Ebyline — an angel-financed startup founded by two former Los Angeles Times executives that launched today - believes it can make journalism more efficient by creating an open marketplace: a kind of iTunes for journalism. Freelancers have to cold-call publishers and then negotiate their own rates, then they have to invoice and manage their own billing and payment. Ebyline automates that process, handling all the billing and payment between the writer and the publisher. Freelancers can also “self-syndicate” by putting their content up for bid in Ebyline’s marketplace. Selling content produced by freelance writers makes Ebyline sound a little like Demand Media, Associated Content and other so-called “content farms,” but Ebyline handles only content produced by trained journalists. The company is already working with Variety magazine, ProPublica, MinnPost and the Texas Observer, and is currently trying to raise a Series A financing round.
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