Succeeding at Demand Studios by Finding Your Inner Pacino

By Joe Marshall, Demand Studios Review Writer

Posted On 9/2/11

I must admit that before reading our recent post (which I did not write) “Demand Studios Not Getting Rid of How to Format, Demand Media SVP of Content Jeremy Reed Confirms” I had never heard of Mr. Reed. I wanted to know more about him, so I did a bit of research.

That’s when I stumbled upon a Demand Media blog entry he wrote in May of 2009 entitled “A Message From Jeremy Reed, Senior Vice President of Content” where he makes an interesting revelation, rather in passing.

Reed is listing some of his favorite quotes, when he gets to one uttered by his colleague, Demand Studios Copy Curator Richard Lally.

Reed reports Lally having told CEs in a copyediting workshop, “I want each of you to adopt the philosophy of the detective Al Pacino played in the film  Sea of Love. When someone asked how he subdued a criminal, Pacino replied, ‘I get in, I hit 'em hard, I hit 'em fast, I hit 'em a lot, I get outta there.’” (Note: I cleaned up the grammar a bit…Sorry, but I couldn’t help mentioning that. The $3.50 can be paid through our PayPal donation button on the About page.)

Another necessary admission: That irked me when I first read it.

It was Lally’s advice to Demand Studios editors, who are required to edit quickly, at scale. While I guess that isn’t a bad bit of advice for editing at scale, I don’t particularly like the imagery it creates. Demand Studios writers are the serial killers and copy editors are the hardnosed detectives, played by one of the greatest actors of our time, no less. Gee, thanks.

After I thought about it a bit more, I started to see other possibilities.

Perhaps the articles were the criminals in the equation, or maybe the errors in the articles themselves.

That was at least a little bit better.

Then I started thinking how the same “Get in touch with your inner Pacino” logic could be applied to succeeding as a writer at Demand Studios.

Get In

Get accepted as a writer at Demand Studios. Then, get past the three article limit and gain full writing privileges.

This can also be thought of as getting into the title by doing the proper research. Think .edu and .gov references, as well as liberal use of the customized Demand Studios Google search tool.

Hit ‘Em Hard

Write a strong first sentence to grab the reader’s attention. Copy editors look for this, along with a strong introduction in general.

Your introduction needs to have an impact because editors know how distracted online readers can be, and if you waste their time they’ll go elsewhere.

Take a look at the Demand Media blog post “Why Your Introduction Matters (And How to Make it Good)” for tips on crafting a powerful intro.

Hit ‘Em Fast

Don’t go off on tangents or ease your way into the article. The introduction should hit fast, and then the sections should start off with a similarly well focused approach.

Also, don’t waste time choosing difficult or impossible titles. Either claim articles you already know a good bit about, or pick something that can be quickly learned through research. If you take too much time writing articles for Demand Studios you will find yourself earning minimum wage type salaries.

Hit ‘Em A Lot

Cover your topic completely. Hit all the major points, continuing to stick to the meat of the title. Think of what a reader would be looking to find based on the title. Deliver this information to them in as succinct as possible, with punchy writing.

Demand Media has made it clear that they like short sentences and concrete, well researched ideas.

Get Outta There

Don’t linger or attempt to sum up your article in the last section. Editors will see this as rehashing and stretching to meet the word count.

Also, after a read through to check for, and correct, any errors, hit the submit button and either move on to the next Demand Studios article or move on to some other bit of work you have lined up for the day.

Taking “Get Outta There” One Step Further

I don’t consider myself to be a Demand Studios hater at all. Like with any client, I do have my complaints here and there. But I choose to keep them as a client for a reason.

Still, I would like to get to the point where Demand Studios is something I keep on the side as something to hit up when I need a quick payment.

I don’t want to find myself bothered by title droughts, or with midnight title hunts. I want to move away from those days.

So I’m taking the “Get outta there” idea one step further. I’m not looking to get completely out of Demand Studios, but I do want to get out from under depending on them, even to a small degree.

So I am taking Jillian’s advice, from the last Demand Studios Review post, and I’m going down the path of creating my own websites.

I bit the bullet and decided to buy XSitePro. I’m still poking around the program, but so far it seems pretty user friendly and I’m getting excited by what it appears to be able to accomplish.

Next, again going with Jillian’s advice, I bought hosting through HostGator, and then a few domain names through Namecheap.

I’ve already written about half a dozen articles for my sites, and while I am a bit nervous I am already feeling more positive about my future as a freelance writer.

I guess this means I’m going to have to be my own Al Pacino from now on, policing my own work. That sounds fine by me.

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