What Freelance Writers Should Know about SEO
You don’t have to look hard to see the publishing business is changing. Newspapers are cutting jobs left and right as advertising dries up and the economy spins closer to recession. At the same time, publishers are finally sinking more effort into their digital properties, though they still haven’t figured out how to make money. [...]
Taking My Own Advice on Beating Bad Times
It happened. Earlier this week, the editor of a magazine I’ve been writing for told me she can’t buy more freelance pieces until summer because of budget cuts. It’s the first time in years that economic cutbacks have directly affected my business. It’s also bad news because I’d just pitched a story I thought was [...]
WordCount Q&A: Marketing your freelance business in bad times
The publishing industry is in tumult. Publications are trying to do more with less – less advertising revenue, editorial staff and readers. Throw worries about a recession into the mix, and it means trouble for freelance writers who depend on magazines, newspapers and customer publishers for their livelihoods. Or does it? Not necessarily. Hard times [...]
10 Reasons Every Freelance Writer Should Have a Blog
I took to blogging fairly quickly and I finally figured out why. I wrote a weekly newspaper column for more than five years. After that, I wrote a weekly column for Reuters, the financial wire service, for seven years. After a dozen years, writing something once a week – or more – was so second [...]
By Naming Stanton Editor, LA Times Bets Big on Digital
The Los Angeles Times today named Russ Stanton editor. Depending on how you feel about the present state of the newspaper business, this is either really good or really bad news, and for Stanton, a really good or a really bad job. I’m of the mind that it’s good on both counts, and not just [...]
Best Blogs for Writers
When writers aren’t writing, they’re reading about how to be a better writer, or be a better marketer of their writing, or about who else they could be writing for. That’s what I found when I asked freelance, newspaper and magazine writers and editors to name some of their favorite blogs for writers. It’s an [...]
The Myth of the Paperless Office
Computers were going to wipe out paper. That’s what we believed back at the dawn of the PC era. Twenty-six years later, people are still overwhelmed by the stuff. Face it, getting rid of paper completely won’t happen. It’s too big a part of our lives. The thing is, it doesn’t have to be as [...]
While Other Papers Sink, Oregonian Swims
The same day the New York Times ran this depressing story detailing everything bad about the newspaper business – dropping circulation, constant management changes, drastic staff cuts, etc. – my local paper had a story about how bad sales were at major department store chains in December and January. Coincidence? I think not. As the [...]
Asking the Hard Question – Top 10 Interview Tips
Not long ago, a writer in a freelance group I belong to posted a question on the group message boards. She had an interview scheduled with a subject who had a reputation for being grouchy and wanted to know how to prepare. It’s a great question. Reporters are thought of as thick-skinned hacks who can [...]
