Changes to HJ Part 1: Hiring (and Paying!) Writers

You may notice some new changes around here. We’ve added a couple of new sections. (Which we’ll address in another post.) We’ve tinkered around with the sidebar too.

We’ve also slimmed down our main menu a bit by removing some things from it and adding them to a couple new mini-menus. (One at the top and one in the footer.)

In this post we want to focus on the Writers Wanted section in the top mini-menu.

The easiest way to share the info is by sharing our press release, which we’ve posted below. Please feel free to share this info with any writers you think may be interested.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Paranormal Travel Site Institutes Unique Compensation Plan to Pay Writers

July 25, 2016: Haunt Jaunts, a travel site for restless spirits that specializes in dark and paranormal tourism, is looking to expand by hiring writers for its blog. It doesn’t pay a lot, but that’s what makes this opportunity unique. Most sites don’t pay, but Haunt Jaunts is offering compensation to both any regular contributors they hire on, as well as any guest posts they publish. Contingent on the posts meeting certain requirements, that is.

“I don’t have the most popular paranormal site out there,” says Courtney Mroch, Haunt Jaunts’ creator and Ambassador of Dark and Paranormal Tourism. “That’s why what I’m offering is so novel. A lot of other blogs I follow, whether they’re paranormal or not, advertise ‘Writers Wanted’ but they don’t pay.”

Mroch is very open with how much (or how little) her site currently earns. It’s only between $8 and $40 per month, depending on the month. (She’s identified her slow months as January through March. Her busiest months are June through October.)

She’s not in the position to pay for every post. (Yet. That’s what she’s aspiring to.) However, she’s come up with a unique compensation plan. One that includes monthly and quarterly bonuses.

At the start of each month, she’ll review the prior month’s posts. Any contributor with a post in the Top 5 will earn $3 for that post. (If one contributor had all five, they’d earn $15 for the month.)

However, she’ll also pay $2 bonuses for the month’s Top 3 posts. (So, using the example above, if one contributor had all of the Top 5 posts, they’d earn an extra $2 each for their Top 3, bringing their total monthly earnings to $21.)

She’s also devised a Quarterly Bonus rewards system. Each January, April, July, and October, she’ll review the All-Time Popular Posts. Any writer with a post appearing there will earn an additional $5 per post.

“It’s not a lot, I know,” Mroch says. “In fact, if I hire on any social media dynamos who can boost their hits but ad revenue doesn’t follow, I could wind up in the hole some months. But it’s a gamble I’m willing to take. I believe this is the way to not only grow my site, but to make it better.”

Perhaps most novel of all is that the payout structure applies to regular contributors as well as guest bloggers.

“Some of the sites I follow are much larger than mine. In fact, a couple are huge. Their founders are noted for the six figure annual incomes their sites generate. Some pay any regular contributors they have, but most don’t. And I still have yet to find a blog where guest bloggers are compensated with more than exposure. Which can be valuable, but that’s never sat well with me. Especially not from the blogs that brag about how much income they generate. If someone submits a stellar guest post that brings a lot of eyes to my site? You bet I want to compensate them for that!”

Mroch is predominantly looking for writers interested in haunted places and paranormal tourism (ie. ghost tours, ghost hunting, and the like). But she’s also looking for writers to review paranormal books, movies and TV shows, as well as to write about Halloween-themed jaunts (haunted attractions and events).

Interested writers are asked to submit two writing samples, which can be links to posts or articles or Word documents attached via email. They should be sent to Courtney Mroch at court@hauntjaunts.net.

For more information visit the Writers Wanted tab on Haunt Jaunts. https://www.hauntjaunts.net/writers-wanted/