How it Works - Writers

The Wittery is here to put you in direct touch with businesses that need fresh witty content made to order.

If you're a talented freelance writer with a flair for humor, why not get in touch? If you can use your funny to make money and write for your clients' needs we would love to hear from you.

The Wittery is in beta mode; we are now rolling out the job posting facility.

Use the links below to find your way around the information. Why not drop by The Wittery Blog as well?

[p.s. no food in here please. We have a thing about mice.]

General
Quick Tips & Rules for Witty Writer Members
Applying for Membership
The Assessment Process
Registration
Free Membership
Unsubscribing
Creating your public profile
IP Stuff
Finding work through The Wittery
Pitching for Jobs
After you apply for a Job
Contracts for Writing Projects
Direct Contact from Seeker Members
Employer-Employee Relationship
Managing your Office
Feedback on The Wittery
Deactivating your profile
Sample Works
User Agreement

MY OFFICE – The Features:
About My Profile (My Office)
About My Account (My Office)
About Saved Searches (My Office)
About My Notifications (My Office)
About Job Alerts (My Office)
About Saved Jobs (My Office)
About Application Tracking (My Office)
About Private Messaging (My Office)

General

At The Wittery (aka The Witty Writer Marketplace) we track down talented freelance writers who can mix it with mirth and provide clients with witty content that will hit the sweet spot with their customers.

To make sure The Wittery is packed to the gills with quality witty writers, we pre-screen all writers. Wit is IT. Wit is the USP at The Wittery; if you've got IT, get in touch. Membership for witty writers is free. Come join us in this new venture.

Quick Tips & Rules for Witty Writer members:

Mind your clients, write quality copy, be witty, market magnificently, know your clients' needs, be patient, be professional, pitch well, manage your time, be focused , don't pitch if you can't deliver, mind your clients.

Applying for Membership

You can apply here.

Your application is your pitch to The Wittery. Pack a punch with it.

Include relevant information and details of freelance experience (if any).

If you haven't done freelance writing before but you have the witty writing gene (and you can write for the online reader), we still want to hear from you IF you are interested in freelancing and selling your creative witty content.

Brevity is good. Short, sharp and sassy works. 500 word limit? That's an outer limit. Do it in less and impress.

It's all about marketing (well, not quite - but you must market to make money from your mirth). Sell your skills or we may overlook you. Make it easy to see why your name is on a spot at The Wittery. You may be the best choice for the freelance gig, but if your neighboring writer "gets" the marketing part and you don't, you'll be left for dust. Sell your sass.

Make sure your application reads well online. Most projects at The Wittery are for online content.

Throw in links to your website, blog or other online scribbles if you have them.

Phone numbers are good and any other information that makes it easy for us to check you out.

The Wittery is for individual freelance writers only. No agencies please (actually that's an order).

The Assessment Process

We look at all applications received. Wit is IT at The Wittery. It is the USP. If you can't write witty content and smile-inducing copy, The Wittery is not the place for you. If you can, what are you waiting for? Demand for membership may be quite high at times, so be patient.

If your application is successful, we'll be in touch.

Registration

When we offer you a spot here, we'll send you an email with a link to the registration form. Once you've submitted the form, you'll get an activation email. When you activate your account, you can access My Office and create your profile.

Free Membership

Membership for qualifying freelance writers is free.

There's an "Honesty Box" in My Office. You can make a donation if you feel the urge. We appreciate donations, especially during this early phase. There is no obligation; it’s up to you. We value non-monetary contributions even more. If there are ways that you think you can contribute, we would love to hear about them. We're bringing a new concept to the business community and you can help to deliver the message.

Unsubscribing

You can delete your account at any time from My Office.

If you delete your account your membership ends immediately. Your username and account and profile information will be removed from the system. We'll miss you, but we won't tie you down.

Creating your Public Profile

Once you register, you can access My Office. At this stage, none of your information is available to content seeker members.

If you want seeker members to see your details, create a profile. Go to My Profile and complete the form. Read the notes below first. Your profile is your calling card and marketing vehicle and it needs to reflect well on you and The Wittery. A profile that doesn't hit the wit button won't get you work.

When you create a profile, seeker members can see your public profile details when searching for writers; non-members can't view your profile. Seekers (with full membership) can also send you private messages if you have a profile. If you have an (approved) activated profile, an extract from it is likely to show up on the home page at some stage (registered members can click straight through to your profile from the Home Page). If your profile has been rejected and you have since amended it, send an email to info[at]thewittery[com] with the following subject line: Profile Review Request [Profile ID No. XXX].

Quick Notes on Profile Fields:

1) Title: Your Headline: Choose carefully - it appears in search results (and may appear in "Snippets Box" on Home Page)

2) Content Type & Category Type: Select only the types you can do (avoid selecting All Types). Suggestions re alternative/additional Types welcome.

3) "Me" : 180 Character Limit. Your calling card. May appear in "Snippets" Box on Home Page & appears in search results. [Put some serious witty thought into this] Don't leave any spaces at the beginning of this section as it won't display properly in the home page feed and may result in your profile not being approved.

4) "More About Me": Your Marketing Message in more detail. Business focus but witty works well. (Dense blocks of text do not read well online and can be off-putting).

5) "Pre-Written unpublished Content Available to Buy Directly From Me": (Optional - leave blank or enter "n/a" if not applicable to you).

Enter brief descriptions (including price & approx word count) of up to 4 witty items/articles (not previously published). This is a new addition which we are testing. This field will be of more relevance when the "Writer Directory Search" facility is rolled out. Items must be your own original work. (Include descriptions only or very short extracts ie in order to protect the "unpublished status of the item; fresh unpublished content is valuable to content seekers.) If you list items here, you must undertake to remove items once sold (you can always replace with with a new listed item.). We suggest $50 USD as a minimum fee per piece.

Don't upload the pre-written items you have listed for sale as samples to your profile. Seekers will need to contact you directly about these items and it is important that you protect the unpublished status of these items until you have negotiated a sale.

Transitional Arrangement re "5" ("Pre-Written Content" Field): Field in Profile View (what seekers see) currently reads "Even More About Me". This heading (in the Seekers View) will be left in place until 5 April 2010 to give existing writer members the opportunity to edit their profiles to match new headings.

6) "Upload Samples" (Optional): You can upload samples here to give seekers an idea of your skills. Short samples (under 400 words) are best. Short explanations about the piece help. Choose samples with a business focus in mind. You need to educate content seekers about how they could use your wit/humor for their marketing purposes. Our mission is to create new markets for witty content amongst the online business community; as a writer member, you need to help create these new markets.

Unfinished Profiles: If you have started to draft a profile but it is not ready for publishing, deactivate it after saving.

Not so Quick Notes on Profiles:

Your profile is your showcase and your marketing vehicle. Effective marketing is critical to your success. Content seekers come to The Wittery to find freelance humor writers; write your profile for this specific audience; for example, your profile is not the place to promote your new novel, to seek a publisher, or to predominantly promote "serious" freelance writing talents.

Pay close attention to the "Title" you choose in your profile, as this will appear in search results. The first 160 characters of text you enter in the "About Me" section of your profile will also appear in search results. Snippets from these sections (Title and About Me) may also show up on the home page feed. Write your "Title" and "About Me" introduction with this in mind. [Your profile will be rejected if the "About Me" section is left blank.]

Your username is also a key element at The Wittery (it appears in search results, along with the Title and the "About Me" extract; it also appears in your profile). Think about your own personal branding strategy when choosing a username.

Content seekers don't have the time (or patience) to read lengthy profiles. Make every word count. Bullet pointed information works well (it is easier to read online). Once you have created your profile, view it with a critical, objective eye and adjust it to make it perfect. Get a third party to look at it. If you have any friends with a marketing background, ask for their opinion.

Witty profiles can work well, as it helps to show the reader you can deliver the USP. Business focus and professionalism are also important attributes to show. Concentrate on what you can write for businesses (not on what you like to write). Phrases like "I like to write about..." tell the business user that you are more interested in writing for your muse than in writing for their needs. (Prostituting your art for the needs and wants of the client is all part and parcel of freelancing.)

Include key words in your profile relevant to your writing talents. This helps seekers to find you when they are searching on key words. When selecting categories and content types, be specific and match your selection to your areas of expertise. For example, if you have no experience in writing speeches, don't select it. Misuse of the content and category selections (eg selecting "All") may result in the removal of your profile.

You can include links in your profile. When including links, remember that content seekers come to The Wittery for humor writers. If your own website or blog does not predominantly focus on your humor writing talent, it may not be appropriate to include a link to it.

Be sure to upload sample witty works to the portfolio section of your profile. There is no better way to showcase your talents to clients. It's best to keep the samples short (under 400 words).

All sample works uploaded by you must be your own original content. We recommend that you only upload samples here which have been published elsewhere first. Plagiarism checks will be randomly carried out on sample works uploaded.

[Guest blog submissions are different to Profile Samples. If you have a guest blog submission, please email it to us (including your credit line). Preference will be given to previously unpublished guest blog posts. For more information on guest blog posts, skip down to the next heading below ("IP Stuff"). ]

You can deactivate your profile at any time when in “My Profile”. When your profile is deactivated, it won't appear in writer search results.

You don't have to create a public profile. Don't activate incomplete profiles. The minimum requirement for an activated profile is that it must contain a title and a brief summary (in the "About Me" section).

It is in everyone's interest that writers follow these guidelines. Where the guidelines are not followed, we may have to deactivate your account at The Wittery to protect the reputation of The Wittery and its writer members.

Remember that there is no membership fee for writers. To ensure that the service remains free for genuine writer members, it is important that you do not add to administrative costs by not adhering to these basic guidelines.

If your profile is a work in progress and is not yet ready for publication, deactivate it after saving.

IP Stuff

We respect your creative talents, your content and your IP rights. The User Agreement sets out our undertakings to you when it comes to your content.

When you create your profile at The Wittery, you own all the content. You only grant us a limited license to use that content so we can make it available on the website. We have no right to reproduce it anywhere. You can deactivate, edit and remove information from your profile at any time.

You can terminate your membership at any time, by using the “Delete Account” button in My Office. When you terminate your membership, if you still have a profile, it will be removed.

The Wittery Blog is a key part of the Content Strategy at The Wittery. It helps to showcase the talents of writer members. As the Blog develops, many of the posts will be ghostwritten by writer members. As part of the development of our content marketing strategy, we commission writer members to write posts for the blog. We negotiate contracts, terms and rates directly with the writers (just like any other content seeker member). Writers do not normally receive credit in these ghostwritten blogs.

We're also happy to use The Wittery Blog to promote a limited number of individual writers to an audience beyond the website's membership. Writers can get promoted through The Wittery Blog by submitting guest blog posts. Here, full credit is given to the writer and the post can include a link (but only if it leads to somewhere we think our site visitors would like to go). This is a good way of getting link juice for your own website.

It's totally up to writer members whether they wish to avail of this promotional opportunity. Please remember that the number of guest blog spots is limited. If you're considering submitting a guest blog post in the near future, it's a good idea to get in touch in advance. Our commitment to ensuring that early guest bloggers get future promotional opportunities remains in place.

Where you write a guest blog post for The Wittery Blog, the content of the post will remain yours. We simply ask for a limited (revocable) license to publish it. If, at a future date, you want the guest post removed, we'll remove it. We are eager to make sure we respect writers' intellectual property rights at The Wittery and particularly welcome feedback on IP issues.

It's important to understand the difference between guest blog posts and commissioned ghostwritten blog posts at The Wittery.

When you're selling your written work as a freelance writer, it helps to know about your IP rights and to understand what rights you're selling. There are lots of online resources that will help you to learn more about this complex subject.

Finding work through The Wittery

There are two ways to get (witty) freelance writing jobs through The Wittery:

You can pitch for freelance jobs content seekers have posted or, by having your own profile, you can be easily found by content seekers who can contact you directly about freelance writing opportunities.

[Note: Writer Directory search is not yet available - it will be rolled out later.]

Pitching for Jobs

When you find a job of interest on the job board, you can apply for it. Your application is your pitch, so make it shine.

Keep your pitch short and engaging: Make an impact early. Don't lose the content seekers interest with a long-winded pitch. A bit of Wit in a pitch works - it's better to show you do funny than to tell.
Upload your "Wittery" Profile which should be tailor-made to display your humorous/witty skills. Don't upload a generic resume only. Business users come to The Wittery to find freelance witty writers - wit is the USP. A generic freelance writers' resume alone doesn't show this USP; the business user won't bite if there's no wit.
Additional Document - you can upload an additional document with your pitch. Don't include it if it doesn't add anything to your pitch.
Do not pitch if you can’t deliver. Reputation is important to us at The Wittery. We require writer members to act professionally when dealing with prospective clients. If you are not qualified for the job or if you can't deliver within the timeframe, do not pitch. We monitor pitches as a quality control measure. You may jeopardise your membership if you pitch for a job seeking an experienced advertising copywriter when you are in fact a relatively inexperienced blogger.
Review your pitch (and attachments) for typos before submitting.
It is helpful to include an estimate of the rate you would charge for the project.

Note on Job Application Form:

1) "Make your Pitch" - enter your pitch for the project in this box

2) "Select" Field - When you click on the box, your profile title is displayed here. By selecting it, your profile details will be sent to the content seeker with your application. (You will only be able to upload your profile if it has been approved and activated.).

3) "Attachment" (Optional) Here, you can upload an additional attachment (eg if you have a sample work that aptly illustrates what you can bring to the project advertised). You should only upload an additional attachment if it is relevant to the job and you think it will assist the content seeker in reaching a decision.

Note (i): "Select" Field (Profile) and "Attachment" Field (Additional Item) - You can upload either one of these or both.

Note (ii): The system in its current form requires that you upload at least one item to your application (ie either your website profile or an additional document.). If you haven't got an activated, approved profile, you will therefore need to upload another document. Choose wisely! [This is currently under review; feedback on the functionality of the job application form is welcome. Let us know what works for you.]

Less is often more. Try not to go overboard on the amount of information you send with the application. Go easy on dense text. Bullet pointed information can work well.

Note on Currency: The Price range options on the job posting form are in USD, as it is a universally recognised currency. You and the content seeker can agree to payment in a different currency.

Online Content:

Most projects relate to online content. If you are relatively new to this medium, do some research and adapt your writing style for the medium. Whilst bland SEO content is an evil phrase at The Wittery, you must know how to engage online readers and how to write for them.

A few Basic Pointers on Online Content:

Grab the Reader by the Throat Early (Go for Impact Early: Title and Introduction)
Use the Active Voice
Keep Sentences and Paragraphs Short
Get Rid of non-essential Words
Make the Style Suit the Audience
Don't use Polysyllabic Words where Smaller Ones will do (use "big" instead of polysyllabic).
Keywords - if the client hasn't specified, ask what keywords (if any) they want included.
These are Basic Pointers - the client may, of course, request something different.

After you apply for a Job

If your pitch matches the seeker's needs, they will get in touch. The seeker might only reply to the applicants that interest him.

Be patient and don't be disappointed if you don't receive a reply. It can take time, and a lot of hard work, to build a freelance writing career online.

Content seekers don't have to notify applicants about unsuccessful pitches. They can mark a pitch as "Rejected" or "Approved". If they mark it "Rejected" (and if the post has not been deactivated), the pitch will be marked "Rejected" in My Applications view in My Office. [Note to Witto: That "rejected" word is a bit harsh; could you replace it with something a bit gentler please.]

Alternatively, the content seeker may deactivate the job post once they have found a suitable writer. If the seeker does not deactivate the job, it will remain on the board even though the job has been assigned. If you have a contract/agreement in place for a job which has yet to be deactivated, remind the content seeker to deactivate it.

Remember that The Wittery is a marketplace. We are not involved in contract negotiations between seekers and writers.

Contracts for Writing Projects

If the content seeker is interested in what you have to offer, you negotiate directly about the terms and conditions of the contract. The Wittery has no involvement in these contracts and does not charge or receive any commission. The Wittery is merely the marketplace where you meet. It is between you and the seeker member to agree the appropriate fee, payment terms, deliverables and job specifications. The seeker is responsible for paying you directly.

It is always a good idea to have a written contract for your freelance project. That way, each side is clear on what has been agreed.

If you don't already have an online account, set one up. PayPal is a popular method for receiving online payment for freelance work. You could also use an online escrow service. Deposits and milestone payments may be appropriate at times. When dealing with a new client, we would recommend that you request a 50% deposit in advance of starting work on the project.

Check out new clients to make sure they are legitimate. We do limited preliminary checks on new content seeker members, but you shouldn't rely on this. It's up to you to do the research. If you come across a suspect content seeker member, let us know.

Direct contact from Seeker Members

If you have created a profile, it will show up when Seeker members do writer searches. If a seeker finds you this way, he can send you a private message to discuss possible writing opportunities. Remember that your profile is your showcase.

[Note: The Writer Directory search facility is not yet available. It will be rolled out later.]

Employer-Employee Relationship

As a freelance writer, you are self-employed and you are responsible for your own tax affairs.

Managing your Office

There are a number of features in My Office which will help you to manage your work. From your office, you will be able to create, edit and activate/deactivate your profile, access your saved searches, track your applications, view jobs you have saved, together with some other features that you may find useful. You will find general information about the various features in My Office at the end of this information page.

Feedback on the Wittery

Your feedback on The Wittery is important to us. Use the feedback form to tell us what we are doing right and, more importantly, to tell us what we could do better.

We love to hear your ideas on how to improve the service. If you share your ideas, we might just use them. If we do, it is without obligation to you. If you have any reservations about sending us your ideas, think twice before you do.

The Wittery will always be a work in progress. We believe in continuous improvement, combined with simplicity. We look forward to your help in building on what we have started, so that we can improve the service for all members.

Deactivating your Profile

You can deactivate your profile at any time from My Office. When you deactivate your profile, it will not show up in writer searches. You can easily reactivate your profile at any time from My Office.

If you are taking a break from writing for a while, you should “deactivate” your profile. This ensures that seekers will be able to easily locate active writers.

If your profile is a work in progress and is not yet ready for publication, deactivate it after saving.

Sample Works

You can upload up to 3 samples of your writing into your writer profile. Upload of samples is optional. If you do upload samples, choose ones that fit in with your marketing strategy. Does the sample assist in showing a content seeker what your wit could bring to their business? If not, don't include it. Long samples can alienate; Remember that The Wittery is not the place to find a publisher for your epic novel; we are here to serve the engaging content needs of the business community

To succeed, you must focus on what you can do for the business content seeker. Remember this when choosing samples. The best types of samples are ones with a business focus eg. a witty product description, a witty press release etc. Businesses can then get an idea of how your humor can be used to market their business. If you have no appropriate samples, why not write some?

The sample works which you display in your profile are viewable by seeker members. The User Agreement prohibits copying/reproduction of sample works displayed on the website without the writer's permission.

It would be impossible for us to monitor re-use of your content. If you want to monitor whether your original content has been reproduced elsewhere online, there are plagiarism tools that you can use, such as Plagium or Copyscape. We recommend that you make sure the samples you upload to your profile have been published online before.

If you are offering fresh pre-written articles for sale through your profile, don't upload them as samples in your profile.

User Agreement

Don’t forget to read the User Agreement. It helps if everyone understands it.

MY OFFICE – The Features

About My Profile (My Office)

This is where you create your public profile. Your profile is your showcase, so make it stand out. You can also upload samples of your work in My Profile. This helps seeker members to assess your talents. Make sure any uploaded samples are witty and short.

Seekers will lose interest if your profile is long-winded; it should be business-focused with a least a hint of wit. Ask yourself what you can bring to the client and deliver this message in your profile.

You don’t have to create a profile. If you don’t create a profile, seeker members won’t find you through searching writer profiles.

(See "Creating Your Public Profile" and "Sample Works" for more information about "My Profile".)

About My Account (My Office)

You will find your account information here. This is where you can amend your contact details.

About Saved Searches (My Office)

When searching for jobs, you can save the particular search criteria you used. This will be kept in Saved Searches for your future use. This can save you time if you want to do a fresh search, at a later date, using the same criteria. You can also delete and edit your saved searches from here.

About My Notifications (My Office)

From here, you can choose to be notified on receipt of a new private message or when one of your applications has been approved or rejected.

About Job Alerts (My Office)

Here you can create new job alerts and manage any job alerts that you have already saved. You can edit, delete, preview search results and disable saved job alerts.

By using the job alert feature, you will receive notifications when new jobs that match your alert criteria are added to The Wittery.

About Saved Jobs (My Office)

Here you can view details of jobs you have saved or you can delete saved jobs.

About Application Tracking (My Office)

From here, you can track job applications you have sent.

About Private Messaging (My Office)

You can send and receive private messages from here. When seekers view your profile, they can get in touch with private messages. You can manage and reply to your private messages in here.

Don't use private messaging to send unsolicited pitches or inquiries to seeker members. But if a content seeker member has given you permission to communicate directly with them, go right ahead.

Brought to you by The Wittery®, The Witty Writer Marketplace (Y'all come back now sometime soon)