UPDATE
The client wrote to let me know he received an awesome response to his ad and to tell you the jobs are filled. This gig is no longer available.
Hi everyone
We have a client who is looking for four bloggers. They’re a large
recipe/food site, and are looking for “foodies” - people who love food,
know lots about it, and want to make some extra cash writing about it.
They want folks who can commit to 2-3 posts a week. The start date for
this project is May 21, to allow for preparation and orientation to the
website and company. The first blog posts will go live on June 2.
If you live in San Francisco or Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, or in
the “Heartland” of the United States, and are interested in this, please
send me an e-mail with some writing samples that are relevant to this
position. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
Thanks!
Shylah
Bloggers For Hire
May 16th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
You absolutely have to be in those areas? Just checking…
I just found this site yesterday and want to compliment you on it. Thank you.
I don’t know how to email you directly…couldn’t find a link after looking awhile, but in your categories list, Networking is spelled wrong. I knew you’d probably want to correct it. No biggie…just wanted you to know.
May 17th, 2008 at 8:50 am
That’s bizarre. Why does it matter so much where you live?
We’re living in an age where the world has never been so small yet there are still businesses out there that aren’t realising the full potential of this strange medium called the Internet!
Maybe there’s a valid reason for this particular job but it just made me scratch my head there in wonderment…!
May 17th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Amen Sarah!
I don’t get it either.
May 17th, 2008 at 10:18 am
I just took a broad view of “the Heartland” and applied. Depending on who you ask, Kentucky is sometimes categorized as Midwest!
May 17th, 2008 at 11:42 am
If they want a local feel to it, then it matters. You can’t fake being a local.
May 17th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
@ LJ: her email address is at the bottom of the message. Right above the Ads
May 17th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Adam…I was looking the email of the person running this site. Is it Jodee or Deb? I’m new here, so don’t know.
I think the email you’re referring to is Shylah’s, the person requesting these four bloggers.
Also, I understand them wanting to have people local to a certain area. I guess I was commenting in general that I don’t see, in this day and age with the Internet, why there aren’t more telecommuting positions or that as an option more.
May 18th, 2008 at 1:06 am
When you are writing about food, there’s a HUGE difference in the local flavor of San Francisco compared to Toronto. Every city has their local regional/national “flavor” and cuisine. You would be doing a disservice to the restauranteurs and foodies of that city if you didn’t have a local reporting on the foodie scene.
I write a food blog and I live in northern California. There is no way I could attempt to write about Southern cuisine as that would be like a techie geek writing about fashion ha!
May 18th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Then what is the heartland? Spokane could be described as being in the heartland and so could Birmingham. What do those two cities have in common? It makes no sense to ask for residents in three cities and then in “the great flyover.” Methinks that this was not a very well thought out request.
May 18th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Spokane is the heartland? I always thought it referred to Kansas type regions in the middle of America.
I’m glad to see this topic discussed. Just because we can write — doesn’t mean we’re experts on a topic.
And not every topic can be “researched” into an article.
I learned that the hard way when I wrote a piece for Running Times. I’m SO not a runner and those athletes definitely have a culture all their own. The research I did barely got me up to speed and I learned to stick with topics that I know well — or are just somewhat out of my comfort zone.
Wendy
May 18th, 2008 at 11:15 am
@ Wendy: not only are not all topics researchable, it’s often not worth your time to do so.
In this example, if you took on the food blogging job for the Toronto market, you’d spend five times as long trying to get information on such-and-such a restaurant during a food festival as someone who could just walk down the street and go try out the food.
That would cut your profit margin way down.
Just because you can get a job doesn’t mean it’s always worth it.
May 18th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
you said it, Adam! That’s what I meant about Running Times: after I interviewed my subject, researched the piece and wrote the thing I probably made $8 an hour!!
And, additionally, I think it’s unethical to pose as an expert for these blogs unless you are one. To write an article for a mag is one thing. . . but to pose as an expert for weeks and months on blogs, that’s not ethical in my opinion.
Wendy
May 18th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I tend to disagree … I live in Canada, for instance, and I write about ‘local’ real estate in places like Philadelphia and the UK.
Further, I write about IT, fashion, running (and I’m not runner)and more effectively … and I love it.
May 18th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Of course … with this job, you actually have to visit local restaurants … which is a different situation.
May 19th, 2008 at 7:59 am
I have a great example for this. Go to the restaurant Cider House in Waterbury, VT and you’ll see rave reviews in two area newspapers. Up until recently, the reviews at Yahoo and other travel sites were extremely positive too.
I went there for Mother’s Day and the bathrooms were repulsive. I’d not seen this tidbit anywhere. Not only did the cold water not work, but the hot water was burning customer hands and the toilets were stained with urine and the hallway leading to the bathrooms smelled strongly of old urine. Researching this restaurant online never would have revealed this - only someone who’d been there would really know.