The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.
Name: Contently
Quick Pitch: Contently is an open marketplace for writers and publishers.
Genius Idea: Empowering and connecting quality writers and brands.
It's not uncommon to hear of writers, journalists and publishers hitting roadblocks in their careers.
There are the writers and journalists who find it nearly impossible to search for, yet alone land exceptional freelance opportunities. Then there are the publishers who are faced with countless requests from writers, making it difficult to select the most experienced or distinguished journalists in the bunch.
That's why three startup entrepreneurs founded Contently, a website geared towards empowering and connecting quality writers and brands.
"We realized that there is an inefficiency in freelance writing because writers have to spend a lot of time hassling after editors and work," said Shane Snow, one of the three co-founders of Contently. "As the world moves increasingly towards freelance, we wanted to build a marketplace for freelancers and to allow publishers to become more efficient."
After starting off as an open marketplace for writers and publishers in 2010, Contently gradually evolved into a platform for journalists to manage their freelance careers and for publishers to obtain access to millions of the world's top writers in their industry.
The website is geared towards two audiences - writers and publishers - and enables writers to build a professional portfolio to showcase their work and strengthen their personal brand. Each portfolio is copyright-protected and includes personal information such as the user's biography, education, location and recognition.
Contently makes it effortless for users to create personal portfolios within seconds by allowing writers to extract their published articles from websites. For example, Contently will obtain all of the articles written by a specific Mashable writer on Mashable.com and upload them to the user's portfolio. It's that simple!
Contently also provides users with access to quality freelance opportunities.
"At this stage we are excited about giving journalists an easy, awesome way to showcase their work and build their personal brands online," said Snow, who also writes for Mashable. "The free portfolios are step one towards our goal of empowering journalists to manage their careers in social media, and increasingly, the freelance world."
Contently also provides a platform for publishers to commission quality writing from experienced journalists, writers and bloggers, and manage their writers and editorial calendar all on one website. Publishers can use this resource to manage editorial for companies and to increase their volume of writers.
The New York-based startup team raised approximately $350,000 in 2011, and includes top developers on the East Coast and editors who previously worked at notable companies such as the New York Times, the Boston Globe and BusinessWeek.
The site's users include thousands of professional journalists and writers, some of which are from the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, MSNBC and the Denver Post, among other companies.
"The goal of the site is to empower writers whether they are freelance, have a job or want to connect with other writers," said Snow. "I hope Contently allows journalists and writers to be able to make a living doing what they love and find fulfilling work."
Writers and journalists interested in using Contently have to request an invite by inputting their e-mail address on the website. Publishers must fill out an online application to be accepted to the publishers platform.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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