Back for good....

I know it's been a long time since I posted. Life, in the form of two young kids and a sick mom, have gotten in the way. Part of my new plan to move forward with my life is to keep this blog updated regularly, so I'll be on much more now.

Like many, my suite 101 earnings have tanked, so ive been focusing on demand media studios and break studios instead, although these sites seem to be a bit troubled as well. To mix things up, ive also been working as a title editor for demand, which i enjoy much more than writing for them at times. Content sites are merely a part of my long term plan anyway. More on my new plan later.

For now, it's time to get the kids up and dressed to go to the park. It's a beautiful day here in NJ and I want to make the most of it!

Taking a break from Break Studios

First off, let me say that I have really enjoyed writing for Break Studios. Yes, the pay is less than Demand Media Studios, but the articles can be shorter and are on fun topics, and I liked the editorial process much better. Notice the past tense here. I had published around 55-60 articles with Break since the end of May, and only had a couple of rewrites in that time, and they were my fault for not paying attention to using keyphrases or not using the right format. Other than that, the editors didn't send articles back. Break asks for references only from .org, .edu or .gov, but they didn't absolutely require them if the topic was something like, how to wash dishes or best stripclubs in Florida (these aren't actual article titles, jut examples of the kind of titles Break sometimes has.)

In the last week, I submitted 2 articles for them, and had both sent back for rewrites. One was supposed to be about a TV character, and once I read the rewrite, I just unclaimed the article. The editor asked for a reference for the article, .org. .edu or .gov. Umm, There are no articles on TV characters on those types of websites. Plus, the editor said the article was too short, despite the fact that I checked the word count and their system automatically won't allow anything to submit that is short on words. So I let that one go.

The second article, the rewrite made more sense. I had forgotten to format it correctly. The editor asked me to insert a numbered list for the how to, and to add more info to the first paragraph. A numbered list didn't make sense for this particular article, so I did a bulleted list, also acceptable per their guidelines, and added more to the first paragraph.

This morning, I received another rewrite for the same article, with almost the same instructions. More detail in the intro, and use a numbered list instead of bulleted. The article is on the best way to have a casual relationship, that's not a numbered stepped process. Whatever, I made the changes and hit resubmit, but I think they're getting a little silly now. And there is no spot on the article to leave a comment or explanation for the editor, so I couldn't explain my position.

The end result of all of this is that I decided to take a break from them for a bit. I unclaimed the other articles I had chosen and didn't look for others. I think their articles are fun, but I don't need anymore headaches. Break is where I wrote when I wanted a good afternoon of easy, pleasant writing, and now I'm starting to dread checking my email, so I think I'm going to focus on other sites for the time being.