Freelancing?

jimi_t

(My apologies if this is the wrong forum but it seemed the most suitable.)

Recently I've been thinking about trying to turn my negligable writing skills into a source of drinking money (i.e. January has hit hard ) and I'm currently trying to put together a few sample articles to send off unsolicited to HotPress and the like. Have any boardsies done this sort of thing before? Would you have any pointers for a ragged trousered philantropist like myself :rolleyes:

silvine

Good luck with Hotpress, they have a reputation for delighting in their trampling down of freelancers.

jimi_t

silvine wrote: »

Good luck with Hotpress, they have a reputation for delighting in their trampling down of freelancers.

Well I'm going to hit The Ticket et al as well - in any case, there's nothing lost in trying surely?

Karlusss

I've seen unsoliticited articles published in Hot Press before, and acknowleged by editorial and everything.

That said, Hot Press is not fit for toilet roll.

IncredibleHulk

jimi_t wrote: »

(My apologies if this is the wrong forum but it seemed the most suitable.)

Recently I've been thinking about trying to turn my negligable writing skills into a source of drinking money (i.e. January has hit hard ) and I'm currently trying to put together a few sample articles to send off unsolicited to HotPress and the like. Have any boardsies done this sort of thing before? Would you have any pointers for a ragged trousered philantropist like myself :rolleyes

Writers & Artists Yearbook

Gambler

You can also try websites that pay for your content or give you the option of earning advertising revenue from your content.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/ have two payment structures as I understand it (never used them myself but I know people that have) one of which will pay you per article and another one that pays you depending on how much your articles are viewed.

As a shameless plug I run an entertainment website that gives authors 60% of the advertising impressions so you can generate revenue from your own articles too. (http://www.afterhours.ie/ - website is an accepted google news source and is getting great traffic from there which helps!)

Do a google search for "Revenue Sharing" and you should find a load of websites that will give you a share of advertising revenue from content you create..

DublinWriter

jimi_t wrote: »

and I'm currently trying to put together a few sample articles to send off unsolicited to HotPress and the like.

Don't. It's a tired little clique in the even bigger bigger clique of the Irish media with an outdated sense of it's own self-importance.

Go buy yourself a copy of the current Writers and Artists handbook.

shantor

Gambler wrote: »

As a shameless plug I run an entertainment website that gives authors 60% of the advertising impressions so you can generate revenue from your own articles too. (http://www.afterhours.ie/ - website is an accepted google news source and is getting great traffic from there which helps!)

what are your criteria for accepting a new writer? just send an article on and see if you like it?

Gambler

shantor wrote: »

what are your criteria for accepting a new writer? just send an article on and see if you like it?

Well, basically anyone can register on the site and submit an article. Once an article is submited it will be reviewed for quality by an editor and as long as it's up to scratch it will be approved and listed on our site (and usually get picked up by google news within an hour or so)

We have had a few authors sign up who were way off the mark quality wise (and basic English wise!) so if an article is not approved for some reason we will contact the author with feedback and suggestions where applicable.

Here's the page with details for potential authors in case anyone is interested

http://www.afterhours.ie/pages/Becoming-an-Author.html

Mike

DublinWriter

Gambler wrote: »

As a shameless plug I run an entertainment website that gives authors 60% of the advertising impressions so you can generate revenue from your own articles too. (http://www.afterhours.ie/ - website is an accepted google news source and is getting great traffic from there which helps!)

Nice site, but on checking it out I was a little unclear as to what the site was all about. Would I be correct in saying it's a 'review' type site?

I also presume the authors get to retain copyright of their work?

Gambler

Nice site, but on checking it out I was a little unclear as to what the site was all about. Would I be correct in saying it's a 'review' type site?

I also presume the authors get to retain copyright of their work?

Firstly absolutely you would retain all copyright, in fact I you have reminded me that I need to put a proper terms and conditions for authors on the site that confirms that - Thanks!

It is a "review" type site so far alright. We are hoping that people will also start to write opinion pieces and other articles relating to entertainment in general rather than purely reviews but that depends on the kind of people we get signing up

kittensoft1984

Gambler wrote: »

Firstly absolutely you would retain all copyright, in fact I you have reminded me that I need to put a proper terms and conditions for authors on the site that confirms that - Thanks!

It is a "review" type site so far alright. We are hoping that people will also start to write opinion pieces and other articles relating to entertainment in general rather than purely reviews but that depends on the kind of people we get signing up

just signed up. how long before im accepted?

Gambler

kittensoft1984 wrote: »

just signed up. how long before im accepted?

About that long

It's basically as long as it takes for one of the editors to sign in again or I check my email.

kittensoft1984

cheers accepted!