I posted a short tip from a reader a few weeks ago about writing for Demand Studio. Many of you were very interested in this opportunity and I wanted to share a spin-off writing opportunity–writing for eHow.com. Rachel from Jewish Mommie took the time to write up a more detailed explanation about how writing for eHow.com works:
Writing for eHow.com is a nice work-from-home opportunity that pays $15 (usually) for articles that are written on your own time and about your own interests. I have been writing for eHow for several months and found it to be an engaging and rewarding experience.
To become a writer for Demand Studios (owner of eHow), you’ll need to fill out an application and submit a writing sample (generally a how-to type of article) on their website, www.DemandStudios.com. If approved, you’ll usually find out in 48 hours and can get started writing articles almost immediately.
The way eHow works is this: writers claim titles from a database of over 20,000 available titles. These article titles are generated from search terms that people are typing into Google throughout the world.
Topics are as varied as “How to Run for Student Council in the 5th Grade” or “How to Apply for a Marriage License in South Carolina.” Many titles are very obscure or technical, so it can sometimes take a lot of browsing before you find a title you can claim.
Writers have seven days to complete articles, which must include thorough research and sourcing. A copy editor then reviews the article and will either accept it or ask for a rewrite. If a rewrite is required, the writer then has four days to address the copy editor’s comments and resubmit. If it’s still not up to par, the article gets rejected.
Most articles pay $15, but titles can range from $5-$25. Writers are paid through Paypal twice a week.
The first three articles are generally the most time consuming to write as you need to learn Demand Studios’ formats and requirements. You want to craft a well-sourced, engaging and accurate article to avoid rewrite or rejection, but getting the hang of it takes time.
Demand Studios estimates on their website that writers spend an average of 40 minutes per article, thus earning an average of $20 per hour. After writing for them for several months, I’m still spending over an hour and a half per article, but I hope to cut that time down with more practice and experience.
The key benefits of writing for eHow are that you consistently earn extra cash on your own time, you get paid to write articles and research interesting topics, you get to work with experienced copy editors who help you hone your craft, and you get online articles published under your name. It’s also fascinating to see the inside workings of an up-and-coming tech company and be involved in the creation of web content.
If this opportunity sounds like something for you, apply today as Demand Studios is currently hiring both writers and copy editors.
Rachel is an LA-based writer, wife, and mom. She blogs about cooking, mothering, and life in between at Jewish Mommie.
Thanks!!
Whats their payment platform?
All this being said if you’re a fast writer, and you don’t spend a lot of time on each article, maybe you could make minimum wage working on Demand Studio stuff. Which would be cool if you’re working from home and that’s all the money you were looking for. But long-term, other “freelance” writing jobs would be likely to net you a lot more. Blogging is my favorite.
I’ve done quite a bit of freelance writing, myself–not the website, but jobs you hunt down for yourself in corporate America–and the income can be excellent, but often requires a lot more personal marketing or a good list of personal contacts. And you’ll need to be able to prove you can do the work with a combination of references, education, and samples. You also need to have the good aptitude for customer service, so you can keep your clients happy.
I don’t even think EHow offers the paid incentive program anymore. That’s why I switched to PaidTypers.com. Much better opportunities.
Apologies for the confusion – when I wrote this post there were many more titles available. However I have still found many “write-able” titles as of this week, including “how to interview for a social work job” and “how to become a fireman in Missouri,” which are fairly simple to research and write. So I would still give them a shot!
Does anyone have any experience with using the Blog Distribution Network mentioned on their site? Thanks for any help you can give!
Thanks!
Unrelated ? – where did the article about being a mail recipient go? I was thinking that looked cool and went to show my hubs and it had disappeared 🙁
Also, good to know about ehow – I will apply today – thanks!
The company asked that I pull it down as they received 500 emails within the space of 30 minutes and were overloaded. They are going to send me an updated list of all zip codes they are looking for help in once they’ve processed the 500 emails.
Thanks for info….I was wondering about it too!
Wow, that’s quite a response! My zip code was in fact one they were specifically not looking for…. but thanks for sharing the opportunity!
haha wow thats a lot of people. I was one of them, I wanted those free stamps haha
I agree with Melissa. The opportunities have steadily declined at Demand Media over the last several months. I was making decent money there a few months ago, but now I cannot find a single thing to write and it doens’t look like it’s going to get any better.
I wrote for eHow for a few years but was not able to transfer over to Demand Studios. When I applied at Demand Studios earlier this year, I was told the market was flooded as well as I did not have a degree in English/writing. My teaching background and the well-written sample I provided was not sufficient.
Once you become a more established writer with Demand Studios, you get access to a broader and deeper pool or titles. I write articles for Demand Studios that are published to eHow Money, Houston Chronicle and Motley Fool. Each article I write pays $25. However, you have to be invited to write for these special assignments. I love writing for DS!
One thing of note, as the post above is misleading…you must meet the reference requirements on each article to support that the topic is thorough and accurate, and the general pool of eHow titles is currently 4,376, many of which are barely coherent based on the DMS standards. This low title availability has been this way for months on end.
Thanks for sharing this further information, Melissa!
I have to agree — this is NOT the best time to start writing for DS … the article cites a database of “20,000 available titles” … my queue is currently at around 4500, most of which are unwriteable. While DS has been a great place to work (I’ve been working full time there for 1.5 years), I’d find it hard to recommend them at the moment because of the upsetting dearth of titles.
Thanks so much for the honest feedback. I really appreciate it.
I am a stay-at-home mom that used to be a technical writer for 9 years. Thanks so much for the information. Now I have a way to apply for an opportunity and still stay at home!
I was a technical writer/ editor for 5 years, so this could be a great way to earn some cash. I was always miserably bored at work because I write really fast and there was rarely enough work to do. This might be right up my alley! Thanks for the info… even the criticism… I’ll know what to look out for!