Good point Mitch.

Well I don't think he's really out and out dissing his staff with no remorse. Seems like he's just fed up with the effort he's getting. On the other hand, though, it depends what your site is like. Like Mitch just said, it's incentive. There's also the fact that some writers see their volunteer work as a stepping stone or foothold into the industry, leading toward their paying gigs. If they post something and there isn't a comment on it for a week, or after about a month its amassed three comments, they're bound to get frustrated. You, being a writer, should understand that feedback---negative or not---is much better than silence. As for the case of myself, I'm always looking for acknowledgement, because it keeps me motivated.

Besides that if a volunteer is working for other sites, too, it's NICE to give them a reason to focus on your site more. Things like hosting community game nights, co-writing articles, and such can make members of your staff see the other staffers as members of the team instead of that guy who also writes on this site.

As for who works for you, you control your staff, and so you should be able to discern the true writers from the ones who won't have time for your site, or the ones who're just in it for the free games.

Eric & others - try not to start a silly argument on this poor man's thread.

My thought on it is that it's clips. You might as well at least try to take seriously even if it's volunteer work. The more quality clips you have the more likely you are to get hired elsewhere. Sure some people are in it for the games. Some people, like me, are in it because we love to write and the more opportunities that pop up, regardless what of kind they are, always hold the possibility for more work that will eventually pay off.

That's how I got my job at Official Xbox Magazine, which eventually led to GameSpot, GamePro, The Escapist, PlayStation The Official Magazine and a few other great gigs. I just kept doing it and I guess my work eventually started to make someone (Dan Amrich, who I pestered constantly) notice.

But a lot of people aren't like that. I have a buddy out of Toronto who helped me while I was running Nukoda.com. He was an irregular, but dedicated writer. His heart was in it but time limited his ability to write. Under pressure to contribute, we'd get rehashed press releases from staff worried that we'd cut 'em out. You've got to encourage them. It got to the point where I was telling this buddy to chill out, not stress about getting stuff up, and work on building solid clips.

He did. Then when we started getting review copies his interest in the site piqued -- getting free games is great, and being able to write about 'em is even better. He was into it, but stressed himself out trying to keep current. If you write at your own pace you'll learn more instead of rushing past new ideas or lessons by reprinting press releases. And he got better, and he stayed with us for a long time.

Whether you're asking people to write on a volunteer basis or for pay one of the most important things you can do is keep your team motivated. Like most people in the videogame journalism field, I started out writing for free. Everyone has to start somewhere and it's a good way to get to know people and build up a good portfolio. The writings I did as a volunteer just happened to be the clips I used to apply for paid positions - some I got, some I didn't but part of why I'm still there is because of the sense of community the site provides.

I understand your frustration with your staff's motivation but have you tried some positive reinforcement? Giving someone a virtual pat on the head can go a long way. Maybe try some collaborative features that you and your staff can work together on and see how they respond. If you make them feel appreciated and a part of a team, they'll respond in kind. You could also give them a token of your appreciation like a beta code or some random piece of swag you might have gotten as a boost.

Also throw out some site numbers every now and then. Us writers always want to see how many people actually read what we're writing about. It makes us feel like we're not talking to ourselves.

Just keep trying your best and your passion may encourage others. Even if you have to keep picking up new writers, treat them all like people and not like automated posting machines. It's not easy out here but the truly dedicated will always come through for you.

I totally agree with Jeremy on this. Because the work you're offering isn't paid then most of the people writing for you will have other priorities, so you have to find ways to motivate them. The "Good work guys, we have X number of hits this week" really works for me.

I always find of the most motivational things for me is writing below a really good editor. If they're writing for you for free, why not give them a service back? Some good production editing of their work, and an email explaining what changes they were making and why, can go a hell of a long way to improving someone's writing - which will doubtless pave the way towards bigger and better things.

After managing about 10 writers for the past couple years, I've noticed a couple trends.

- Getting to know your writers is vital in keeping them. Get to know their strengths and their preferred platforms / genres. Keep track of their wish-lists and be sure to spread out the choice stuff evenly. And remain in constant communication. A quick positive IM about a recent review goes a long way in building enthusiasm.

- Community recruits always have more invested in the success of the site than outside talent. I've used Gamespress twice for recruitment; both of which led to fairly disappointing results. Not all of my community recruits have worked out in terms of writing ability, but they are still cheerleaders of the site and remain ardent supporters within the forum community.

Personally, I'm in kind of a unique position. I've been able to transition a couple of my best writers to well paid positions with other websites that I manage, while still keeping them churning out video game related articles. It's been some interesting incentive for the remaining writers.

I can only agree with the general sentiment here.

Though you've got a good side and a bad side. Yes, there are many out there who will volunteer for sites (we have a few volunteer writers), but on the other hand there are also thousands and thousands of sites out there whom they can work for.

So in the end you have to keep some things in mind:

- Stand out. Don't be just a dime-a-dozen throw up a blog review site.
- Have a broad but defined role for your site.
- Have incentives, be it social interaction, fame, status on your site, perks, whatever. People need a reason to keep going.
- Be a leader, be involved
- If you have the staff, then someone to be dedicated to taking care of your writers, their work and promotion of their work
- Try your damnest to get a lot of traffic on a consistant basis. One motivator for writers is that they know that 10.000 people read their article instead of just 100. Do be open about the numbers too, for better or worse.
- Be prepared to fail on a consistant basis in getting volunteer staff, only a certain % will ever work out, so hone your skills in getting the staff process going and getting failures out of the way asap.

And yes, sometimes writers do sell themselves a bit too high. Just doing some article on a site and the article gets 3 dollars worth of traffic, then its not really worth paying you a full time wage over. Some medium level writers do realize that getting into established sites and their work out to many people can be a stepping stone not only honing your skills, but also more serious positions at major sites.