Using Bleacher Report as a Vehicle to Launch a Career in Sports Media

“How much do I get paid?”

I get a lot of questions like this from folks who randomly stumble upon Bleacher Report and are wondering if there is economic compensation for writing articles. My response usually goes a little something like this:

“Hi __________,

Unfortunately we cannot offer economic compensation at this time to our writers. What we can offer however is exposure to a widespread national audience. We have over 400,000 people visiting our site every month, and our articles are frequently featured by sites such as Sports Illustrated on Campus and deadspin.com.”

Though Bleacher Report doesn’t pay its contributors, the incentives to be a part of the network are endless. We offer a free service for writers and bloggers to publish their work, interact with a community of like-minded fans, and have their articles revised and improved upon by editors.

Another incentive which I tend not to mention however is the “gateway drug” phenomenon: you start writing on Bleacher Report, and through your contributions you garner a following that eventually lands you a paying gig somewhere else.

I tend to be wary of stressing this point for a couple of reasons.

First off, it de-values Bleacher Report on its face. I’d be hard pressed to say that one journalist is more qualified than another just because one has a paying job and one writes for other reasons. Anyone who is familiar with our site knows that we have analysts who know just as much about their favorite sports as the guys at ESPN and Sports Illustrated—and the last thing I want people thinking is that this is a site for “beginners only.” Go tell that to Erick Blasco or Dave Metrick.

Secondly, I don’t want to get people’s hopes up or make promises I can’t keep. The fact of the matter is that not everyone who uses Bleacher Report is going to become Bill Simmons. Many will try their hand and a select few will establish a following on the network. Of those who make a name for themselves, a small portion will be offered paid gigs elsewhere at one point or another.

That said, I thought I would mention two recent cases where Bleacher Report members found paid employment elsewhere. Both members have confirmed that writing for the network was indeed a stepping stone to being hired by Sports Illustrated and baseballdigestdaily.com.

Sarah Braunstein joined Bleacher Report well over a year ago, back in the days of the concept site. She asserted herself early on as a die-hard Orioles and Ravens fan, while also writing features on a wide array of topics—including coverage of the Cricket World Championships, an expose on Shawn Green’s jewish heritage, and a tribute of what in Sarah’s opinion is the most exciting play in all of football, the safety.

While Sarah’s ideas were always original and compelling, her writing itself needed improvement. By working directly with now Managing Editor Ryan Alberti, Sarah was publishing high quality pieces of sports journalism on Bleacher Report within months of joining.

I hadn’t heard from Sarah in awhile, so I emailed her a few weeks back to see what she was up too. That’s when I find out that she had been hired by Sports Illustrated.

Sarah now works as a research assistant and reporter for Sports Illustrated for Kids magazine. She told me that when applying for the job she included clips from her articles at Bleacher Report, which helped get her foot in the door.

As for Brandon Heikoop, he has been kind enough to include his own writeup in a separate blog post. Below is a clip:

At Bleacher Report, one is provided with not only excellent readership—some 8000 hits a day—but also with some of the best editors. The BR editors not only go through each of your posted articles, but they also give words of encouragement and advice for improving the articles. For a new blogger, this help is invaluable.However, even with experience and encouragement, Bleacher Report’s most important asset was the publicity. Recently I was asked to begin writing for Baseball Digest Daily—and while I will not suggest that BR was directly responsible for said honor, it was undeniably of significant assistance.

(You can read Brandon’s entire explanation of Bleacher Report’s role in helping him land his new job and his advice to aspiring writers here).

While it’s always sad to see members of the community take their contributions elsewhere, I can’t express how exciting I was to hear that Sarah and Brandon’s Bleacher Report experiences helped them find a full time job in sports media. I wish them all the best, and am confident that we’ll still be seeing them on the site from time to time.

Update, 4/2/08: Adam Amick to host TMS Motorsports Tonight on ESPN Radio

Update, 6/25/08: J.J. Stankevitz Lands Job With Chicago White Sox Examiner

Update, 7/5/08: John McClory to Cover Games for Daily San Diego Soccer News

Update, 7/8/08: Joe Willett Hooks up with Hoops4Life.com

Update, 1/9/09: Miguel Salcido to Write for RBI Magzine

Update, 3/2/09: Kevan Lee hired as freelance writer and copy editor