About.com?

Thanks.

I just thought I'd chime in with my recent experience regarding About.com.

I applied for two different Contributing Writer positions. One of which I was extremely well-suited for, the other of which I was reasonably qualified and could pick up as I needed.

They accepted me into a training program for the first position, and I went through the process of writing four articles over four weeks, without pay. They gave me a small list of topics and a little advice, and that was it. I got what clarifications I needed, and set out to deliver the best articles I could. My "trainer" had nothing but praise for me, and any corrections he suggested were minimal and mostly technical. When the time came to submit my revisions, I made sure to hit every point brought up, tighten where needed, and put my best foot forward.

The end result? They decided to go with someone else. Specific quotes included "We reviewed the samples thoroughly with the Guide but ultimately decided it’s in our best interest to work with other writers. It came down to voice and how you were covering the material." and "...some of the info you chose to include and some you chose to leave out in the pieces. Again, a lot of the writing was solid, but we just felt it was best for us to pass and work with other writers."

It felt like I'd been asked to bake a cake of any flavor, given advice on how to bake a very good cake, and then judged by what flavor cake I chose to make. Sigh. (And that position is still listed as open on the site!)

As for the other position? After two months of waiting, I was rejected because they were no longer recruiting.

So that's my About.com story.

It has been such a long time since I have posted. MichaelMJones, so sorry about your experience. I tried to get in to About.com for 10 years and went through Prep twice, before making it. It was very.very.hard.
It is still hard. I love my topic and it certainly is the right one for me, but there is a LOT to the job. Writing is just one little piece.
There are a lot of topics that I could write about. Heck, there are still topics available that I could write about, but there was only ONE topic that was the perfect fit. It has been almost 3 years.

Please try again. About.com is about more than just that one gig. It is a great stepping off point in the writing world. It gives your resume a little more oomph.

Warmly,

Amelia J

Hi!

First time poster, long time lurker (even though I *just* finally created a user name last night).

I fired off my guide application mere minutes ago. It's for one of the cities. I grew up there, lived there until 2008, and will be moving back there in May. I was torn between applying for this city guide position and the cake decorating guide, but figure there'd be more opportunities for me (the whole "recycle research and write new articles" thing) if I applied for the city guide, and it'd be a great way for me to rediscover my city. I also could see myself getting burnt out on guiding about cake decorating.

The only thing I'm paranoid about is the qualifications section on the application.

While I've been published, there's no links I could include. The newspaper I wrote for has long since went out of business, so no more website. The web paper I wrote daily featured obits for... it's still in business, but only two things show up when you search on my name: an short article about my experience working at the print paper (the print paper kinda morphed into the web paper), and a standard obit. *sigh* That's going to look *reeeeeeeeeeally* good if About decides to Google me.

(And, yeah, I've learned my lesson. Never procrastinate in making a clip file. I only had years to start one. )

Oh well. Wait and see... wait and see... It's all I can do.

When I got my original position at About.com, I didn't have any online credits to link to either. Writing a good sample article goes a long way.

herdon said:

When I got my original position at About.com, I didn't have any online credits to link to either. Writing a good sample article goes a long way.

Click to expand...

Awesome! I did manage to find a theater review I wrote a few years ago for the newspaper I worked for, so I subbed that.

Now I'm in that eight week waiting period. I'm half tempted to email my other paper friends who live in the same city to get them to apply, so we can speed up getting to Prep. (Just kidding; I don't want them for my competition.)

I was looking at the About.com pages, and I saw they'd made some changes. With regards to the "Contributing Writer" position, it's now "Topic Guide". Instead of the baseline $500 per month they promised, now you get paid by the article. They request something like 6-10 articles per month, at an average of 750 words ... and it's work-for-hire.

Funny, it doesn't look like such a great deal anymore. Ouch. I'm kind of glad they didn't hire me when I tried out for them a while back.

Guide, CW, et al

I think these new positions contribute to a guide site? They are going to be filling specific areas of a larger topic I believe; and not having to deal with all the other backend things you do as a Guide.

Since I am swamped right now and don't have a CW on my site, I could be off base on that.

AJ

As Guides, we don't actually know 100% what the Topic Guides will end up doing, so Amelia and I can't give the exact low down on the new positions.

I think the issue with the CW positions was that the # of articles per month may have been a bit much for some positions. I don't know the exact details on why they flipped things around, that's just my guess. I was always excited about the program myself.

Topic Guides are paid per article and I think there's the potential for growth bonuses, but don't quote me.

I am so excited! I'm in the prep program at About.com after trying to get in for probably two or three years. I'm going to devour this whole thread to pull out as many tips as I can. While this topic would not be my first choice, it's still something I'm passionate about and that I write about for print magazines. I'd love to translate that to my online writing, especially with a great company like About. I know one Guide personally, and she loves writing for them.

Prep has changed since this thread started. I remember people talking about writing 50+ articles during prep in the old format, but the new format doesn't put an emphasis on quantity. It's more about quality.

Good luck in training.

Thanks for the good luck wish! I turned in a blog post tonight; I felt like it was kind of dry, but I wanted feedback on a shorted piece before turning in something longer. I already have a lengthy piece from the required list drafted out and almost ready to go, depending on the blog feedback.

There is a perfect topic for me in the Topic Guide list in case this doesn't pan out. I'm hoping it doesn't move into prep, or whatever they do with topics, before this prep session is over. That would be just my luck. I like the topic I'm going for now much better, but the other one fits perfectly with one of my lines of work and my book topic.

After five years, my topic is fixing to come up again for application. I have just received word that the guide left. I was in prep for this topic in 2006 and it came down to me and him. He won (obviously). I have more experience and platform in the topic now and I'm incredibly nervous as I wait for the application section for the topic to come available.


Wanted to ask two questions.

What happens to the previous guide's content when it is taken over by a new guide?
and
Do you go through prep as if its a new topic (make a FAQ, glossary, etc while in prep) even if that content is already on the site?

The new policy is to keep the old content in place. The only real differences in going into prep for an existing site vs a new site are (1) you don't have to come up with categories and (2) you'll probably want to search the site before writing an article to make sure you aren't duplicating content.

Prep has changed a lot from 2006. You'll start out writing a few articles without access to the tools in the first weeks, then you'll fit those articles to the tools in the next weeks. It also has a lot less emphasis on quantity of content.

But knowing the basic ideas of the templates will help you in that you can write for them from the start.

Good luck.

Thanks so much for the reply herdon. Its good to know that the framework of the site stays the same then and I just fill in around it.

Got a message today that instructions will be coming for phase 2, so it looks like I made it through the first part of the evaluation. I can't wait to start filling in content with the tools! This is so nerve-wracking, but exciting too.

I've immersed myself deeply in the About.com content management tools, despite the fact that I spent nearly a whole day without internet access (someone cut a cable and knocking out the whole town) and then a bad bout of malware that cost me another half day. I'm really enjoying myself as I see my page come together, although I have a nagging worry that I'm doing something wrong without realizing it. Oh well, I'm doing my best, and I'm really hoping to get this gig because it would be a blast to write about this topic regularly. I enjoy travel writing, but sometimes I need a change of pace. I'm a little lonely; sure wish there were others here in prep like in the early days of this thread.

Hi Folks,
It feels a bit rude using my first post to ask a question, but I came across this thread after a Google search and it's full of great info. I'm getting set to apply to a Contributing Writer position that's just opened up. It just screams for me to apply -- I fit what they're looking for perfectly. I just have one question, and I hope someone on here will have some idea...

I have to include a writing sample, and I'm considering a few options. I don't yet have a sense of which would best:

1) an excerpt from some teaching material I wrote last year that's directly relevant to the topic..
2) an article I wrote for Demand Studios that's also right on topic... or..
3) something custom-written for the application.

Is it a bad idea to use something you wrote for another online content company (Demand Studios) when applying to About? I imagine it could be... they do compete for search position, advertisers and clicks, after all...

And will it be held against me that I don't as yet have much of an online presence? I have plenty of writing experience and the right kind of professional experience for this CW position. I only recently started a blog and as yet don't have much of an online presence or many publications online, but know my way around online.

Any input is greatly appreciated. I'm ready for disappointment, but I really want this position.

Honestly, it won't make any difference whether or not the piece has been published or not. They are going to be looking at the quality of the writing. Ordinarily, I'd say avoid using Demand Studios for anything to do with a resume or applying for a job since they don't have a reputation for having good quality content, but in this instance, it's going to be your words that are going to matter.

Choose the one you are most proud of and that fits the topic.

Good luck.

When I applied, I wrote something custom for the topic (I was a new writer anyways, so didn't have anything published yet). It now resides on my site
Good luck!

One caution on Demand: I've written for them for years and love it, but it's not the "voice" that About.com is looking for so a custom sample is probably better. I recently got a Guide position with About.com, and during the prep one of the comments was to use a more friendly voice. I realized that my internal editor was stifling me because I'm so used to the Demand formats, so once I was able to let go of that, I did fine and got the position.

Yes, go look over the topics related to yours for an idea of the voice. It's supposed to be more like you're talking to a friend and teaching them something. Of course, you don't go delving into text speech or anything, but it's nicer than the boooooooorring Demand way. IMO

These are great tips, thanks!

Based on what you're saying, I've opted against using a Demand article -- I can see how the voice might be a little too detached for an About site. I spent a few hours reading a few About pages to get a feel for the "voice," and it's much more conversational and personable than Demand. The Demand voice is boring, unfortunately, although in many other ways it's great writing for them.

I'm going to custom-write something. It just seems like the best approach based on observation and the above advice.

Thanks again -- I'll be sending in the application within the next few days, I'll be sure to let the thread know how it goes.

Don't worry if you don't hear anything immediately. I was contacted for prep 4 weeks after I put in my application.

I know a lot of messages from July were lost when the site went down so there's a big gap, but in the meantime I successfully completed prep for About.com, finished initial site work, and went live: http://petsupplies.about.com

If anyone else wanders over and has any questions about the prep process or anything else, please feel free to ask. I'd love to help others because this thread was a huge help to me.