1. CrackBerry Kevin's Avatar
    Hello CrackBerry Faithful!!!

    Here's the scoop. Back in April I wrote an article on the CrackBerry homepage looking for more writers to join the CrackBerry team:

    So you're a BlackBerry fanboy (or fangirl) and can blog? I want to hear from you! | CrackBerry.com

    The call to action got a great response. In fact, it was TOO big of a response. We had over 50 people apply for the position, all of who seemed passionate and up for the challenge.

    It's impossible for us to bring aboard and train and manage that many regular writers on CrackBerry. And unless we give everybody a try, we're likely going to miss out on some great talent and opinions that want to have their voice heard on the homepage, but didn't get the chance.

    SO WE'RE CHANGING THAT AND PUTTING THE POWER IN YOUR HANDS!!!

    This new Homepage Article Submission forum is YOUR first opportunity to get your best content up on the homepage of CrackBerry and potentially become a regular CrackBerry contributor. Everybody who has the passion and opinion and skill to submit a great article or editorial, now has that chance to earn there way onto the Crack Team.

    Now, this isn't totally new. We've had our Community Reviews section on CrackBerry for years, and have occasionally re-posted articles that we're initially posted on the forums onto the CrackBerry homepage. We've also crowdsourced new writers before - long time readers will remember our CRACKBERRY IDOL challenge a few years back, which is where we found some of the voices you still read regularly on CrackBerry today.

    The difference now is that we're going to use this forum as our entry way into becoming a CrackBerry writer. So if you've ever thought about wanting to write a story for CrackBerry, whether just one time (you have a strong editorial opinion piece you'd like to express out there), or you'd love to become a regular contributor posting a few stories a week, this is where you get to audition.

    The Process:

    1. Write an awesome story and post it in this forum (create a new thread for it).
    -- The story should be written as if it were appearing on the CrackBerry homepage. This isn't a forum post. You need to write it as if you were already on the CrackBerry team, and the post is being read by all of CrackBerry Nation.
    -- Be sure to write the story so it "belongs" on CrackBerry. If you're smart, just look back at content that's already on CrackBerry, whether it's editorial opinion posts or reviews or anything else. By studying what we've done before, you'll have a great idea of the basic format to aim for in your writing

    2. Once your story is up, send a quick email to bla1ze @ crackberry.com linking to your post. In this email, give us the details you want us to know. Are you ideally looking just to have THIS one story posted on the homepage because you think it's THAT good. Or are you aiming to become a regular writer, etc. Let us know where you live, what you do, etc.

    3. If we think it's an awesome homepage worthy writeup, we'll get you to sign a standard writer's form. This is housekeeping, but needs to be signed before we promote a story to the homepage (basically, you're writing this story for CrackBerry, so you can't go posting it all over the internet - duplicate content everywhere is considered spam). Note, just because you post a story in this forum doesn't guarantee it will make the homepage. If that's the case, we'll still let it live in the forums here and we thank you for the time and effort. If this is the case, we'll give you some feedback as to how the article could be improved to make it homepage worthy, or will let you know why we're not posting it. We still need to maintain the integrity of our homepage. Please don't be offended if your story doesn't make the cut.

    4. Once the housekeeping is done, if we're running your article we'll get it moved over to the homepage. At that point we'll also likely re-direct your forum thread to the beefed up article. As is standard, we'll likely edit up your post if there's anything in need of editing (minor grammar, spelling, etc. - ideally you want your story to be so good when you post in the forums that we don't need to touch a thing) and add some photos, etc.

    5. At this point, you've been published on CrackBerry!!! Congrats, you're famous!! We'll add a byline at the bottom of these stories that links back to your twitter, bbm channel, instagram, etc., so you may even pick up some new followers and attention based on your awesome post. We'll even hook you up with some additional love (I'll talk to Michelle Haag on this, but I'm thinking those CrackBerry mugs are pretty dope.. or some other CrackBerry swag).

    AND FROM THERE....

    We see how things go! If we loved your article, you expressed an interest to become a regular, and we think you have what it takes to be a regular, we'll give you your next steps from there. If you can't commit to being regular on your contributions, we may want you to continue to post via this forum at your own will and we'll follow the same process. If you think you have the ideas and you want to be more active, we'll get you sending your stories in directly to us without even having to hit the forum.

    Ultimately, if we find your rhythm and things are going smooth (you've done a few posts, you're awesome, the community loves you, etc.), we can then even put you onto our freelance writer program, so you can earn some money to buy your next BlackBerry from your contributions.

    Let the stories flow fast like BlackBerry 10!!
    06-13-14 11:37 AM
  2. Revolver's Avatar
    Can you put more information on how submitters would get paid? I might be interested in submitting some things, but writing quality editorials takes time & work. Vagueness "(you've done a few posts, you're awesome, the community loves you, etc.)", just makes it seem like you're going to lead some poor suckers along to get free labor for CB, then just cut them loose when they start asking for money for their work.

    Maybe you've got followers willing to work for free (or coffee mugs/twitter links), but IMHO the honorable thing to do is to pay *money* for anything that's worth putting on the first page. The postings would be making you money after all.
    06-13-14 07:21 PM
  3. anon(1464249)'s Avatar
    Can you put more information on how submitters would get paid? I might be interested in submitting some things, but writing quality editorials takes time & work. Vagueness "(you've done a few posts, you're awesome, the community loves you, etc.)", just makes it seem like you're going to lead some poor suckers along to get free labor for CB, then just cut them loose when they start asking for money for their work.

    Maybe you've got followers willing to work for free (or coffee mugs/twitter links), but IMHO the honorable thing to do is to pay *money* for anything that's worth putting on the first page. The postings would be making you money after all.
    While you raise a valid point, I think it's not applicable in this case. You are asked to contribute, not forced. It's on your own incentive and merit that you will be providing articles. Yes, it takes time to create an article but I hardly think that the people that are chosen to contribute will become part of the full-time blogging team. Think of it more as an internship. You are allowed to expand your knowledge, leverage your writing skills, improve them and hey maybe in the end you'll get a new position but mostly, you'll be contributing to a site that promotes a brand most of us are passionate about, you'll be getting some screen time, your 15 minutes of fame and a feeling of utter bliss when the comments section on your newly posted article explodes.

    Even if some type of compensation will be given to the contributing bloggers, I think a public forum is hardly the place to discuss it.
    06-14-14 02:48 AM
  4. CrackBerry Kevin's Avatar
    Can you put more information on how submitters would get paid? I might be interested in submitting some things, but writing quality editorials takes time & work. Vagueness "(you've done a few posts, you're awesome, the community loves you, etc.)", just makes it seem like you're going to lead some poor suckers along to get free labor for CB, then just cut them loose when they start asking for money for their work.

    Maybe you've got followers willing to work for free (or coffee mugs/twitter links), but IMHO the honorable thing to do is to pay *money* for anything that's worth putting on the first page. The postings would be making you money after all.
    Hi Revolver, So I did leave those details a little "vague" for now as I want people who put their passion before anything else. Not just looking for hired guns. That said, this absolutely can lead to a paid contractor position. We have a "freelance pay schedule" for REGULAR contributors on the site. The payments are done on a per article contribution, and they vary based on the type of article it is (articles that take longer to write, get paid more, etc.).
    crackberryspqr likes this.
    06-14-14 10:06 AM
  5. tinochiko's Avatar
    This is great! Maybe soon instead of podcasts here and there you could set up a live stream

    Check Out TechCraze
    06-14-14 03:19 PM
  6. Canuck671's Avatar
    So do interns get access to the donuts in the staff room?

    Posted via CB10
    06-14-14 11:00 PM
  7. Ahmad Kaddoura's Avatar
    Well, and concerning the rumor of "end of life", I raised this in an old post, with a different approach.
    I want to say that I asked through a BlackBerry survey, that they have-and in a certain way-to minimize the rumors.
    If they are not sure about what they want/plan, then it's their problem.

    Customers need to feel how strong is the device they own.

    Other than that, rumors are just rumors, and blackberry is a fact.

    Posted via CB10
    06-17-14 05:37 AM
  8. uncledovid's Avatar
    What happened to jubei?

    I missed his posts?
    06-18-14 01:27 AM
  9. Ebscer's Avatar
    Is this thread still a thing?

    I have an idea for a post, but I don't want to be wasting my time...
    09-16-14 11:12 AM

Similar Threads

  1. Using PlayBook charger to charge the Z10
    By chudypee in forum BlackBerry Z10
    Replies: 29
    Last Post: 07-28-14, 02:29 PM
  2. BBM GROUP VIDEO AND/OR VOICE CHATS for CONFERENCING
    By CrackBerry Question in forum Ask a Question
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 06-20-14, 11:26 AM
  3. Get into the spirit of things with Football World Real Brazil Cup for BlackBerry 10
    By CrackBerry News in forum CrackBerry.com News Discussion & Contests
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 06-13-14, 10:51 AM
  4. Hide and download apps
    By timcold in forum BlackBerry Z10
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 06-13-14, 10:31 AM
LINK TO POST COPIED TO CLIPBOARD