The SunBreak will be four years old in September 2013. That’s cause for celebration, but also for news of staff turnover. This fall, founding editor-in-chief MvB heads off to the UK for graduate school, and managing editor Audrey returns to the warm and muggy embrace of the Midwest, in the form of St Paul.
That leaves room for some new faces. Are you interested? First, these are the kinds of positions that are usually accompanied by a day job. We won’t spend too much time on this, as the best candidates will be familiar with the economics of this space.
Here’s a bit more about the site and how it works. Our monthly traffic averages between 15,000 and 25,000 unique visitors. We publish Seattle-centric stories, with an emphasis on quality over quantity, on curating different perspectives rather than rehashing. There are about a half-dozen regular contributors in food, music, and the performing arts, with another half-dozen who contribute occasionally.
The editor in chief’s job is to contribute a daily story, usually having to do with Seattle news. The managing editor copyedits and helps schedule other contributions. Both help generate stories from contributors by passing along releases, tips, and ideas. That said, in principle, each of our site categories (News, A&E, Food, Travel) is run by a semi-autonomous editor who is the primary contact for writers and pitches.
Monetary compensation is derived from ad sales and subscriptions. Exactly how much is open for discussion, but you’d be starting from close to scratch, as we’ve just installed an in-house ad placement widget (after relying on third-party ad suppliers previously), and will need to build up advertising support. More immediately, it would be a good time to launch an inaugural subscription drive.
To be considered for the editor in chief or managing editor position — or to invent the business development position — please be a good editor: Know how to cultivate writers, and know what good writing is. Support the Oxford comma. Have a working background in the space, a publication or blog that you manage that you can use as your portfolio. Be fascinated by life in Seattle and with meeting the people here. It will certainly be convenient if you are proficient with WordPress, and digital media production.
Do not be a too-prolific crank or, conversely, someone who gets burnt out easily. It’s not an enormous amount of work but it does take daily attention.
Write to editor@sunbreakmagazine.com explaining your interest, with links to things we should know about. We’d like to have you start after Labor Day.
