Contently's Global Talent Network comprises more than 100,000 top writers, designers, video producers, and more. We recommend the following to get the most out of the talent available to you:

To build your team, simply create a Talent Search. With each search, you gain access to custom Intelligent Talent Recommendations, selected based on your in-platform Content Strategy and the inputs of your search.

Newly invited freelancers will read through your Content Strategy before accepting an invite to join your team, so it's important to keep that section of the platform up to date for best results. Communicate your strategy and content needs to your freelancer team early and often, keeping it front of mind. 

When deciding which freelancers to add to your team, review freelancers' portfolios and see if they have relevant projects, topics, and skills. Also, take a look at the publications they've worked on.

Check out this quick video on how to assess freelancer portfolios to ensure they're a good fit for your publication:

Contently recommends maintaining a smaller team of active, engaged freelancers versus a larger team of partially active or inactive freelancer. Active freelancers who write for you often will be more familiar with your strategy and brand guidelines, and may be more willing to respond to pitch requests if the chances you'll "accept" are higher.

If you have a managing editor, they are your best resource for freelancer management. Editors know what to look for when selecting freelancers, and may be able to recommend freelancers from their own networks or previous engagements.

Successfully working with new freelancers

Beef up your pitch guidelines.

A robust set of pitch guidelines that demand a one- or two-paragraph teaser, a rough outline (or subheadlines), and a set of proposed sources affords you a nice chance to gauge the quality and conscientiousness of a freelancer before initiating work. Freelancers who flout the guidelines or submit poorly written pitches should be avoided.

Require an outline for large projects.

For longer written projects, require an outline and deliver a quarter of the fee at that stage. If the outline raises eyebrows, abandon ship and reassign the project. This is also a good time to invite the client to review the outline quickly to make sure everything’s on the right track.

Work with them 2-3 times before giving them the axe!
A new freelancer to your publication won't necessarily know how you want them to write, right off the bat. Give them a few chances to get it right. This will be worth it in the end, as a well trained freelancer is better than a new one. Putting in some work with them at first will help set up for better outcomes.

Splitting payment

Projects with fees exceeding $500 should be broken up across the workflow.

Why?

We have no leverage over the freelancer once we hand over the money. While it’s true that most freelancers complete revisions to an editor’s (or client’s) satisfaction, not all do. The ones who don’t sap time and energy from everyone involved in the form of dispute resolution, editing, and so forth.

If the work is terrible — so terrible that it’s unsalvageable — we have an uphill battle ahead of us to reclaim some or all of the fee to refund the client.

We need to be sure we’re holding all parties accountable. Editorial processes can be messy, and we’ve seen some situations where MEs and clients didn’t align with the freelancer. This can make it hard to justify large-scale refunds to the freelancers. By making each payment step a bit more digestible, it holds everyone — including editors — accountable.

Freelancer Payment Schedule

1. Script, outline, or storyboard (50% paid on submission)
2. Rough cut (25% paid on submission)
3. Final cut
4. Finished video (25% paid on submission)