ASBPE guest post: simple steps to starting a blog
Today there are more reasons than ever for writers to have a blog. With the media world going digital, freelancers need to keep up with new forms of writing in order to earn their daily bread, or just have a simple way for editors to check out their work. But getting started can be intimidating. [...]
5 easy ways to add value to your freelance business
Right now the freelance market is crammed with laid off writers, editors and other creative types trying their hand at self employment. With so much supply, it’s important to stand out. One way to do that is by offering some added value to work you perform for existing and new clients. What’s added value? It’s [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
WordCount weekly digital media biz recap
Over at the The New York Observer, John Koblin explains in At magazines, it’s 2.0 steps forward, 1.0 step back that while the Web may be the future for magazine publishing, right now print’s winning out and Website writers – and I might add Website freelancers – are getting axed left and right. ProBlogger guest [...]
WordCount weekly news recap
Bad news continues for news companies. Tribune Co. filed for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection, freezing deferred compensation payments to former employees and making it uncertain whether freelancers with unpaid invoices will get their money from the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. Listener-supported radio news hasn’t escaped the current downturn. This week National Public [...]
Do you tell editors what you do when you're not writing for them?
I’m a firm believer in the value of specializing in a freelance writing business. I’ve also espoused in this space about the benefits of being a team player when it comes to the publications and editors you work with, and how worthwhile it is to cultivate contributing writer gigs. So if you specialize, and you [...]
Why ex-staff writers make good trade magazine freelancers
I’m guest blogging today at the American Society of Business Publication Editors blog. The ASBPE is the professional association for editors and writers in the business, trade and specialty press. The subject: why former magazine and newspaper staff writers have all the right stuff for a successful transition into freelancing for business publications. Read the [...]
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