Find writers/editors for micro jobs eventually leading to relationships?

April 30, 2022 1:08 PM

I'm asking for general approaches here, but by starting with a small specific instance. I want to know the best ways to find people for a tiny project or two (writing/editing a simple page, for example), but with the second goal of finding one or two people with whom I might do a more serious longer-term project in the future. I'd like an approach that's better than randomly trying people from a random gig site, unless that is the best approach. Please help me think about this specifically and creatively! Way too much

I'm sometimes a good writer, but I'm sometimes a very rushed, clumsy, disorganized, insensitive, distracted, overconfident, underconfident, etc. writer. Sometimes I assume people know too much, sometimes I'm horribly didactic, sometimes sometimes sometimes etc.

I'll probably start a business soon and am ambitious enough that doing everything myself, or trying to communicate everything myself, would be impossible.

I'm not used to working with other people, though, so starting with a ridiculously small but not inconsequential project makes sense to me.


Experienced hirers and hirees in this realm, what are the best ways to start finding and approaching people?

I'm feeling a little lost and overwhelmed. I've tried hiring help with invoicing in the past, but it felt like I ended up doing everything myself.

I will probably post this to MeFi Jobs, but I'm also also wondering about other ways of looking. Fiverr? Upwork? Which treats their talent better? Classified on a college newspaper site [which school?]? E-mail a marketing professor? More specifics below:

-- current project --

I have a dumb frog flyer, plus a tiny web site, for finding homes for some frogs (in Durham/Chapel Hill, in case anybody needs a frog).

I want to make it _right_ with some paid help from somebody, partly because it's important and I don't trust myself not to miss some important gaffe, but also because I want to start figuring out how and with whom to collaborate on projects like this.

I'd like to find someone smarter than me who can find the right tone, deal with me pushing back when I don't understand / they don't understand something, make the text laser-focused but not too polished -- basically a _lot_ of insight for a dumb frog flyer, but it would be fun and only one page. I'll probably do a few tiny projects like this with an eye to finding someone to partner with for a larger project in the future.


I will spend as much time as I need to figuring out how to find/communicate this while minimizing the time spent by the other person; I view it as developing a skill for myself. They will probably spend 30 minutes total talking with me and will probably spend just a few minutes tuning this dumb thing into something not so polished that it's alienating, but keeping me from unintentionally alienating people.


-- more specifics --

I'm totally willing to work with someone in whatever manner suits them. The amount of text here may make me sound fussy and overwhelming, but it's just because I try to communicate completely and I want to provide a thorough sense of what I'm seeking -- if I left some parts out, it's likely people would fill in the gaps with something more conventional or unconventional than my actual quest.


Me: I don't need "basic" writing help. I've written copy for people in the past, I've done well when I studied technical writing, even if I'm not the best in the world at it. I've probably gotten a bit out of touch, and I'm now more impatient with the focus needed. I have opinions (Oxford comma anyone?), but I'm eager to work with people who have their own opinions about what works best.

I don't need anyone to explain why it's important to know one's audience and medium. I do need someone who already knows that stuff and knows when to bend to it and when ignore it and just be themselves.

I also care a lot about quality and really thinking things through -- I'm not satisfied with "it's the industry standard" or "that's just how it's done". I care about _why_ something is done a certain way, and I'll quickly unpack that, and put the components back together into the right technique for the moment.


I need to find creative people who are willing to think things through with me and occasionally have a quick discussion about a small detail, and occasionally tell me that they can't explain, they just think their way works better. I'm not going to make anyone explain every single thing to me every single time, but some indication that creative deep thinking and understanding is happening will let me trust a collaborator.

In return, I can give the same thoughtful collaboration to them. I also, like a lot of people, care about details, about the larger context, about their time, about working on things that are meaningful, and about kindness.


--

Look, I know this is a lot of text, and that can make it seem like I'm overproducing a simple small thing. I'm not -- I want the easyish short term thing, to be executed simply and quickly, but I want my part of the thing to involve the extra work of learning how to find good, thoughtful people. I don't know who is reading this question or who will answer it. Writing it helps me, truly, even if nobody has a good answer.

I could really use some creative insightful advice here, though. How do I find people like this? How do I make the stupid frog flyer project -- or other stupid projects -- attractive / low overhead enough that someone might say "Sure, $50 [or whatever], let's have a 30 minute phone call and I'll spend 10 minutes sending you some advice and/or text"?

posted by amtho to Grab Bag (9 answers total)

I am thinking of approaching someone in a similar creative capacity in a shared interest forum. Subreddit, MeFi topic, one of the StackOverflow areas, and so on. Once you've been there long enough and have engaged that person or persons sufficient times to feel them out, THEN reach out and see if they want to do short term projects, and if they passed that huddle, there you go.
posted by kschang at 2:40 PM on April 30, 2022

Response by poster: kschang - are these forums about the creative field you're interested in, or just miscellaneous specific interests that also happen to have some writers there? I mean, are you engaging in these fora because you are in the same creative area as your, uh, potential targets?
posted by amtho at 2:45 PM on April 30, 2022

Have you reached out to your existing networks and people you already know? I don't think you are being too fussy -- this is standard when it comes to doing any collaboration, and it's great to articulate what you need, so please feel free to be more confident in asking what you need!

As a suggestion, I think it might be easier if either someone can suggest themselves or volunteer or be able to refer someone else. I get my gigs this way because I have a very specific niche (disability and design as a disabled neurodivergent QTPOC designer) so I have writing and content design skills with a specific focus.

The thing you want to look out for is someone who is respectfully excited about your specific project and would want to work on it. When I mean respectful, I mean not only in behavior, but also enjoys scope setting and boundaries regarding collaboration and has the emotional awareness and maturity to work on this project with you.

For example, I'm a paid writer and I would totally be down to help, but I suspect you might be looking for someone with the skillset you need and a passion for frogs and can see more clearly the value of what you are doing without having you to explain too much. Do you know local frog people or frog people online who are writers? What would be most successful is finding people in the overlap of niches and skills you need. Best of luck! The project sounds super fun by the way.
posted by yueliang at 2:52 PM on April 30, 2022

Are you in any groups on Facebook where there is some sort of community, like a local parenr group or a local animal rescue group or or a frog lover group or something, where people post regularly and there isbdecent engagment/it doesn't look like bot accounts? Or can you ask for recommendations from friends? Do you have a mailing list for your website where you could mention you're looking for someone?
posted by never.was.and.never.will.be. at 3:02 PM on April 30, 2022

Response by poster: My life is not a frog-focused life; the frog project is basically a fun "find a home for these pets" thing that's a one-off practice/get-to-know-someone opportunity. Nobody but me needs a passion for frogs; it would help if they had a passion for making sure all animals are treated well, but I suspect that's most people.

Future/bigger projects will probably be related to something totally different, maybe script writing, building public-facing web software (interfaces), helping small businesses with their information dispersal, or collaborative creative writing -- I have a loose list of potential projects but haven't chosen a direction yet.

Feel free to MeMail me, anyone. I'm learning about Fiverr and it's so-so; Upwork is tracking its talent's keystrokes to make sure they're working constantly, and I really don't like that -- I want people to do a lot of work away from a keyboard if that's how they work.
posted by amtho at 3:38 PM on April 30, 2022

Response by poster: There will probably never be another frog-related project in my life.
posted by amtho at 3:42 PM on April 30, 2022 [1 favorite]

I do this all the time. Start by advertising for an editor for something you've already written. A single page won't give you enough information, as to whether you can productively talk to them about writing or editing. Go for ten or 20 pages. Before you agree to hire them send them a sample of your work, and ask them what they think you need to do to proceed. Hire them or not on the basis of their answer.

You can advertise for small projects on Indeed or Craigslist.

Don't hire from an aggregator site. Places like that have gutted middle class jobs by forcing Americans to compete with people who come from countries with a much lower cost of living and can afford to underbid them. This is in addition to wasting oodles of their time by forcing them to recreate their resumes and pitches on a proprietary site so they can skim 20% off the top forever more, and refuse to support them if an exploitative client complains.
posted by Violet Blue at 5:30 PM on April 30, 2022 [1 favorite]

@amtho >> are these forums about the creative field you're interested in, or just miscellaneous specific interests that also happen to have some writers there?

Could be both. If you both are in there, you both have common interests in that area.

I have a TON of interests, and I enjoy researching things on the fly and helping people on random topics. So I'm sort of all over the place. :)
posted by kschang at 4:32 PM on May 1, 2022

shameless self friend promotion. green quill, a dear, trusted friend who's been in the biz for years.
posted by j_curiouser at 4:02 PM on May 9, 2022