Where do you find quality content writers?

[joseph.chambers]

Sure we all know about oDesk or textbroker but is there a place people can go to hire higher quality writers?

[APICDA]

I have also had some great success via the University avenue.  Not only for writters......... Great points!

[SamBuck]

Yep, there are some very good writers on elance, be sure to check their profiles and work samples.

[Wayne76]

Hey Joe,

We syndicate content at our company and have faced this same question.

A very succesful method for us has been to arrange unpaid internships with local colleges. They often will have job boards online at the various universtities where you can post your listing by department, e.g., English/Journalism, etc.

Depending on your pay scale, you may also want to scan already-employed journalists in local papers. Indianapolis for instance (where we are located) has a free entertainment paper named NUVO tha tis distributed once monthle all across the metro area. Very popular paper and the writers for these types of places generally make very low income and are willing to make a transition. We have also had a lot of success with this approach. (The plus is that these folks are known quantities in terms of their talent and their commitment to writing!)

Lastly, do a search for blog communities in your city. There are often large communities of bloggers that are writing purely for the sake of writing. They are often very good, too!

Best of luck,

W

[PeterM22]

Elance can be good, but it's often hit and miss. You may have to go through a few poor ones to find a gem.

[eTundra]

Excellent points!

[StalkerB]

It's quite time consuming to find good quality writers, also a bit more expensive.

If you can be bothered to weed through tonnes of useless writers you'll be able to exploit people starting out on Digital Point

Along the lines of the oDesk of this world I'd suggest - http://www.studentgems.com/ - pretty good for pretty cheap.

If you're looking for proper quality writers you could start scanning Linked In for journalists of industry magazines and such like.

But the real quality writers I've either poached (found articles in the same niche I've liked and approached them) or made through contacts in the industry. Never a substitute for networking

[eTundra]

Yes - craigslist.org.  I would hire someone local who you can look in the face and are willing to pay a decent salary to generate quality content.  It might be more expensive but it will be worth it in the long run - just ask anyone hit by Panda.