Fed up with DS -- Quitting!!!

[plastix]

It seems like the rewrites come in waves sometimes, like you can imagine the corporate people have their bi-weekly meeting and then send emails to the CE's pressuring them about quality, and then they feel the need to send more rewrites back, to prove they are doing their jobs.

I was getting frustrated with a lot of rewrites at once, for silly things, and I took a two week break to focus on other assignments. I just wrote 3 articles for DS over the past couple of days, and I really didn't spend a lot of time on them (researching, I mean...I made sure the writing quality was fine).

Surprisingly, they all went through quickly and were approved. Funny how I've worked a lot harder on other articles, only to have rewrites... it can be inconsistent, but knowing I get paid $15 for something that takes less than an hour is pretty nice. I don't rely on DS, but it sure is a nice income supplement.

[FlyingA]

I think it must come in waves too. I've been writing for DS since May and hadn't been getting very many rewrites at all. Then last week it was almost every article I submitted. Hopefully things will level back out again.

[IrishChik]

I have always had decent luck with DS. Seems like they are becoming more of a pain these days and I often wonder if the editor reviewing my article even has knowledge of the subject. I have never had a reject. In the beginning I had very few rewrites and they were always something minor that took seconds to fix. These days it seems they are asking for a total rewrite. Not worth my time. I am hesitant to do any more. Today I had an article , looked for a related photo only to find Halloween related items. Nothing to do with what I needed a photo for. I do not want to give up on DS completely, but it seems like so much stress anymore.

[Julia]

Originally Posted by adbullock

For a $7.50 fact sheet it seems like a waste of time and to search and search for government or edu sites that back up every step of the process but that's just me. Why do we put references and resources at the bottom if we're going to have to state a different reference or resource in every "step" of the process.

I understand the frustration. I had two rejected this weekend. First, they wanted sources. I sent sources and returned them. Then they were rejected because the sources weren't trusted. That's an arbitrary thing. I trust a lot of the sources I gave (Medical News Now) much better than I'd trust anything from the government.

I understand that some people love Demand but my experience is that I make more money writing for private clients who aren't nearly as inconsistent with what they want and expect from writers. I think my biggest problem has been, and continues to be, the inconsistency from one editor to the next. I feel like I'm playing roulette every time I submit an article to them that THIS editor will like what I have to write.

I don't have to spend time searching for those edu and gov sites, as I said, I only choose titles that are in my niche topic and I only write articles on titles that need very specific information, nothing too broad. The sites are already bookmarked in my favorites and are ready to go. It's a very quick process for me now that I have quite a few of those sites bookmarked and it's a topic I'm very familiar with. The only downside is when the titles are few and far between, then I go off and work on another project. Works for me anyway but then I am by no means a high earner at Demand because I only have a few hours a day to write.

[TeenMommy]

Even if you do write in a niche topic, eventually there won't be a huge pool of articles to choose from. You'll then have to branch out into writing articles you don't have as much experience in. My niche subjects are beauty, decorating and weddings. DS barely had any articles in these subjects. Even those of you who are having a good experience can not possibly ignore how much more work writers are asked to do now than we were last year, all for the same pay.

[ferfer]

Originally Posted by TeenMommy

Even if you do write in a niche topic, eventually there won't be a huge pool of articles to choose from. You'll then have to branch out into writing articles you don't have as much experience in. My niche subjects are beauty, decorating and weddings. DS barely had any articles in these subjects. Even those of you who are having a good experience can not possibly ignore how much more work writers are asked to do now than we were last year, all for the same pay.

I have found this exact problem. I have only been with DS for a month, and at first there were more titles than I could write on my niche subject but now they are few and far between.

[jmw1]

I miss the days when I could crank out three how-tos in an hour with DS and not worry about complete rewrites.

Those days are long gone.

[Julia]

Originally Posted by TeenMommy

Even if you do write in a niche topic, eventually there won't be a huge pool of articles to choose from. You'll then have to branch out into writing articles you don't have as much experience in. My niche subjects are beauty, decorating and weddings. DS barely had any articles in these subjects. Even those of you who are having a good experience can not possibly ignore how much more work writers are asked to do now than we were last year, all for the same pay.

I have only been writing since the beginning of this year, so I don't have any experience of how better things were last year but ask me again next year and I might be complaining too lol. I think this thread is a good example of showing how important it is to diversify your work and not rely on one company for your freelance income. Even though I'm enjoying Demand, I will keep looking around for other opportunities, so that if the topic I enjoy over there ever dries up, I still have plenty of work elsewhere. Thanks ladies!

[christent04]

I write about anything. I want to have it in my portfolio, so that when I do expand my writing, I can show that I have written on a bunch of things :-)

[Sissy49]

I was finishing a rewrite tonight and was thinking that the editors are getting worse with their requests. I have another rewrite and they want me to add so many things that it would be like writing another article. I think it's very stressful.

Sherry