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If you have any self respect as a writer, don’t write for Seed.com. I doubt that I will ever do so again.
Owned by AOL, Seed.com is a fairly new content mill (much like Break Studios or Demand Studios) that I recently discovered. Because it is owned by AOL, I thought that I would give it a shot.
Yes, I had my reservations because, unlike Break Studios or Demand Studios, when you accept an assignment at Seed.com, you are usually not the only writer who is accepting it. Rather, you are competing with other writers for the same piece of content. When all of the writers submit their content, Seed.com will either:
1. Select the best one, or ones, to publish and pay that writer, or writers, accordingly. (All of the other writers get--well--nothing for their hard work, not even a chance to revise their content to meet editorial requirements).
2. Choose to publish all of them and pay each writer the full price for each article.
3. Reject all of the articles because none meet editorial requirements. (In this scenario, none of the writers get paid for all of their hard work--again.)
Excuse me but…what is AOL thinking? I have never heard of a more unethical business practice, much less one that screws over freelance writers like this.
Nevertheless, I decided to try my hand at one of their articles. I know, I know…have I no shame? But I had a good reason to write this article--200 of them, actually. You see, one of the editors at Seed.com individually selected me to write this article--for $200.
Article Assignment for Seed
In a previous post, I wrote that I came across an article assignment titled “Mean Girls: Bullying Among Girls.” When I clicked the listing to read the details of the assignment, this was the first sentence of the description:
You have been individually selected for this assignment by the editor.
I was hooked. I had to accept this assignment now. A nameless, faceless editor had selected me to write it--the $200 fee didn’t hurt either. (Of course, I also knew that anybody could accept this assignment and--individually selected or not--I could well put in all this work and find that my article has been rejected.)
But I tried anyway. Per the assignment instructions, I did a mound of research on the bullying behavior of girls. During my research, I interviewed several experts on this subject and I even interviewed two girls who had been victims of female bullies. I had completed all of this research in record time, and I had 7 days left until the deadline. I was planning to sit down and start writing this 700 word article tomorrow.
But I got this email--from Seed.com--tonight:
Dear Seed Contributor:
We wanted to let you know that we have received the desired number of submissions for the assignment entitled "Mean Girls: Bullying Among Girls," and the assignment is now closed. We will not be accepting any future submissions.
If you have any questions related to this assignment, please send us an email at contact@seed.com
Sincerely,
The Seed Team
Whaaat!!! When I accepted this assignment, there was no mention of a cut-off limit of submissions nor is there mention of such a concept in their rules. (If they had such a rule, they should have mentioned it in the assignment specifications, don’t you think?) As you can imagine, I am very upset about this. I just finished sending them an email expressing my displeasure. But the damage has been done.
They’ve just lost this writer. If you have any self respect as a writer, learn from my experience and take my advice--don’t writer for Seed.com.
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