Hey, You! Wanna Write For Maize n Brew?

Hello! Have you been interested in sports writing? Do you have a perspective that you think would benefit the Michigan blogosphere? Are you skilled at writing in paragraphs? (Not really kidding.) Then we want you!

There isn’t anything extremely specific we’re looking for, but we do want to see if there are talented writers out there who can add to our team. We’re a cool group, I promise, and writing about Michigan football (or any sport) can be a lot of fun.

We’re not only looking for people who know the popular sports, too - if you have followed Michigan softball, baseball, lacrosse, swim & dive, ping pong, competitive thumb wrestling, or parkour (alright, some of those don’t exist), then we’d be very interested to hear from you. We won’t be adding anyone who covers eye-blinking contests, as we already have two dozen of those.

In all seriousness, it’s always valuable to keep an eye out for motivated, talented writers who are looking for a shot at a bigger stage. Here are a few things we’re really, seriously looking out for:

• Good writing ability. You need to show us that you can write a well-paragraphed, interesting column of two hundred words or more.
• A work ethic. We won’t expect you to devote 170 hours a week to MnB, especially if you have other obligations that limit your time. (Let us know about those and we’ll be extremely accommodating.) But being able to show up and do your work, and also double-check and improve your work as needed, is a valuable skill for anyone.
• The ability to add something new. Good writing is a plus, but there are a lot of voices who are writing about Michigan sports. Having something new to say is a key part of being successful. This might come from creativity, thorough investigation, or good old-fashioned interviewing. But think about what you do well, and think about what you do differently, when applying.
• Lastly, be true to yourself, but be flexible. This may sound cheesy, and it is, but audiences gravitate toward someone who is able to communicate who they are and how they feel. (This kind of reinforces bullet points #1 and #3.) It also helps you handle the ups and downs if you feel comfortable with what you’re doing.
  But it’s also important to be willing to learn and grow from being in the media, which is a strange and different arena than it looks on the other side of the glass. If you’re not able to challenge yourself and grow, then this is a difficult activity to pursue.

So, that’s that. Before I give you the all-important final details, I want to encourage you to apply by saying that we have increased our incentive this time around: you won’t get paid, but you will have exclusive access to our Maize n Brew 80,000-square foot mansion in the Florida Keys, complete with your own sports car in any color (we have all of them), and you’ll also have adoring fans in the same mold as the Beatles or Ariana Grande. Also, we have cookies.

So, this is how you apply. Write a sample about Michigan sports, and e-mail either septoranges@gmail.com (me) or abroome1110@gmail.com (Anthony Broome, our site manager). Please let us know what sports you want to cover, any time restrictions you might have (again, if we like your work, details like that are secondary), and a little background about who you are and why you want to be a part of our team.

We would like to see a sample of 200 words or longer (for context, this post here is over 600) to see how comfortable you feel with writing. The perfect submission is anything we’d look at and go, “Yeah, that’s ready to publish” - something that’s well-edited, brings something new to the table, etc.

If you’re looking for inspiration: write a post-season recap of the 2016 football season, some of what you’d like to see in the off-season, and/or a look ahead to 2017. It’s all fair game.

Good luck, thank you, and Go Blue.