XBLA Fans team looking to expand
XBLA Fans was formed four years ago to cover the awesome titles being released under the XBLA platform. When we started the site, very few knew what that meant. We saw the release of an amazing amount of high quality, unique and engaging titles over the next four years. Now the XBLA term has been retired. Four years later, we are back in a unique position where no one knows what we cover again. As such, we have freedom to expand coverage to games we want to cover. What that means is that if it feels like it should be covered by XBLA Fans, it will be. We are still focused on high-quality, smaller-scale games of the indie nature. That said, things break the box. Not everything we cover is small scale, not everything is under $20 and not everything is indie.
We’re looking for people with a passion for these type of games. We started this site as an outlet for writers with a passion for XBLA titles to gain experience and grow. At this time we have more games to review than we have writers to review them. We have constant opportunities to interview developers and industry leaders. We are sourced by major news outlets who read our content frequently. Many of our former staff members have moved on to professional roles at industry publications. We love seeing that and would love to work with you to help you improve and gain experience as a writer. In general, this is not a paid position, though we have helped some editors with monthly stipends when it was clear the amount of time they were investing merited it.
As of now we are looking for the following:
News Editor: Your job will consist of writing news and helping to maintain quality control across all news posted on the site. You will work closely with Managing Editor Nick Santangelo and myself to prioritize stories and seek original news and angles for stories. We expect a larger time commitment from our editorial staff, but we are incredibly flexible. Nick and I would love to chat with you personally and see if this would be a fit for you. Please note that for this position some demonstrable previous experience will be expected.
Staff Writer: This is more or less our catchall position. We will expect at least two posts from you a week (obviously we are flexible if you have a busy work week, finals, vacations and such). Precise work will depend on rotating needs, but expect the obvious: news, features and reviews. Expectations are higher here than on contributors as we are trying to help push you to be prolific enough to move forward with your career aspirations.
Contributor: If you are doing this entirely for fun and just want to help when you can, we are still willing to talk to you and see if there is a role that makes sense. Maybe a weekly feature or something or the occasional review when we need help.
Streamer: We are working on leveraging the awesome potential of Twitch streams as a medium to bring new original content to our fans. If you think you could add something unique to the table, let us know.
General Staff Requirements:
You will need to be comfortable interviewing developers and asking questions, and must be 18 or older, as we use real names for our writers. Beyond that requirement, we can teach the rest. The position is entirely voluntary, but it provides you with a great resume builder. Feel free to talk to our team about what it’s like working at XBLA Fans; we think they’ll give it a pretty great recommendation. For these general writing positions you can live anywhere in the world, all you need is writing ability and an Xbox One.
If any of these positions interests you, please send an email with a resume and writing sample to John@XBLAFans.com. If you have any questions feel free to post them in the comments or include them with your application email. Please include the position you are interested in as the subject line.