The Next Evolution…is here

I’ve been known to change my mind once or twice before.

If you haven’t heard already, yes, the HoriZone Roundtable will continue to exist, and yes, I will still be in charge. Understanding that I’m reversing my decision from last August to step down and reinforcing that on New Year’s Day by saying I’d be done in April, I probably should provide some explanation.

But I won’t. Whatever is going on in my head, for once, is going to stay in my head. My reasons are my own.

With that out of the way, now that there will be a future for the HoriZone Roundtable and that I’ll be a part of that, what, exactly, does that future look like?

First and foremost, it begins with nearly all of the faces you’ve become familiar with on the podcast and the site. I say nearly all because sadly, we have to say good-bye to Alec Kwait, who started covering the Cleveland State men during the pandemic season and is leaving to focus on his studies. He obviously leaves a hole that absolutely needs to be filled, given what the Cleveland sports media landscape looks like.

Everyone else, though, you’ll continue to see. As always, we remain dedicated to covering every school, and will work harder to make that a reality next season. In fact, if you’re a student, particularly at IUPUI or Purdue Fort Wayne, we’d like to talk to you about how you can write for us and make it so that you can get internship credit in the process.

Writers are not the only additions we’re looking to make. I need a copy editor. And yes, by I, I really mean I. There have been moments over the years where I’ve been crushed with articles to proofread and publish, and that can get pretty unwieldy. So, I’m looking for someone I’d like to affectionately call Not Me, who can jump in when I’m unavailable and take on copy editing, as well as review anything I write myself. And yes, I will continue to write. After all, what good is a USBWA membership if you don’t do anything?

As with prospective writers, anyone with experience in copy editing or someone who has command of the English language and would like to learn the ropes can contact us either by DM or email (horizoneroundtable@gmail.com).

For candidates, allow me to pitch an opportunity with us as this: Building an audience is hard, but this seems to be the reality of sports media in the day and age. As a consequence, too many would-be writers have been left on their own, compelled to boost their profiles with the type of articles that do nothing but boost traffic for their employers.

Also, because of this, writers tend to shy away from coverage that’s deemed not important, especially if you’re not getting paid for it. From what I’ve seen, that’s led to a million blogs that write about teams that already have every coverage to kill a horse, which, once again, makes building an audience a struggle, unless they spend the whole time saying the craziest things (something else I’ve seen way too much of).

The HoriZone Roundtable doesn’t work like that. Why would it? We cover teams that, in some places (looking at you, Indianapolis!) are roundly ignored by wider media outlets. As a writer for us, you get the opportunity to build your audience and get some familiarity with sports writing as a whole. Consider this: nearly every writer you’ve heard of didn’t start their careers writing about the Colts or the Guardians. They cut their teeth covering high schools, amateur leagues and lesser-known college teams.

Ultimately, that’s our primary objective. Rather than publishing pieces about teams everyone already cares about (thus saturating an already-saturated market, in some places), we publish pieces designed to engage our audiences and get them to care. Fair warning, though. At the moment, writers are, most of the time, unpaid, although team previews written as part of Preview Week are.

This also brings me to the other opportunity to get paid for your writing. Starting in June, we will be publishing a series of features. Some of the people you’ve become familiar with here at the HoriZone Roundtable will be contributing, but we also want to invite other writers as well. Features will pay $50 per piece (minimum 1,000 word). If you’re interested, send your pitches to us at horizoneroundtable@gmail.com. Act fast, as spaces will be limited.

As we’ve tried over the years, we continue to look for opportunities to provide the ability to pay our writers more often. And that’s where you, our audience, come in. Some of you already are Patrons, which we thank you for, as always. That includes, in no particular order, Jon Durda, Gregory Kula, James Squire, Robert Walton, Kyle Craven, Ben Greene, Rick Meyers, John Nolan, the Bromenschenkel family, Seth Coffing, Jim Capretta and Katie Sipiorski.

If you haven’t signed up already, become a Patron at patreon.com/horizoneroundtable. Just as we did last year, Patrons at the $1/month level will get early access to our Preview Week articles and the Games Previews during the conference schedule. Patrons at the $5/month level will also get a free HoriZone Roundtable mug and early access to the Power Rankings. And Patrons at the $7/month level will also get access to all team channels on our Discord, plus have the option of getting either a HoriZone Roundtable or our new Horizon’s Gonna Horizon t-shirt.

There is now an extra-added incentive for becoming a Patron. We are now a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, so your financial contributions are now tax deductible!

No, really. We’re a registered non-profit corporation in the state of Ohio now. You don’t even need to be a Patron to support us. Click on our ads on the Web site. Larry Wical, who covers the NKU men for us, is a really good knife maker. We’ve got an ad up with his contact info there. Look into it! And if you’re a business, we want to hear from you as well! Advertise with us! We’re also specifically looking for sponsors for Preview Week! Get your products and services in front one of the biggest traffic weeks we have throughout the year!