The annual American Society of Journalists and Authors writers conference is taking place right now in New York. I went last year to give a presentation and meet fellow writers and editors. I was invited back this year but had to drop out when work got so busy I couldn’t afford the time away. But I’m still planning to follow along via Twitter. I suggest you do too.

Here’s how to use Twitter and TweetChat to learn what’s happening at ASJA:

1. Log onto your Twitter account.
2. Open a new tab in your browser and log onto TweetChat, an app that lets you track Twitter conversations by hashtag, and if you want to join in, automatically adds the appropriatehashtag to your tweets. To log on to TweetChat, you have to give the application permission to access your Twitter account – do this or you won’t be able to see the ASJA tweets.
3. Once you’re logged on, enter “ASJA2012″ in the search box at the top of TweetChat’s front page – that’s the official hashtag that ASJA is using for tweets related to the writers conference – and click on “Go.” TweetChat will automatically switch to a screen that shows you all of the #ASJA2012 tweets as they’re happening.
4. To ask someone a question or tweet something that everyone else monitoring the #ASJA2012 hashtag will see, type into the “Message to #asja2012″ box at the top of the screen. Because  TweetChat automatically adds the appropriate hashtag to your tweet, you’re message will need to be slightly less than 140 characters.
5. Wait a few seconds and your message will pop up in the #ASJA2012 tweet stream.
6. You can also use TweetChat to reply to or retweet someone else following the hashtag. You can also use it to favorite a tweet or look up the Twitter profile of someone who’s participating in the conversation.
7. Keep TweetChat open in your browser for as long as you’re interested in tracking the action.

Other interesting links for writers:

15 newsroom tools from CIR’s TechRacking conference (10,000 Words) - Google recently sponsored a day-long conference for 200 news types where, according to the 10,000 Words blog, one of the common themes was, “ If we have to do more with less, then technology has to make up the difference.” Some of those tools are mentioned in this post, including Wavii, an instant news feed that lets you follow topics you might be writing about, and SpeakerText,  a tool that works with the SoundCloud API and transcribes audio (goodbye transcription service).

Data Journalism Handbook – Speaking of hacks and hackers, this handbook was created during a 48-hour workshop in London in 2011 and was subsequently added to by major U.K. and U.S. news organizations. Use the website to add yourself to a list to be notified when the free web version of the book is out; an O’Reilly version is also coming soon.

75 ‘Write for Us’ pages (Freelance Writing Jobs) – Jackpot. The popular freelance blog made the hard work of looking for work a little easier by assembling this list of  print and online markets for freelancers. Some listings include rates – and truth be told, many of them them are pretty low. [[UPDATED @ 2:30 p.m. Friday, 4/27 - It's now been brought to my attention that this post is from 2010, a major fact I overlooked when I read through the information after seeing a link to it on Twitter earlier this week. I'm leaving it up, but be warned, the info is now pretty old.]]

 How tech’s giants want to reinvent journalism (PaidContent) – Current thinking on how news is and could be, from representatives of Google and Facebook.

Economics 101 (BizJournalism.com) – Online course on economics for freelancers and other journalists interested in reporting on business or brushing up on their skills. June 26-28 for an hour a day.

To find out how, tune to today’s WordCount Last Wednesday writer’s chat, when we’ll discuss how to supercharge your freelance writing income.

The chat takes place at 10 a.m. Pacific time. Use the hashtag #wclw to join the conversation.

Questions for the chat

For the 60-minute chat, we’ll start with introductions, move to some pre-set questions and leave time at the end for your questions.
Here are the pre-set questions:

• Q1: In 2011, was your freelance writing income higher, lower or the same as in 2010?
•  Q2: What are you doing in 2011 to boost your freelance income?
•  Q3: What freelance markets pay more – or less – than you realized?
•  Q4: What’s been your biggest obstacle to a higher freelance income?

Joining the #wclw chat

It’s possible to use the standard Twitter interface for the chat, but you might find it easier to follow along with an add-on application such as TweetGrid, TweetChat or HootSuite. Of those three, my favorite is TweetChat, which you can log into using your Twitter account. You might want to alert followers that you’ll be tweeting more than usual during the chat, and suggest they use Muuter.com to temporarily mute you if they don’t want to tune into the conversation.

If you’re unable to join us, I’ll post highlights from the chat in an upcoming post.

Photo by rachaelvoorhees/Flickr

Being a freelance writer doesn’t mean taking a vow of poverty.

If you know how to work the system – and just plain work – you can generate a more than comfortable income as a self-employed freelance writer.

I know  - I hit six figures in 2010 and 2011 when the economy was still hurting and the media industry was going through more changes than it’s seen in decades.

There are plenty of other writers out there like me. How is it possible, and more importantly, how can you do the same?

To find out, tune in Wednesday, Jan. 25, for the next WordCount Last Wednesday writer’s chat, when we’ll discuss how to supercharge your freelance writing income.

The subject of increasing your freelance writing income hit a nerve with WordCount readers when I wrote about it last week, so I’m using the #wclw chat to follow up.

The chat takes place at 10 a.m. Pacific time. Use the hashtag #wclw to join the conversation.

Questions for the #wclw chat

Some novice freelancers see writing for Demand Studios, Examiner.com, Helium and other content aggregators as a legitimate way into the business. They’re willing to put up with working conditions that make more experienced writers cringe: fees of $10 to $20 or less per article that necessitate cranking out dozens, even hundreds, of pieces a month to make a decent living.

The site’s defenders counter that most contributors write only part-time, and don’t depend on it for their livelihood. They also argue it’s a great way to get a foot in the door and get writing work without going through the hassles and rejections of querying higher paying publications.

Detractors have questioned whether anybody can research and write a “story” in the amount of time it would take to produce enough copy to make much money. They also worry that writers for these sites are merely rewriting other people’s work. This snippet from an honest-to-goodness ad that appeared recently in Craigslist‘s Portland listings appears to prove their point (emphasis is mine):

Here’s the job:

1 – I send you a link to an article.
2 – You read the article.
3 – Then you rewrite/summarize the article, adding a few sentences that are specific to our business. In general, I will expect to get your writing back within 24 hours of my sending the article. If it doesn’t happen every time, that’s fine. You get to go on vacation once in a while! But the general expectation is speed.
4 – I edit the article and send you the finished version.
5 – You look at it, think about what I’ve changed, and what you could do differently next time to get it more like I want it.
6 – Repeat
7 – Once a month, I mail you a check. You get $3 for one sort of blog post (3-4 formulaic paragraphs) and $5 for another type (longer, more thoughtful, or a press release). It’s $3 unless I say otherwise.

I’ve called it the race to the bottom, and maintain there are better ways to break into the freelance business, and better business models for building a successful freelance writing career.

But why take my word for it? Here are examples of a few other blogs where this debate is taking place. Visit, read and come back here to comment.

• 10 reasons why old school freelance writers (including me) need to lighten up and stop whining - One of several posts Freelance Writing Jobs’ Deb Ng has written on the topic since announcing a partnership between her popular freelance blog and Demand Studios.
• Writer mills making big $: Demand Studios – Freelance business writer Erik Sherman represents an opposing viewpoint: caution, some language in this post is NSFW.
• Yolander, won’t you please shut up about the content mills? – Freelancewriterville blogger Yolander Prinzel’s account of writing for content aggregators, why she doesn’t anymore and why she doesn’t think anyone else should either.
• Was I wrong about Helium? – Tim Beyers, aka The Social Writer, explains how he made more selling reprints of a story he originally published on Helium than what he earned on the site.
• Writer mills: you can do better – Long-time freeleancer Jesaka Long riffs on posts from Sherman and others. Her conclusion: “…writers should stand for what they are worth every day. No exception.”
• Are content aggregators a freelancer’s friend or foe? A novice freelancer tries to figure it out for herself.
• I did it again – freelance writing and the great rate debate – Carson Brackney’s faced off with Deb Ng over this issue before, and apparently reading my earlier post caused him to weigh in again. BTW, thanks to Carson for the inspiration for the title of this blog post.

Do you write for content aggregators sites? Has it helped your career? How much money do you make at it? Do you include those clips in your portfolio when going for higher-paying work?

Freelancers are up in arms that Deb Ng, owner of the widely-read Freelance Writing Jobs blog, cut a deal with Demand Studios, whose parent company has raised $355 million in venture capital financing for a variety of web-based enterprises, yet pays independent contractors $15 to $30 per article they write and $3.50 per story they edit. Why, critics argue, should any self-respecting professional freelancer used to getting 50 cents or $1 a word or more settle for such a small amount.

My answer: they shouldn’t. In fact, I don’t really see what all the fuss is about.

It’s not as if Demand Studios and content aggregators like it – Helium, Associated Content, Studio101, etc. – are the only places hiring and paying writers. It’s true newspapers aren’t the reliable freelance markets they once were. And yes, it does feel like magazines have folded up their tents and slunk away, at least where freelance contributions are concerned.

But there are still plenty of places to write for that pay far more than what Demand and sites like it are offering.

In the past few weeks, I’ve been approached by no less than three editors for print and online-only publications asking pitches and all of them pay far more than the going rate at content aggregators. On top of that, I’m talking to several publications about projects that could result in interesting new work, some of it ongoing.

I’m not the only one. I’m starting to read similar accounts of an uptick in  work that’s out there from freelancers who hang out on the writers’ message boards I do.

Content aggregators like Demand Studios represent the lowest rung of freelance opportunity. It doesn’t take a lot of journalism training, writing experience or time to put together the kind of evergreen how-to articles these types of sites thrive on, which is one reason why the pay’s so low. Another has to do with supply and demand. When there’s a large supply of writers, professional or otherwise, willing and able to do the work, sites like Demand Studios don’t have to offer higher rates to attract the labor they need.

The kinds of opportunities Demand Studios represents have always existed. In pre-Internet days, they were the writing jobs listed in the classified ads. Those jobs are more high profile now because the Internet’s created more of them, but also because Craigslist, blogs and job boards like Freelance Writing Jobs have made it easier for companies to market them.

The biggest difference between writing for content aggregators like Demand Studios and its ilk and writing for traditional publishers – whether they’re newspapers, magazines or websites – is the amount of work a writer has to invest in the process. For one, you scan a job board like Freelance Writing Jobs to find out what’s posted – like looking through the classifieds for a job opening. See something you like, fill out a form – or in some cases go through a training period – and voila, you’re ready to start.

Getting those other writing jobs takes a lot more thought, training and work. They’re the equivalent of the high-level jobs companies never list in the help wanted ads. You have to come up with an original idea for a story, find a market, craft a pitch that explains what the story is, why it’s a good fit for the market and why you’re the best writer to do it. If you land the assignment, there’s research and reporting to do before you even start writing.

That process takes a lot more work than answering an ad. It only follows that the compensation should be commensurate to the amount of work.

So, do you focus on the lowest-common denominator freelance gigs that are easier to come by and easier to write but pay less and have a heck of a lot more competition vying for the opportunity? Or do you aim higher, going for the tougher assignments that are harder to land, harder to complete but pay more too?

Ultimately, it an individual freelancer’s decision to make. But I see no reason to compete in a race to the bottom when you can aim higher and get a lot more out of your efforts.

UC Berkeley j-school can’t find a dean – Sounds like candidates and students are ready to move the school’s venerable j-program into the 21st century but old guard faculty aren’t 100 percent on board, leading to a longer decision-making and interview process than candidates were willing to put themselves through.

That’s no typo – John McIntyre, long-time copy desk chief at the Baltimore Sun and the red pencil behind the You Don’t Say grammar column is leaving. I picked Your Don’t Say as one of the best blogs for writers in 2008 so am especially said to see him go. (Stay tuned for the 2009 list of best blogs for writers coning soon.)

New media training wheels – Webbmedia Group’s new media Webinars have proven so popular with newly unemployed journos and other writers the company’s creating an online community to carry on its mission of educating the ink-stained class in the ways of Web 2.0. The new Knowledgewebb site has live chats and message boards as well as plenty of online training sessions. Annual subscription is $129, or $80 if you’ve ever attended a Webbmedia Webinar before. Look on the site for more details.

This week’s online news link love:

• So you’ve been scammed – Advice from Bizzia freelance writing biz blogger Allison Boyer on what to do if you’ve gotten stung in a freelance writing scam.
• Regret the error – Reports on corrections, retractions, clarifications and trends regarding accuracy and honesty in the media. The blog’s the creation of Craig Silverman, a Montreal-based freelance journalist, CJR columnist and author of the book Regret the Error: How Media Mistakes Pollute the Press and Imperil Free Speech .
• Happy birthday Freelance Writing Jobs – The reliable source of how-to articles and job listings turns four.

Twitter tools:

• Twitter homepage highlights search: The microblogging service tweaked its front page by positioning a new Search window high up in the right-hand column along with Following list. The tools column also has a collapsible Trending Topics list making it easier to see hot topics people are tweeting about.
• Twitter Guys make Time’s Most Influential People in 2009 list – Ashton Kutcher, who famously rode the Twitter craze to become the service’s first Millionaire – first member to hit  1,000,000 followers, that is – wrote the profile.

This week, FWJ announced they’re looking for a paid blogger to write two posts a week. The pay’s $100 a month. It’s a job search with a twist. Instead of asking candidates to submit resumes, they’re running an American Idol style open audition. Interested candidates have until this Friday, June 13, to read the contest directions and then pitch themselves in the comments section of this FWJ post. On Friday, FWJ readers will choose their 12 favorite ideas, and over the coming weeks, all 12 will write a blog posts on a given theme and readers can comment on the bloggers and their posts. Bloggers will be eliminated as the weeks go on until the winner’s announced.

Because of the relatively low pay this won’t be everybody’s cup of tea, but some might want to give it a go. So may the best blogger win. But will they be as cute as David Cook?