Brief and to the point. I am looking for writers for the second half of the season to add to the content of the site. The positions are detailed below. I am hoping to use the upcoming All-Star break to decide on any potential candidates, so if you’re interested, be sure to get your applications in by the weekend.
Major League Coverage
Tom Bragg and James Santelli have been splitting the live game coverage this year at PNC Park. Recently Tom got a full-time job with the Charleston Daily Mail. He will still be involved with the site, but won’t be able to do the Pirates beat in the final two months of the year. We’re looking for a beat writer who can take over the role starting on August 27th, covering all of the home games.
This is a paid part-time position. The beat writer would be responsible for game recaps, pre-game notes, plus featured stories and helping to keep the site updated with all of the daily news and transactions. Preference is given to those with a good understanding of advanced statistics, good writing skills or a journalism background, and the ability to come up with original and interesting topics.
Minor League Coverage
We’re always looking to expand the minor league coverage, for obvious reasons. The coverage of the minors is unlike the coverage of the majors. We put less focus on how the teams are doing, and more focus on how the individual players are doing. For that reason, we don’t need someone who can cover the teams daily, but rather someone who can provide updates throughout the year. That could be in the form of a 3-4 game series, one game per week, or some other schedule where you get to see the players enough to get a feel for their progress.
We are looking for increased coverage for the following teams:
Indianapolis
Altoona
Jamestown
That coverage doesn’t necessarily have to be in these cities, but can be in a city for a road series. Minor league writers get paid based on the revenue that their articles generate. For most sites, including sites I’ve worked for in the past, that came in the form of a revenue share. However, I’m more interested in adding to the content of the site than dividing up the revenue of the minor league articles. For that reason, minor league writers get 100% of the revenue their articles generate.
Minor league writers don’t necessarily need to have a good initial understanding of the players in the system, although they do need to have an understanding of the basics of evaluating prospects. That doesn’t mean you have to be a scout, but it does mean you have the ability to recognize a prospect from an organizational player, as well as realizing that prospect evaluations are more big picture, rather than what a player did in an individual game or series.
Advertising Sales Representative
Pirates Prospects is seeking a part-time advertising sales representative willing to work on commission only. Experience in online ad sales is preferred. If you are interested, please send an email to tim@piratesprospects.com with your qualifications.
Apply For a Position
To apply for any position, send an e-mail to tim@piratesprospects.com with the following information:
-What position(s) you are applying for.
-Why would you be a good addition to the site? I get a lot of requests to write for the site, so what could you provide that would separate you from other writers?
-What is your availability for game coverage?
-What is your previous experience (include links to published content)?
For any writing position the following will be very important:
-Great work ethic and independent workers
-Strong grammar/spelling
-Good statistical knowledge, including an understanding of advanced statistics
-The ability to come up with original and interesting topics
-Leaving emotional biases out of the work
-Twitter and social networking experience
This site is mostly read by Pirates fans, but there are a few non-Pirates fans who read. Being a Pirates fan is NOT important here. Some of the best writers on the site in the past were fans of other MLB teams. I really want to stress this because in the past about 70% of the applications I’ve received have been along the lines of “I am a Pirates fan and I’d love to write about the team.” If the only qualification you list is that you follow the Pirates, then the application is going to be dismissed. Seriously, this happens a lot.
The site is run on WordPress, so any knowledge of that is a plus.
Pirates Prospects has seen a significant traffic increase each year. Last month was our best month ever with over 1.5 million page views. We project to top that in the month of July, and current projections have the site finishing with 11-13 million page views in 2013. This would be a great opportunity for anyone who is looking to add some writing experience or for anyone who is looking to reach a large audience.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
The increase in the page views is fantastic, and I know you will pick good personnel for all of the jobs. You have a very loyal and knowledgeable readership and i have spent a great deal of time on this site because you generate excellent material every day, and that is difficult to do. Good luck on the search.
Let’s Go Bucs
Congrats on the uptick in readership from this Raving fan, Tim!
Congrats to Tom.