Craigslist Ad: I Have One Idea and It’s to Troll For Some of Yours

Some freelance writer was sitting around yesterday, Monday, right before the holidays, trying to think of something to pitch to magazines. He/she has nothing. He/she considers going on Help A Reporter Out to solicit ideas. That’s help, right? Maybe they should call their relatives back home. All they can mutter about is Sarah Palin. So it’s Craigslist to the rescue! Anonymous and on the ethical edge.

You decide: resourceful or desperate:

Ideas Wanted for News and Feature Stories
Date: 2009-11-16, 4:56PM PST
Reply to: job-zfbj3-1469237759@craigslist.org

Long-time freelance magazine writer is looking for unique and compelling non-fiction ideas for articles in ALL TOPIC AREAS. I’m looking for more outside input on ideas beyond what I come up with. Perhaps you have a personal story to tell but need an avenue to do so — something the world needs to know about or will pique readers’ interest, or can come up with breaking and exclusive news stories or are just super creative. Not all stories need a news hook. Some topic area examples include business/marketing/tech (all aspects), personal finance, personality profiles, green issues, science, local stories, crime, entertainment/celebrity news, current events, lifestyle, others. Exclusive, breaking celebrity/entertainment news is of strong interest for those with the right connections. Think everything from New York magazine to Entertainment Weekly to Smithsonian to Entrepreneur — both on the trade and consumer side. If you aren’t an experienced writer but have or can find lots of original ideas/stories this is a super opportunity for you. If interested please send an email with a bit of info. about yourself / your background and what topic areas you can provide ideas for. Ideas will need to be tailored for individual publications (I’ll provide some names). Pay is $50 per idea used for short pieces (850 words or less) and $100 for features (more than 850 words). No resumes needed, no attachments. Looking forward to hearing your ideas!

Hmm. Paying for sources? Plus, oh tech savvy folks, the only people who read Craigslist Ads for WRITERS are other WRITERS.

Ad can be found here.

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