9.21.2010

ChopCult Call to Arms

"Be careful what you wish for. It might come true."

No one who may have heard me whisper my dreams of being a writer as a teen had the courtesy to tell me this, but it would have spared me loads of stress if they had. Writing anything much heavier than a bicycle test or a road trip rehash has eluded me so far, but Internet publishing has become the tangled web from which I cannot escape.

It started on a couple blogs we launched the middle of last decade, but that was a one-way street: I wrote it, six people read it, and that was the end of it.

Then, in 2008 I cruised in low gear on the shoulder of Myspace and Facebook 1.0. That lasted less than a year, at which point I bid adieux to cyber naval gazing forever.

Or so I thought.

In a humble quest to satisfy our collective craving for all things visual and verbal, last year our micro agency launched ChopCult.com. What was initially intended to be a social network, tech resource and blog aggregate for today's low-buck chopper aficionado has blossomed into a bona fide online magazine with press junkets, photo sessions, original stories and all the daily deadlines that come with them.

When I was a teenager I wanted to write for a magazine.

I never dreamed I would help launch one.

As a business venture, ChopCult is awesome for reasons every publishing CFO and Sierra Club do-gooder knows all too well: no print bill or paper. HTML has been a boon to tree huggers, and a poison dart in the throat of old media. We didn't mean for it to be this way—and Bill and I still plow through more than 100 books and magazines per year—but the Innerweb seems here to stay. Whether any of today's hottest domains can say the same in five years depends on the tenacity of their publisher. And therein lies the rub…

Writing and editing 15 personality profiles, bike features and event stories for ChopCult every month is challenging. Throw in bookkeeping, advertising design, advertiser- and reader-relations and you've got damn near a full-time job.

Less important to us than the workload, however, are the pitfalls of presenting only one perspective in the chopper scene. Bill and I try to avoid this like a tuna sandwich in the sun, but geography and other commitments limit our success. To bridge this gap, I'm appealing for help.

ChopCult is looking for talented writers and photographers to expose our readers to new people and perspectives in today's scene. Interested applicants need to be good at what they do. This includes having at least a topical knowledge of the chopper scene, and better-than-average spelling, diction, syntax, storytelling and photography skills.

Things like capitalization, punctuation and knowing the different between a knucklehead and a CB750 are a must, as are passion beyond reason and the ability work for no money.

If all of this sounds too good to resist, send a story with at least seven 1200 x 900 x 72 d.p.i. photos to Harold@ChopCult.com.

If I like your work, we'll publish it on ChopCult and you'll be famous.

Hungry and overworked, but famous.


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1 comment:

BoBo Jufat said...

I kinda got the jizzt of it? Soemthing about famous. But, what a read. I'm too tired to try that again. How about I just think of you hitting on the black jack dealer and losing your payola but getting that key card to your room passed to her successfuly which is a better read in the long run as long as you don't have a brown accident.