FCB wants to hire you as a writer (unless you suck)

[jlvjr16]

Here's a topic I could probably write about...Buying Wax hoping for a Big Autograph pull Vs. Hunting for your own Big Autos by Getting them yourself!!

 

[bballcardkid]

Just a guess, but I don't think that Gilmore is looking for a writer that focuses entirely on one subject matter. Gilmore is looking a writer with versatility, and has the ability to capture the audience regardless of the topic. Just imagine how boring it would be to see the same topic rehashed once a week. I mean seriously, how many "law" articles could you possibly write about as it regards to baseball cards? Few, and additionally, I'd imagine that a law specific topic would deliver deminishing returns in terms of entertainment to the board (just picking on law as an example, nothing against it).

 

[Mudcatsfan]

Just a guess, but I don't think that Gilmore is looking for a writer that focuses entirely on one subject matter. Gilmore is looking a writer with versatility, and has the ability to capture the audience regardless of the topic. Just imagine how boring it would be to see the same topic rehashed once a week. I mean seriously, how many "law" articles could you possibly write about as it regards to baseball cards? Few, and additionally, I'd imagine that a law specific topic would deliver deminishing returns in terms of entertainment to the board (just picking on law as an example, nothing against it).

I think this is exactly it.

He's not looking for a niche column, he's looking for a personality that's enjoyable to read.

 

[mjbuchanan80]

Looks like Harris has pretty much abandoned Stalegum. See if he'll write for you.

 

[Topnotchsy]

Just a guess, but I don't think that Gilmore is looking for a writer that focuses entirely on one subject matter. Gilmore is looking a writer with versatility, and has the ability to capture the audience regardless of the topic. Just imagine how boring it would be to see the same topic rehashed once a week. I mean seriously, how many "law" articles could you possibly write about as it regards to baseball cards? Few, and additionally, I'd imagine that a law specific topic would deliver deminishing returns in terms of entertainment to the board (just picking on law as an example, nothing against it).

I think this is exactly it.

He's not looking for a niche column, he's looking for a personality that's enjoyable to read.

That's me... vote for me. I can wiggle my ears and stand on my head and recite The Raven by heart and...

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Just a guess, but I don't think that Gilmore is looking for a writer that focuses entirely on one subject matter. Gilmore is looking a writer with versatility, and has the ability to capture the audience regardless of the topic. Just imagine how boring it would be to see the same topic rehashed once a week. I mean seriously, how many "law" articles could you possibly write about as it regards to baseball cards? Few, and additionally, I'd imagine that a law specific topic would deliver deminishing returns in terms of entertainment to the board (just picking on law as an example, nothing against it).

I think this is exactly it.

He's not looking for a niche column, he's looking for a personality that's enjoyable to read.

[youtube:1gbj0836]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG8dLc0Yyfw[/youtube:1gbj0836]

 

[chiefer77]

I'm a low end collector, A team collector and player collector. I live in an area with no card shops for at least 100 miles. I'm getting my son into collecting, he's 8. I took a long break for the hobby, 15 years, came back a year and a half ago. I could write a whole series of entries just on my experience with the hobby. These are obviously just short bits and I'm sure you're looking for something with a bit more substance, I just wanted to give you a little background and a bit of my writing style.

Here's something that I wrote awhile back about getting into the hobby and where I am today.

When I was seven, my parents divorced and I began spending weekends with my father. He was a big Mets fan and I remember watching games when I was with him. In 1986, I watched the Mets win the World Series and from that moment on, I was hooked on baseball. There was a small mom and pop store down the street that sold Topps baseball cards. I remember them being only 55 cents a pack. Being the new found baseball fanatic, I did everything that I could do, to get those cards, and that's when I got hooked on wax.

I collected as much as I could through the years. Every set that I could get my hands on. I even got the 1989 Upper Deck set for christmas one year. I was giddy like a school girl. I contintued my collecting ways until, well, I figured out that I like girls more then I like cards and I pretty much gave up collecting, only buying a few packs here and there. So around 1993 is when I called it quits. That is until now.

Walking through the main Ilse of my local Wal Mart, I saw that they had 2010 Topps cards for sale. They were only two bucks a pack so I picked up a few of them. I don't know what sparked inside of me, but I was hooked all over again. Now that I am 33 years old, I find myself being just as giddy as a nine year old boy when it comes to cards. I still have all of my old cards. I kept them in the best possible condition that I could. Perhaps one day, I'll be able to pass it down to my son or grandchild.

Here is something I wrote about when I first started collecting.


I was staying with my father for the weekend and I asked him for a buck to pick up a pack of 86 Topps cards at Whits Grocery. It's just this little mom and pop shop that is no longer open now. I have fond memeries of that place and I bought a lot of my first cards there. The first pack that I ever bought and the first Mets card that I ever pulled was the Dwight Gooden 85 record breaker card. I thought I was the luckiest boy in the world for pulling that card. After all, he was the chosen one for a Mets fan.

After playing all day, it was time to go in for the night. I settled in for the night and went to bed with no problems, until I woke up in the middle of the night and realized that I left my Dwight card on my buddies picnic table. I was wrought with fear of what could happen to that card knowing that I was unable to go get it. I had to force myself to sleep and pray that it was safe.

Well, it wasn't safe, it wasn't safe at all. I rained pretty much all night and it ruined my card. I was completely devistated. I dried the card out hoping that it would turn back to normal like cinderella. It never did, but I kept the card anyway. I still have it to this day. It is a reminder of my youth and a reminder of how not to treat my collection. I cherish that card like no other. It's the single most important card in my collection and I will keep it forever.

 

[BBCgalaxee]

I think I could do 1.2 million stories about collecting as a kid during the boom years from mid 80s to early 90s.

I could probably double that by blogging about the hobby in general during those times (and a little later) as well.

And on top of that, some funny, crazy stories which happened in my store and at shows.

 

[sabrgeek]

Especially in the NY Area, those stories should be priceless. As a person who spent the first 30 years of my life in NY Area, the stories I have translate well into articles.

Rich

 

[cmixer]

if it's a rotation;
I'd like a shot at non-sport, or rare football cards 1997-2005.
I think i could whip up something nice.

 

[csmtampa]

I think I could do 1.2 million stories about collecting as a kid during the boom years from mid 80s to early 90s.

I could probably double that by blogging about the hobby in general during those times (and a little later) as well.

And on top of that, some funny, crazy stories which happened in my store and at shows.

I would lOVE to read crazy stories that happened in card shops.

Years ago TJ Schwartz would sometimes write about it in his column in Tuff Stuff.

 

[hofmichael]

I think I could do 1.2 million stories about collecting as a kid during the boom years from mid 80s to early 90s.

I could probably double that by blogging about the hobby in general during those times (and a little later) as well.

And on top of that, some funny, crazy stories which happened in my store and at shows.

I would lOVE to read crazy stories that happened in card shops.

Years ago TJ Schwartz would sometimes write about it in his column in Tuff Stuff.

Schwartz used to have some great columns.It was the only positive in Tuff Stuff.

 

[sportscardtheory]

I would love to do a weekly article about "forgotten" players and cards (players and cards that don't get much hobby love but can be considered deserving) in the hobby from the past and present. I would do a write-up about the player including achievements, card information and things like the best RCs to get and such.

 

[mchenrycards]

I'm a low end collector, A team collector and player collector. I live in an area with no card shops for at least 100 miles. I'm getting my son into collecting, he's 8. I took a long break for the hobby, 15 years, came back a year and a half ago. I could write a whole series of entries just on my experience with the hobby. These are obviously just short bits and I'm sure you're looking for something with a bit more substance, I just wanted to give you a little background and a bit of my writing style.

Here's something that I wrote awhile back about getting into the hobby and where I am today.

When I was seven, my parents divorced and I began spending weekends with my father. He was a big Mets fan and I remember watching games when I was with him. In 1986, I watched the Mets win the World Series and from that moment on, I was hooked on baseball. There was a small mom and pop store down the street that sold Topps baseball cards. I remember them being only 55 cents a pack. Being the new found baseball fanatic, I did everything that I could do, to get those cards, and that's when I got hooked on wax.

I collected as much as I could through the years. Every set that I could get my hands on. I even got the 1989 Upper Deck set for christmas one year. I was giddy like a school girl. I contintued my collecting ways until, well, I figured out that I like girls more then I like cards and I pretty much gave up collecting, only buying a few packs here and there. So around 1993 is when I called it quits. That is until now.

Walking through the main Ilse of my local Wal Mart, I saw that they had 2010 Topps cards for sale. They were only two bucks a pack so I picked up a few of them. I don't know what sparked inside of me, but I was hooked all over again. Now that I am 33 years old, I find myself being just as giddy as a nine year old boy when it comes to cards. I still have all of my old cards. I kept them in the best possible condition that I could. Perhaps one day, I'll be able to pass it down to my son or grandchild.

Here is something I wrote about when I first started collecting.


I was staying with my father for the weekend and I asked him for a buck to pick up a pack of 86 Topps cards at Whits Grocery. It's just this little mom and pop shop that is no longer open now. I have fond memeries of that place and I bought a lot of my first cards there. The first pack that I ever bought and the first Mets card that I ever pulled was the Dwight Gooden 85 record breaker card. I thought I was the luckiest boy in the world for pulling that card. After all, he was the chosen one for a Mets fan.

After playing all day, it was time to go in for the night. I settled in for the night and went to bed with no problems, until I woke up in the middle of the night and realized that I left my Dwight card on my buddies picnic table. I was wrought with fear of what could happen to that card knowing that I was unable to go get it. I had to force myself to sleep and pray that it was safe.

Well, it wasn't safe, it wasn't safe at all. I rained pretty much all night and it ruined my card. I was completely devistated. I dried the card out hoping that it would turn back to normal like cinderella. It never did, but I kept the card anyway. I still have it to this day. It is a reminder of my youth and a reminder of how not to treat my collection. I cherish that card like no other. It's the single most important card in my collection and I will keep it forever.

Just a little constructive criticism.....your writing has potential but the numerous spelling errors discredits your work. It may do you wonders to write in a program such as Word before posting. Just a thought.

 

[chiefer77]

Criticism noted And thanked. I was in a hurry to get That posted. I would obviously use a program like word and proofread before submitting to an actual blog.

 

[Mr.1989]

How bout this:

The FCB Newspaper (or Newsletter, or something)

Just like a real newspaper!

One writer per section

The News: The Sections are: World, America, Sports, Hollywood, Business, etc. (More to be added, if needed)

Special Section: Sports Cards, what's hot, what's dropped noticeably, and anything funny on youtube

Comics

Fun (short) stories

Fun FCB Stories/New (about what's happening on the board, and any funny/interesting threads)

(There will be no personals.....awkward)

Ads.......there HAS to be ads, otherwise who will pay for this?
Wait a minute, it could be completely volunteer!
Or it could be like a lottery; if someone writes a section that is better than all the rest, then they get money (paypal). This would help keep overall costs down.


Ideas?

 

[cgilmo]

Baby steps

We barely have the content to fill a blog right now-

 

[Casebusters]

Why does it have to be one writer?
You can have many writers and get one guy to put in all together on the blog,
He can choose what articles go on the blog, when they go on the blog.
This way you have many different ideas and it will never be one sided..

 

[charliehustle]

My possible ideas/thoughts would be topics such as:


Player collecting & Player Invesment/s
Pinpointing which card/version/brand of RC is the best for a or your specific player


Aspects of Grading:
Determing which card/s are and are not important to grade, when the timing is right to grade them, and what grading services garnish better $$, provide the most accurate grade (being preferred for certain eras & types of cards), collectibility, long term investment, etc based on the market reflection


The importance or impact of which card/s never "grow old," remain sough after, & will ALWAYS being in demand now matter the age of the collector or the $$ one can spend:
Being able to have the knowledge or eye for what cards are always going to be solid investments & remain in high demand based on several hobby factors

Criteria:

-Condition

-Brand/set in which the card/s were found, some of the unknown/behind the scenes info on why certain cards are harder to find
(ie: production amount, distribution, how well a product sold, key card/s found in those products, market manipulation, & flat out, overall rarity)


Maybe "spotlighting" a popular or influential card thats still heavily collected today, which might have a signifigant story to it such as the 1996 Topps Chrome Basketball product for example. '96-97 Topps Chrome was extremely cold for the first 6/9 months it was released due to its major resemblence to the NBA 50th Anniversary foil parallels found in the base Topps product. Its cardstock was confusing and undesired but most due to it trying to compete with Finest, which at the time was the leader in basketball RCs and parallels. Not to mention, the lack of coating or quality would cause the cards to scratch more easily and the color patterns often tend to fade even over a few months. Then as the story goes, when the time came for distrubutors to be able to send back product to Topps or other companies for credit/replacement of another product, mainly Wal Marts, the product caught fire due to the amount now available on the market being signifigantly decreased. Topps stated they cut, shred, and burn all returned product that is no longer intended for distribution. Kobe, then starting to see increased playing time and hobby love, along with the information of what happened to the remaining product now being available on the market, elevated the RC and product as the preferred basketball product of the 90s and into the early 2000s.

Of course, then the RC became individually scrutinezed for flaws, condition, etc and sent it into a grading frenzy and has now become one of the most influential RC and card for that matter, of the last 20 years.


I think it would be great to let the new collector/s or less knowledgable collector/s know what to think about when looking to buy/collect and some of the background on the most important cards and products found in the hobby....


Sorry for the long read!

Thanks,
charliehustle

 

[cgilmo]

Why does it have to be one writer?
You can have many writers and get one guy to put in all together on the blog,
He can choose what articles go on the blog, when they go on the blog.
This way you have many different ideas and it will never be one sided..

do you even read the blog?


where has anyone said I'm only looking for one writer?



I'm looking for 5-10 writers who don't suck

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