What You Can Write At LA

If you want to do a piece of content that isn’t on this list, consult with the managing editor.

Content we want – highest preference

  • Straight 2nd person news pieces that are less than a week old and preferably more recent.
  • News pieces with your own perspective. The entire article can’t be about your own perspective, but we definitely want some of “you” in most articles. These can’t be much more than a week old. If it’s longer, ask an editor if it’s still relevant.
  • Evergreen stuff that can be used over and over again. Quotes, explanations of things, historical pieces tied into current events, stats, etc…

Content we want – moderate preference

  • List articles. Example: 10 Reasons Republicans Suck. 5 Things That Prove Sarah Palin Is Nuts. These are easy to write and do VERY well. They also are not timely and can be repurposed for residual income. (list article formatting guide)
  • Historical pieces that relate to current politics or news. 15 Things About The Civil War That Show That It Could Happen Again. The 30 Events That Prove The Founders Were Liberals. They also are not timely and can be repurposed for residual income.
  • Breaking news pieces. Keep it short to get it out quickly. For some of these, even one short paragraph with pertinent information is sufficient, with a link to a news article by a larger news outlet (MSNBC, ABC, Fox, Huffington Post, Politico, etc…). Video code would be good, too. Your short blurb should be enough to get the point across, even if they don’t go to the other article you link to. Example: “Supreme Court Overturns DOMA With A Ruling Of 5-4. Read here for more” (with “read here for more” linked to the bigger article).

Content we want – lowest preference

  • Op-ed pieces – 1 per month per writer maximum.Op-eds don’t get a lot of views. I’m not aware of any other small news
    site that allows non-famous writers to do them. We do because I think it
    really helps writers build a good portfolio. Two maximum
    per month. How do you know if your piece is an op-ed. 1) it’s not tied
    into a specific news piece, and/or 2) a news piece that it is tied into
    is more than a couple of weeks old.
  • Info articles that are political related but NOT op-ed. Examples: How ABill Becomes A Law. They also are not timely and can be repurposed for
    residual income.

Basic guidelines for articles (see files to go in-depth…these are basic only):

  • Length. Most articles should be approximately 300 words, or a little more. Not much less unless it’s a breaking news piece or a video with a short commentary. You can do all the the really long very well-researched pieces you want. I write a lot of long pieces. Just know that you will get less views. We live in an ADD society. The long and well-researched pieces are good, though, because they help you build an amazing portfolio. So I’d say do some of these, but your money will come from the shorter pieces.
  • Formatting. Lots of bullets and lists, short paragraphs, headers where appropriate. Remember, ADD society. If you can ever get your point across with an image or chart, that’s great.
  • If it’s a breaking story, we expect it to be done within an hour and no more. Easy with these short pieces. If it’s more than an hour, we can’t call it breaking anymore. You MUST claim breaking stories in the group because others will want to do them if you don’t. Please don’t claim it unless you know you can do it right then. 

Another tip: 

Do a combination of all of these articles. What you are doing here is building an online portfolio that will be very valuable to you.