The Tutorial: Editors

If you want to break into the business, it's going to take some work. The Tutorial is a series of articles about games-writing intended to better prepare you for what's ahead -- or help you figure out if it's even for you.

In previous installments, we've given you some tips that can help you should you want to be a games-press freelancer or intern. Should your career take off, an editor position may be in your future.

Brett Bates is living the Bitmob dream and was kind enough to answer these questions. He went from community member and photographer to editor in the span of a couple months and is quickly making a name for himself as a games writer.

What does it mean to volunteer your time to a site like Bitmob? What does an editor do? What kind of mindset does an editor need? Brett fills us in on how being an editor has affected his articles, what it's like to work with the team, and what this site has done to his perspective on games writing.

Andrew Hiscock: How did you go from community member to editor?

Brett Bates: I landed my editor position with a combination of perseverance and luck. The concept of Bitmob struck a chord with me the moment I heard about it. I loved that Shoe and Demian were letting unknown writers like me piggyback on their clout to reach a wider audience. That gave me the motivation to crank out my first post, No More Continues, which Shoe picked as the first featured post on the site.

Naturally, the recognition motivated me even more. I wrote new posts, commented on other people's posts, wrote lengthy replies to the comments on mine -- basically throwing myself into the community like I never had with a site before. I had found my passion.

Some months later, I won a copy of Rhythm Heaven in a contest. By that time, I had a goal: I wanted to get a job on staff. (You know, I'm not sure if they actually know this part. Now they do!) I knew most of the guys were in San Francisco, where I live, so I seized the opportunity to meet them face-to-face. I told Shoe I could save him the effort of a stamp by picking the game up in person, but my real motivation was for them to get to know me so they'd be more likely to bring me on. The meeting went well -- they were genuinely interested in my opinion of the site and how they could improve it -- and Shoe invited me to be a regular at his nerdy board game nights. We became friends.

Meanwhile, I kept churning out new posts, commenting left and right, honing my craft. In conversations with Shoe and the other staff, I made sure to mention that I had editing experience and that I was willing to help out the site in any way.

Eventually, my efforts paid off. The guys asked me to take an editing test and, having deemed my skills worthy, brought me on staff. I started out editing the occasional post, but over time my responsibilities grew to what they are today: editing posts, attending demos and events, appearing on the Mobcast, and so much more.

Living in San Francisco definitely helped land me my position, but I think the biggest factor was that I put myself out there. As a community member, I wrote posts regularly, commented diligently, took on initiatives like the Pixel Revolt podcast. As a staff member, I offered my services whenever needed and rarely said no. That perseverance paid off.

AH: How much were you writing, games or otherwise, previous to your editor position?

BB: My games-writing career pretty much started with Bitmob. Before the site launched, I kept a sporadic blog of games-related humor writing, but my heart wasn't in it. I basically wrote for my friends and family and a handful of others who found me in the vast Internet wasteland. It took the promise of a site like Bitmob to inspire me to write about games on a regular basis.

As for non-games writing, I've done plenty of that. I've written fiction on and off since high school, and I worked for three years at a reference publisher in New York, where I wrote encyclopedia entries, photo captions, and the like. I also edited work written by freelancers there, which definitely prepared me to face the onslaught of posts from the Bitmob community.

AH: You're now beginning to make contacts with the industry of the developer and publisher side. How has this changed how you approach articles?

BB: I don't think contact with industry folks has changed my writing. I try to be honest with my work, and I try to be fair. I've got no interest in cheap shots. So far, I think people have appreciated that. At least they haven't written Bitmob any angry letters about me yet.

I will say, however, that my approach to articles has changed since I joined the staff. I feel more of an obligation to readers now. I have access to previews, I go to events -- it's my job to inform people about these things. I'm definitely conscious of that in my writing.

AH: How was the learning curve? Is it what you expected?

BB: I haven't found the learning curve too overwhelming. It helps that Jason [Wilson, managing editor] is basically a walking stylebook, and that [Bitmob Co-Founders] Shoe and Demian and the rest of the guys have years of experience in the industry they're happy to pass on.

AH: How much time do you spend on your own work as opposed to working with the content provided by the Bitmob community?

BB: I'd say about 70 percent community content, 30 percent my personal work. I generally spend some time each weeknight editing a community piece, leaving my own stories for the weekends.

AH: Bitmob is a little bit different from other sites, but how do you work with the senior editors? Is there a lot of cooperation in terms of day-to-day activities?

BB: Oh, there's absolutely cooperation. We're still a small team -- even with the influx of new blood we just got -- so we all wear many hats. The more experienced guys have all been respectful of my ideas and generous about making me feel welcome. Really, they're a great group of people to work with -- I'm not just sucking up here!

AH: How has your perspective on games writing as an industry changed?

BB: My perspective has changed, all right -- but not because I've become an editor. It's changed because of the ridiculous amount of fascinating content posted on Bitmob every day. I'm really damn glad to see so many people who want to go beyond the rote format of the major game sites and examine games from a hundred different angles. It makes me extremely optimistic about the future of the industry.

Thanks to Brett for the answers!

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Comments (14)

I'm enjoying this series very much, Andrew. Keep 'em coming

Fozzy Boudaz, April 30, 2010 14:21

Request: Would it be possible to get a sample version of the editorial test? I have access to a bunch of them, but I want to see what Bitmobs would look like. Not the actual test -- assuming it changes every time -- but an example.

Michael Rousseau, April 30, 2010 14:32

Thanks for interviewing me, Andrew! I'm happy to let people know how I ended up where I am today.

If anyone has any further questions for me, drop them in the comments.

@Michael: My test was simply to pick a couple of articles from the Mobfeed and edit them, showing the tracked changes in Word.

Brett Bates, April 30, 2010 15:13

@Brett still got 'em?

Michael Rousseau, April 30, 2010 15:23

There was test we all did for the last round. I did alright and was interviewed, but never got through. I believe James, Rob, and Jay were hired in its wake:

http://www.bitmob.com/articles/editors-wanted

Andrew Hiscock, April 30, 2010 15:34

Sweet zombie Jesus. I got past the first sentence and thought: "is this the test?" Yep, looks like it was.

It sucks that I didn't come here until December. I think I may have nailed this.

Michael Rousseau, April 30, 2010 15:55

Great interview. My favorite yet!

A few notes to add about my experiences as an editor for Bitmob:

BB: I haven't found the learning curve too overwhelming. It helps that Jason [Wilson, managing editor] is basically a walking stylebook, and that [Bitmob Co-Founders] Shoe and Demian and the rest of the guys have years of experience in the industry they're happy to pass on.

This is the truth -- no bull shit. Jason is one of the most knowledgeable people I've ever met when it comes to style -- and I've interacted with tons of journalists over the years. When I ask him questions about sundry, labyrinthine grammatical quandaries, he doesn't just present me with an answer. He prepares notes about his favorite style resources and the blogs of industry folk he respects (experts in the field of journalism): I still read the blog of the first person he suggested, John McIntyre. If you care, he can be found at:

http://johnemcintyre.blogspot.com/

As for Shoe and Demian...they are basically tyrants...cracking whips, gruel for dinner, and put downs all characterize my experience with Bitmob. Just kidding -- not at all. Along with Aaron, they are all absolutely generous when it comes to the knowledge they've accrued over the years. Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking: Why wouldn't they help me if it makes their site look better? I'm not going to tell you that isn't the case, but the notes they send me on my work are more than comprehensive. Just like Jason, they don't send stern, reasonless corrections: They send logical and cogent notes that include everything from why certain stories are appealing to why grammatical rules work the way they do and why they've made certain stylistic choices for the site.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Brett himself. Since Shoe and Demian are often working on "something for nothing" (this means tons of work to network and promote the site and its community with no pay), Brett often gets saddled with answering a lot of the newer editors' questions -- from how to use the site's backend UI to basic, grammatical questions. He himself has become an indispensable resource to the community and the team.

Like Brett I've filled new roles on the team that engage me -- for instance, editing the Mobcast. Jumping into editing articles was a bit tougher for me than it seems it was for Brett, but I've had a great experience at Bitmob so far.

Except for the one time Demian mailed me his shoes.... He made me polish them and pay for postage to send them back. Oh...and Jason sent me this really weird piece of postage about killing a mafioso he knows in my hometown of Philadelphia -- still working on it. Bastards.

James DeRosa, April 30, 2010 19:43