Worthy Tip: This Job, Not That Job

What I’m reading: Gilian the Dreamer by Neil Munro
What’s on the iPod: After the Gold by Neil Young

Before I forget, I have a post up over at About Freelance Writing. Give it a look.

The snow has come. I felt it the day before. You can just tell. The air is more static and heavy, and the birds start flocking in droves to the feeder. There’s a stillness about and a gray pale that just announces a big hit. Last night, it fell like powdered sugar from a sieve. We’ll see if it shovels as beautifully.

Daughter flies back today, though there’s still a chance her flight may not take off and she’ll be stranded – in Disney World. There are worse fates.

I’m not one to get worked up over snowstorms (except getting excited that we’re having one), so I didn’t run out yesterday to get food or anything. Let’s face it – it’s a rare day that we’re stuck in the house more than 24 hours. If you don’t have enough food before a storm starts, you need to get more creative in your cooking and use up some of that stuff sitting around in your cupboards.

Instead, I went for a haircut. My daughter’s graduation party is this weekend and I’m looking a little ragged. So I traipsed off before the big storm to get gussied up. We do have our priorities.

Before the new year, I’d started a little something I call Take This Job, Not That Job. I give total credit to Men’s Health editor David Zinczenko for the inspiration culled from his Eat This Not That series. It’s such a good idea, I wanted to see how it applied to freelancing.

Quite well, it seems. Too many writers are getting stuck in the “It’s all I can find!” mindset. No, a $5 assignment is not all you can find, and it takes very little effort to find something that pays infinitely better.

The goal here isn’t to say the jobs found are the only way to go. It’s to show you that if you take the same requirements and do your own searching, you’re going to improve your income.

So let’s start with something I found on Craig’s List:

Video Game Blog Writer

I’m looking for someone who can help with my blog about online games. Currently I have about 300 daily readers but am looking to kick it to the next level. I can only offer minimum wage, but it’s a lot better than other min-wage jobs and would be great experience for anyone interested in internet-marketing or the gaming industry. The schedule is flexible, about 10 hours per week, and all of the work should be done at home via email communication, with occasional meetings near (location listed).

The ideal candidate should have an interest in internet-marketing and the gaming industry, and posses strong written-communication skills. The job involves:

Spend a few minutes a day playing browser-based online strategy games such as Travian, Ikariam, etc. This is important to build a good understanding of what we’re writing about and to be able to speak intelligently about these games.

Write one or two articles per week, specifically reviews of different games and extended “play-throughs” of games. Please refer to these examples:
(URLs omitted)

Contact and build relationships with game developers to add interviews and other exclusives to the blog.

Learn about and implement viral marketing. Develop contests, forum posts, and other creative methods to drive traffic to the site. Contact larger sites such as BBGsite and MMOhut to integrate our articles with their sites.

So to sum it up. 10 hours a week of flexible schedule. Play computer games and get involved with the industry. Earn a bit of money.

Interested candidates should send a brief cover letter describing, amongst other things, your experience with video games and why you’d be great for this job, as well as a short writing sample.

Compensation: $8 / hour

Wow. a long list there, isn’t it? So basically, you’re paid to write, market, and handle this guys publicity. For 8 bucks an hour. That’s a lot of work for minimum wage, don’t you think?

Try this instead:

“VIEWONLINE

Looking for intelligent, discerning reviews of games, movies, television programs, music, and any other product or service that would appeal to an audience of mostly males between the ages of 18 and 40… Reviews should be under 1,200 words and free of ‘technical jargon.’

No opinion or editorial pieces. No reviews of inappropriate products or services, such as pornographic material or devices. We will not accept reviews of games, movies, television programs, or music that glorify indecent sexual acts or promote gang violence or some other inappropriate topic.

Length: 800-1,200 words

Pays $80-120″

Wow. Eighty bucks for presumably an 800-word review? If you can write that in one hour, you’ve just increased your income 100 times. Not only that, you don’t have to market, pimp out the company on other blogs, or be anyone’s publicity wonk.

Looking both job listings up took me the same amount of time, so the notion that finding better-paying work is harder doesn’t wash here.

What job do you have currently that might translate into a better-paying one?