Hey, Austin! Do you love the city as much as we do? Are you passionate about blogging and sharing your experiences with the rest of the city? Consider becoming a contributing or guest blogger for The Austinot!
| Contributing Blogger | Guest Blogger | |
|---|---|---|
| Perks | Reach, Invites, Parties | Reach |
| Pay | $25-$35 per article | None |
| Commitment | 6 months, 2 articles/month | None |
| Prerequisites | 2 articles as Guest Blogger | None |
Contributing Bloggers
We are always looking for genuinely kind and fun people (who can write) to join our growing team of contributing bloggers.
We’re a small team. Well, we’re actually more like a family and our team has great chemistry. So we’re not looking for everyone to sign up, but rather people who get what The Austinot is all about and want to write unique articles about the city.
What do Contributing Bloggers get?
If you’re going to join us, hopefully, you realize that what you give is more important than what you get out of this. But being a Contributing Blogger for The Austinot is certainly not without its perks.
- Invites: The Austinot is invited to pretty much everything in town, from music concerts to grand openings, events, private parties, you name it. Heck, we’ve even been invited to play beekeepers for a day, stay in amazing bed and breakfasts and hotels, eat at all kinds of restaurants, ride in helicopters, go ziplining, flyboarding, skydiving, and more. Our team of Contributing Bloggers gets first right of refusal on all our invites.
- Reach: It goes without saying that you get your writing seen by a large number of people. Our reach is pretty widespread, both on our website and social media platforms, so your content will be read by viewers all over the Austin area. As a Contributing Blogger, your bio will appear on our About page, with a link pointing to your social media profile or website of your choosing.
- Parties: You get to hang out at our private company parties. These happen every three to six months, depending on what is going on around the city. (Note: these are paused during COVID).
- Pay: Contributing Bloggers are paid on a per-article basis. The current rates are $25-$35 for new content and $15-$25 for revamping older content; exact rates depend on article length.
What is required of a Contributing Blogger?
We ask for a six-month commitment of two high-quality, 600+ word articles per month. You must meet all deadlines and maintain a high level of professionalism at all events.
We review each blogger internally after six months and decide whether they are meeting all of the requirements to remain in their position. But we constantly communicate with our bloggers, so there are really no surprises here.
How do I become a Contributing Blogger?
If you are interested in becoming a writer for The Austinot, head over to the Contact Us page to submit your information. We are looking for the following:
- Introduce yourself. Tell us about who you are and why you’d like to write for The Austinot. The challenge here is to do it in one well-crafted and creative paragraph. Have fun with it and show us your personality. Remember, just one paragraph.
- Show us your social prowess. Include links or handles to any social media profiles you’d like to show off. Note that we are not looking for a large number of followers. Rather, this just allows us to see your online personality.
- Writing samples. Provide at least two writing samples. We prefer articles you’ve written, but anything you’ve written (we’ve seen college essays and various other creative samples) will suffice. We want to know you can string and sling words. Links to live articles or documents uploaded to Google Drive (or other cloud platforms) will do.
Our Editor will review your application and contact you within a few days of your submission.
Please don’t be offended if we say no. As we said, The Austinot is like a family, so we’re pretty protective of our team members. You are still free to submit articles as a Guest Blogger.
If we do say yes, the next step is to receive two guest articles from you. Once your guest articles are approved, they will be published on The Austinot. We want to see how our readers and fans respond to you as a writer. During this trial period, we are also looking at how well you do with deadlines and how timely your communication with the Editor is.
If all goes well, we’ll offer you a spot as a Contributing Blogger.
Guest Bloggers
If you’d like to write for The Austinot without the commitment (or perks!) of a becoming Contributing Blogger, we still accept guest post submissions. Head over to the Contact Us page to submit your information.
Remember, even guest articles must stick to The Austinot’s focus. We will only consider topic pitches that are relevant to local Austin businesses, events, musicians, etc.
FAQ
Am I paid for the articles I write?
Yes. Starting in 2021, Contributing Bloggers are paid per article (see rates above). Guest Bloggers are not paid.
Can I accept products or services in exchange for writing an article?
We want to stay objective in all that we write. We all serve as Contributing Bloggers because we love the city of Austin. That being said, it is fair (and common) to accept gifted products or services in order to appropriately feature a business, restaurant, or event. In this case, appropriate disclosures are required.
Can I write about anything I want to?
The Editor must approve all article topics. But generally, if your idea is about Austin, you can write about it. The exceptions to this are: We don’t publish articles about topics that are divisive or more than PG-13 in nature.
What is the average time commitment for writing two articles per month?
The short answer is probably three to five hours per month, depending on your writing speed and the preparation required for your article. But figure it this way. You are going to be out and about in Austin anyway. Snap a few shots, do a quick interview, and write 600+ interesting words. Then send them to the Editor and that’s it.
So there are your answers, folks. Yes, we are looking for writers. Right NOW we are looking for writers. But we have to find the right people. We don’t care if you have tattoos or not, if you are gay or straight, if you are sporting a hipster beard or are clean-shaven, or if you lean to the left or the right. What we do care about is that you have a passion for the city of Austin, you can write, and you are genuinely kind. If that is you and you are interested, let us know!
