patrick!! I should just throw that away?!! I worked hard for that [insert monetary value between $3 and $30 here]“. I’m not saying to not do any rewrites, no that would be stupid. But, as a wise man once said, you’ve got to pick your battles.
If all they’re doing is asking you to fix a few minor things, go ahead and do it. But if you get this diatribe back about how everything you did was wrong and asking you to rewrite the whole article….then, don’t. Just let it go.
“But, Patrick!!! I just spent two hours researching that article!!
Two hours? You f**king idiot. That was one of the first posts I made here – TIME IS MONEY. You crank these articles out as fast as you possibly can. That’s the only way you’re going to make money with Demand Studios. You can’t be married to these things. If you’ve already spent an hour on an article, then do rewrites for another hour, that means you’re taking in $7/hour. Ouch.
Just let it go.
Eventually, if enough DS writers stick to this, Copy Editors might start to be a little less trigger happy when requesting major rewrites.
And – although you might be tempted to – NEVER fire back a smart ass comment to the editor or go and post in the official DS forum. DS Writers have been fired for that.
Instead come here! You can say whatever you want – good or bad about Demand.
The next thing you know, we’ll be riding the IPO gravy train with Demand!
Business, baby!!
Hmm….I wonder how many pre-IPO shares DS writers are going to get?
Abandon EVERY genuine “rewrite.”
Only YOU know when that article will go back into the bin.
RECLAIM the abandoned rewrite.
Submit the SAME article.
Works EVERY time.
Use Demand’s complete and total incompetence to your advantage.
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Inquiry: The DS Blog says that CEs are not paid on a rewrite unless the writer does the rewrite and resubmits the article:
” As a CE, as you don’t get paid until the article is rewritten and comes back to your queue a second time. For simple grammar fixes, going in and fixing them is your best bet to getting paid. Larger issues get sent back to the writer.”
September 11, 2009 “The Relationship Between CEs and Writers”
http://www.demandstudios.com/blog/.archive-0
Has that policy changed?
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Steve: In the sing-song voice of the forum moderator:
“I know it feels like the CE is saying: ‘I don’t like your writing and I don’t like you’ when they revise or reject your work. But Steve, that’s simply not true! DS CEs are the cream of the crap! They are here to help you SUCCEED and make your writing better!! CEs go through rigorous competition and editing tests before they are hired. I know, because I am both a writer and a CE. I also get a few pennies a month for moderating this forum. And my dad was a physician and so I know your article was way off-base because I read his medical journals as a young child. The CE’s shared your draft on the CE forum and EVERYONE agreed with my changes. It burns my butt when you writers continually gang up on us!! So take a deep breath, Steve. You just haven’t been around long enough. My stuff was always changed, too, until I hit the 1,000 articles mark. Now I only occasionally get rewrites and rejections. I’m still learning, too!!!”
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Thanks to a Demand Studios copy editor, another article that I so carefully crafted has been published with horrible errors introduced by that copy editor. These errors include misspellings and incomplete sentences. Now my name is attached forever to something of which I am not proud nor of which am I really the author. I believe that Demand Studios is sort of OK and that most editors are sort of OK. However, the editors who arbitrarily ruin good articles for a lousy $2.50 make me sick. My wife asked why I am so upset. I explained to her that shoddy editing of something lovingly crafted is like having a child snatched and surgically altered to look or behave differently. Something that was pure and beautiful has been altered, bastardized, and made ugly for arbitrary or even non-existent reasons. The $15 is not worth the shame, the aggravation, or this tightness in my chest and throat. I am thoroughly disgusted. Steve W. (An author who cares too much.)
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Unfortunately this won’t work, because CEs get paid even if a rewrite is abandoned. They also get paid when they reject an article. If anything they probably like when writers abandoned rewrites because it means they don’t have to go through and check it again and decide whether or not to reject it or make any necessary edits and accept it. But they get that money either way. It’s just yet another way in which CEs run the game over at Demand Studios.
Here’s a riddle for you:
How do you get the “help” desk to agree with a copyeditor?
Answer: Send an appeal.
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Haha, I said tightly instead of title… Where is my mind tonight?
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Yeah Marsha, they claim that they can’t see abandoned articles BUT they fired a writer over comments she left on an abandoned article… Maybe I’m crazy but something about that scenario smells fishy to me.
I understand why you appeal but I think it’s pointless. Especially now that some CEs are ignoring the results of appeals and rejecting articles anyways. It’s nuts. I just change the tightly slightly and put them on rev share sites. Yes, it’s a waste of my time but I refuse to get upset over $15. Especially since some of those articles have earned me more than that over time.
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Shirley: “I just change the (title) slightly and put them on rev share sites.”
Can you please explain which revenue share websites are the best and why. Thank you.
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Abandoning rewrites isn’t going to have any kind of far reaching effect. Since DS is too stupid to add an abandoned rewrites section to the work desk, they claim they can’t see the CE comments on the abandoned article. Therefore, they have no way of knowing, in a CE review, that the CE is giving out bad rewrites if writers constantly abandon the articles.
Appeal, appeal, appeal, I say. As much as it’s a waste of my time, it’s the only way to get anything through to CEs. Based on comments in the forum, even if they send back a rewrite against the guidelines and you copy and paste the guidelines and send it back, they think their bruised ego is sufficient reason for a rejection.
Then again, others have reported CEs believing that writers have faked screencaps of appeal emails and rejected the article anyway, so maybe you just can’t win.
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The smart aleck editors should be put to the rack.
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LOL! This blog is HILARIOUS. I love it! Expect me to stick around. =p
Also, I wish I would have read this post a few days ago. Two days ago I had submitted a Demand Studios article, only to have it sent back to me from a copy editor to have it completely rewritten because the copy editor didn’t agree with me about the title. I had spent about 30 minutes writing the first draft (researching and the works). I won’t even mention the mindless spelling mistakes in the copy editor’s comments, but there were at least 5 (and this is supposed to be a copy EDITOR??).
However, I was polite and thanked the copy editor for his/her feedback when I submitted the article again, completely reworking the article according to the copy editor’s point of view.
The article was rejected.
Now, this article took me longer to write, since I had to do a lot more research than I did for the first version. The copy editor replied with, “…You found some useful resources and references, and the article is more focused now. However, there are some areas where I would have some questions and comments, and I think some more info would have to be added… Thank you for refocusing and reworking it, but I’m afreaid I’m going to have to reject it this time.” (Written exactly as is.)
I seriously almost cried. I spent so much work on the article (and it was my first rejection, as well). I usually pride myself in being a good writer, and I used to always put forth my best effort when I would submit a piece.
I know for a fact now, though, that I am NEVER spending so much work on a Demand Studios article again. Rejections are just too costly for me to waste the time. I will fix minor errors but whole rewrites? Not anymore.
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Sick of Demand Studios: “I won’t even mention the mindless spelling mistakes in the copy editor’s comments, but there were at least 5 (and this is supposed to be a copy EDITOR??).”
The “editors” at Demand are NOT copy editors. They are incompetents hired without reference checks who are pretending to be copy editors.
Signed,
Longtime copy editor
(Not for Demand)
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