As you probably all know by now, I’m a writer for the Odyssey (officially two years now, thanks Facebook memories!) and I’m also Montana’s Editor-in-Chief. You’ve probably seen my articles before; maybe you’ve even thought about joining yourself.
Today, I want to share some more information about Odyssey and maybe you’ll take the leap today and apply to be a writer!
So what exactly IS Odyssey?
According to their about, Odyssey is a “social content platform.” I would personally describe it as a mix between a blog and a magazine - we’re a bit more formal than a personal blog, but not quite as informal as writing for Buzzfeed or the Huffington Post. The great thing about Odyssey is the openness of the platform. When you publish your works, your portfolio can be anything you want it to be. Here’s a link to my profile so you can see the variety of topics I’ve written about over the past two years. Some of it’s serious, some funny, some deeply personal, and there’s definitely some fluff pieces as well. In addition, here’s the Odyssey main page on Facebook, so you can check out what’s been trending recently.Odyssey accepts all kinds of content from traditional short form news articles, to listicles, academic essays, short stories and poetry, photographic essays, and even video content.
Who can join Odyssey?
Anybody age 16 and above!
How can Odyssey benefit me?
The biggest benefit of Odyssey is that you’re building a published portfolio with a nationally recognized publication. All of the work you submit is YOURS, none of it is owned by Odyssey, merely published through them. Even when you leave the platform, you’ll still have access to all of your articles. Odyssey can also help you determine, find, and/or grow your target audience and brand base. If you’re interested in leadership positions, all are currently vacant within our community, so those are an opportunity as well. Odyssey can also count as an internship credit if that’s something you’re interested in/ needed for this coming semester.
Odyssey also offers some great opportunities for high school students. For one, this is a great way for students to get a feel for their future plans. Personally, was this something I had known about in high school, I would have jumped at the opportunity. Odyssey is a way for students who might be considering an education in English, Writing, or Journalism to really get a feel for if that route is right for them. Odyssey is great practice for writing scholarship essays or preparing for the many essays a student will be writing in college. This is also a way for students (because high school students definitely have a lot of opinions) to have their voices heard in a more professional and structured way than say a tweet or an Instagram post. Odyssey also looks great on college and scholarship applications - because we all know how competitive those are - and as the EIC, I am always willing to act as a professional reference.
Will I be paid?
Potentially. For every 15k-16k organic (meaning not-sponsored) page views total per month (so any and all of your articles that are viewed in a one month period - even articles from previous months - count towards this total) you will receive $10 and the amount goes up incrementally from there with the potential to make hundreds of dollars per month. However, this isn’t guaranteed: it’s hard to say which content will begin to trend organically through your own social platforms, but it’s certainly possible to garner that many page views depending on your sharing strategies.
How big of a commitment is this?
Typically, creators submit either 500-word articles or 10 point listicles two or four times a month (we refer to them as “biweekly” or “weekly” creators). However, as a busy student myself, I understand that sometimes even twice a month isn’t always feasible. As such, I’m pretty flexible and willing to work with personal schedules if this is an opportunity you’re interested in and committed to.
How do I apply?
Visit https://muse.theodysseyonline.com/apply and select “Influencers of Montana” as your community. From there, I conduct an email or phone interview with a short series of questions to determine if they’re a good fit for the team!
Hopefully, this gives you a better idea of what Odyssey is and has inspired you to join! Hope to see your application soon!