Friday, January 15, 2010
A Quick Evaluation of Writing for Seed.com
11:18 PM | 
Posted by
jp
After another long day of searching for new ways to reinvent myself and my writing, I end frustrated. I tried a new website for freelance writers, Seed.com. I find the work at home forum to be really helpful and I found some articles about Seed. What Seed does not mention specifically is that you might be one of one hundred people (made up number) submitting on the same topic. I grabbed a title then wrote a good article. It did have a due date that I slid right in under. I thought I might have missed it. The message I received from their editors said that they appreciated my content, but it just wasn't a good fit and I should try again.
After the rejection I started to wonder just how their system works. After a little bit of investigating I found that several others had been frustrated as well. I have not heard of anyone that has been successful at getting published there, but that doesn't mean people aren't out there. I did only just hear about it. I admit I am not a fan of AOL. When they were my internet service provider I felt like I had a virus on my computer because I could never get rid of it all the way. Regardless, I don't know if I will spend my time writing for Seed. One thing I did not like is that once I accepted the title I could not see the instructions again and had to go by memory on the keywords and topic. This was very frustrating and may have led to me not writing the article to specs. I suppose the best game plan is to write one or two more articles for them. After all, I do write articles for eHow and wait for residual income to trickle. I also write for Info Barrel and have not seen a whole lot of success there yet, but I believe the potential is great.
Pros of Seed
However, I just read a post on the WAHM forum that says that Seed is relatively new and they are, oh dare I say, "fleshing" out their site. I think signing up and throwing a few more articles their way is in the future for the following week. I'll keep you posted.
I would love to hear from anyone who has had any experience writing for this site.
EDIT ON February 21 - I submitted another article to Seed.com. It was rejected. I think that I have figured out when they approve their articles. Both of the articles that I submitted were due that day, so I got prompt rejection. I am impatient, so even though my articles are not getting accepted at least I know they are not taking them. I emailed them asking for further information about their licensing policy, but never heard back from anyone. Since they did not accept the articles, I will publish them elsewhere. I am not going to waste a perfectly good mismatched article.
The letter that they send is a form letter. I am going to give writing for Seed one more try with an assignment I accepted last night. If you don't want to wait around for a long reply I suggest looking for fast expiring writing assignments.
After the rejection I started to wonder just how their system works. After a little bit of investigating I found that several others had been frustrated as well. I have not heard of anyone that has been successful at getting published there, but that doesn't mean people aren't out there. I did only just hear about it. I admit I am not a fan of AOL. When they were my internet service provider I felt like I had a virus on my computer because I could never get rid of it all the way. Regardless, I don't know if I will spend my time writing for Seed. One thing I did not like is that once I accepted the title I could not see the instructions again and had to go by memory on the keywords and topic. This was very frustrating and may have led to me not writing the article to specs. I suppose the best game plan is to write one or two more articles for them. After all, I do write articles for eHow and wait for residual income to trickle. I also write for Info Barrel and have not seen a whole lot of success there yet, but I believe the potential is great.
Pros of Seed
- fast turnaround by editors
- upfront pay if accepted
- clean user interface
- options to submit articles or photos
- unclear payment structure
- feeling of being solo without a lot of guidance
- no specifics when articles are not accepted
However, I just read a post on the WAHM forum that says that Seed is relatively new and they are, oh dare I say, "fleshing" out their site. I think signing up and throwing a few more articles their way is in the future for the following week. I'll keep you posted.
I would love to hear from anyone who has had any experience writing for this site.
EDIT ON February 21 - I submitted another article to Seed.com. It was rejected. I think that I have figured out when they approve their articles. Both of the articles that I submitted were due that day, so I got prompt rejection. I am impatient, so even though my articles are not getting accepted at least I know they are not taking them. I emailed them asking for further information about their licensing policy, but never heard back from anyone. Since they did not accept the articles, I will publish them elsewhere. I am not going to waste a perfectly good mismatched article.
The letter that they send is a form letter. I am going to give writing for Seed one more try with an assignment I accepted last night. If you don't want to wait around for a long reply I suggest looking for fast expiring writing assignments.
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13 comments:
Yes, I submitted my first article for Seed.com yesterday and it's still pending.
I think I may try a few more and hopefully get approved and paid for them.
I'm still in the researching/hoping/praying process, too.
Hi Paula,
I figured out why my article was rejected so quickly. I wrote it right before the deadline passed. I think perhaps some people have had to wait a long time to hear back from them because the deadline has to pass. This is only a guess though, but it makes sense that I had less than a 24 hour turnaround.
I haven't submitted another...yet. I also have not heard back from the email I sent asking for earnings clarification. I want to know how the pay works (split between several, etc.).
Let me know if your work gets submitted. I'm very interested in feedback about Seed.
Good luck!
Seed is sending out rejections for articles not submitted, articles are disappearing days and weeks before the deadline, andt they are not giving writers the option to decline revenue share only when they submit for a high upfront payment. Once you submit, Seed can do what they want. That $300 article you spent weeks researching? They can keep it and give you pennies for your efforts. Seed is not a friend to writers.
I also wrote an article for Seed which a spent a significant amount of time researching only to get rejected with no reason as to why. On the plus side, I did get rejected within 24 hours. I was a little turned off and not sure I will waste my time. I write professionally and my time is worth more than they're paying (and not paying). Have you looked at Examiner.com and Helium.com? Still trying to figure out if those are also worthwhile. I'm leaning towards no.
@Stephanie - I haven't tried Examiner or Helium, but I know some folks who write for them. If you have not been writing for residual income then it's worth checking out, places like Info Barrel, Helium, etc., are good places to build libraries with the long term earning potential. Those take more patience than waiting for Seed though!
Thanks for the comment.
So, anybody have success stories? I don't want to spend months testing ....
Just found seed a few weeks ago, told myself I'd try it for a month and see... Did about 6 articles in the first week, 2 were bought quickly up front by popeater and moviefone. Only $20.00 each but I did no research what-so-ever and they were less than 300 words, so I figure that's okay.
Just to let everyone know, I have now sold 7 articles to seed. It's been about a month. I don't pick research pieces and I research the site where it is going, to get the tone and style. I won't make a living but... http://newsy1.wordpress.com
I have written a few, had every one of them rejected. Then I noticed that I still have one pending approval, and it has been more than a month. I just don't understand why they just don't make a decision already? lol.
My first article for Seed was still pending weeks after the editorial deadline (5-7 days after the due date). I sent them an e-mail asking for an update and the next day, it was rejected. My next article is still pending nearly two months after the due date and it was written and posted the on the deadline date. I have e-mailed regarding this one and they said that they would speak to the editors about it, but it is still pending.
I wondered why the US arm of AOL pays such low money when writers in the UK earn high fees?
Been waiting for months for an up or down from them on a half dozen articles. They have stated that they like the articles and have sent me two emails asking me to change the terms of the agreement on their site and sign over the rights to other companies. I've emailed them back the changed agreements and complied with their requests which are strange. Still nothing. They obviously don't know what the hell they are doing. I'll never write for them again.
@Anonymous from July - That's interesting, I don't know. Maybe cause we'll take it?
@Anonymous 9/7 - That sounds strange. I've never had that happen. I thought if they bought it then that's it, it's theirs. If they reject it then you can use it elsewhere.
I agree with you about not writing for them again. It's a maddening place. I have written them an email again asking for more info and receive nothing. I'm done w/them, too. It seems they don't have their stuff together.
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