UPDATED: We are now closing the call for new GeekDad writers. The response has been overwhelming, and over the next few days we have to sort through nearly 160 applications from 5 different continents. We want to thank everyone who has applied! We are keeping our options open, but we figure we’ll be taking only 10-20 or so new writers in a combination of Core Contributor and Occasional Contributor positions. If you don’t get picked, please don’t think you didn’t have a good application! With so many good apps, we’re going to have to make some very tough decisions, and many really good apps will have to be passed over. But there will likely be more chances in the future, and hopefully you’ll all continue to be a part of our wonderful GeekDad community. Thanks!
~Ken and the GeekDad team.
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The economic downturn has hit GeekDad as it has many others. Over the last few weeks, we’ve lost a number of our Core Contributors due to life issues requiring them to take time off from blogging. And while they will always be welcomed back with open arms, GeekDad needs to keep on trucking, and keep on building like it has over the last two years.
Which is why we announce today:
An Open Call for New GeekDad Writers!!!
What the job entails:
- No pay – being a GeekDad writer is a volunteer position (there is a contract to sign, though).
- If you’re lucky, a post could get very popular and you might earn a bonus.
- Pledge to post at least once a week. More is welcome.
- You can use affiliate links in posts, but on a discreet basis.
- You may have the opportunity to get review copies of games/books/movies and more.
- You get to be part of an awesome community, and say "I write for Wired.com!"
Who we are looking for:
- Parents: Dads or Moms who are geeky in some way, and share that with their kid(s).
- Good writers: You don’t have to be a professional writer, but you need to be able to string together coherent thoughts in a pleasant manner.
- Experience with blogging or other online writing.
- Experience with social media and promotion: Using Digg/Reddit/Fark and so on to help promote stories.
- Subject area geek experts: We have Robot people and RPG people and
UAV people and LEGO people and Muppets people. We are currently weak on Comic Book people and Electronics people and Rocket people. Or suggest another geeky subject we haven’t done that you know all about. - Geographic variety: We want to make sure we have people from all over. We want writers in the US, of course, but our international readership has been growing as well, and we’d love to add a couple folks from other countries.
- GeekDad Readers: We’d love to be able to bring on people who already read and are fans of GeekDad. If we know you from the comments, and you’re already part of our community, great!
How to apply:
- Send me an email (to ken ‘at’ geekdad ‘dot’ com).
- Subject line should read "Application to write for GeekDad – <your name here>." Don’t be cute and literally write "<your name here>"
in the subject line! - The body of the email should be about introducing yourself to us, and filling us in on your qualifications with respect to the "Who we are looking for" list above. Be yourself – this isn’t a job interview, it’s a meet and greet. Include links to personal blogs, flickr pages, or other examples of your online existence and writing.
There is no hard date as of now for when we’ll stop taking applications. We need to see what kind of response we get. But if you’re a geek and a parent, and have dreamed about blogging, you are encouraged to give it a shot. That’s what we all did, and look how it’s worked out for us!
