Comments on news posted 2011-03-21 08:57:32: If you think you can write something of interest for our readers then we'd like to talk. We have budgeted $50,000 this year to encourage unique articles that we will then highlight on the home page. ..
I tried submitting quality stories in the past but only had one or two published. I've noticed it's mostly Karl Bode who get's published anyways. There are only a few others who get noticed too. Years ago I had certain stories on the front page and found many other members stories accepted too... not so much these days. I found there was a much more in depth variety of stories from many different posters. Those stories for submission got near instant approval. I lost interest trying to submit stories when I noticed that the daily stories now all come from the same person each and everyday... along with one or two other contributers. If anything I'm sure BBR has recieved a lot of unique insightful stories... but they were never published as it didn't meet a standard of some sort.
I could write a scathing behind-the-scenes expose about being a moderator at a high-traffic broadband tech site, but I doubt you'd pay me for that...
Actually, this is a decent idea (paid stories, not my smart-ass comment). It takes a lot of time to research and construct a compelling article (I've written several about embedded systems hardware and programming) and compensation for that effort might pull some talented folks off the bench. It might help if you gave a little better idea of what you are looking for. As you mentioned, consumer broadband is a huge field.
When you say "all over the map" I was hoping I could write a few how to articles. If it isn't just news, I could be interested. Things like home networking etc. Would that be OK?
But was BBR actively seeking and have a declared budget for articles at the time? And Karl's content gets published because he's the salaried news guy and has to show up for work daily whether he wants to or not. Note: your post was edited as I was finishing my response. I did not review changes.
Karl, about "... that we will then highlight on the home page." Is the plan is to integrate accepted articles into the current scroll of news items? I'd like to see them sticky at top for a period then rolled to a dedicated forum. It provides added incentive to create quality. I'd also suggest defining what constitutes a transient news item and require submissions to be of long(er)-form reference value. Industry news coverage is pretty good but the site could use a semi-regular supply articles not focused on current events.
I currently write for various other sources and would be interested in the BBR offer. They say they will try to compete with the various other entities in the market but do not list their prices anywhere.. interesting.
As for 1099's, I believe up to a certain amount it is your responsibility. After that it is theirs.
So will you issue 1099s for the money you pay the writer?
Payee is required to only if compensation exceeds $600 within the tax year. If you're paid $590 and do not receive a copy of the 1099 showing payer has reported it to the IRS then they didn't report it.
As to FICA you pay it if you're filing as self employed (not anyone's employee). Not sure how it works if it's simply additional income.
I've seen a lot of interesting posts here from people who would be capable of writing the kind of articles being requested. I hope they see this solicitation and decide to participate.
I'll pass the word on to people I know who might be interested.
What kind of topics could you use assistance on? This way, we can figure out if you could use anything I specialize in and like to write about. I was thinking I could contribute open source community news and UNiX/Linux topics, off the top of my head, as it seems largely ignored in the news section(you can't cover everything, but you do an excellent job in covering a lot). It's not talking about work, and it's a community in which I have deep roots and extensive knowledge. Anyways, let me know.
Of even more pressing concern I think, the BBR IPv6 forum has been heating up lately, what with the early Feb. allocation of the last of the publicly routable IPv4 addresses. But not a whole lot of front page stuff has resulted. I understand, it's kind of boring, but especially now with that event passing, and the predicted exhaustion of the RIRs, BBR could potentially become a first-rate resource for IPv6 transition.
Just sayin...if that happens to be one of your areas of expertise....