Is McDonalds still hiring?

I get an RSS feed of local writing jobs that appear on Craigslist. On Friday, someone posted a need for writers for a new county-wide newspaper. I send the guy a quick note.

Guy responds on Saturday requesting clips and a resume. I shoot over the first thing I can find.

Today, the guy writes back to say my stuff looks excellent. However, my freelance rates are too high. He includes the paper's standard rates.

This new newspaper plans to pay freelancers 3 and a 1/2 cents a word. For a 500-word story, they're paying $17.50. After 1000 words, they stop paying. So the most they'll pay for a story is $35.

I wrote back and suggested that the guy get a clue.

 

Five stories a day, five days a week, 52 weeks a year = $45.5K.

You're not up to doing 5,000 words a day? You mustn't want it bad enough.

 

I'll give him 5K words a day, so long as I choose the topic.

 

Can't wait to read that...

 

I figure I can rip JDV off for 4K of those, most days.

 

Well, since you're post-padding at 4K in the last week, you are well on your way...

 

What's post-padding?

 

The guy will probably be working at McDonald's himself in a year or two. The success rate for start-up newspapers isn't too high, especially if he's doing it on his own, which it sounds like he is.

 

just saw an ad on craig's list that, under compensation, said "remember, we are a small company," and that was it.

 

Did you bring that up when he made the "offer"? Because at least Mickey D's hooks you up with an uber-cool burgandy work shirt and half-price Big Macs while on the clock.

 

I see lots of shit like that on Craigslist. The population here has boomed, and every asshole with a marketing degree and a copy of Quark thinks he's going to start a newspaper.

The shame is that people really do need start-up surburban dailies to provide what the big boys don't care to tackle. I live in a city of almost 90,000, and it doesn't have a local paper other than a mom-and-pop deal in a neighboring city. Lots of other cities of 40,000 to 50,000 are in the same boat. It's just difficult to build an identity.