It was nice reading the comments on yesterday’s blog post, and emails I received from DS writers, hearing what they had to say about Demand Media Studio’s venture into the eBook market.
They are the reason I miss the DS forum.
While the DS email I received yesterday wasn’t soliciting writers for their new books (They are using their special *experts* for that) – they did ask us to help promote the eBooks in a uniquely spammy fashion, by urging us to send out tweets and *like* their Facebook page.
And what do us lucky writers get? We get a chance (just a chance) to possibly win one of their nifty new eBooks.
Really? I mean, are these people serious??
I am not sure what is worse, devaluating yourself to such a degree as a writer that you ghostwrite one of their eBooks – or that you would actually tarnish your online rep by offering them free marketing services for a chance – just a chance – of winning an eBook.
Sheesh. Who is running that asylum?
Had Demand Studios Media not treated its freelancers with such a deplorable lack of respect, I would not be so annoyed. I suspect those offering up free marketing services might suffer from battered-spouse syndrome.
In spite of my annoyance with DMS, I am grateful. Working for them was an excellent writing exercise. Many writers have difficulty sitting down at the keyboard each day, referring to the process as painful. Yet, after training myself to sit down for a minimum of 8-hours a day, and focus on hammering out copy, it has made me a more prolific and focused writer. Hopefully I am a better writer, yet that is for the readers to decide.
Your last sentence is the one thing that Demand Studios has failed to grasp. The articles written by the writers are supposed to be for the readers, not the copy editors or the Demand Studios staff.
ReplyDeleteThe latest issues with Demand Studios include the en masse "firing" of writers that they chose not to include in the new writing sections. I put the quotes around "firing" because they aren't technically getting rid of the writers, but by denying writers that have years of experience in the topic of the section, or consistently high scores in previous written articles related to the topic, they might as well be firing them. The regular eHow.com article cache is empty.
DMS is struggling. It is even more apparent when you look at the current fraud investigation:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/burke-harvey-frankowski-llc-announces-investigation-into-demand-media-inc-2012-03-30
They are trying to find any way that they can to keep their heads above water, and branching off into e-books and begging the writers that they are screwing over for free advertising is the best that they can come up with.