No Demand for Demand Studios

You've probably seen the Demand Studios ads on such places as JournalismJobs.com and Mediabistro. They want experience, they want productivity, they want ... trust fund babies. A thread on Mediabistro's forum is worth reading for comments like this:

I had the same experience when Demand launched the Livestrong site. They asked for cycling and/or medical experts. I was offered work: 10 articles, $300. I wrote back asking if that was a typo and nope, it was not. Not worth it, and at least to me, the low pay puts into question the quality of the site.

A thought that might proceed through the mind of a skeptical journalist could be as follows: "I don't know the poster, so how do I know the observation is accurate?" Good question. I did a quick search on JournalismJobs and found a copy editing ad that mentioned rates. Although I can't guarantee that it will be up indefinitely, I can quote some of what I found:

We are looking for dedicated editors who can deliver quality work in a timely manner and are comfortable occasionally communicating with writers. Some fact checking is also required.

We will only accept candidates with 5 years of demonstrated editing or copyediting experience with a newspaper, magazine or book publisher.

This is a part-time freelance position and all work is done online. While your schedule is flexible, we do require our editors to commit to working a minimum of 12 hours per week, every week.

We pay a flat fee of $3.50 per article, with most editors averaging $20-$25 per hour, paid on a weekly basis via PayPal.

The copy editor must have five years experience, do some fact checking, and receive $3.50 per article. To make even $20 an hour, you'd need to do between five and six articles an hour. That's ten minutes per ... what, maybe 300 to 500 words I'm guessing? From times I've edited and had to hire copy editors, the going freelance rate I found was between $45 and $55 an hour. If the writing rates are equally bad -- and why wouldn't they be? -- the editing must be painful and far closer to mass rewriting.

This type of rate is nothing more than intellectual sweat shop piece work. I'd be surprised if the business owners don't laugh over after hour drinks at the gullibility of those who actually agree to such terms. The scary thing is, this is still better than what you might get at a place like Helium.

[Note: Demand Studios responded.

Story of a Wired Assignment

Wired has an interesting blog feature: the story behind a profile of screenwriter (and now director) Charlie Kaufman. You see the pitch letter, draft, edits, notes from the photo director on trying to get a shot of someone who won't sit for a photo shoot - the whole works. It's interesting, although some of it reads as a bit sanitized. Look at the first editor, for example. Maybe this is how they edit, but it comes across as a bit too respectful. For example, the first comment:

Wonderful writing here. One suggestion about construction: Instead of starting with what he isn't (Nicholas Cage) can we start with what Kaufman is (slight, healthy serving of reddish brown curls, etc.].

How many editors do you know who wouldn't just say "swap the what he is with the what he isn't"? Or, more likely, do it themselves. But, overall, it's an interesting look. I would have liked to see a commentary on it in addition, like an annotated version, with someone noting the various allusions in construction and wording, like "here's a take on the typical celebrity profile, only done as a screen treatment." However, it's interesting nonetheless.

More Copy Editing to India

Businessweek has a good story on an Indian copyediting and reporting outsource firm that is even doing work for the Miami Herald:

Mindworks has been handling outsourcing assignments from non-Indian publishers for four years. It expects plenty more business as the cost-cutting in U.S. and European print media grinds on. Some Western publishers do their outsourcing in-house—Thomson Reuters (TRI), for instance, has moved basic Wall Street reporting on U.S., European, and Gulf equities to a new bureau in Bangalore. But other media companies prefer to outsource to the Indians directly. On June 24, Mindworks made global headlines when the Associated Press reported that the company had taken on copyediting and layout work for a couple of publications owned by the California media publishing group Orange County Register Communications.

We're in a time where geographic situation means ever less when it comes to getting work. If you are not building expertise and abilities that are difficult to replicate, then you are facing a more uncertain professional future.

Thinking Like an Editor

Chances are that you've edited someone else's work. It may have been as an editor, or perhaps you were doing a favor to a friend or colleague. You look at the piece and, without any personal attachment, concentrate on making it better. You look for places to reduce unnecessary verbiage, find spots that are unclear, and generally try to tighten things.

Few of us do that automatically with our own work. It's too easy to think that you've been too long at something already, or that you have a fondness for some phrases. But whether you're writing an article, a chapter, a brochure, or a query, you need to bring out your inner editor. Pretend that you have before you something written by another and go to town. Find every error that you can. Take pleasure in showing that person how to really express yourself in words. Toss out sections that don't work, and go so far as restructuring the entire piece of you think it necessary.

It's a bit of acting, this pretense, but will lead to the most real writing you can do. By tricking yourself into a different frame of mind, you reduce your urge to justify your work. On a playwriting list, I recently saw a post from someone who was getting a lot of positive reinforcement from some talented professional theatrical professionals, yet one comment from one admittedly talented and experienced actress was throwing him. He wanted to know how to discount it. I asked why he didn't also discount the praise from the others.

Writing is ultimately an unsentimental affair. You have a job to do - express certain ideas in a way that only you would - and nothing should come between you and that goal. Cultivate the dispassion of a surgeon trying to save someone's life. Only then will you do your best work, because you'll happily sacrifice any part that isn't doing its job.