DS Veteran Writer Contacting eHow Writers to Solicit Ebook Sales

With change comes opportunity and I can see how the eHow/Demand Studios metamorphosis will open doors for ebook sellers to grab another share of the freelance writing marketplace. Just curious what any of you might know about this ebook that I've been twice solicited to purchase.

One month before the WCP cancelation announcement was released on April 5th I had received a message in my ehow inbox from Kent Ninomiya about applying to Demand Studios and getting his ebook to help with the process of applying and learning how to be successful at DS. I dismissed it rather quickly and had no intentions of purchasing it. Here's the first email he sent on March 4th-

If you are writing for eHow you should definitely check out Demand Studios. They pay writers up front for articles that appear on eHow and other sites. Have you ever noticed how some eHow articles are User Submitted and others are by Contributing Writers? The Contributing Writers are paid by Demand Studios to write those articles. They are not picking up pennies in revenue share. I am the FEATURED CREATOR on the DemandStudios.com website. I reveal my secrets on how to get accepted to Demand Studios and make big money on their site. I invite you to take a look at DemandStudioSecrets.com.
Thanks!
Kent

And then the second message arrived after the announcement went public on April 5th-

Did you get the email about eHow canceling their writer compensation program? All writers must now be a member of Demand Studios to write for eHow. Check this out to learn the truth about Demand Studios.

DemandStudioSecrets.com

Is it coincidence that he would send out info about his book one month prior to the cancellation of the WCP or did he know this change was in the works and wanted to plant the DS seed early and then come back to close the sale when people were confused, frustrated, and annoyed with ehow?

I am in no way recommending this ebook since I have not read it, but was wondering if any of you have done so and if you've benefitted at all from the info it contains. Since I was not preapproved as a DS writer, I am considering applying and this book does intrique me as it claims to reveal the "secrets" of how to get approved the first time. However, I bet if I looked hard enough I'd find the same "secrets" on a blog or forum somewhere.

I'm not sure if I should admire Kent for jumping on this opportunity to push sales of his book at a time when guidance is truly needed, or should I view him as the hawk circling above the vulnerable field mice below? Cheese, anyone?

What are your thoughts? Can anyone critique this ebook?




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The End of The Writer's Compensation Program

After months of UK related controversy and various publishing bugs, Ehow has announced that it has ended the Writer's Compensation Program as of today, April 5th 2010. If you sign into your account you will notice that you cannot write any new articles but your old articles still exist and can be edited. You will now be required to apply to Demand Studios if you wish to continue to write for ehow. However, there is no guarantee that you will be accepted. If accepted, you will have the option of choosing either an upfront payment or recurring monthly compensation as you've been receiving all along. For all the details go to their most recent blog and video post.

I can't say that I am surprised by this since many ehow writers and bloggers had been predicting these changes for months. According to ehow's blogpost:

The biggest benefits of this transition are 1) a better publishing system for our writers, 2) writer empowerment to make more money, and 3) that we are all able to raise eHow's article quality, benefitting writers and consumers alike.

After reading the Migration FAQ's, it sounds like some writers will be automatically approved and some will have to apply to Demand Studios. I looked at the application but have not decided if I will bother to apply. I'm not a professional writer and have no resume to submit. My ehow articles and my 2 blogs are the extent of my current writing experience, unless I could dig up some "A" papers from college to throw in for good luck. I'm a stay at home mom who likes to write about her interests and experiences and learn new things. I was hoping to use ehow to supplement my monthly household income whenever I had some free time to put my thoughts into words. Is there a place at Demand Studios for someone like me? Is there a place at Demand Studios for someone like you? Will you submit the application if you haven't been preapproved yet and if accepted what payment option would you choose? What do you think about these changes and your future with ehow/Demand Studios? Will you stick around and keep writing or move on?

Note: If you'd like to be added to my friend list in the left sidebar, just leave a comment and follow or subscribe to this blog. Then send a note on ehow to bestmommy asking me to add your ehow profile link to the list. Hope to hear from you! There's always room for one more!

Saying Something Nice About eHow

It's been too long since I've updated this blog and I truly apologize for that. You might say I've been practicing the old rule of not saying anything at all if I can't say anything nice, I guess. My intention was for this to be an encouraging place where ehow writers could trade info about their experiences and hopefully learn from one another and get more exposure to their profiles and articles on the site. I'm sorry to see that is not happening for the most part at the current time.

Ehow has a lot of things to work on if they want to regain the trust of their WCP writers, meaning the writers like myself and probably most of you who follow this blog. We've signed up for the Writers Compensation Plan where ehow pays a percentage of ad revenue generated from our articles. This pay plan differs from the articles submitted by Contributing Writers who are paid a flat fee per article, which I've read to be around $15 each.

I've received .50 of extra compensation based on an unknown formula that ehow used to determine how much income may have been lost due to our articles being published on the UK site. I've read in the forums that the extra compensation was very minimal for most. Since I don't make payout every month I wasn't expecting much so I guess 50 cents is better than nothing, although I believe the actual lost income is higher.

Back to the WCP versus the CW. There is definitely obvious favoritism shown toward the Contributing Writers. Contributing Writers don't seem to have any problems getting their articles published while we are struggling on a daily basis to outsmart the bugs and greasy mechanic that so often appears after hitting the submit button. I'd like to take his wrench and....well, you get the picture. And that's one of the biggest problems right now, getting the picture to stick when I submit articles.

I've found some welcome solutions in the forums that have helped me get several new articles posted. I'm not happy with them as they are, since the pics are lacking but I just wanted to get them out there and will go back to add pics when that glitch is fixed.

How to Not Be Fooled on April Fool's Day
How to Use All the Cereal in the Box
How to Make Your Own Friends and Family Olympics
How to Make Fast and Easy Apricot Walnut Spread

One person that has been extremely helpful in posting publishing workaround tips, words of ehow wisdom and general good humor is Shirley Philbrick. If you're not familiar with her check out her articles and helpful forum comments. Does this qualify as saying something "nice" about ehow? Although, ehow as a company/website has been lacking greatly in communication and responsiveness to it's members' concerns, the ehow community has some inspiring members that are true assets to the site.

The question now is, when will the pic glitch be fixed and how will we know when it is fixed. Wouldn't it be wonderful if ehow sent out emails to notify us when bugs are fixed and encouraged us all to come back to the site and try again to post new articles? I'm getting the feeling that the WCP peeps are not very welcome anymore. It seems like ehow is trying their hardest to make it so difficult to add articles, setting us up for failure and hoping we'll just give up and walk away.

So what do you think? Were you happy with your extra UK compensation? Do you still feel welcome on the site or frustrated and defeated?

Ehow Responds to UK Website Concerns With First Ever Video Blog

If you haven't been active on the ehow site lately, you may have missed the latest communication tool they've implemented. Ehow posted their first Video Blog on January 29th where Rich (Community Manager) and Greg (General Manager) discussed what is being done to address the concerns of the community regarding the UK site and the drop in earnings that many writers have been complaining about on the message boards. 

Since my earnings are minimal I hadn't noticed a drastic change but apparently some long time successful ehow writers had noticed a decline in their monthly incomes which they attributed to their articles being published on the UK beta site without being compensated for the ad revenue generated by that site. I've not spent much time on ehow lately and only added one new article since last posting to this blog. According to the video we should see some compensation from the UK site included in January's earnings. Does this mean our earnings will be separated into US earnings and UK earnings? I've not seen any differentiation made in my articles earnings, have you? I'm curious to see if/how they will show the actual compensation from the UK site once they close out the month of January.

Please comment on what else you may have observed or gathered regarding this subject.

Happy February! We've enjoyed a rare snowfall over the weekend and a day off from school due to icy roads. Hope you're staying warm and safe this winter!

December Payments and Notification Issues

I'm happy to say that I once again qualified for a Paypal payment from ehow.  My combined earnings from October and November totaled $12.80 and my payment was received on 12/10/09.  Maybe "happy" isn't the most accurate adjective to describe my feelings, since the amount doesn't actually inspire me to do cartwheels. But in comparison to the 3 months it took me to qualify for the last payment, then I guess you could say I'm pleasantly surprised and content at the moment.

I've heard some rumblings from other writers that they are still waiting for payment. I have noticed that my payments have been arriving later and later in the month. My first one was received on the 5th, second one on the 6th, third one on the 8th and now this one on the 10th of the month. Should I be worried about this?  I'm wondering what their system is for sending out payments. Do they pay the smaller amounts first, then the larger amounts, or do more established writers get faster payments than newbies? Maybe there is no system. If you'd like to share your payment results and receipt dates please do so.

Has anyone else stopped receiving comment notifications or the ehow of the day?  I checked my notification settings to be sure that nothing had changed and verified that every box was checked to receive every notification possible. But I've definitely not received any comment notifications or ehow's of the day since the end of September.  I do, however, still receive friend requests and subscription updates.

One other strange thing that happened was that I received an expiration notice on an article that I had published and had already started earning money from.  Apparently, this article was also still listed under my unfinished drafts and the date of expiration was fast approaching.  I responded to the email and told them that the article should no longer appear as a draft since it was alive and earning money.  I never got a response but I see now that the draft is gone.  I was worried that ehow would delete the live article by mistake but this issue seems to be resolved now.  Anyone else have this situation?

I've added only one new article, "How to Find Out When Someone Unfollows You on Twitter", since my last blog post which brings me back up to 24 articles.  The most I've ever had running live at one time was 26 before the last sweep.  I hope to bring up my total in the future. This may be a good time for an ehow inspired New Year's Resolution.

Well, until next time....On a personal note, I'm looking forward to having the kids home on winter break and relaxing stress free without homework deadlines and extra curricular commitments!  WOOHOO!
Know of any good ehow articles on how to do this?  I think we may have forgotten "how to."    : )

Wishing you all a relaxing, happy and healthy Holiday Season and prosperous New Year!!

Note: If you'd like to be added to my friend list in the left sidebar, just leave a comment and follow or subscribe to this blog. Then send a note on ehow to bestmommy asking me to add your ehow profile link to the list. Hope to hear from you! There's always room for one more!

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow---How Many Articles Did You Lose This Time?

After posting several new articles without any major glitches I was starting to feel positive again about the prospect of making money with ehow. My outlook had improved and I actually felt productive on the site again.  Things were running quite smoothly when I posted my newest articles

How to Claim a Title for Your Next eHow Article
How to Finance Medical and Dental Procedure Interest Free
How to Make Easy Rotisserie Chicken Soup
How to Peel a Tomato Easily


and I was inspired to make notes of new ideas for articles and get the titles claimed in my article library to complete in the future.

Then a few days later I come to find my inventory of 26 articles had diminished to 23. I've yet to receive an email telling me which ones were axed and why, (just as I have never received prior notice from the October sweep) but thanks to another clever ehow writer I was able to locate the information on my deleted articles through a URL. This is what I found regarding my deleted articles.

- Title: How to Find or Make Inexpensive Halloween Costumes for Your Kids, Reason: Common Sense


- Title: How to Subscribe to Specific Categories on Ehow, Reason: Common Sense


- Title: How to Use Vinefire to Promote Your eHow Articles, Reason: SPAM

Here's my take on it.....
The first article on Halloween costumes received over 400 views and earned $1.67.  Deleted for Common Sense--There are other similar "how tos" still alive and well on the site so I am perplexed by this one. I can understand if they felt the info was outdated, since Halloween has passed but as far as common sense goes, that's a very gray area.  What is common sense to some may be enlightenment to others so this reason is very hard to justify, in my opinion.  I do enjoy reading about how others come up with creative ideas on how to make things fun for their kids and save money as well, so I did feel this article provided helpful ideas and useful information. Anyway, what's done is done and this article has been edited slightly and now has a new home on infobarrel. 

If you're interested in trying infobarrel as another source of online income and a place to post your ehow rejects you can sign-up here. They share adsense revenue as well as Chitika ad revenue with their writers.  

The second one on subscribing to categories was also deleted for Common Sense. Well, I guess I have no common sense, because it took me months before I realized you could subscribe by category and not just by choosing individual writers.  LOL!! I wrote the article because I wish I had known how to do this a long time ago and thought there might be others who, like me, did not know that this was a feature of the site. I'm curious to know how many ehowers do know how to subscribe to categories.......Maybe I'm just slow.....

The last one on vinefire was deleted as Spam. So what classifies an article as spam? My definition of spam would be linking to sites that do not relate to the subject matter of the article, just to drive traffic. Ehow's definition is apparently something else I have not figured out yet. The link in the resources was a link to the vinefire website, which is what the entire article was about.  In order to use vinefire to promote your ehow articles you must first sign-up at the vinefire website. It was not a link to amazon, ebay, or any other affiliate site not related to the content of the article.  So, if we write an article about how to do what the article is explaining which includes using another website to accomplish the "how to" are we not allowed to put the link in resources?  All of the guides and blogs I've read on how to use ehow to make money say that you can and should be using the resources link for promoting other money makers as long as the links pertain to the subject matter of the article.

From the complaints on the forums I can see I'm not the only one still trying to figure out what ehow really wants from us so I would like to recommend toogie2's blogposts on Surviving the Sweeps at ehow.  Spend some time on this blog. I was very impressed with the information provided here. I felt like I had found the "hidden secrets" to ehow success. There's some very valuable points made here that should help you understand how and why your aticles were cut for the reasons stated. You may not agree with ehow's reasons and logic, but consider applying this info to future articles and you may find it reduces your losses in the long run. Thanks toogie2, for your insight into the article sweep process and what ehow expects from its writers.

Care to share your losses, vent your frustrations, ask questions, offer advice, etc? Looking forward to your comments and insight.

An Ehow Friend Needs Your Help!

I'm posting this request in order to help one of my ehow friends prepare for a job interview.  I wanted to help her get the word out about an incredible opportunity that has presented itself.  Please help Janice get to 1000 subscribers! See below for explanation.

Here's YOUR challenge: I have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity knocking at my door and REALLY need your help and support! I may have the opportunity to land a spot in t.v. land with a local network to my area WOTV Channel 4. I want to see how many of my eHow friends can SUBSCRIBE to my channel on eHow. Remember, I'm loaded with information about consignment, personal styles in clothing, putting outfits together, and general clothing knowledge that eHow has given me the chance to share with you. PLEASE SUPPORT ME IN SUBSCRIBING TO ME! My goal is to have over 1000 subscribers in 2 days, just in time for the interview process. I'm already getting a FREEBIE 2 minute spot in radio tomorrow morning to plead my case on why I should be picked for the job. I WOULD LOVE YOUR SUPPORT! Click on the link below to go to my profile page, read about me, maybe rate an article, but most importantly, if you haven't SUBSCRIBE to me Consignmentchic!!!!


http://www.ehow.com/members/consignmentchic.html?view=3rd


I truly appreciate all your support! THANKS in advance for your help!


Sincerely,

Janice Penny a.k.a. CONSIGNMENTCHIC

Let's all help Janice reach her goal. Feel free to tweet this post, forward to your other ehow friends, post the link on your own blogs, social networks, etc.  Thank you everyone!