On writing for TheMittani.com

I recently had a go at writing for TheMittani.com. It was a good experience and I'd definitely recommend it. Unfortunately I became rather burned out on Eve so it wasn't good timing for me and I decided not to continue with it after struggling for most of January to motivate myself to write something.

The site pays isk for articles according to how many a writer contributes. At the lower end this is:
0 articles = kicked off the team
1 article = neither kicked nor paid
2 articles = 250k isk.

More articles gets you more isk and if you're particularly keen they offer you an editor post.

I wrote an article that sparked lots of comments and a follow-up from another writer so it was a good debut article.

It's hard to adjust to working with a team. On my blog I just bash out some random rant and it's done and dusted. Very occasionally I might do some proper journalism or an interview but normally it's just a typed opinion. Working with an editor requires a writer to be much more on top of things. So I submitted a suggestion for an article I wanted to write. checked back a few times before it was green-lit then wrote my article then found an editor for it who gave me some gret feedback concerning explaining myself more clearly, then I amended it and sent it back to the editor, then it got ok-ed then I published it. It's a lot of back and forth.

Now that's fine when you're keen and checking the site several times a day. It's a chore if you get behind. After I wrote my article before I knew it Christmas was here, then I started playing a different game then bang, month over and I hadn't reached the minimum necessary to get paid. January rocked up and I continued to not really play Eve and it got to like the 20th January. I thought "right, better get my skates on" and pitched an article, it took a couple of days for it to be green lit, then I wasn't motivated/didn't have spare time, then it was like Jan 27th or something and there was no way I'd get an article written, bounce it back and forth off an editor a few times, publish it, then do a second one before the end of the month. And it's really not worth being a paid writer if you're not meeting the minimum to get paid.

None of this is a criticism of TMC. Nor even of myself - I didn't expect to burn out, I just did.

So should bloggers consider writing for pro sites like TMC?

Definitely.

Working with an editor is a privilege. It makes you a better writer, allowing you to see where other people perceive poor communication in your writing. Getting published is an ego boost. Having the site behind you is a useful tool, I had it in mind to interview some people saying I was writing for TMC. I would feel a lot more confident about approaching a famous player or a CCP staff member with a major Eve site behind me than if I were just doing it for Stabbed Up.

Coping with all the bouncing back and forth of submissions, re-submissions and so on is fine when you're motivated. Strongly motivated. I guess being syndicated for sites like EN24 is the lazy way to do it but at TMC it definitely felt like work.

Writing for a wider audience improves you. Comments are very critical and very perceptive and someone always will take exception to any opinion you express on a high profile internet site. I chose not to get involved in the comment battle on my piece but it was a passionate and spirited argument. The comments also picked up a mistake I had made with one of my pictures which made me think about my journalistic technique. See, I had written a piece on isboxer without actually trying isboxer which I realised afterwards was poor and unprofessional from a journalistic point of view. If I wanted to be a good journalist I should have set aside my distaste for the program and tried it out. Other projects I had in mind included interviewing people or creating the news, definitely more labour-intensive than my usual blogging.

So in conclusion I would definitely recommend writing for a site and TMC is a very professional one which will make you a better writer so long as you're committed to learning and improving. There's been some criticism of TMC articles this week on reddit but for me it's not what other writers contribute that will determine how much effort I put into crafting an article but the process itself of receiving scrutiny and reflecting on practice.

Big thanks to everyone at TMC and sorry not to have made more of a contribution. I may come back at some point when I have more going on in Eve.