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OuterNotes: Recommended Job Listings For Writers and Editors
In an attempt to help our readers (and friends) who have been caught in the dot-com downturn, we've decanted reviews of the best job classified sites, online job-matching services and freelance markets into this handy page. The sites are ranked in order of descending usefulness and quality. We'll be updating this page often, and if you have any sites you'd like to see added, please e-mail gtrotta@outerforce.com
http://mediabistro.com/joblistings/ New York-based freelance writer Laurel Touby started her career at WorkingWoman magazine, moved on to Business Week and then struck out on her own with this site. Don't let the orange and lime-green graphics throw you off -- the job listings here for online and traditional publishers such as McGraw-Hill, Time Inc., The Industry Standard and NBA.com are of consistently high quanlity and quantity, and a fair sprinkling of these positions are open to freelancers and telecommuters. --Gian Trotta JournalismJobs.com Offers Jobs and More http://www.journalismjobs.com Although only a year old, JournalismJobs.com already has grown into a rich resource. Whether your experience lies in freelance, radio, newspaper, television or online media, you'll find high-quality staff and freelance positions from new and established players on this site. And while the e-mail notification cuts the need for return visits, the breaking media news, informative articles (written from true insiders' perspectives), upcoming conference information and clean, easy-to-navigate design should ensure repeat visits. --Mignon Quintyne NYNMA.org Shines in the Big Apple... http://www.nynma.com/jobs/ Although it won't win any prizes for design, New York New Media Association's Web site has been providing valuable resources for New York-based freelance writers, editors and Web content professionals for the past four years. With rare exceptions, the jobs listed here are posted by the actual firms seeking the work instead of recruiters or employment agencies, and a search function lets you enter "freelance" or "telecommute" to further separate the wheat from the chaff listings. --Steve Baldwin ...While Craigslist.com Does the Same in San Fran http://craigslist.com/sfo/wri/ This free San Francisco-based site is the NYNMA's West Coast counterpart in quality and frequency of freelance job listings. Whether you're an expert writer or editor, the listings (helpfully tagged "telecommuting" where applicable) are impressive. There are also search listings for 24 other job categories (including part-time jobs) and 12 other U.S. cities; there's also an e-mail notification system for specific job categories. And like the NYNMA site, a community events calendar, editorial workshops and resume-listing services further the site's appeal despite a plain-text layout. --Peggy LeTrent Staffwriters.com Places Writers and Editors http://www.staffwriters.com Judging from the many high-quality listings here, there's still a lot of work for writers, editors, reporters, and wordsmiths despite the dot-com downturn. Staffwriters.com connects writers and editors with temporary and permanent positions in large, small, established, and start-up companies. The service, which was founded by former Newsday editor George Giokas, now has more than 4500 writers and editors in its database of freelancers and job seekers. And although the job listings load a tad slowly, the nearly 150 jobs listings from companies such as Time Inc., Sprint PCS, Plexus Software, Addison, and Dow Jones & Company) make this site worth waiting for (and quickly bookmarking) when it arrives. --Melanie Barton Zoltán A Savvy Writer Grills the Online 'Meet Markets' http://www.yudkin.com/publish.htm With ten books and hundreds of published articles under her belt, author and marketing consultant Marcia Yudkin knows of what she speaks, and her Published! How to Reach Writing Success site fills in many missing pieces of the freelance-writing puzzle. Articles like "The Freelance Writing Quiz," "The M-Factors: Qualities that Help You Break Into Major Magazines," "Schmoozing With Editors," and "From Writer To Content Provider" hold battle-tested lessons for newbies and veterans alike. Her "Are Online 'Meet Markets' Little More than 'Meat Markets'?" rates job and project-matching services for writers; it's an especially valuable and timely analysis of sites such as work.com, guru.com, and freeagent.com. [Editor's OuterNote: The aforementioned Aquent.com is also reviewed]. "I'm concerned that the way some sites execute this idea [auctioning writing services] cheapens the already-not-so-high value of writers among relatively new purchasers of writers' services," she concludes. "And the whole setup doesn't seem as efficient or productive as old-fashioned ways of editors and writers finding one another." --Melanie Barton Zoltán [Editor's OuterNote: In a similar vein, the New York Times writer Katie Hafner's recent article "Web Sites Begin to Self Organize" profiles another branch of low-paying but high-potential markets for writers. It's at http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/18/technology/18SELF.html?pagewanted=all.] Editor & Publisher's Classifieds Are Getting a Facelift http://www.editorandpublisher.com/ephome/class/classhtm/employment.htm Long the most authoritative listings for (and in) print journalism, they're now getting a digital facelift. If you're considering a move back to traditional media (or just want a change of locale), you'll find a good mix of high quality positions from publishers such as Kiplinger's, AllSport Photography, Michigan Live, Newsmax, Stars And Stripes and the Portland Press-Herald in locations as diverse as New York, Washington, Lexington, KY, Annapolis, Ann Arbor and West Palm Beach, Southern California and the Maine Coast. During the redesign, the former new media and freelance sections are being now grouped into editorial, which makes it a good quick stop for a wide variety of positions, but let's hope that an autonotification and search function are on tap to cut down on repeat visits and scroll time. There are also separate job listings for academic, advertising, circulation, marketing, production and tech if you're considering a lateral as well as a geographic move. --Mariateresa Thiery The Write Jobs: Right Moves for Jobs and News http://www.writerswrite.com/jobs/jobs.htm This small but decent roster of traditional and dot.com listings is supplemented by detailed contact information and company-research links. Current advertisers include Bloomberg, Intuit and ZDNet, and there's a nice spread of jobs from entry-level to the Content VP level. Separate groupings of telecommuting and technical-writing jobs are a nice added touch. If you want to get a bigger leg up on the competition, slide over to their excellent Write News section at http://writenews.com/; it's very good at tracking the launch of new publications that could turn into paying markets. --Karin Call Writersweekly.com Shows Strong, Savvy Content... http://www.writersweekly.com Angela Adair-Hoy's very useful e-zine makes up in depth, timeliness and savvy what it lacks in overall design; it's worth a few extra scrolls to fully uncover its rich content. The online and magazine freelance employment classifieds are extensive, eclectic and up-to-date, and the new market listings showcases the well-networked Ms. Adair's strong ability to track and share emerging opportunities. Additional features like a Freelance Income Kit, Syndicate E-mail Directory, Newspaper Editor E-mail Directory, Writer's Guidelines Database, Self-Publisher's Discussion List, 24-Hour Short Story Contest and very effective weekly newsletter round out a very useful site. --Philip Stewart ...But The New Media Joblist's Still Hit-or-Miss http://www.groupz.net/edge/joblist.html It's a no-nonsense (except for the mint-green background) flat file of listings for freelance writers and editors in New Media that occasionally will reveal a gem of a gig. But it's feast or famine here -- you never know if you're going to find 10 new ads, or go 10 days without a new listing, so regular checks are in order. Let's hope that some nice CyberSanta brings them an e-mail auto-notification feature for Christmas! --Mariateresa Thiery Writer's Digest Offers a Market of the Day http://www.writersdigest.com/motd/index.htm Finding a market for your writing can be more work than the actual writing, but the always-helpful folks at Writer's Digest have developed two online features to help ease that burden. The "Market of the Day" features a specific publication such as Woman's Day or Merlyn's Pen, complete with contact information, a brief description of their content, how to submit a manuscript, and payment schedules. To uncover find more markets, you can subscribe for $29.99 a year (or $2.99 a month) to their full searchable database of thousands of writers' markets. It's more economical than purchasing the $49.00 print version of the Writer's Market, since the online database is updated throughout the year. However, if you do purchase the book, you do get one full year of access to the online database, so it's a win-win situation. --Debbie Cissell [Editor's OuterNote: At that point, the book's companion CD-ROM -- which includes a neat little query-tracking program -- makes it an even better deal. I bought it.] Tjobs.com Keys on Telecommuter Listings http://tjobs.com Although it lacks the extensive listings of a mediabistro.com or craigslist.org, this site has benefited from a recent redesign, and the tight focus telecommuting amplifies the already low signal-to-noise ratio. The free ads in the writer/editor job category lists the usual low-paying/shared-risk market stalwarts like About.com, Suite101.com adn Briefme.com, but a sprinkling of more traditional work-from-home gigs for columnists, medical writers, parenting and sports writers make it worth a visit. Freelancers can list their resumes for $10.00 a year, while employers can post and later modify ads after registering for free. --Peggy LeTrent [Editor's OuterNote:Judging from the quality and quantity of responses we've gotten from one ad looking for writers placed back in April, this is a very cost-effective place to advertise...] SunOasis Still Shining for Writer Jobs... http://www.sunoasis.com/ Writer/Poet David Eide's low-tech (but impressively linked) site is renowned as the grandfather of telecommuting-technical writing-freelance-writing job postings on the Internet. A recent visit revealed postings from publications such as Reuters Health, Wall Street Europe and the American Cancer Society. All jobs are further divided by region, and the extensive outside links in the Resources and Literary/Writing Resources and tutorials such as "How To Find Writing Jobs on the Net" will help you navigate the perilous paths of Web writing. Other notable features include "The Laughing Sun" e-zine that covers e-publishing news and opportunities, sections on Career Development and Internships and a step-by-step guide to finding writing jobs online. --Jennie S. Bev ...And 'Nerd Boy' Leads an Effective Job Hunt http://www.justtechwriterjobs.com The JustTechJobs network's content and clarity stand out in the sometimes sterile hunt for well-paid tech writing jobs – and the "Nerd Boy" mascot icon is more endearingly entertaining than annoying. The site offers a convenient 'one click' registration for auto-notifications and advanced searches of technical writing jobs nationwide. Representative jobs included Silicon Valley giants like Hewlett-Packard, Cisco and Sun, at yearly salaries of 50-100+K. The advanced search feature also allows applicants to choose among the H1B visa sponsorships, contract positions, entry-level positions and jobs at start-up companies; as one example, ProSoftCo. is ready to hire technical writers for 90+K and will sponsor those who need H1B visas. --Jennie S. Bev CreativeMoonlighting.com Offers Discrete Ads... http://creativemoonlighter.com This Pittsburgh-based company is targeting both freelance writers seeking, and full-time editors assigning, part-time projects; like tjobs.com, the home page's links are neatly split between the two groups. Freelancers can create detailed talent profiles and respond to project descriptions in Web design, advertising and publishing fields. The application process is a tad long, but they do add one thoughtful touch: You can exclude employer inquiries from up to five zip codes so you don't tip off your bosses that you're seeking work on the side. Available job postings vary from technology-based assignments to fiction writing, with the tech gigs predominating. Employers can create projects profiles and search the freelancer database for free, but contact information for freelancers meeting project descriptions cost $49.95. --Sudeep Arya ...And Creative Freelancers Further Refines the Art http://www.freelancers.com Creative Freelancers connects professional Web designers and developers, writers, illustrators, marketers photographers, editors and translators to publishers needing their services. For writers, the free job listings show fair-to-middling quality, and most require blind-box replies; placing ads costs employers $50.00. But while prospective employers will enjoy the searchable portfolio section and the artist, web designer and photographer gallery that's effectively broken down into specific fields like Web design, computer illustration scientific illustration, and photographer's portfolios, they might balk at the charge for contacting portfolio displayers: $50.00 gets you a "contact token," a three-pack costs $100.00 and a package of 100 goes for $500.00. --Gian Trotta
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