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Topic: re: about.com
| Author | Message |
| jillian393 | Posted – 7/6/2007 12:17:36 AM | show profile | email poster anyone know any info on about.com and the position of guide? thanks. |
| Canadiana | Posted – 7/6/2007 8:10:29 PM | show profile Yup I know quite a bit about it (hah!) and can give you details but my username is still up and I want to change to a screen name ): If you [or someone] can help me with that process (wrote to mediabistro - no response - and when I click on "click here" (below) there's an error!) to change it, I'll give you some deets. Thanks. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 7/6/2007 9:27:41 PM | show profile okay, so we may be having another weird mediabistro weekend. When you post a reply, look down and you will ba able to change your screenname. It gives the option. Thusly: |
| Canadiana | Posted – 7/6/2007 10:50:05 PM | show profile Thanks, granite. Sigh...I tried that but no luck...just gave me an error page ): Usually I'm so good at these things. I'm disappointed that no one from MB has written back to me (email sent over a week ago...) about this. |
| Jukester | Posted – 7/6/2007 10:59:28 PM | show profile I applied for guide a few weeks ago and haven't heard a thing. The sites don't seem to have been updated for a while. |
| writenow | Posted – 7/8/2007 9:53:13 AM | show profile | email poster I applied to be a guide last year and didn't get the gig. It's a lot of work. If you're picked to go through their training program, you spend several weeks designing a site (writing content, building a website with different pages and navigation, etc.) and you're evaluated by one of the about.com staff. If you get the gig, you're paid for the time you spent building the site, but if you don't, it's a lot of time spent for naught. However, getting guide position is a nice way to have some regular income, so long as your site gets enough traffic. They're looking for real experts in the topic you apply for. In my case, a health-related field, I had written extensively about the topic, but don't work in the medical profession (the person who got the job is a nurse). And in my case, although I spent a lot of time (on top of working a full time job) putting my application site together, it came down to the other person just having more content in her application than I did. |
| scribble | Posted – 7/8/2007 9:54:33 AM | show profile | email poster sorry Wrote that last post under a friend's signon. I'm the one who applied for the About.com gig last year. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 7/8/2007 10:19:04 AM | show profile SOunds like a lot of work. How much does it pay? And how is the readership? |
| Canadiana | Posted – 7/8/2007 12:58:13 PM | show profile It varies...can be anywhere from $500 per month to $1K or perhaps even more (a close friend is a guide). It is a lot of work though (as the other poster mentioned) with deadlines. And, I believe some of the pay depends on traffic/ad commissions. However, she's been doing it for a number of years and enjoys the work (also an expert in her field) despite the up and down pay, deadlines, changes, etc. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 7/9/2007 7:30:13 AM | show profile That's a lot to do for $500-$1,000. Do people feel they get their fair share of attention because of it? credibility, PR, whatever? Is it impressive to say "I'm the about.com guide to Bubble Gum"? Can you use it in a tag line? |
| Harbor Girl | Posted – 7/9/2007 12:47:40 PM | show profile | email poster Traumatized I recently had a traumatic experience applying for a guide position. I was chosen to go through the training program. I literally stayed up all night twice to meet the deadlines and milestones during training, but it was insufficient. As others have mentioned, the training phase is unpaid. In retrospect, I can only conclude that they expect you to work full-time-plus on your site during the so-called "prep" (i.e., training). I spent all my time researching the basic info and learning how to post content. I was dinged for not writing enough full-length, original articles. I was dropped mid-prep. I was intending to add full-length articles before the final deadline, but that apparently wasn't good enough. They dropped me after the second deadline/evaluation. If you do get the job, pay is at least $725 per month and goes up depending on your page views. They expect you to write a minimum of one article every 14 days and three blog posts a week. I can't stress enough: they expect leaps and bounds more than this during "prep." |
| Bluelight | Posted – 7/9/2007 1:58:15 PM | show profile | email poster Small Claims Rather than spending time and money on a lawyer, I would recommend just reminding that that money is owed, telling them payment is due one week from your notice, and than one week later (if/when payment doesn't arrive) contact them again and mention that you'll go through small claims court. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 7/9/2007 2:44:07 PM | show profile | email poster I'm reluctant to put that kind of work in up front. In fact, I even regret a travel guide proposal that got turned down (this was a competitive RFP -- bleck) -- although one for another fiction guide was picked up and they were delighted, so you never know. The most ridiculous one I ever almost worked on was a chick, er publisher, who was starting a line of tour guides. This was the usual "submit three sample towns" for the targeted area, and she had the nerve to tell me she wasn't worried that the pay wasn't enough for the project (as guidebooks go, it was LOW) as she had a ton of freelancers apply and they were all submitting their three sample towns so that would cut down on the work. Frankly, I worry about all this spec work that gets done for these publishers/sites. |
| girlEmedia | Posted – 7/10/2007 2:50:51 AM | show profile I went through half the prep program. for the particular guide position I applied for, I got called right away. However, I had to drop out mid way. It is a TON of work just to apply. I also stayed up all night twice to meet deadlines. Worse yet, I felt the content management system was so clunky. I have looked to see if the position has been filled-not yet. |
