Seed Sucks: AOL Seed Review

By Demand Studios Review Editorial

Posted On 10/28/10:

I mentioned on my Demand Studios Alternatives article that I would start writing more in depth reviews of some of the sites mentioned there after I got a chance to try them out a bit.

The first review is going to be less than positive. I'm writing this AOL Seed review after submitting only one article to them, which wasn't accepted, so take it with as little a grain of salt as you wish.

I think I can fairly say that AOL Seed isn't worth your time, however, based on that limited experience, because it doesn't take long to get the gist of the site.

I wasn't even going to give AOL Seed a shot until someone told me in the comments of the Demand Studios Alternatives article that the site was no longer runnning as a competition set-up. It appears that, for the most part, it still is, meaning you write a title that an untold number of other writers are also writing and hope yours gets plucked out of the pile for publication.

While it's fair to speculate that had my article been selected this review would be more positive, I generally dislike that type of freelance writing website.

 AOL Seed has gotten a lot of attention, and they currently have very few articles in their queue. This means there are likely a lot of writers writing each title and submitting it for consideration. That means your chances aren't great of having what you write reach publication status, and an eventual payout.

Even if you do get lucky a few times, most of what you write will probably be rejected. That means a lot of wasted time and energy that could be spent writing articles for sites that don't force you into a head to head battle with other scribes.

If you have your own blog or website where you can published the articles AOL Seed doesn't accept, then it may well be worth your time as a side project. Especially if you haven't been accepted by Demand Media Studios.

Just keep in mind that some of these articles are time sensitive and AOL Seed isn't the quickest at reviewing and accepting, or not accepting, articles. That's no surprise considering they are going through multiple submissions and selecting only the best one. They probably want to wait a while to allow for enough submissions, thereby ensuring they get the best possible article for their purposes.

It took them about a week and a half to review the article I submitted, and it was a very basic piece. It was a "Top Ten Quotes" article, which shouldn't take long to review at all.

The other possible exception to my decision to stear writers clear of AOL Seed is with their calls for long-term assignments. Right now, they are looking for music writers in certain cities.

If you happen to live in one of the cities mentioned, and have some music writing experience, it could be worth checking out.

So, there you have it, my less than glowing review of AOL Seed. I'll keep my eye on them and let you know if the set-up changes. Who knows, maybe someday they will evolve into something more worthwhile. Until then, I suggest opting for other writing clients if at all possible (and it should be possible).

UPDATE 8/19/2011: Read our article "AOL Seed Showing No Articles" for an update on AOL Seed, which at the time of this writing is no longer showing any assignments in their queue.

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