Can a blog get me a job?

[young-gun11]

I've been in the business (news-side) for about a year. Three different rags*, but each a step forward. However, I was not retained during consolidation by my latest job.

I have always wanted to be in the sports world. It isn't that I don't enjoy news. I just don't find writing it very interesting. Especially at rural county publications.

My question is would starting (and maintaining) a blog be helpful in finding a place to call home in the sports industry. I've been writing extensively for that "website" which shall not be named (B/R) in hopes of using the material for clips.

However, would it be more helpful to keep a blog going about a specific team or sport, showing how I am able to cover a "beat"?

If not, what would you guys suggest?

* - First place shut down within the first month I was there. Left a tri-weekly for a job in my hometown after 6 months. (This is to clarify I'm not a job-hopper)

 

[Ace]

Sure it would help if you do a good job.

But you know that.

 

[Stitch]

Blogging could help, but do you want to put in time doing the reporting necessary to make it worthy enough to use as clips? Since you've worked in Podunk, what expectations do you have of finding something bigger? You have to have realistic goals, and a blog might not impress a rural editor.

 

[joe king]

No, but a job can get you a blog.

 

[Johnny Chase]

It can't hurt. You would be better off trying to get some sports writing experience as a freelancer.

 

[playthrough]

What Johnny said. One or two or three great clips will go just as far and probably farther than a blog, and there's little stigma to them being freelance. When you apply for jobs you're usually only sending in a few clips anyway -- no hiring editor wants to read your blog, no matter how good it is. And that's not "beat" reporting, either.

 

[nck228]

It can't hurt. You would be better off trying to get some sports writing experience as a freelancer.

This. At the very least, a blog is an OK way to show off your voice, since you won't be doing any original reporting.

But I think that going out and covering games is the best way to get your foot in the door. Talk to the sports editor at your current place and see if there are any high school games you can cover on one of your news-side days off.

 

[Stitch]

It can't hurt. You would be better off trying to get some sports writing experience as a freelancer.

This. At the very least, a blog is an OK way to show off your voice, since you won't be doing any original reporting.

But I think that going out and covering games is the best way to get your foot in the door. Talk to the sports editor at your current place and see if there are any high school games you can cover on one of your news-side days off.

The OP seems to have plenty of days off now.

 

[nck228]

It can't hurt. You would be better off trying to get some sports writing experience as a freelancer.

This. At the very least, a blog is an OK way to show off your voice, since you won't be doing any original reporting.

But I think that going out and covering games is the best way to get your foot in the door. Talk to the sports editor at your current place and see if there are any high school games you can cover on one of your news-side days off.

The OP seems to have plenty of days off now.

*facepalm* Well damn. Clearly I need to learn how to read.

Still, reach out to the sports editor anyway to see about freelancing opportunities. You need to go out and cover stuff in order to build up your clips.

 

[flexmaster33]

It can't hurt. You would be better off trying to get some sports writing experience as a freelancer.

this

 

[ColdCat]

It can't hurt. You would be better off trying to get some sports writing experience as a freelancer.

This. At the very least, a blog is an OK way to show off your voice, since you won't be doing any original reporting.

But I think that going out and covering games is the best way to get your foot in the door. Talk to the sports editor at your current place and see if there are any high school games you can cover on one of your news-side days off.

The OP seems to have plenty of days off now.

*facepalm* Well damn. Clearly I need to learn how to read.

Still, reach out to the sports editor anyway to see about freelancing opportunities. You need to go out and cover stuff in order to build up your clips.

Not only the sports editor at the most recent place, but I would get in touch with the SE at papers the next county over.

 

[young-gun11]

Just to clarify, I was a stringer for 6 years after HS. I have had a column about the Braves at one place. I was SE at my college rag.

I don't "need" any clips, but if I'm covering these teams with the ability to attend press conferences and talk to coaches and players (which I am due to relationships previously obtained) it would help, yes?

 

[Turtle Wexler]

If you start a blog about Podunk High School sports because they're just outside of some paper's coverage area and therefore get no attention (i.e. you fulfill a need), as a hiring editor I would find that to be impressive.

If you start a blog "covering" Lakers games from your couch in Ohio, that would fall under the fanboi category and would hurt your standing with me. That tells me you don't really understand what sports writers do.

EDIT: You need clips. I need clips. We all need clips. If we already have clips, we need different/fresher/better clips.

 

[derwood]

EDIT: You need clips. I need clips. We all need clips. If we already have clips, we need different/fresher/better clips.

Great point.

 

[JPsT]

EDIT: You need clips. I need clips. We all need clips. If we already have clips, we need different/fresher/better clips.

Everyone read this again. Including me. Sound advice.

 

[YankeeFan]

My two cents worth:

Don't start a blog covering Podunk High or Podunk Community College. No one cares.

If you're going to start a blog, pick a specific topic on which you can be an expert. The expert.

Blog on sports law, sports marketing, sports facilities, concessions, labor issues, uniforms, naming rights deals, personnel moves, etc.

The specific topic doesn't matter as much as your ability to cover it, and cover it better than anyone else.

And, don't just blog, report. Break news. Develop sources.

And then, market your blog. Be the guy reporters call for reaction to news in the field you choose to cover.

If you can do this, people in the industry will read you. It won't matter if your in Podunk.

Jim Romenesko writes his blog from various coffee shops in Evanston, IL. But, industry folks all over the country read him.

I'd have to research it, but during the last NHL work stoppage, it was a blogger who offered the bet coverage.

Find a niche and exploit it. Own it. Make it yours.

 

[Scott Carefoot]

I started my Toronto Raptors blog in 2002 and it was one of the main reasons I got hired at TheScore in 2008. A blog can absolutely help land you a job if you stand out in your particular sport. Many of the writers at http://blogs.thescore.com/ were independent bloggers before we recruited them.

In my case, being one of the first team-specific NBA bloggers was at least as important to my future success as whatever talent I may or may not have had. These days, you need to be really freakin' good and original to stand out.

 

[SF_Express]

YankeeFan has some good advice in there, and getting some freelance opportunities is something to pursue as well, but what I found extremely interesting is this: If this question had been asked on this board five years ago, or maybe three, hell, maybe one year ago, "release the hounds" might have been the first response, and that person would have been laughed out of here.

Not so much in November 2011. Much has changed, and there are a lot of bloggers who are "establishment" now, which is either good or bad, depending on your point of view.

 

[YankeeFan]

A small example of what i was talking about, and it involves Jim Romenesko.

In addition to his media blog, Romenesko runs Starbucksgossip.com -- sort of an outgrowth of his hanging around coffee shops.

Well, the NY Post had an article the other day about Starbucks in NYC locking their bathrooms to customers.

The Times wanted to follow up on it. They both contacted Romenesko to find people to discuss the story with:

http://starbucksgossip.com/

And, they mentioned his blog in their article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/nyregion/starbucks-mutiny-exposes-new-yorks-reliance-on-chains-toilets.html

And, now it's all being discussed on the Starbucksgossip website.

If your blog can be the authority on a specific, newsworthy topic, you can get some attention for it, and attract important, influential industry folks to it.

 

[YankeeFan]

I can't remember who it is now, but somebody did well with a sports law blog.