About.com?

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TVMom

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Yeah, I had gotten the impression before that there were already topic writers, but when they made the announcement recently it sounded like you guys are the very first batch. Congratulations on making it in.

Your experience sounds similar to mine. I'm a regular guide, but it was well over a month between the start of eval and my site going live. I received my initial email on March 8th, and my site went live on
April 27th.

I also had a weird issue with pay calculations my first month (for some reason, one of my pieces of content didn't get counted. Whoops.) Support straightened it out though, so no problems.

I had an issue with my first months' metrics too! Something about my blog posts not registering right. They had to go in and accept them each manually. It's working right now, thankfully, but of course now I'm having issues with my images uploading. Grr!

And the forum is only for guides, so us TW's don't have access to that :( I hope that changes.

I joked with my guide that TW's are the redheaded stepchildren of About right now.
 

TVMom

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So JD, when did you finally get your first paycheck from About? I only ask because after my metrics problem was fixed, support informed me that I will get my June payment in August... and I'm seriously confused because that goes against what my contract says. TW's don't have access to the forums for guides (for some reason that still eludes me), so I can't ask anyone but my parent site guide. Is that really how it works? Because that means the work I did in May for my site to go live in June won't be paid out until the end of August.... and I'm just lost.
 

LStein

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I'm back! Almost three months to the day, I got accepted into the prep program. I'm really excited.

It's very cool to see others' experiences and progress on this thread. About.com seems great to work for.
 

emilys

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I have had a similar experience TV Mom. I did prep in May, went live in June, had some problems getting credit for all of my work due to a blog issue that has now been resolved, and am still yet to be paid for any of my work. It's frustrating but I am hoping to get it any day now. And I agree, that not being able to read the guide forums is frustrating!
 

LStein

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TVMom, that's frustrating. Did you ever get an answer?
 

JD Laukkonen

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About is actively looking for guides to cover:

  • Kosher Food
  • Sugar-Free Cooking
  • Health Insurance
  • AIDS/HIV
  • Asthma
  • Dental Care
  • Headaches/Migraines
  • Poker
  • Radio Controlled Vehicles
  • Mobile Homes
  • Business Insurance
  • Cheerleading
  • Snowboarding


And topic writers to cover:

  • Men's Big & Tall
  • Baby Shoes
  • Insurance Company Reviews
  • Motorcycle Repair
  • Therapy Careers
  • Mobile Coupons & Deals

If you have experience in any of those areas, you can check out http://guide.about.com/ for more info.
 

Max G

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New York Times selling About.com?

I was just wondering if anyone knew how this would be affecting their guides and topic guides, etc. I wonder is Answers.com will keep About.com separate or merge it into their site (similar to what the Yahoo! Contributor Network did with Associated Content). Anyway, just curious as to how this might affect us writers.
 

herdon

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What Max is referring to is reports that Answers.com is buying About.com from the New York Times. It's confirmed that they are in talks and that there is a deal in principle I believe, but we guides really know nothing more than anyone else. This type of stuff usually stays with executive staff until it is finalized.

Obviously, there is nothing definitive about what this might do the About.com, but my guess is that -- for the most part -- things would remain the same.

In regards to AssociatedContent, that domain had absolutely no value. About.com has a lot of value. The CEO of Answers.com is the same guy that sold About.com to the New York Times, so he knows the value of both the site and the guides.

It's always wise to go into things with eyes wide open, but I wouldn't let this news deter anyone from applying. There's a lot more synergy between an Answers-About.com relationship than a NYT-About.com relationship, so this could turn out to be a good thing.
 

blueobsidian

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I'm glad to see some other topic writers here! I just went live as the TW for Ice Cream & Frozen Desserts. I'm a little nervous, since there have been some bumps the last few days, but I've applied to About several times over the past few years so I'm mostly just super excited. It really did work out for me when the perfect topic came along.
 

DragonWing

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It's always wise to go into things with eyes wide open, but I wouldn't let this news deter anyone from applying. There's a lot more synergy between an Answers-About.com relationship than a NYT-About.com relationship, so this could turn out to be a good thing.
I'll second that. I hope that Answers, if the deal goes through, helps to reinvigorate the interactive forums at About. I subscribe to several of the "techie" forums there, and they used to be hugely active forums. They took a major hit when they disconnected themselves from Delphi Forums, and I don't think the NY Times ever has any intention of user interaction Nothing the Times has ever done has ever been friendly towards such a two-way relationship with readers. Not that I've experienced, anyway.
 

herdon

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Just FYI:

About.com was acquired by IAC, who also owns Ask.com. They came in with a higher bid than Answers.com and the same basic synergies exist between the two companies, where About.com can provide expert answers to questions asked on Ask.com and Ask can provide more exposure.

Here's a blog on Ask.com talking about the acquisition:

http://blog.ask.com/post/30318113117/ask-com-acquires-about-com-why-this-is-huge

I wouldn't let this news deter anyone from applying for a position. The guide model is expected to remain intact and the future may actually be brighter with a new owner.
 

Fricative

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About.com in Spanish

Hello!!

First of all I'd like to thank you all for the great info you post here daily!
Secondly, I'd like to share information, tips and ideas with those who have applied to be Guides at About.com (either in Spanish or English).

I have applied and been accepted to the first stage. Let's see what happens next...

I look forward to sharing lots of ideas with you!

Best,
Fricative.
 

Melina

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Well, hello! Welcome to AW! Here's a thread on About.com:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52188

I don't think anyone has posted about guiding the Spanish topics, so I'm looking forward to seeing your updates on the process. I'm going to merge your post into that thread, so you can read up on it there...
 

Fricative

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Thanks

Thank you Melina!

Before I even applied to be a guide, I read the whole thread, now I'm re-reading it...

I'm struggling a bit with all the technical stuff , meta-info, annotations, descriptions, creating the landing page, etc...but I only started yesterday, so, hopefully, with a bit of practice I'll be able to master the site :crazy:

Cheers!
 

herdon

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I'm struggling a bit with all the technical stuff , meta-info, annotations, descriptions, creating the landing page, etc...but I only started yesterday, so, hopefully, with a bit of practice I'll be able to master the site :crazy:

It can be a little overwhelming at first. But during prep, the main thing is to write good content and establish a voice. It's also okay (and sometimes a good idea) to establish a separate voice for the blog as you have for the non-blog 'evergreen' content.
 

cmckenziemitchinson

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Finally accepted to prep for my dream site and I have what can only be described as some strain of the black death. Seriously. Baby has it, too, so ours is a real happy house right now. I'm struggling to write my name, let alone content. I've written the two blog posts so far and hope to get the articles done in the next two days, but this sucks. I've never been so sick :(
 

Melina

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Finally accepted to prep for my dream site and I have what can only be described as some strain of the black death. Seriously. Baby has it, too, so ours is a real happy house right now. I'm struggling to write my name, let alone content. I've written the two blog posts so far and hope to get the articles done in the next two days, but this sucks. I've never been so sick :(

UGH! Sorry you're feeling so rotten! Your post sounds like you're reading from the script of my life. That's just about how it goes for me, normally, too.

I hope you're able to get better quickly, and get through prep with flying colors!
 

cmckenziemitchinson

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UGH! Sorry you're feeling so rotten! Your post sounds like you're reading from the script of my life. That's just about how it goes for me, normally, too.

I hope you're able to get better quickly, and get through prep with flying colors!

Thanks. Baby and I spent a night in the hospital. I'm not sure it did either of us any good. But we're home now. I've written the blog posts. I had a few questions for the editor, but I can't seem to reach her, so that has me in a panic. Tomorrow is my deadline for the first week of work and none of the articles are written. I've just been too ill. Guess tonight is going to be a late one :(
 

Uncarved

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Can someone who is active at About check on Radio Controlled Vehicles?
It's been open and on the available list for one and a half years now. I put in my application back when it first opened and it's still there.
I'd appreciate any insight into what is up with that spot.
 

JD Laukkonen

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Can someone who is active at About check on Radio Controlled Vehicles?
It's been open and on the available list for one and a half years now. I put in my application back when it first opened and it's still there.
I'd appreciate any insight into what is up with that spot.

I can't offer any specific insight, but they do wait until they have a certain number of applications before starting prep on any given site. So if the radio controlled vehicles site has gone unguided that long, they probably just haven't received enough qualified applicants to go forward yet.

Only about a month elapsed between when I applied and my prep started, but I imagine there were other applicants who had been sitting around waiting for MUCH longer than that.
 

JD Laukkonen

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Well, I somehow got the articles done and made it through to the mock site stage. Now I'm trying to make sense of these web tools. They need to send out a 'How to Start' manual, lol.

Good luck. The publishing tools do sort of give off that circa-1997 vibe, but it's all pretty simple once you get the hang of it.
 

JD Laukkonen

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About is actively looking for guides in a bunch of different categories:

  • Cell Phones
  • Stereos
  • Sugar-Free Cooking
  • Autism Spectrum Disorders
  • Dental Care
  • Urology
  • Bathrooms
  • Home Security
  • Rugs & Carpets
  • BMX

About en Español

  • Adicciones
  • Arquitectura
  • Bicicletas
  • Comics
  • Dejar de fumar
  • El feng shui
  • ETS
  • Experimentos
  • Filosofía
  • Juguetes
  • Lencería
  • Matemáticas
  • Música mexicana
  • Música latina
  • Poker y cartas
  • Tatuajes
  • Teatro

And they're also looking for topic writers to cover these subjects:

  • Antiquities
  • Hawaiian Food
  • Motorcycle Repair
  • Roofing
  • Therapy Careers
  • Wedding Flowers & Invitations

You can apply at http://beaguide.about.com/ if you're interested.
 
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