Quiz writers required.

Please note that currently we are not currently recruiting new writers for existing contracts.

Any submissions sent in will be considered but it may take up to 14 days for us to respond as these are not 'urgent'

Over the past few months, we have been rapidly expanding and as a result have an immediate need for more questions to fill our database of cheap, readily available questions for quiz machines, computer games etc.

They are the types of questions that we use in our free trivia game - see the link to the right.

If you would like to join our team of writers and get paid for your efforts, a lengthy, in-depth specification appears below.

If you can't be bothered reading it - play our quiz game now and enjoy!

For questions that will be held in this database, we will pay 25p per question - or if outside the U.K. your local currency equivalent provided you can be paid by Paypal - our preferred method for non-U.K. writers.

Once accepted onto our roster of writers, you may also from time to time be invited to write questions for some of the more bespoke jobs that we may have. These are usually in the same format but will require some research. As a result, rates of pay for these jobs can range from 40p to £2.50 per question.

If these rates are lower than you expected - please stop reading now - they are non-negotiable!

How To Get Involved.

Firstly - download our example quiz document. It's in MS Excel - the only format that we will accept questions in. Right click on the link below and save to your hard-drive.

Example quiz database

The document is an example of questions from our main database - accept them with our compliments.

This should now be used as a template by you.

For us to assess your quiz writing skills, we now require you to send us 50 quiz questions that follow our quiz writing conventions as below. You WILL NOT BE PAID for these questions unless we accept them. For us to accept them, they must adhere to the quiz writing conventions below. We will not enter into detailed correspondence with you if not accepted although we will give pointers as to why we have not accepted them. We will accept all databases and will pay £12.50 for each accepted provided the questions meet our criteria as below.

All quiz writers who get paid for this initial database will then be invited to submit sets of 100 questions to our requirements. There are no time limits for submission of these - you will be able to work to your own speed etc. You will get paid provided you follow the instructions.

Basically if you can't read and follow these instructions - we don't want you!

You have one chance to impress us - if unimpressed first time, we don't want you!

Quiz writing conventions

All quizzes should be entered into the MS Excel database as above.

All quiz questions should be original

There should be no spelling or grammatical mistakes

Each question should make readers think - "Do I Care"?

What makes a good quiz question is subjective but our general yardstick is if the quiz player 'cares' about the answer (no matter how little) then it's a good question.

i.e. How many people named Jones are there in the London Phone Book in 2005 - answer 11,322 (We made this up by the way so don't check it) is a pointless question - you don't know, don't care and can't guess it.

How interesting your questions are is up to you - but after writing them read them again - do you care, could you guess? If not take it out.

WE DO NOT NEED OR REQUIRE:

	Any questions about number one hit singles in the U.K.
	Questions about currencies, capital cities or major rivers and mountains
	Questions about state capitals in America or Australia
	Questions about FA Cup, European Cup, World Cup winners
	Questions about Olympic or World Cup host countries
	Questions about Oscar winning Films, Actors or Actresses
	Questions about chemical symbols, the periodic table, chemical elements
	Collective noun questions
	Questions of the type - What sort of animal is a guillemot? or What variety of bird is a swan?
	Car registration letters of countries
	The Chinese zodiac
	Zodiac symbols and questions of the type - What star sign would you be if you were born on.....
	Questions about phobias
	Questions about ologies
	Questions about the major bones in the human body
	Who was world (sport) champion in.... type questions
	Questions about sporting terms
	Winners of major horse races
	Questions about football team nicknames and home grounds

We have done almost every possible variation of these types of question using computer software and there is no point in us buying questions that we will almost certainly already have. Additionally they are lazy questions - the type that a poor pub quiz is padded out with.

The database explained

All databases should be in Arial font, Point size 11

Take care when using dates as MS Excel may format certain styles and take care of using certain numbers as MS Excel may reformat them - i.e. 007 may become 7.

Column A - Question

This is where you write your quiz question. Ideally the question should be as short as possible - the more words you use for your question, invariably the less appropriate it becomes. We ideally need questions that fit on a Trivial Pursuit card - not those read out on University Challenge.

See above - Questions should be original, interesting and factually correct.

Before writing a single question read the above section headed What we do not require. We do not require these type of questions for ANY writing job. This type of question will always be rejected. It is lazy, money for old rope and no fun to answer and we will not pay for them!

Each question should begin with a capital letter and end in a ?

If a question begins with the phrase "Name the......" this should end in a . and not a ?

Names of Books, TV Programmes, Films, Poems, Ships etc. should be contained within inverted commas - i.e. 'Jurassic Park', 'H.M.S. Victory', 'Star Trek' etc. and capitalised.

Quotations should be within speech marks - i.e. "The lady's not for turning"

Apostrophes should be used correctly - i.e. Ownership and Abbreviation - NOT plurals.

i.e. The dog's tail, The man's tie - NOT Disco's every Friday

Ownership for its does NOT need an apostrophe - i.e It's a dark night tonight is correct whereas The dog has a flea on it's back is NOT CORRECT!

Questions should not need the 4 possible answers to enable you to answer them - i.e. Questions that contain the phrases "Which of these..." are not acceptable - UNLESS you give the four options in the question. - i.e. Which of these is first alphabetically - D,B,C or A is O.K, as a question for our purposes.

There should only be one answer to your specific question - research your facts - i.e. In which year was the film 'King Kong' released is not a valid question for our purposes. There was an original version in 1933, there was one released in 2005 and there were other films of the same name in 1962, 1966 and 1976. In this case better to phrase it - In which year was the film 'King Kong' originally released (Answer 1933) or In which year was the film 'King Kong', starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange released (Answer 1976).

Take care with film titles - some have different names in different countries - use sources such as www.imdb.com or Halliwell's film guide to check facts.

When writing about number one hit singles, top 5 hits, top 10 albums etc - they are written like that - not #1 No.1 etc. Similarly, make sure that when writing about number one hits etc. cite which country if there could be any doubt (Who had a U.K. number one single in 1997 with ....)- what was number one in the U.K. may not have been number one in the U.S.A. and vice versa and may not have been released in Norway etc. - See also Column K - Suitable for.

Take care with abbreviations - It's B.B.C. not BBC It's U.S.A. not USA - only exemption from this is that it's TV (not tv)

For decades use 1960s not '60s sixties etc.

Most important - All questions should be timeless - i.e. Should still be valid in 20 years time.

i.e. If your question includes the phrase "Who is the current......" it's not acceptable.

"Who is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom" - is not acceptable - Whereas "Who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in....." is acceptable. See also Column L Expiry Date.

Column B - Correct Answer

In this column you should input the correct answer to your question. Invariably this will be no more than 3 words and where possible should be one word. If your answer is "Because he was the only right handed player in the team" it's probably not a good question....

In this column - ensure that your answer is the right answer and is the ONLY POSSIBLE ANSWER to the question that you asked and forever will be the ONLY POSSIBLE ANSWER!

Every word in every answer should begin with a capital letter - except for the word 'and' in partnerships etc. of of in countries etc. i.e. Answers should be Aviator Sunglasses, Gilbert and Sullivan, Port of Spain, etc.

In all answers, film titles, books etc. should NOT be in inverted commas

In all answers quotations should be in speech marks - i.e. "The Lady's Not For Turning" - as above note that this quotation used in a question is in sentence case, in an answer is in Title Case.

Columns C, D, E - Incorrect Answer

See above for Correct Answer - same conventions apply.

In these 3 columns you should put 3 alternative, credible but incorrect answers to the question that you asked.

Before writing your incorrect answers, please read the note below regarding Difficulty ratings.

The difficulty of the question should not be influenced by the answers that you input here.

In Easy questions use of humour is encouraged but bear in mind that questions may be seen by children so subtle innuendo only....

Occasional spelling mistakes as possible answers is fine but using this as the option all the time is lazy - i.e. What is the capital of England - answers London, Lendon, Lindon, Lundon will almost certainly be rejected if this style is used too often!

Column F - Difficulty Rating

This should be your rating of the question  and in this column should be either the word Easy, Medium or Hard for the difficulty.

The question should be rated without seeing the possible answers and should be coupled to the potential target audience.

e.g. In 1899, London's Museum of Ornamental Art was given what new name? - is a Hard question

The answer is Victoria and Albert - even if your 3 incorrect answers were Tom and Jerry, Ant and Dec and Bob and Vic it should still be 'Hard'

As a yardstick - If the question can be immediately answered by the majority of average quiz-playing people then it is 'Easy' - your 3 incorrect answers should then be credible but not giving people any real option to change their mind. Include humour in these answers if you wish.

'Medium' - More difficult questions - but still answerable by the majority of people if they think about the question for a few seconds. Incorrect answers here should be credible alternatives which may mean that it influences the quiz player to change their mind.

Hard - Most difficult questions - In the main would need the incorrect answers to help people answer the question - these are the types of question that make you lose your money on an SWP trivia machine in a pub.

As a yardstick for a U.K. audience  your 'Easy questions would be worth up to £500, 'Medium from £1000 - £32,000 and 'Hard' from £64,000 up on the gameshow 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'

The rating should reflect your assessment of the average 'Sun' newspaper reader and their quiz question ability.

Column G - Main Subject

In here insert your assessment of the main subject category of your question choosing from the 11 options below

	General Knowledge - Anything that doesn't fit into the 9 categories below
	Entertainment - TV, Film, Games etc.
	History
	Sport
	Pop Music
	Music - Anything that wouldn't normally be found in 'Pop' charts - Classical, Opera, Theatre, National Anthems, Film Soundtracks etc.
	Politics
	Religion
	Science and Nature
	Art and Literature
	Geography

 

 

Column H - Sub-Category

In here insert your choice of sub-category. In short, if this question were used in a 'Mastermind' specialist quiz round then what would the title of the round be?

i.e. A question about the current British Prime Minister may be in the main category Politics and Sub-Category Prime Ministers

A football question would be in the main category Sport  and Sub-Category Football

You have a free choice in this column.

Note - The sub-categories of question should not give away the answer.

e.g. What would you end up doing, if you accepted an invitation for Canasta? - Could be Games, Pastimes, Words, Activities etc. but NOT Card Games

From which area of activity does the expression "breaking your duck" come? - Could be Expressions, Quotations, Birds etc. but NOT Sport or Cricket

This applies to Column I and Column J

Column I - PPHGW

In this column you should categorise the question to either

	People
	Places
	History
	General Knowledge
	Words

 

Column J - Additional Category

As for Column H - ideally here, it should be a completely different category to Columns G, H and I - occasionally this may not be possible so some duplication is required.

Column K - Suitable For

In this column you should note which countries each question is suitable for

i.e. A question about a British TV soap opera will only be suitable for the U.K. whereas a question about widely distributed American soap opera such as 'Dallas' will be suitable for All.

Similarly a question about a soap opera shown only in Tibet will be suitable only for Tibet.

If your question cannot be categorised in this column as suitable for UK, Australia or USA or any combination of them, it is not acceptable.

Expiry Date

On 1st January each year, we look for questions with an expiry date of the previous year and reassess their suitability. Although your questions need to be written timelessly, you may want to give them a sell-by date - i.e. Who resigned as Real Madrid coach in September 2004? remains a valid question forever, however in 2/3 years time becomes a 'Who Cares?' question - in this case an Expiry Date is desirable to allow us to reassess.

If you have a date in this column, you may want to reassess whether the question is in fact suitable.

What Next?

If you have bothered to read this far, we probably want you......

Now all you have to do is submit 50 questions to us on the database as detailed above

Be original!!!!!!

We require 20 Easy, 20 Medium, 10 Hard in difficulty the rest is pretty much a free choice - the wider the range of questions the better for us to assess

Asking you to write 50 questions will also allow you to assess whether it's worth your while. A good writer will probably be able to write 50 questions in an hour to our specification once up to speed - at an hourly rate of £12.50 minimum, that's not bad wages.

Off you go - once written, please submit your database to database@freequizzes.co.uk - please also e-mail any queries to this address.

Once accepted we'll pay you for your sample and if we have any current requirements will let you know - at which point you can decide whether you would like the job offered or not.

Decline the second job and you'll still be on our database of writers however we will remove writers whose work does not meet any briefs sent out or if they miss deadlines etc.

Please do NOT over promise and under-deliver - please don't take on any work that you can't finish and please don't underestimate the work that needs to go into some jobs.

We do not require and do not want

a) Anything that costs us more than 25p per question for this trial set.

b) Anything that does not meet the spec above.

Thanks!

We will employ any writer that meets the above criteria and where work is required (Still plenty) to our specification will make it open to all. We will pay for all work submitted that meets our standard but will immediately cease utilising the services of any writer that fails to meet our standards.

We buy questions from freelance writers to sell on to companies who may use them for cash games, widely available quiz games etc. - as a result we and they expect quality questions.