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I'm thinking SBR might not understand that when you give a writer an assignment with a word count, you're sending a signal: this is hack work, fill some white space.
Editor: Go to my brother-in-law's hardware store grand opening.
Writer: Ah, man.
Editor: Give me 500 words.
Writer: Let me cover the AVN convention later?
Editor: Deal.
It's SBR's dime, and they can do what they want with it. But I'd say they're really stumbling out of the gate here. I personally have had to rescind my interest, and I'm disappointed to do so. I don't even want to read lame-ass game previews, much less write them.
SBR might not know what they don't know about managing writers, and they might not know what we, as consumers, are looking for. It isn't word-count game previews, which is what they've said, in email, that they want. It's insight. Not "Melo is out tonight" expanded with BS to fill out the word req, it's "Melo is out tonight and in the other N games he missed DEN did X, his sub did T, and by my calc's (methodology explained elsewhere) his value is Y on the sides, Z on the total."
Brevity: good.
Verbosity: bad.
Drivel: worse.
And a word count req is a verbosity call, a drivel prompt. It's for middle school English teachers giving homework.
But good luck with it. We should all keep an open mind. Who knows, maybe it could be the American Idol of handicapping.Comment -
let me know when you want a weekly golf blog, odds/preview/tourney matchups.Comment -
Word count limits are a necessary evil for most website writing. Bill Simmons just wrote a monster article about "The Fighter" on ESPN, and I had to admit I was losing interest towards the end. And he is a good writer who can sustain my interest throughout one of his books about sports. But most readers expect some degree of brevity when reading articles on the internet.
That goes for magazine articles and short story anthologies, too. There's a place for long-form writing, but it's not on SBRforum.Comment -
It isn't long-form writing we need, it's short-form. I just read through some of the examples SBR is promoting. Free picks game previews? Are you kidding? Terrible stuff. Long-winded and squarish; lots of verbiage, zero insight. But it's SBR's site, so I'll STFU, LOL.Comment -
Sent an e-mail. You replied back asking for a written piece and I'll have that for you in the next thirty minutes. Thank you for your time. Cheers.Comment -
That was exactly my point, Joe. SBR needs short-form writing. Members want short-form writing. Whatever you think of the quality of the Free Picks game previews, it certainly can't be called long-winded or long-form. The definition of long-form writing is probably dependent on the channel (or medium) that the writing takes place. Long-form writing for the Web might be considered any article that runs over 2,000 words (the column I mentioned above by Bill Simmons runs over 3,000 words). The Free Picks write-ups look to be about 500 to 700 words; definitely not long-form.
One of the aspects I don't like about some of the Free Picks previews now is the way the writers establish their bias so early in the article, and then do nothing but cite statistics or trends that support their bias. I don't need somebody to SELL me on their pick. I want an ANALYSIS of the competition, including how the teams' relative strengths and weaknesses match up to each other, what the motivational factors are for the game, key injury updates, and reasons why the line might be lower or higher than expected. There are hundreds of factors that might be analyzed from a handicapping perspective for any given game; I want to know which ones are going to have the most impact on the outcome.
There's a reason point spreads exist. They help even out the odds of choosing the winning team. Having 10-star, lockdown, easy money picks is nothing but fool's gold. Give me insights that other cappers are overlooking or underplaying, something that convinces me (right or wrong) that I have an edge on the oddsmakers. That might convince me to take the Bills +9 against the Patriots just as easily as the other way around.
And do it in 500 words or less.
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i got a response,they want my number and an example, i will do it this weekend, says till last day of yearComment -
Guess I wasn't considered good enough to warrant requesting a sample ... oh well, c'est la vieComment -
I guess I'm going to submit my interest but for a limited section of sports handicapping...Comment -
Check My sports book this week...hit 16/20ish and came up about 300 points in the process...That is all...For real I would like to know how much these guys are making. I used to work for a sneaker publications Sneakerfiles.com and Soleredemption.com as a "blogger" etc. We made 10 cents a post...some guys out here must make a killing if they are getting more than that I'd say 30-0k annually if you are full time and doing a lot of posting...Comment -
I hope SBR takes a lot of writers, I think everyone could benefit if there are a lot of minds at work.
Submitted my application, got my fingers crossed.Comment -
tout write ups are the biggest bunch of drivel in the world. endless stats quoted for effect, complete grasp of the obvious or worse total nonsense repeated over and over for mind numbing counter productivity. sometimes less is more especially when the author understands his subject. which most touts do not.Comment -
Did not receive call. Good luck to those that did and have a merry christmasComment -
Cwissy says FISHHEAD is sharp for a fish but not a cat.Comment -
geez, i better learn to write again quickly, lolComment -
Cwissy says cats are sharper than fish.Comment -
Anybody know the details?Comment -
The details? Those who could write something of value are not in the market. Those who are in the market would write little of value. (This was known as soon as SBR refused to give a payment scale, while asking for high caliber handicappers...).Last edited by Dark Horse; 12-28-10, 01:47 PM.Comment -
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So this is the week prospective handicappers/writers will get a call?Comment -
anyone received a call yet?Comment -
Nope.Comment -
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