About.com?

Hi all,

I received an e-mail from Eric Hanson yesterday, explaining that they had just hired a UK editor and it would be a few more weks before they were going to review applications. he also thanked me for my patience. I really hope that I ultimately hear something favorable. Has anyone else applied for any of the UK guide positions?

Stephanie

Hi, everyone. This thread has been a great find, and I look forward to exploring the site more.

I started prep with About.com Friday and submitted my Category Structure outline yesterday morning for a noon deadline, but haven't received any response. :| This afternoon, I e-mailed my mentor asking about the status, but haven't heard back. I'm not sure if this is a reflection of what they think of my work or not. Hmm...

Standing by and hopeful, but a little antsy -- 1st Review is Friday.
Any other updates from prep?

UPDATE: Just received feedback from my mentor that was valuable and friendly. Onward I go . . .

Congrats and good luck to all those folks "in the queue"!

Christy

Oh, KiyasMom, I'm sorry to hear that you didn't get accepted. I hope that your next attempt is the right site for you!

Good luck to all of the rest of you that are applying or going through Prep! Weird News in particular sounds like a reallllyyy fun topic, too!

I have a question for those that have applied for an about.com topic. When you apply, it states that a confirmation email will be sent out. How long did it take to receive this email?

I applied for a topic this morning, and I haven't received any confirmation. (Usually that sort of stuff is automated and is almost immediate.) I use yahoo for email and check my spam folder regularly before clearing it out (I've seen all kinds of stuff get caught in it).

Hi Havlen,

I made a post about this the other day. Here it is:

I sent a follow-up email to About after one of my applications several weeks back and they wrote back and said they'd been having issues with their auto-responder, but that they had, in fact, received my materials. Evidently, that same issue has not been rectified.

Well, I just wanted to let everyone going for Freelance Writing know that you have one less competitor. : - /

I've been so focused on getting my own magazine's content done, I turned around and realized tomorrow is Review One day. I only had one article written and no formatting done. I could have killed myself all night, but then my magazine writing would have suffered, along with three other deadlines. I just can't invest that sort of time, right now, for something that is not a "sure thing." (When I have several sure things sitting on my desk).

I was happy to hear that I am still invited to try out as a Guide in the future, so it sounds like it's not counting against me.

I also think I still don't *get* what About.com is looking for... I find their site sections a bit hard to navigate--although always chock full of content--and I think I need to just visit the site more often before it really *clicks* for me. For instance, I'll click on a link and it won't take me to what I expected.

I think, at some point in the future, the "perfect site" for me will open up and when it does, I will be ready for it and have a better understanding of the whole system. But not right now.

Good luck to all the AWers still in Prep for Freelance Writing.

CatMuse, I'm also finding things coming along a little more slowly than I'd anticipated and will indeed be up late tonight. I love my topic and thought I'd be working non-stop, but I'm doing training for another site right now and have gotten a couple of new projects. It's not the best timing for me. On one hand, I also have "sure things" lined up, and on the other hand, I REALLY, REALLY want the About job. It's frustrating because I don't think I'm focused enough right now.

RitrChick said:

Hi Havlen,

I made a post about this the other day. Here it is:

I sent a follow-up email to About after one of my applications several weeks back and they wrote back and said they'd been having issues with their auto-responder, but that they had, in fact, received my materials. Evidently, that same issue has not been rectified.

Click to expand...

Good to know. I didn't have any problem getting the response the last time I applied, but that was a while back. I just don't want it to be a typo in the form

awwww Catmuse!!!!!! Who is still in freelance writing prep other than me? Wouldn't it be terrible if I was the only one who finished but STILL didn't get the offer? I'd have to stick my head in the sand!

I'm still in...tired, but in.

It's too bad, CatMuse. I think that's what I find so frustrating about prep. If you've already got other commitments, you can't just blow them off for a job you're not sure you're going to get. I wish I had known I was in prep at least a few days before it started, so I would have time to try to clear my plate.

Good luck to the remaining Freelance Writing trainees!

MoreThanMommy,
I'm a bit upset with myself, actually... I had about 2 weeks warning about Prep, but have been working on other things. I wanted to write an article a day in the two weeks leading up to Prep, and then 2 articles a day during Prep, which would have put me in great shape. It just didn't happen.

It's also good because I thought the site would be more about "the craft of writing--ideas, inspiration, editing, etc." It seems to be very business oriented. While I squeak by on that and do enough of it to keep my business running, it's the part I hate and as soon as I have the money, I would hire someone else to do it for me.

Now, the Paintball Guide Job, I basically crammed everything in (regular work and Prep) because (like Brandi with Freelance Writing) I really, really wanted it. When I hit send on the "dropping out" e-mail I knew I didn't *really* want this gig, or I would have pushed onward at all costs, 20 hour days, whatever it took.

Thanks for the support and sympathy, everyone. It made me feel a bit better about my decision.

I just thought I'd pop in and say I wrote them asking if they'd received my submission and Eric, the editor of recruitment and training, wrote back early this morning to say they had. It's refreshing to see that kind of quick turnaround to a question, so I thought I'd give them some kudos.

Eric is always on task -- you'll get quick responses from him each time. If he doesn't know the answer to your question, he'll find someone who does. I was really pleased to work with him during Prep.

Has anyone with a first review heard anything yet?

Has anyone ever applied for something, gotten the confirmation email, and never heard back one way or the other about moving on to the next step?

Hi Brandi,
I got my 2nd review yesterday. They have been on time. She likes my stuff but I have had some DUMB typos. I could kick myself. They aren't going to want someone who posts sloppy work. This week has been very busy what with back-to-school and sports stuff and meetings and homework.....I'm very discouraged cause of my lack of time....

Here's a hint, if you're not doing this already. Type your content in a word processing program like MS word, and then run a spell check on it. After you've done that, copy'n'paste it into your templates and add formatting.

The other plus about this method is that if your browser shuts down, you haven't lost all your work...

says she who experienced just that.

WriterGirl2007 said:

Has anyone ever applied for something, gotten the confirmation email, and never heard back one way or the other about moving on to the next step?

Click to expand...

Yes, this happened to me a few months ago and has happened to someone else I know as well.

midwife said:

Hi Brandi,
I got my 2nd review yesterday. They have been on time. She likes my stuff but I have had some DUMB typos. I could kick myself. They aren't going to want someone who posts sloppy work. This week has been very busy what with back-to-school and sports stuff and meetings and homework.....I'm very discouraged cause of my lack of time....

Click to expand...

Midwife, I did that on my second review, too! Except probably even worse. I had written two short articles specifically to fit in with something on my outline, and I pointed them out to my mentor to take a look at. Unfortunately, I hadn't reviewed them myself, and they were horrible! I didn't notice that that particular tool automatically inserted colons at the end of headings, so they were doubled. I had forgotten some formatting. It looked soo bad! I nearly fell out of my chair when she pointed out that maybe those articles could use some more work

But I fixed them and life went on, so don't despair!

PattiTheWicked said:

Here's a hint, if you're not doing this already. Type your content in a word processing program like MS word, and then run a spell check on it. After you've done that, copy'n'paste it into your templates and add formatting.

Click to expand...

I would add that if you do that, you can then copy the text into Notepad before copying it into your About tools. Word uses some fancy formatting isn't compatible with the About tools, meaning that all of your quotes or apostrophes might get stripped out, or other weird symbols show up. Taking the extra step to copy paste into Notepad can prevent some embarrassing mistakes. (I just found out that one of my Prep articles had no apostrophes in it, after being live for three months for just that reason.)

I also use the Google Taskbar, which has a spell check that works in forms. It's a big help!

And finally, I use Roboform to save my work in the About forms as I go, so that crashes (usually) don't drive me nuts.

RitrChick said:

Yes, this happened to me a few months ago and has happened to someone else I know as well.

Click to expand...

Glad I'm not the only one!

I got my first review back a couple of hours ago. There were most stylistic comments, so they're easy to correct. I'm hoping that meant the content was good and not that I'm beyond hope.