Lenny Liang - Job Opportunity with AppAdvice

I have a sort of unusual post today - a job opportunity - that may be of interest to some of you. I don't have any personal experience with AppAdvice, but I've been very impressed with Lenny and his representation of the site in our correspondence. He's taken great care in getting this post ready and I think it says a lot. Good luck to anyone who applies!

Hello. My name is Lenny Liang. I am a longtime fan of Literary Rambles and a writer for AppAdvice. We are a site that is dedicated to all things iOS. This encompasses the iPhone and iPad, and includes news, reviews, and columns about apps and Apple happenings. Aside from an app version of our site, we also produce iPhone and iPad starter apps for new device owners, as well as a free app, which guides readers to daily apps gone free. The reason I'm here today is because we are looking for writers.

Casey was generous enough to offer me this space to make my pitch. I know that at first glance, it may seem odd to recruit potential tech writers on a site for children's book aficionados. However, I believe Literary Rambles represents a potential gold mine of writing talent. With humility intended, I say that because it is this site that gave me my start in writing.

While I love writing tech, I also have a passion for creative fiction, and my dream is to publish a novel someday. When I discovered Literary Rambles, I was more a dreamer than a writer. I had grandiose ambitions and a nonexistent understanding of how the publishing industry worked. I was immature, undisciplined, and naive. Casey's blog served as a wake-up call and training grounds, offering me invaluable advice and connecting me to sites with even more invaluable advice. One such piece of advice, which was ingrained in my brain, was the importance of platform. I learned that it is not enough to simply write; people must be wise about the business of writing and do their part to promote their writing.

That was my primary motivation for taking the job at AppAdvice. With over two million views a month and 90,000+ Twitter followers, it seemed like a unique opportunity to get myself out there. What I didn't expect was how much writing about apps would also help me in my fiction writing.

AppAdvice has wonderful editors, who have challenged me to grow as a writer, regardless of genre. Facing deadlines and reader critique have helped me develop realistic expectations and mature responses to public scrutiny. The research I do for my AppAdvice job is also a wellspring of story ideas. Perhaps you've realized this with the e-publishing revolution, but mobile technology now intersects all walks of life, from literature, to music, to sports, to any number of other interests. I consider myself fortunate to stand at those crossroads and to make contacts with people who live and breathe those worlds.

In terms of actual writing opportunities, I have also been fortunate. I have my own weekly column, App Synergy, which explores how multiple apps can work together to do things that individual ones cannot. I've been able to see some of my work republished on large social media sites, such as Mashable. I am also heavily involved in ourAppGuides and AppLists (AGL) department, which is what I am here to represent today. I want to offer the same opportunity I was given.

AppGuides look at many similar apps and help you pick the best of them. AppLists evaluate all the apps you need for a specific purpose or to enjoy a specific event. As an example of what we do, here is a freshly published AppGuide about iPad book apps, which was written by my excellent colleague Elizabeth Woodard. I did not know this until last week, but Elizabeth is also an aspiring fiction writer, who has been on this site. Learning this information confirmed for me the wisdom of posting a job listing here.

As for job details, we require at least one AGL a week and pay $15 per article, with the potential for more if you regularly keep your articles up to date. Aside from financial considerations, I believe serious writers will find this opportunity to be extremely worthwhile, for the reasons mentioned above. I won't lie. It is hard work, but in my opinion, it's also one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.

For obvious reasons, we require all applicants to own an iPhone or iPad (but preferably both). They must also be knowledgeable and passionate about their iOS apps. While I'm aware that this will exclude some potential applicants, I suspect that a good number of you are like Elizabeth and me, and love both Apple tech and literature. If you are interested, please contact me at leonard@appadvice.com. Thank you for your time and a big thanks to the ladies at Literary Rambles for the excellent work they do and the service they provide to dreamers like me.