Sorry for going off topic. There must be a blog post somewhere about my affiliation with Demand Studios again, because I received another flood of emails about being a “Paid Mouthpiece”. Though it’s being suggested that I’m not being honest about my affiliation with Demand, I’d like to once again respond openly and honestly about my partnership.
While I did get permission to publish these emails, no one wanted their real names to appear.
Dear Deb,
Being a paid mouthpiece for Demand Studios has clouded your judgment. How can you lie to your community? This is a terrible opportunity. You’ll do anything for a buck.
Actually, that’s not true. There are plenty of things I’ll do for a buck, but there are places I’ll draw the line. For example, I wouldn’t sell my body – though I doubt there would be too many buyers. I also wouldn’t eat objects that aren’t meant for ingestion.
That doesn’t mean I’m not open to partnership opportunities for places I feel to be a good fit for this community.
I haven’t lied to the FWJ community at all. I have suggested that DS is a terrific way to earn money as a writer and I believe this to be true. I have suggested you can use DS clips to land higher paying opportunities and I know this to be true. I also believe we all have choices. I just don’t believe in knocking anyone for theirs. None of that’s a lie.
Everyone here knows I got my online writing start with content sites. I’ve also posted those jobs here for years. I’m not going to pretend I didn’t use them, nor am I going to pretend they didn’t lead to better opportunities for me and others, because they did.
Dear Deb,
Would you still sing Demand Studios praises if they weren’t paying you?
You can look back in the comments here, one member of this community actually brought it all to light before, but I encouraged the FWJ community to look into DS long before our affiliation. Would I have their big ads in my sidebar? Probably not. I’ll post free ads for charity, but not content sites. Would I post their news? Sure, if it was good news. I’ll also post news for other places as well – if they’ll send it to me. I won’t promote sites I don’t believe to be a good opportunities, but I’m happy to spread news and drive traffic to the places I like.
Dear Deb,
Demand Studios takes advantage of their writers. Everytime you expect a check from them you condone their shoddy treatment. Shame on you. I hope being a paid mouthpiece is worth the shot to your reputation.
No one is misleading anyone. Demand Studios is very upfront about what they do, how much they pay and what is expected. No one is forcing writers to take these jobs. No one is entering into it blind and no one is being taken advantage of. If endorsing a place I feel good about causes a hit to my reputation, there’s not a whole lot I can do about it.I hope after five years of doing this the FWJ community trusts me enough to know I wouldn’t send them in a bad direction, even for a check. However, what hurts more than a hit to my reputation is seeing how other writers are treated. That bothers me a lot. I sort of expected to receive a lot of flack after announcing my partnership. I didn’t expect seasoned writers to call content writers names and question their talent.
There are more of these types of emails, but it’s kind of redundant to answer the same exact questions over and over. Here are all the responses in a nutshell.
- Yes, I know writers who have used their Demand Studios clips to land more lucrative and prestigious opportunities. Some of them have weighed in here on many occasions.
- The reason I approached DS about a partnership was their commitment to quality content, something I didn’t think was a concern for many content sites. I also appreciated how writers received guidance from the editors so they could move on to bigger venues.
- Yes, I think writers from all stages of their career can benefit from Demand Studios.
- No, I don’t regret my partnership with Demand Studios and will renew my contract as often as they’ll want me.
- No, it’s not part of my agreement with Demand Studios to defend them on blogs, in forums, Twitter, etc. When I do so it’s only to correct what I see as inaccuracies. I say nice things about them because I believe them to be true and not because I’m being paid. DS pays me to advertise on this blog, not to speak for them. (So I guess I’m not really a paid mouthpiece.)
- Do I believe there are better opportunities for writers? Absolutely.
- Do I believe writers should use DS as a stepping stone only? I’m not sure about that. I think no matter what job a writer takes, she should always keep a lookout for better opportunities – whether it’s Demand Studios or Vogue Magazine. However, it’s up to writers to decide whether or not they want to skip along the stones or stop and set up shop for a while.
If you have a different question about my affiliation with Demands Studios feel free to ask in the comments.
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