Tag Archives: content mills

Nannette Croce is full of it

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I subscribe to the weekly email from FundsForWriters, which features a variety of writing tips, markets to try, and pep talks from editor Hope Clark. This week, Hope published (with trepidation) a feature piece from a writer by the name of Nannette Croce who actually had the audacity to defend content mills like Suite101, Demand Studios and others that seek to exploit writers in most unpleasant ways.

Obviously, I think the woman’s argument is completely flawed. There is literally NO reason to write for these scam-artists, and I’ve written on this subject before, having investigated them for myself. But, in case you were wondering, here’s a copy of the email I sent to Hope, having read Nannette’s ridiculous article:

Hi Hope,

I’m glad you let Nannette make her case, as it shows just how flawed her argument really is. We should take a huge pay cut AND write stuff that can’t go on our resumes AND that will make us look bad as writers?! So… the benefit is WHAT? That these sites pay next to nothing, take all our rights, and continue to exploit writers at every turn? Sorry, but that’s not worth anything to me. Even when I find myself thinking I could use the extra money these sites allegedly supply, I tell myself that I could easily make that money (and more!) working a crappy minimum-wage job in retail, where (in Texas, anyway) people only make $7.50 an hour. [For the record, $7.50 an hour translates to $300 a week, before taxes, or $1,200 a month, which is far better than anything you’re going to get from Demand Studios.] Writing mills are a crock, and any sites that support them are equally worthless, in my opinion. Working for a place like Demand Studios gets you nothing but a lack of self-respect, and in turn, brings ALL of us writers down.

Nuts to that,
Laura Roberts

Seriously, if you’re thinking about writing for one of these places, you should just hang up your thinking cap and favorite writing pen and get a minimum-wage job at the nearest mall. There’s no shame in being a writer with a day job, but there is PLENTY of shame in selling out your fellow scribes and working for these slave labor camps that claim to pay writers fairly.

Suite101 and Demand Studios should NOT be listed as paying markets on any legitimate job sites. They do NOT pay their writers fairly, and you should NOT waste your time on them. If Nannette Croce wants to dig her own grave by writing for them (and, honestly, I believe Hope only gave her a bigger platform to preach to the uninformed masses, unfortunately, by allowing her to write positively about these scumbags), then let her. I think, in the end, that Hope’s quote from Ms. Croce concerning payment speaks volumes:

Thanks Hope. I’m taking the day off tomorrow since you just
paid me ten times what they pay me to edit one article for
Demand Studios and three times what I’d get paid to write one.

P.S. Lest you think Hope pays a king’s ransom for her articles, she gives her pay rates up front: $45 per piece, or $47 if you accept payment via Paypal. Hardly enough to live on, and yet Ms. Croce is defending 10 times LESS than this as a writing “wage” from these content mills. This must be the “new math” they’re teaching in schools, because something doesn’t add up here. As a published writer who knows there are plenty of markets that pay much better than this, I wouldn’t waste my time on sites like these, and neither should you!

An open letter to so-called SEO experts

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Reply

Dear so-called “SEO Experts,”

As you may have noticed (since I’m sure you have carefully read through my website before attempting to contact me, rather than heading straight for the “Contact” page), I am a highly competent writer with many years of experience writing specifically for the web. While I appreciate your concern that my “SEO” might need help, and have received your ultra-spammy email indicating that, for a fee, you would be glad to help me out, you might want to address a few concerns I have regarding your tactics:

  1. When I say your email was “spammy,” I mean that it had a certain odor indicating a lack of professionalism. In fact, it reeked of the types of tactics employed by robots, which made me question your humanity altogether, and certainly did not make me want to further a conversation about search engine optimization.
  2. Speaking of which, please don’t ever use the term “SEO” on me again. I know what it stands for (see above), and despite the fact that I’m sure there are people out there who are properly trained to optimize websites for search engines, I doubt you are one of them. The term itself is associated with spammers and other scumbags, who seek to persuade people that there is a “quick fix” for getting your website ranked #1 at “the Google.”
  3. Certainly, there are good tools for optimization efforts out there (like the inexpensive SEO School by Naomi Dunford, which even has a money-back guarantee), but I would never buy them from someone who didn’t even take the time to address me by my proper name in the opening line of their email. If you don’t know what my name is, you aren’t even trying. Perhaps you are legally blind, and your computer’s Stephen Hawking voice has been temporarily muted? Seriously, it’s not like I’ve concealed my identity here. Your lack of personalization gives you away, spammer.
  4. Considering the possibility that you actually know anything at all about optimizing websites, you should be aware that I have many tags on my posts, some pretty eye-catching headlines, and some well-ranked pages, including one about writing scams and content mills. I am, in fact, the #3 page that comes up when searching for my (frightfully common) name on Google, and that suits me fine. The two that rank higher than me are Laura Roberts, MD and a consulting firm that has managed to capture my full name for their URL. It’s not like I’m behind loads of content aggregators and such, so I must have some idea about how to work the great Google machine, no?

In closing, no, I have no need of your supposed skills at this time. But even if I did, you should probably try sending me a personalized message first, asking if I might be interested in what you do, including a proper link to your website and some contact info that ventures into the real world (i.e. phone number, physical business address) that would make me feel like you are working at a reputable company that might actually have a clue.

Just my two-bucks worth (as time is money),
Laura Roberts, Professional Writer

Suite101 and Demand Studios: Why content mills aren’t worth the effort

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Since many people have been writing to me lately asking for my take on the Suite101/Demand Studios types of writing scams and content mills out there, I just wanted to refer everyone back to my original post on the subject, as the final paragraph links to several articles on Writers Weekly which are quite informative and feature real users (i.e. people who’ve worked for these sites) who have given their opinions about these specific content mills and their pay rates.

You should also root around at Writers Weekly to find Angela Hoy’s various articles on each individual company’s policies (including Demand Studios, Suite101, Examiner.com and others), pay rates and scams, as they all feature comments from people who have worked for these sites, giving their informed opinions. There are always people on each side of the issue, pro and con, so they’re fairly well-balanced articles even though Angela thinks they’re all scumbags (and I would have to agree with her).

Also, don’t miss the I Was Sucked into Content Mill Writing article by Anonymous, as it’s a good general take on the type of “work” you will find yourself doing, the feelings you will be feeling, and the right way to put a stop to being taken advantage of as a professional writer.

My basic opinion of these places is that if you’re taking content from writers but aren’t paying them, and are trying to lead them to believe that you WILL be paying them, you’re a scumbag. You’ve started a company that preys on writers, hoping to turn a profit. This is theft of information, ideas and time. Writers, real writers who write copy for a living, are paid for their time as well as their end products. So anyone who offers you payment at some unspecified date in the future, in the form of “royalties” or “percentages” or anything that sounds like “if you have to get a million people to click on the article to make one cent per click and see some profit,” you should run screaming. This is not a job, this is a scam. Period. Suite101 is this type of a scam.

Demand Studios is not this type of a scam, but they are STILL not worth working for, no matter how you slice it. They lay out in advance the amount of money you can expect to make (i.e. $5 to $20 per article), but considering all the research involved, as well as the time spent writing and editing, this is a paltry sum of money. Again, professional copywriters don’t work for these places, because the pay rate is insulting, and if you want proof just ask The Well-Fed Writer (who makes $50,000 a year or more, writing for places that respect the work that he does).

If you just need the money, you should look for another type of job and write what you want to write on the side. Even crappy service industry jobs like waiting tables or slinging coffee will net you more income than Demand Studios. Period. I’ve “worked” for Demand Studios in the past, and it honestly wasn’t worth the effort. You won’t even get good quality clips you can use to net other jobs. Don’t bother.

All that being said, people always want to make up their own minds. So no matter how many times I say “Don’t do it! It’s a scam! It’s not worth it!” there will always be some who want to see for themselves, or try to beat the system. If you want to do that, by all means go ahead, but my honest advice is DON’T DO IT. It’s a scam. And really, it’s not worth your time, your talent, and your self-worth.