Writing for Cracked

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plaidearthworm

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Has anyone signed up for the Cracked comedy writing board? I was surfing the site last night, and found the link. Apparently they kick around ideas for their daily stories there, but you have to be approved to enter. I signed up, because Cracked is one of the very few 'funny' sites that makes me laugh out loud on a regular basis. I've also never written humor with a group like that before, so the idea intrigued me. I'm waiting on approval, but wondered if anyone else is a member there and here on AW.
 

mommyjo2

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I've been kicking the idea around and have it bookmarked, but haven't taken action. I'd love to hear your experiences!
 

urbanmum

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I am a member of the workshop. It's a fantastic site.
 

Matt Willard

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I signed up for it, but the attitude of their board members made me leave. I'm still not sure about writing for Cracked. I mean, some of their stuff is genuinely funny, but it's all on juvenile subjects I don't particularly enjoy.

Then again, when a paycheck is involved, I'm near a window so I can toss out my morals...
 

Ms Behaving

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I haven't heard of the Cracked comedy writing board. May anyone join? Do they get upset if you just visit and not participate?
 

defcon6000

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I signed up for it, but the attitude of their board members made me leave.

Yeah, some of the users there are pretty arrogant. The content on the site itself is great, but I don't dig their forums.

I think Cracked is a cool opportunity for humor writers, though.
 

urbanmum

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The big problem is that a lot of people join and then don't read the fine print. Cracked forum rules are quite specific and when people don't adhere they get ripped to shreds. It has a different atmosphere than most forums but it does dovetail with the 'Cracked' brand of humour in the articles. It's a great place to go for some skin-thickening critiques.
 

Newguy1428

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It's a contest for hire scam.

Sounds like a contest for hire scam. The Internet is a new thing and people are still trying to find ways to make money, but publishers have been using this scam for a long time.

My personal experience comes from my artistic background. There are plenty of artists out there with portfolios of their artwork that qualify them to contract for hire. But, that can be expensive for the publisher to hire somebody who can't make the deadline. If you have a contest of amateurs, you may find somebody who can pull something professional off. Then, for the investment of the time to run the contest you can find somebody to do the job for less than you would pay the pro, who might screw you after taking a third of the money up front.

The problem with this is the jokes on us. We don't realize that we are giving away what little we have mastered for nothing but a promise to pay if they like our stuff. There's no contract.

It sounds like a great idea, but if you look at the professional side...you're being used.

Second City has a better model but, it's similar to a contest for hire. You take these classes and you may make some great stuff. If you do, you have your foot in the door. You do have your foot in the door and you are dealing with these people face-to-face. If you don't wow them you're just out the tuition for the classes. And you probably had a great time and met a lot of great people. It's not as messed up as the Cracked.com forum where you try your stuff for free, but basically it's a contest for hire scam. I'll try out the Second City classes one day. If you can find a Second City class in your neighborhood, try it.

Finally, to let loose my monster for free? If you have ever been afraid of somebody stealling your ideas, style, and so on...that's the place to be scared of, no joke.
 

Mike Lamb

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I'm in the Cracked workshop, and recently published an article which I co-wrote with another member and illustrated.
http://www.cracked.com/article_19136_8-terrifying-skeletons-adorable-animals.html

I wouldn't consider it a scam for hire at all. All the editors and columnists give feedback on pitches, as well as other members. If you have questions or concerns, you can message an administrator directly.

Overall, it's a very friendly and helpful atmosphere. Could another member steal your ideas and publish them elsewhere? Sure. But if its plagerized directly from the forums, you can report it. Since you're just pitching ideas to begin with, there's little chance of someone just flat out copying your work for another site. They'd still have to actually write it.

And keep in mind that Cracked is a major publishing credit. My article went up April 12 (13 days ago) and currently has just under 900,000 page views, close to 8000 "likes" on facebook, and 700 comments, nearly half of which are praising the artwork. My art site and weekly humor column are also linked to the article, and I saw increased traffic in both as a result. I've also been asked to do illustration for 2 book projects with other workshop writers. So as far as scams go, you could do a lot worse.
 

bowiefan1970

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Mike, that was viciously entertaining! What I'm wondering is if you, as a writer, did the copy and had a separate person handling the images. Does Cracked do anything, as far as editing and supplying images if you are solely a writer? I'm sure the images have to be licensed, as well. I guess I'm asking for you to outline the process, if you don't mind. Good job!
 

Mike Lamb

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Cracked handles the images and captions, but writers can submit their own. The main concern is whether or not Cracked can legally use the images. All the actual artwork was done by me. They do edit pretty heavily in some cases, either to trim the word count or paraphrase things, and occasionaly they add stuff. Adam Wears wrote most of it, and I did the descriptions for the "looks like" parts. The original draft was much longer and we lost a few jokes, but overall I was happy with it. Robert Brockway (one of my favorite columnists on the site) edited the whole piece. The whole "Carl the deer" bit was entirely his contribution, and easily one of the funniest bits in the whole piece. The molten coin pentagram bit was all me. Brockway did mention that he had a lot of fun editing it, and there was a lot of great material to work with. Mostly what they look for from freelancers is solid facts and research of a strong premise with an interesting hook. They generally try to keep the best jokes in, but they also ghostwrite jokes of their own here and there. It's what they do best, so you just kind of have to trust them.
 
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