About.com?

IconReline said:

Everyone I've interacted with has been very professional. The guide to my section has been helpful, pleasant, etc.

That being said, it's a relatively "new" position, I think (within past 6 to 9 months?), and the direction has been extremely hands off. I do well with macro-management vs micro, but honestly, even I sometimes feel I could use more direction. The important thing is to be proactive and ask if you have a question. The actual writing is as described. I've been slammed at work this month so am desperately pulling together my last 4 articles tonight/tomorrow. :> Next month, I have a schedule set up to be more organized.

What I've really appreciated is the level of professionalism combined with an informal willingness to help. My advice is to listen to whatever the editors tell you during prep, incorporate suggestions, and just do the best you can. Honestly, so much of this type of stuff comes down to luck.

I'd be interested to know what other contributing writers' experiences are, too.

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Curious to the contributing writer spots.... did you have to go through a Prep like for other topics, or were you approved and just have a test period where it may/may not work out? I'm curious if you just were offered the spot or if you had to duke it out with a few other writers to get it like Prep is thanks for any insight into that.

Odd

I am a long-time, highly qualified freelance feature writer. I applied to About.com several times, but never heard anything. Then I got an email last week from someone asking if I'd be interested in tackling a topic that was so totally out of my realm of expertise that I was baffled as to why they would even consider me for this. I told them I was totally unqualified. The rep then offered me a list of other topics. I saw one that was perfect for me. This person seemed very eager to bring me on board. I was asked to reapply, and to let the rep know when I had done so. I did so, but didn't hear anything. So I followed up and was told that they needed to gather more applicants. This struck me as strange, since the rep was so eager about me.

I did some investigating and discovered that the company just settled a class action suit filed by former guides, for close to $6 million. The 79 guides involved in the suit claimed they were not duly compensated for their work, among other things. I also found letters of complaint about them on Writer's Weekly. Hmmm....

Hi! That sounds odd - I've never heard of that method of contact *shrug*

As for the class action suit - that was for the former owner of About.com (I think Primedia?), not the current owner. They were the ones having problems, so I wouldn't worry about that part. It's now owned by the NY Times (which is pretty darn cool!). I've highly enjoyed working there for over 2 years now.

WriteUR said:

I am a long-time, highly qualified freelance feature writer. I applied to About.com several times, but never heard anything. Then I got an email last week from someone asking if I'd be interested in tackling a topic that was so totally out of my realm of expertise that I was baffled as to why they would even consider me for this. I told them I was totally unqualified. The rep then offered me a list of other topics. I saw one that was perfect for me. This person seemed very eager to bring me on board. I was asked to reapply, and to let the rep know when I had done so. I did so, but didn't hear anything. So I followed up and was told that they needed to gather more applicants. This struck me as strange, since the rep was so eager about me.

I did some investigating and discovered that the company just settled a class action suit filed by former guides, for close to $6 million. The 79 guides involved in the suit claimed they were not duly compensated for their work, among other things. I also found letters of complaint about them on Writer's Weekly. Hmmm....

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I wouldn't mind seeing some of the complaints from Writer's Weekly just out of curiosity.

I wrote for About.com for a bit over 2 years and I'd definitely write for them again. They know what they are doing and everyone at home office was nice. Only reason I left was because I wasn't 100% passionate about my topic and I was pressed for time starting up a new business.

Here's what I found by searching for About.com on Writer's Weekly. Also seemed to be from the Primedia time (the last entry is in 2002)

http://writersweekly.com/whispers_and_warnings/about.html

And then someone wrote a letter in saying they'd read the above article and decided not to work with them (in 2004)

http://writersweekly.com/letters_to_the_editor/001118_01142004.html

Yeah, that is all I initially found when I did a search, which made me curious on if that is really what the person is referring to. In my mind, if the only complaints you can find are 8 years old, that's a good sign.

tinasamuels said:

Curious to the contributing writer spots.... did you have to go through a Prep like for other topics, or were you approved and just have a test period where it may/may not work out? I'm curious if you just were offered the spot or if you had to duke it out with a few other writers to get it like Prep is thanks for any insight into that.

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Bumping to try for an answer

Stage 1 Prep

I am being tried out for a job as a guide. I was informed yesterday. I was hoping someone could give me some tips. Thanks in advance.

Questions

My tryout began last week. I spent a good couple of days just reading the instructions in the lounge, which are voluminous. According to my welcome letter, I am to have five to six articles and three blog posts completed by the end of Stage 1, then I am to build an actual site.

I got my first article in by yesterday's deadline. Then I saw something about I am required to have 10-15 categories completed. They were due today! I saw nothing about this in the welcome letter, and I have no idea what this entails.

I have tried to contact my mentor, but have not heard back. For one, I wanted to confirm that she received my first article.

Could someone please clue me in about this stuff? I'd really appreciate it.

Go to an about.com site like this one:

http://webdesign.about.com/

See where it says "Browse Topic" on the left? The links below that are categories. Just come up with a similar list for your topic. (Try going to a couple of sites to get an idea of what they are looking for in categories.) Shouldn't take too long. If you are taking over a site, you'll have a *really* good idea of what to put down. (Though I wouldn't copy it completely).

herdon said:

Go to an about.com site like this one:

http://webdesign.about.com/

See where it says "Browse Topic" on the left? The links below that are categories. Just come up with a similar list for your topic. (Try going to a couple of sites to get an idea of what they are looking for in categories.) Shouldn't take too long. If you are taking over a site, you'll have a *really* good idea of what to put down. (Though I wouldn't copy it completely).

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I haven't read all of these posts? Are you going through prep, Herdon? Were the categories due today? I didn't see anything about this in the welcome letter. I am also a bit frustrated about the lack of response from my mentor. Is this the way they work?

I was a guide for two years, but they changed the way prep works so I can't help you on specifics. I don't know what the new welcome letter says. I know that picking categories was well defined in the old prep.

But I can say is one of the things they are looking for are people who are self starters and self reliant. That doesn't mean to avoid asking questions, but things like having good grammar really count a lot when you are going into a publish-first environment.

I always found them to be very nice and fast. There's no doubt more lag time in responses while in prep, but everyone I worked with there was always nice and quick to respond. I certainly wouldn't drop out at this point.

herdon said:

I always found them to be very nice and fast. There's no doubt more lag time in responses while in prep, but everyone I worked with there was always nice and quick to respond. I certainly wouldn't drop out at this point.

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Thanks again. I finally did hear from them. Turns out the mentor was out sick! (My bad.) This certainly is a nerve-racking process. But they do seem nice. So I will take your advice and stick it out.

JamieL said:

Hello,

I've been lurking for a while and thought this was a good point to jump in since I am an About.com guide. I've been a guide for several years and really enjoy work. They give you a lot of freedom to write about your topic, the other guides are friendly and helpful, and they pay well.

It can be difficult to get started. They have prospective guides go through a prep program where you compete with other potential guides for the same subject. You need to create content and write articles. It works out well if you get the job. But, it can be a bummer if you end up doing all that work without getting paid! So, if you get accepted to the prep program, I'd suggest you spend a lot of time getting the site together upfront.

If you haven't already read this page, it's a good source of info: http://beaguide.about.com/index.htm

Good luck!

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Hi Jaime:

Thanks for that. I was wondering if you get paid for being a guide or is it a labor of love?

Here's their page on compensation:

http://beaguide.about.com/gdcomp.htm

I have a question about topics and keeping things updated. I am trying to find good topics to apply for to be a guide, and I was thinking about applying for Downs Syndrome, as I am a registered nurse who has experience working with developmentally disabled and downs populations. But I was wondering - after a certain amount of articles are posted, at a certain point when the topic is sort of covered on the basics, do you still have to keep coming up with a high volume of full articles, or do you focus more on blog updates on news in your topic? Does there come a time on somewhat limited topics where you have sort of developed your site and focus on just blogging? I'm afraid if I was selected, after a year or two I would sort of run out of things to say except new research developments or the occasional news story.

Also, does anyone know what kind of topics do best at About (recognizing the guide has much to do with driving topic) such as entertainment being a big traffic topic at most sites, like Examiner.com? Or is there just enough sheer volume of traffic even those with smaller, more obscure topics can do well?

It might just be me, but I have applied for several positions over the last 4-5 months and have yet to hear back on any of them. When queried the automatic response is they have yet to be looked at.
So, I think if you have expertise on several subjects, I would just apply for them all and hope for the best. The guaranteed income threshold (for the first year) is high enough that even an obscure topic would be worth cultivating if that's all you end up with. At least, IMHO.
And there's no guarantee that any subjects they are currently advertising as available are actually going to be available by the time they get round to processing your application. So cast a wide net.

I don't want to just apply for everything I'm even remotely qualified for, but something I can make sure I do a good job at and do well with financially with consistent updates

DianaPrice said:

I don't want to just apply for everything I'm even remotely qualified for, but something I can make sure I do a good job at and do well with financially with consistent updates

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That was exactly my mistake. I went with a topic that I was qualified for but not really passionate about thinking I could simply switch topics if I didn't like writing for the original topic. If a guide wants to change topics, they have to re-apply and go through 'training' just like everyone else, which sounded fair to me, but I think I actually had a worse chance at getting the topic than non-guides.

That's one reason I decided to leave my topic. I'd love to work for them again, but I want a topic I'm really passionate about that will keep me writing above the minimum.

I made the cut!

I have been accepted into Stage 2. It looks really hard. Please tell me just how hard it is. Be honest! also, if anyone could give me some pointers, I'd be eternally grateful.

Let's go see what Stage 2 is.... (I did a different version of Prep)

Ah, building the site. The tools can be a bit wonky sometimes, but they have lots of documents to help you out.

I'd say use preview a lot as you put things in the tools. Look the published page over before you send it to your editor. I managed to leave most of my blog page teeny on the day of a review since I had forgotten to close a subscript tag. Whoops!

Have you used Wordpress before? That's what our blogs run on.

Looks like there's other bits to do - bio, landing page, etc. I'd just sit down today and read through all of the sections of training materials you've been given and the GI Training section in the Lounge. Keep them open as you work.

Good luck!

At least the tools are a little easier now that they all use HTML instead of some using HTML and some using the customize markup language.

Oh that's very true! I am so glad I've forgotten AML