How to Contribute to the Dallas Observer

NunyaBidness

I enjoyed the two photography assignments that I did for the Observer. What I DON'T enjoy so much is not getting PAID for those assignments... and not getting responses to my several emails. throughout the last couple of months. If this is how freelancers are treated, no wonder why you guys are always looking for more.

JustSaying

I know that I could do a pretty fucking good job with the writing part. The problems would come once it got published on here. All of a sudden it would be impossible to read the snark and the shit talking in the comment section without taking it personally. I would so be one of those "lets meet and see if you say that shit to my face" kinda guys. But maybe I could parlay that into a legitimate doctor's prescription for Xanax.

TheRuddSki topcommenter

Must admit, when I first read the headline, I thought y'all were going all PBS on us, was ready to cut a check.

bvckvs topcommenter

Been there. Done that. Got no response - but I did see my ideas show up under other people's by-lines.

Legitimate publishers have "Writer's Guidelines", make public the pay rate, and most importantly - they respond to submissions, even if just to reject them. Dallas Observer doesn't do any of that.

ChrisYu

I know how to make a list!!!

WylieH

Are fictitious individuals allowed to apply?

TheRuddSki topcommenter

Can we get paid for blog commentary?

dingo

'..along with a few work samples that demonstrate some talent for whatever is they want to do..'

I thought VVM divested themselves of the backpage-dot-com business.

MaxNoDifference

A nice little staff you got here. It'd be a shame if something were to happen...

ScottsMerkin topcommenter

Joinnambla and divershitty have some pretty strong opinions about the paper. Maybe theyd like to contribute

pak152

does it help if you own a shotgun like Jim Shoots?

jesdynf

Dear Observer,

I'd like to contribute to the Observer, but I don't have a drinking problem. Do you think I should work my way up to one, or should I consider huffing paint instead?

Thanks!

joe.tone moderator

@NunyaBidness Send me an email and invoices and we'll make sure you get paid right away. We're generally pretty good but occasionally things get screwed up -- a transposed number on an address, a miscommunication here, a missing invoice.

Let's fix it: joe.tone@dallasobserver.com.

mcdallas

@JustSaying That's the most ridiculous statement I've seen. (snark)

bvckvs topcommenter

@JustSaying

Jamie Kennedy did an excellent documentary about that very issue, titled "Heckler". He made the movie after he made a couple of flop movies and received some intensely brutal heckling that put him in therapy. In the documentary, he pays the hecklers to come into his office and talk about why they do what they do - and it's very revealing.

The take-away lesson is that hecklers don't behave the way they do because of who you are; they do it because of who they are.

So don't get angry at them - as if they were equals. Just ignore them - like you would a petulant child who's throwing a tantrum because he ate too much junk food and stayed up past his bed time. It's not their fault they were raised that way - it's their parents' fault.

Anna_Merlan_Voice topcommenter

@JustSaying You kinda get to like it. I once read a mean comment on my phone while I was driving and started laughing so hard I nearly went off the road.

PatrickWilliams moderator

@TheRuddSki Well, shoot, if you were ready to cut a check anyhow, just go ahead, and thanks. We'll put it to good use. Just make out to Patrick Williams. I'll see that it gets put into the right account. Saves on paperwork that way.

joe.tone moderator

@bvckvs Some legitimate publishers make writers guidelines and pay scales public. Many don't. We try to respond to every idea, but, like every other publication ever, some slip past. And we didn't steal your ideas. We don't steal ideas from freelance pitches. We never have.

Did you pitch me directly?

ThePosterFormerlyKnownasPaul topcommenter

@bvckvs

Why buy the cow when you are getting the milk for free?

ScottsMerkin topcommenter

@bvckvs based on what you write in the comments, Its pretty obvious why they would have not responded

Sotiredofitall topcommenter

@ChrisYu Everyone likes lists

mcdallas

@WylieH Hypothetically.

TheCredibleHulk topcommenter

@WylieH

Theoretically.

mcdallas

@TheRuddSki I just paid you with a "like". Take that to the bank!

mcdallas

@ScottsMerkin Noooooo! Please no!

gavin.cleaver moderator

@jesdynf You could never be welcome here.

mcdallas

@bvckvs Hecklers are awesome. Your comment is terrible. (snark)

ScottsMerkin topcommenter

@Anna_Merlan_Voice @JustSaying I think the interaction with the writer is a good thing. I dont feel like the author should just write something and then leave to never see it again and doesnt have to take responsibility for what they write. I used to Snark Anna in the beginning and then something happened. She replied and we agreed on something. I think it was one of the trolls that she responded too, but it told me she actually read them and it made me put more thought into my comments on her stories, it also brought about the Vagina rating system

TheRuddSki topcommenter

@PatrickWilliams

Done, I just cut the check. I doubt your bank will accept it now though.

bvckvs topcommenter

@joe.tone @bvckvs

Technically, no. It was about 5 years ago... maybe longer. I don't think you were there yet.

I mailed in 5 article series ideas as one-page summaries. One was called "Gun Barrel Politics", about gun control issues. Another was called "Cobwebs" about broken stuff on the city's web site (which is still seriously messed up). I forget what the others were. And I forget which ones that I felt, at the time, had been stolen.

I think I resubmitted those two to you early this year because I felt like they're really good ideas - but got no response. Since then, I sold one of the gun-barrel ideas to another writer who got them published under his name.

As for the remark about "legitimate publishers"... I'll let it slide. I've already gone all bipolar on y'all once this week, and kinda regret it.

TheRuddSki topcommenter

@tpfkap

Especially when the cow's milk comes soured direct from the teat.

Daniel

@ScottsMerkin @bvckvs Come on, it could be "comedy gold," as they say. Give the man his own column, BUCKY HOLDS FORTH

mcdallas

@Sotiredofitall @ChrisYu 1. Declare that you know how to make a list. 2. Don't include a list to prove your knowledge. 3. Wait for a TRUE list-maker to come forth and prove #1 false.

TheRuddSki topcommenter

@mcdallas

I'm on thin ice with them as it is. How 'bout you just send me some cash? I'll even accept pesos, rubles, pounds, euros - but do consider exchange rates and round up

mcdallas

@gavin.cleaver @jesdynf Gavin: quit commenting and get back to work on your Friday weather non-story.

gavin.cleaver moderator

@jesdynf unless your paint was some really high-quality paint. Then you're in.

Anna_Merlan_Voice topcommenter

@TheCredibleHulk @Anna_Merlan_Voice @ScottsMerkin @JustSaying I just saw this. I am certainly not tearing up because that would be mega lame. SHUT UP DON'T LOOK AT ME.

TheCredibleHulk topcommenter

@Anna_Merlan_Voice @ScottsMerkin @JustSaying

There aren't many bloggers are as gracious and humble as you, Anna.

F'real.

Anna_Merlan_Voice topcommenter

@ScottsMerkin @JustSaying The Vagina Scale and Sexual Anarchy, two priceless pieces of Unfair Park history. Thanks for being a friend, Merk.

RTGolden1 topcommenter

@Daniel @ScottsMerkin @bvckvsAlan Stang already did that schtick in the 70-80's on radio. Of course, he was a Bircher and wouldn't have gotten on that well with bucky, but they're both grumpy and convinced of their own superiority.

TheRuddSki topcommenter

@Daniel

The Dallas Examiner took Bucky's suggestion couple years ago.

The result was angry readers, Bucky's dismissal as "Education Correspondent", and the scrubbing of every single article and comment the Buckmeister had contributed.

I'm sure the DO is aware of that.