Have A Kickass Idea For A Cracked Article? Get Paid For It!

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Have A Kickass Idea For A Cracked Article? Get Paid For It!

Postby archaeologydalek » Fri Aug 28, 2015 1:17 pm

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Re: Have A Kickass Idea For A Cracked Article? Get Paid For

Postby Jack Road » Fri Aug 28, 2015 1:22 pm

When you write an article, what percentage of your actual content makes it to the front page?
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Re: Have A Kickass Idea For A Cracked Article? Get Paid For

Postby archaeologydalek » Fri Aug 28, 2015 1:47 pm

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Re: Have A Kickass Idea For A Cracked Article? Get Paid For

Postby Crimson847 » Sat Aug 29, 2015 12:04 am

Are you notified of any changes or given any voice in the matter? Or do you just sign the contract and then find out what changes they decided to make when the article gets published?
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Re: Have A Kickass Idea For A Cracked Article? Get Paid For

Postby iMURDAu » Sat Aug 29, 2015 4:21 pm

archaeologydalek wrote:so please don't quote me on anything.


Ah. Dammit. I just quoted you.
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Re: Have A Kickass Idea For A Cracked Article? Get Paid For

Postby Australia » Sat Aug 29, 2015 4:31 pm

iMURDAu wrote:
archaeologydalek wrote:so please don't quote me on anything.


Ah. Dammit. I just quoted you.


Don't worry. I won't make the same mistake.
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Re: Have A Kickass Idea For A Cracked Article? Get Paid For

Postby AdricDePsycho » Sun Aug 30, 2015 5:45 am

Can we get payed in blackjack and hookers, or is the usual Cracked payment of cocaine and shirtless Teddy Roosevelt pictures the only option?
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Re: Have A Kickass Idea For A Cracked Article? Get Paid For

Postby LegionofShrooms » Wed Sep 02, 2015 3:47 am

I know that editing in order to give everything in question the general "Cracked Feel" will always be an element of the process, but I have to wonder.

How much, precisely, does Cracked try to steer you towards certain tonal shifts, and how much have you had to deal with... How do I put this? Executive dickery? I dunno.

I'm really torn on this subject. On the one hand, I've got all these ideas rolling around in my brain lately, and Cracked seems like it would be a good avenue to explore that in as it would mean a broader audience, but on the other...

Certain shifts in the general attitude and practices of the site have really started to rub me the wrong way.

I'm not here to bash on Cracked. I love it. It's the site that brought all of us together after all, and it's produced some truly spectacular content in the past. But it seems like more and more lately we've moved away from comedy to moral high ground, and although I can't fault them for taking a stand in certain issues, others seem like they've been taken to unhealthy and only half-informed extremes. Some of their articles have come off as extremely mean spirited, and not in the tone of someone like, say, Seanbaby who was generally riffing on people flaunting their stupidity, but rather simply for the sake of tearing down things, ideas and people they didn't like. Every interaction with the forums (not that I've cared enough to post, but I have lurked quite a bit) has come across as negative and hostile.

Sorry, I'm getting off track here.

I guess what I'm really asking is, I know it's only one man's opinion and therefore prone to bias, but I'd like to hear what, exactly, your thoughts are on writing for Cracked.

What do you like about it? What's driven you nuts about it? How often have you had to deal with less savory elements of the site?

At the end of the day, I just want to be able to create good content that as many people as possible enjoy. Whether that be on Cracked or here, it will get written as long as I can summon up enough passion, energy and creative drive to finish. Like I said, I'm not here to demonize the site or anything. There are a lot of elements of it I still love. I guess it's just that there's also a lot that has left me wary of it in recent years and I'd like to hear an insider's perspective as someone who has worked with Cracked before I start weighing the pros and cons towards making a final decision.
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Re: Have A Kickass Idea For A Cracked Article? Get Paid For

Postby archaeologydalek » Fri Sep 04, 2015 1:22 pm

REDACTED
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Re: Have A Kickass Idea For A Cracked Article? Get Paid For

Postby Marcuse » Fri Sep 04, 2015 1:25 pm

After all, what do we know about writing for the site that the editors don’t?


You probably know what you were trying to say better than they do. But I guess I don't know enough about writing for a site to be able to judge them, maybe it is just too much effort to run material alterations to someone else's work by them before posting them publicly under their name. Ho hum.

Edit: I suppose I should clarify. I think the importance of an author keeping control of their own work is worth the effort spent to consult them. I guess I can't override a professional business saying that's not the case, but I still feel it's unfair to authors who work on pieces to rewrite their work with no notice of such, then post the rewritten text under that author's name. It's not really their work at that point, because it's been edited too heavily. So I feel like it's not possible to hold an author responsible for the work at that point, either to praise or criticise it. But that's a technical disagreement I have, I don't think anyone's a bad person for participating in that system, or even running it. I just feel like it's not ideal to have it work like that.
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Re: Have A Kickass Idea For A Cracked Article? Get Paid For

Postby archaeologydalek » Fri Sep 04, 2015 1:59 pm

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Re: Have A Kickass Idea For A Cracked Article? Get Paid For

Postby archaeologydalek » Fri Sep 04, 2015 2:11 pm

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Re: Have A Kickass Idea For A Cracked Article? Get Paid For

Postby Marcuse » Fri Sep 04, 2015 2:30 pm

In hindsight, that came out a little...bitchier(?) than I wanted it to. But, yeah, I get that it's not a perfect system and that there's a reason the vast majority of outlets run changes past authors, but for whatever reason that doesn't happen.


I don't think you were being bitchy. I just take issue with that particular practice in general, and I would have made the same point about any outlet, even though I kind of know I'm arguing for an ideal and not necessarily a concretely plausible practice.
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Re: Have A Kickass Idea For A Cracked Article? Get Paid For

Postby Paradox » Sat Sep 05, 2015 11:56 pm

How much did you charge for your soul?
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Re: Have A Kickass Idea For A Cracked Article? Get Paid For

Postby D-LOGAN » Wed Sep 16, 2015 1:03 pm

Well, I haven't written that many articles so I don't know what my limited experience is worth but-

Crimson847 wrote:Are you notified of any changes or given any voice in the matter? Or do you just sign the contract and then find out what changes they decided to make when the article gets published?


You never know baby! For me it's always been you write the article up after it's been accepted, then you just gotta wait and see what happens. I have no idea how much of my original content they'll use or how much they'll add or cut, and how many of my entries will make it through. And quite frankly that's my favourite part!

I love seeing which of my jokes they used and which they changed, how similar or different it is to my original draft etc. In fact when then the article comes out I print out both versions so I can compare and contrast the two. So in a sense I get the fun of seeing something I "wrote" as well as reading something new.

Now don't get me wrong, I get it that the name of the game is to eventually get more in synch with Cracked's style over time to the point where you're finished work will be as close to what comes up on the front page as possible and that's what I'm aiming for. But at the moment, the whole having to wait and see and being surprised bit is what I like the most.

LegionofShrooms wrote:How much, precisely, does Cracked try to steer you towards certain tonal shifts, and how much have you had to deal with


If I'm understanding you correctly (and I may not, I am of course quite drunk at present) then yeah sometimes in the pitching process the Moderat-Administ-Editorial people will request alterations to the premise, like narrowing or expanding the focus of your idea, course they don’t always do that. It's all about what they reckon is best for the pitch. Either way is good with me.

Marcuse wrote:I think the importance of an author keeping control of their own work is worth the effort spent to consult them. I guess I can't override a professional business saying that's not the case, but I still feel it's unfair to authors who work on pieces to rewrite their work with no notice of such, then post the rewritten text under that author's name. It's not really their work at that point, because it's been edited too heavily.


Well this is interesting because I think the Marc-ster and I are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum on this one. You see in my long and varied life I've always held hard and fast to the 'Green Hat At The Party' principal. Basically the idea of- You're welcome to come to my house-party, but if you want to come, you have to wear a green hat. If don't wanna wear the hat, you're not allowed in.

I apply this principal to all my endevours, be it romance or blood vendettas or pitching pieces of writing to inter-net magazines, and it's never let me down. As such the way I see it, if you're cool with Cracked's way o' doin' bid-ness, that's great, off you go. If you don't like it, that's cool too. The way they do things is made clear in the workshop and as such everybody knows how it works and if they wanna go ahead away they go, if not then not, as such everybody wins.

Now that's not to say there's anything wrong with you not liking the system. Of course not, it's no different than if you didn't like strawberry icecream and I did, I'm not gonna have a go at you for ... wait ... does that work? Would it make more sense if I said, I was working in a strawberry icecream factory? Ugh analogies are the lowest form of conversation tools! Anyway, you get my point. It's cool that you're not into it, and it's cool that others are. You see at the end of the day, it's our ability to not only acknowledge and accept our differences, but to celebrate them, that separates us from THE COMMUNISTS!!!!

Paradox wrote:How much did you charge for your soul?


Half a rasher sandwich and a kick in the bollocks. And believe you me, that was a lot more than the wretched thing was worth!
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Not just yet, I'm still tender from before.
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