Hey, are you interested in sacrificing all your free time and possibly also your social life and sanity? Then writing for Autostraddle might be for you!
Your wildest dreams are within reach. We need help. Specifically, we need “help” in one of two formats: Contributing Editors and an Associate Editor. If you wanna help out the editorial team but have no editorial abilities, don’t despair — you can totally give us money and we can use that money to pay writers and raise the Associate Editor’s stipend!
For all of these positions we are especially interested in applications from trans* women and women of color.
This is a really special time for Autostraddle — the redesign will launch soon and then the entire world will explode into sunshine and rainbows! This is our time to shine!
Contributing Editors
Time Commitment:
You’ll need a significant portion of one weekday free each week to be “on call” and write a post that week based on important news. You’ll also be writing a “regular” — a weekly column on a chosen topic/theme. (For example: Brittani’s Video Party, Make a Thing, Straddler on the Street, Prairie Homo Companion, Almost Famous, Butch Please.)
That meets your requirement for at least two posts a week, but we’ll encourage you to write even more than that!
You’ll also be a part of daily reply-alls covering The Issues of the Day and be welcome to pitch and write stories on other topics whenever you want.
Who We’re Looking For:
Those applying for this position must be web-savvy, have a unique, well-developed style and voice, lots of your own ideas and impeccable grammar/spelling. Your sentence structure should be so readable it practically reads itself. Your facts must be checked and double-checked and maybe even triple-checked.
You must be obsessively detail-oriented as well as a self-starter comfortable working independently and taking initiative. Laneia would like you to be “quirky” and “super interested in something really weird that no one else has jumped on yet.”
You also must be eager to BE A REPORTER. Be prepared to hit the pavement and hunt down compelling stories, attend events, report on local activism (if there is any), cold-call potential sources and interview people both in person and on the phone. If you live somewhere far away from other queers or feminists, that’s totally fine and we want you on our team! But you’ll need to be cool with making phone calls to get stories. This is non-negotiable, so if you’re not comfortable calling people, then this probably isn’t the right position for you. (In other words — don’t lie about it! People are always lying about this for some reason.)
You will be honest with yourself and with us and also reliable — not likely to have a mental breakdown or to deal with personal issues by ignoring emails! Working from a distance, rather than in a communal office, requires impeccable accountability and excessive communication.
Experience/Background:
+ Basic knowledge of HTML and some kind of blogging platform
+ Online writing experience (personal blogs count)
+ Strong background in queer and feminist issues
+ Knowledge of and familiarity with all things Autostraddle and the queer internet
+ Expertise in at least three subject areas (could be anything from “science fiction” to “gay rights in Australia” to “fashion” or really anything.)
+ Comfort with social media
+ Comfort with having your photograph & name on the internet
How to Apply:
Send resumé (PDF), cover letter (in the body of the email) and writing samples to laneia [at] autostraddle [dot] com. Please cc laura [at] autostraddle dot com, rachel [at] autostraddle dot com and riese [at] autostraddle [dot] com. Put “Contributing Editor” in the subject line.
Your cover letter should answer the following questions:
+ What’s your availability?
+ Why the hell do you want to do this?
+ What are your three areas of expertise?
+ What are your career/life goals and how does this fit into that?
We also need:
+ Two story pitches.
+ A pitch for your “regular”
+ Two clips in the form of links to your published writing (again, blogs count) or a PDF of clips.
What’s In It For You:
The primary drawback to being an independently-owned website without ties to any umbrella advertising groups is that we run on a shoestring budget and therefore cannot pay you with actual money. (Yet!) We’re well aware that this sucks and if we had any agency to change the situation, we would. We do Autostraddle because we believe in it, we believe in the importance of growing this community, and we believe in what we can accomplish together. Paying writers is important and whenever we do have any financial security, we pass that on to you (e.g., last year’s end-of-the-year holiday bonuses)!
However, we do our best to give you everything we can, short of that. We offer you emotional rewards, free stuff (e.g., books, CDs, t-shirts), free and/or discounted AS merchandise, the opportunity to apply to be on the A-Camp Team (and thus be a part of camp for free), killer recommendations, press passes to events and financial reimbursement for any expenses incurred while doing your “job.”
You’ll learn a lot about writing/the world, build an impressive portfolio, learn valuable skills for future employment, join a kickass team of passionate queer women, have the freedom to write about the things you care about, and will enjoy truly being a part of THE REVOLUTION. Plus, you know, “exposure” on a site that garners almost 3 million views a month and is the second-largest queer lady website in the universe. Autostraddle writers have gone on to secure gainful employment or snag freelance assignments at places like Gawker, Refinery 29, ReadWriteWeb, The Feminist Press, The Awl, Bitch Magazine, xojane, The Huffington Post and so many more!
Most of all, you should have fun! This means that you should consider writing, researching and working really hard to be “fun.” We do!
Please submit your application on or before Friday, July 5th.
Associate Editor
In the fall, our dear Associate Editor Laura Wooley will be leaving us for law school! Â This position will also be expanded to include some Community Management duties as well.
Associate Editor is a real job which requires a lot of hours and being available for as many weekday mornings as possible for our daily editorial meetings [10 A.M. PST].
Your job will involve:
+Editing posts for content, style and structure, providing productive feedback to writers.
+Writing bi-nightly emails to Contributing Editors with compilation of news stories ripe for the writing.
+Staying on top of the daily email w/r/t/ articles that need approved or edited, questions, and edit requests if a moderator of intern isn’t available
+ Weighing in on applications and pitches, provide feedback to authors
+ Attending daily meetings whenever possible to discuss the day’s editorial calendar and individual articles with CEs
+ Editing articles submitted by CEs, lesbianagettes, and guest contributors
+ Planning series (e.g. underwear week, wedding wear series) and coordinating articles with individual writers.
+ Contacting and maintaining relationships with authors of fashion blogs (e.g. dapperQ, Qwear) for the purpose of guest articles and reposts
+ Advising Community Managerettes on decisions related to comment moderation and policies.
+ Acting as ambassador between Editorial Management (Riese, Laneia, Rachel) and Community Management (Carrie & Co)
+ Writing 2+ articles a week
Who You Are:
+ Ambitious and forward-thinking, eager to bring a new perspective or voice to the Autostraddle community, ready to dig in and work hard.
+ Intimately familiar with all things Autostraddle from start to finish.
+ You are an experienced editor capable of developing new writers, communicating effectively with writers, editing for both content and style (not just proofreading!) and providing useful feedback.
+ You’re skilled at developing and maintaining relationships with external stakeholders.
+ You’re an excellent communicator in all formats, including the telephone.
+ You are independent, self-driven and can work proactively even with minimal supervision.
+ You have experience with online communities and commenting culture.
+ A person with availability.
+ Brave and creative.
+
What’s In It For You:
As mentioned in the Contributing Editor section, a drawback to being an independently-owned website is that we run on a shoestring budget. The Associate Editor reaps the following:
+ A whopping $500 a month stipend
+ Invited to attend A-Camp as staff (for free, obvs) with travel expenses also covered
+ Free stuff (e.g., books, CDs, t-shirts), free and/or discounted AS merchandise
+ Press passes to events
+ Financial reimbursement for any expenses incurred while doing your “job.”
+ Opportunities for further advancement/raises when our fortunes improve
As with being a contributing editor — you’ll learn a lot about writing/the world, build an impressive portfolio, join a kickass team of passionate queer women, have the freedom to write about the things you’re passionate about, and will enjoy truly being a part of THE REVOLUTION. Plus, you know, “exposure” on a site that garners almost 3 million views a month and is the second-largest queer lady website in the universe.
Most of all, you should have fun! This means that you should consider writing, researching and working really hard to be “fun.” We do!
To Apply:
Send resumé (PDF), cover letter (in the body of the email) to laneia [at] autostraddle [dot] com, please cc rachel [at] autostraddle dot com and riese [at] autostraddle [dot] com. Put “Associate Editor” in the subject line.
Your cover letter should answer the following questions:
+ What’s your availability?
+ Why the hell do you want to do this?
+ What do you think you could bring to Autostraddle that Autostraddle needs?
+ What are your career/life goals and how does this fit into that?
We’ll also need:
+ three story pitches
+ writing samples or links to work published online
Please submit your application on or before Friday, July 5th.
We will be reading over your applications between July 7th and 14th and if we wanna hire you, we’ll be getting back to your shortly after that time. Due to the volume of submissions we receive, we can only respond to those we accept.
If you already work here in a different capacity, you can still apply!
Special Note for all applicants: Unfortunately, having a passionate love for Autostraddle isn’t enough to make a good intern/writer/editor. This makes us sad too, ’cause we wish we had time to hire and work with everybody! But we don’t. And just because we don’t have space for you on the team doesn’t mean that we don’t want to keep seeing your face commenting and appreciating and sharing and tweeting and camping and being part of the conversation. There’s something specific we’re looking so please don’t take it personally if you don’t hear back from us. We often have to turn down exemplary writers simply because we also are looking at overall team diversity (in all its forms) when we make decisions.
Please don’t apply if you can’t meet deadlines, don’t understand proper sentence structure, can’t reply to emails, aren’t funny, are addicted to more than three substances or don’t have any free time. Also, we’re a media company, not a making-friends factory. Apply because you want to do the work. This isn’t a hobby (though it pays like one!) and revolutions don’t make themselves.
WE ARE EXCITED TO HEAR ALL ABOUT YOU!
