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Become a Torontoist Contributor
This holiday season, Torontoist is once again looking to expand its roster of contributors, and we have our sights on you. We’re going to double our current number of staff members just in the time for 2007, which will be our biggest and best year yet. No — the biggest and best year EVER for ANYTHING.
Excited? So are we.
(Explanatory Aside: A contributor is, roughly, anyone who contributes anything to Torontoist. We’re looking for writers, photographers, comic artists, podcasters, videobloggers, and pretty much any other possible category of creative types in Toronto that you can think of. Now, onto the fun stuff.)
What we can offer you:
Freedom. Writers on Torontoist are given an extraordinary amount of freedom. We pick contributors that we like. From there, it’s all up to you: what you want to write about, when you want to write about it, how you want to write about it.
Unending Glee! It’s actually fun work, if you can believe it. Accreditation. Free stuff. Interviews with your idols. Exclusive party invites. Plus, befriend some of the coolest people in the city – our staff! It’s almost too awesome.
Exposure. We’re #1! With 90,000 unique visitors (and growing) each month, Torontoist is the most popular website of its kind in the country. All sorts of awesome people – local celebrities, newspaper and magazine writers and editors, students, musicians, bloggers, photographers, designers, whatever – read us every day.
Growth. Torontoist is on the cusp of being an alternative media force to be reckoned with, and this is your opportunity to be part of that growth.
Money. Not very much, but you’ll be able to buy yourself some cups of coffee. This thing ties into that whole “growth” thing – our payment rates for posts will rise steadily in the new year.
What we’re looking for in a contributor:
Talent and Commitment. You should be good at what you do, and understand that we’re about quality, not quantity. That being said, you should be comfortable posting at least once a week.
Enthusiasm. You really, really, really, really care about Toronto, and you really, really, really, really want to write for us.
Specialization. You know your stuff about one particular point of interest in the city of Toronto (say, Food, Relationships, Baseball, whatever). This doesn’t mean that you can’t post about whatever you want – you totally can – we just want someone who knows their strengths. If you’re just really good at everything, we can deal with that, too.
Friendliness. You’re in a unique position on Torontoist where you’ll be interacting with people who can comment on what you do. Sure, it’s the internet, but niceness (or “people skills”) is a big asset.
What we need from you in your application:
- Pitch us some post ideas. No less than 2 and no more than 5. They should be a sentence or two each, no need to kill yourself, and they can be general or super-specific. Think of it like this: if you were on Torontoist staff immediately, what would you post about?
- Some samples of what you do, just so we can get a feel for your style. Your blog (or online portfolio or flickr account, etc.) works.
- Anything else that’ll help us make our decision. We want to know about you!
How to apply:
To apply, please send an e-mail to [email protected], c/o Torontoist Co-Editor-in-Chief David Topping before midnight on Wednesday, December 13. Successful applicants will be contacted before Christmas, so if you’re going away somewhere that you can’t be reached, please let us know. No applicants will be contacted until the application date has closed, and though we welcome all applicants, we’ll only contact those who are considered for a position. Oh, and please don’t be offended if we don’t pick you; we still love you all.
The application deadline has closed! Thanks to everyone who threw their number into the glorious Torontoist hat; we got far more than we expected! We’ll be getting in touch with the successful applicants shortly.