Eclipse is a great market to write for and to develop great clips for your portfolio. Several writers have been able to use their EM experience to get great jobs with companies like USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Time Out New York, The Washington Post, Charlotte Weekly, and other major news organizations. So you’ll get out of this, what you put in. If you live in the DC or New York Area and write film reviews we can get you into numerous advanced film screenings for free. We can also set you up with some fantastic interview opportunities.
We do not have any relationships with the studios in other markets, if you track down the regional studio reps in your area, we would be more than happy to help you get on those screening lists. But before we do that, you really have to show us that you are reliable. Our reputation with the studios is very important to us and we will not let just anyone represent us in front of them.
Eclipse’s primarily covers the following areas:
1) Film
2) DVD Reviews
3) Television
Secondary areas include:
1) Video Games
2) Entertainment Tech
3) X-Factor topics – if it’s good and we like it, let’s hear it!
Now that we are building a new blog network, we’re looking for bloggers in all areas, folks to talk about television specific programs like American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, and more. We want Technology Bloggers who can focus on topics including Gear, Broadband Content, YouTube, Cell Phones, and more specifically we’re looking for an Expert on Apple, etc. We especially want video bloggers. You will receive 20 percent of any ad revenue generated from your video blog.
At the moment we can’t afford to pay but we are working on implementing new ad-server technology, so once that launches we will work out a advertising share split.
V. WHAT KIND OF WRITING STYLE MOST APPEALS TO ECLIPSE?
We like fun, witty, entertaining, and most of all, passionate writers. We’re not looking for dry, excessively analytical interpretations about films or pop culture. The best tools are your first impressions, common sense, and your sense of humor.
VI. STYLISTIC REQUIREMENTS
What we don’t want is pretentious, or people trying to be “hip,” so no slang words or hipster lingo allowed in your articles. At this time we’re looking for bloggers in all areas of Entertainment, Technology and Video Games. We’re also looking for people to do feature interviews in these areas as well.
VII. ASSIGNMENT OF STORIES
As is customary with newspapers and media organizations, Eclipse does not normally assign stories. If there is something that you are interested in covering, we expect writers to cover the material and submit it when it is complete. Depending upon the circumstances, we may assist in opening a door for a writing opportunity that was not easily obtainable.
On the most rare of occasions, Eclipse will contact writers in order to see if they will cover a story. This occurs only after you have proven that you are truly trustworthy and able to represent Eclipse in a professional manner at high-end celebrity events and conferences.
VIII. HOW MANY ARTICLES DO YOU ACCEPT?
We post about 85 – 90 percent of the things that we get. Words to live by: A real writer WRITES. A real reporter REPORTS.
VIV. WRITING GUIDELINES
Our writing guidelines are fairly simple. We basically follow the AP style book.
1) Do not indent the beginning paragraphs just use a simple blank space to signify the start of a new paragraph.
2) This is the web, so please keep all paragraphs short. No more than three sentences per paragraph.
3) Please do not use the word “I” in any of your stories or reviews.
4) When writing, a simple technique that I like to use is never start a paragraph off with the same word; i.e. if you use the word “The” to start a paragraph, the next paragraph needs to have a different word to start. Never start a sentence or paragraph with qualifier – And, But, If, Or, Because, etc…
5) Our minimum length for an article is 500 words. We don’t have a set maximum although 1,500 words is a good.
6) Every review (music, movie, game, etc.) HAS TO HAVE a letter grade A – F (anything in between).
7) We use straight “” in all our articles. Please do not use ANY Other Formatting.
When doing interviews, we prefer a simple Q and A format, so bold your questions. For example –
Tell us who you are
I’m Julia Roberts….
When your article is done, please email it to ma*********@ec*************.com along with a link to an appropriate image. I do not have time to go hunting for images, and I don’t like uploading images to the server, so whenever possible please email me links to the actual image. If you want to you can also include related links at the end of your story. We don’t have any guidelines for that so it’s purely up to you to include them.
Once you submit three stories, I will grant you access to our news posting area where you can start posting your own articles. In order to post you must be registered on the site. Please use a PROFESSIONAL USER NAME, i.e. your first initial (or full name) and your last name. So with all of that said, welcome aboard and I hope you have fun with this experience!
X. I’VE SUBMITTED MY THREE STORIES, NOW HOW DO I POST MY OWN STUFF?
Ah, now that you are a “regular” writer you can now start posting your own stuff and cut me out of the process. To post, you first must register on the site and have a User Name. Your User Name needs to be professional and should be your first initial and last name. Once you have this, email me and let me know what it is, I will then grant you posting privileges.
XI. IS ECLIPSE VOLUNTARY OR IS COMPENSATION AVAILABLE?
For the foreseeable future, writing and working for EclipseMagazine/Daydream Productions, Inc. is a fully voluntary endeavor. Unfortunately, our limited financial resources prevent us from paying either full time staff or freelance contributors. In the future, we hope to change this by acquiring external investment and support – which we’re actively pursuing now.