WordCount media business roundup for week of Feb. 27
UPDATED ON FEB. 28 – News from the online news business this week. Read all about it: The Rocky Mountain News shuts down forever, leaving another major American city a one-paper town. Rival Denver Post pays tribute in Rocky’s Last Run. Hearst Corp., which owns the San Francisco Chronicle and other dailies, attempts to avert [...]
WordCount Q&A – One freelancer's DIY book publishing success
Corinne McKay is something of a miser, so when she decided to write a book, she studied all the options before picking the one she thought would make the most money. McKay, a freelance translator who lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband and 6-year-old daughter, ultimately opted to self publish. Not only that, she [...]
Top 13 warning signs a magazine is in trouble
Magazines have folded by the dozen since the economy started its now infamous nose dive last fall. But most didn’t disappear overnight. Over the months, observant freelancers learned to read between the lines for signs a particular publication might be cutting back or, alas, shutting down completely. Here are some indicators that all may not [...]
WordCount weekly digital news biz recap week of Feb. 20
In the news this week – the best blogs, the best newspaper websites, the best story on the mortgage crisis, content worth paying for, and a digital news conference to attend. Read all about it: Time Magazine names its top 25 blogs for 2009 including Talking Points Memo, The Huffington Post, Lifehacker, MetaFilter and The [...]
When freelancing isn't enough – it's OK to have another job too
Freelance writers are nervous by nature. There’s so much that has to go right for us to make money. Editors have to like our pitches and manuscripts. Articles have to run. Accounting departments have to issue us checks and checks have to clear. When the economy goes south, we worry even more than usual, especially [...]
High school confidential: journalism's changing, but jobs are still out there
High school girls still dream of being Rory Gilmore, the fictional daughter in The Gilmore Girls TV show who headed straight from a Yale journalism degree to a job covering Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. That’s what I discovered at career day at my old high school last week. More than 80 girls from St. Mary’s [...]
Prepping for the big one – 12 ways to ace a VIP interview
I recently interviewed a management guru who’s a rock star in corporate circles, makes a mint from training sessions and has several best-selling business books under his belt. Want to know what he did at the end of the 60 minutes we spent on the phone? He thanked me for reading his books before we [...]
There is no such thing as a dumb Twitter question
There is no such thing as a dumb Twitter question. When you’re learning to drive, are you dumb because you don’t know how much pressure to apply to the gas pedal? No. When you’re learning to dance, are you dumb because you step on your partner’s toes? Clumsy maybe, but not dumb. Just learning. It’s [...]
Introducing RecessionWire.com, The Upside of the Downturn
What do two Internet savvy New York City business magazine editors and a long-time freelance writer do when their steady gigs go south? Start a Website of course. The site’s called RecessionWire.com, The Upside of the Downturn, and it’s just as smart as the three women behind it. Co-founders Laura Rich and Sara Clemence were [...]
