So for your reading enjoyment, here’s some WordCount Q&As I’ve done with writers on a variety of subjects. Happy reading.

Suddenly Frugal’s Leah Ingram – This prolific magazine writer, book author and frugal living blogger explains how she wrote her latest book in eight weeks.

One freelancer’s DIY book publishing success – Colorado-based corporate translator Corinne McKay explains how she self-published How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator and netted $12,000 in two years.

NewspaperDeathWatch.com’s Paul Gillin on online community news – New media pundit Gillin explains why small news ventures, in print and online, are fairing better than their larger counterparts.

One writer’s journey from print to online – Michelle Nicolosi got the online news bug back in the 1990s. Today she’s executive director of the now online-only SeattlePI.com.

Marketing your freelance business in bad times – Keven Malkewitz, a marketing expert and assistant business professor at Oregon State University in Corvallis, says in a down economy, cultivate existing clients, brush up on new skills and increase your marketing efforts.

If you’ve a freelancer with a unique take on the business, a successful blog or an online news venture, I’ve love to interview you for the WordCount Q&A. Contact me: michellerafter (at) comcast (dot) net.

News U. and the Knight Digital Media Center are hosting a Webinar on social networks on Tuesday, April 14, 2 to 3 p.m. EDT.

The Webinar, called Social Networks: The New Architecture of the Web will help decode what’s happening on social network giants like Facebook and Twitter as well as specialty groups and how.

The Webinar will be led by Paul Gillin, a well-known social media expert and newspaper industry analyst who blogs at NewspaperDeathWatch.com. Note: I’ve interviewed Gillin for WordCount and he knows his stuff. The cost is $24.95.

Although the information sounds like it’s primarily aimed at journalists working for MSM, it could be worth looking into for new freelance markets or if you’re contemplating starting your own social networking-based new media venture. Register or learn more here.

Here’s some promo copy from the site:

Media organizations can tap into the trusted advice networks that are forming online and leverage them to their advantage. You will learn:

• Why online “friends” are the foundation of social networks’ appeal
• How trusted sources are migrating from mass media to friends’ networks
• From examples of news organizations that are leveraging social networks to extend their influence
• What newspapers can do right now to tap into emerging communities

As print advertising continues to plummet and online ads have yet to pick up the slack, papers are cutting frequency, shrinking geographic distribution, laying off workers – really doing anything and everything they can to cut costs – and anticipating more of the same next year. If some of them don’t fold first, which is a distinct possibility.

One bright spot in an otherwise bleak business is what’s happening at the community level, where news blogs or aggregators are popping up all over the country. Whatever you call them – online newspapers, community microblogs or something else – many are run by former staff reporters or editors, and in some cases long-time freelancers who see a gap in local news left by newspapers’ shrinking coverage.

I recently talked to Gillin, a long-time tech writer & editor turned blogger, author and social media pundit, about the news business and the role one- and two-person operations are playing in the industry. Here are some highlights of our conversation, edited for length and clarity.

We hear a lot about the plight of the country’s major dailies, but what’s happening with smaller community newspapers?

It’s very tough for them right now, as publishers like Gannett are closing them outright in an effort to save money. The weeklies just aren’t seen as being worth the attention of these big companies. They’re trying to save the big titles that are seen as more profitable. It’s kind of a split personality because there are small newspapers starting up successfully with a low budget and bootstrapping and serving very specific geographic areas or demographics.

Where does online community news fit in?

You’re finding a lot of individuals who are becoming community publishers. They may not have a print edition but it’s not a stretch to see them going in that direction, as the major dailies provide less valuable content.

A lot of these are mini versions of Drudge Report, lots of linking to other stuff. There’s an opportunity for someone who can aggregate around their area and consolidate it in one source. If I’m a local high school theater group I probably have a website, and if someone can put that together with other local information they add some value.

What are some of these online community news sites?

Neighborsgo.com out of Dallas is a really interesting experiment in community journalism, with 18 local editions generated by readers. Newzjunky is a one-man publisher in Watertown, New York, who is driving the local community paper nuts. There’s a guy I’ve written about my own hometown, Hopkinton, Massachusetts, started a Website called Hop News. He’s one guy. He’s a photographer, he goes around the town and documents what’s happening. He’s been at it five years now being a one man band. Is he making a living? He complements it with his photography business, but it’s a profitable business.

There’s a lot of talk of news organizations trying new revenue models to supplement advertising and subscriptions. Are online community news sites doing that?

A lot of ideas are being tried at the local level that can’t be tried at the big papers because they’re not nimble enough to accomplish it. Small publications are able to innovate more. Their overhead is so low, they don’t need a lot to survive.

Here’s a couple other places to read up on what’s happening in the industry:

Reflections of a Newsosaur

TheMediaIsDying

But not everybody’s pessimistic about the future of the news business. In fact, there are quite a few optimists who believe the trauma hitting the industry will lead to new business models and opportunities for those editors, reporters and other workers who keep up with the changes.

Here’s just a sample of what commentators are saying about the transformation that’s now taking place, and why it could be a good thing:

Why we should feel bullish for the future of journalism – DigiDave, aka Dave Cohn, wrote this meditation on the future of the news biz from an airport lobby on little sleep. Put aside his youthful enthusiasm – and the f bomb he throws in for effect – and he makes an interesting point about experimenting with business models. Try enough, he says, and some will stick. Cohn doesn’t just talk the talk. With the grant money he won in a Knight News Challenge last year, he’s helped start Spot.us, a marketplace for news where readers can write in to request stories they’d like to see written and donate money toward making it happen.

For other business models, look at FieldReport.com, which is paying thousands of dollars for personal essays, or investigative news Websites such as ProPublica, Environmental Health News and BailoutSleuth, which are being funded by philanthropists or foundations – a throwback to the days when newspapers were owned by wealthy captains of industry.

The market and the Internet don’t care if you make money – News organizations can’t live by the same assumptions they always held about their business, says new media analyst Scott Karp, on Publishing 2.0. The market doesn’t care about traffic or eyeballs, it cares about networks, something Google, Facebook and YouTube have already figured out.

Why it’s a great time to get into journalism – To those who risk much will come great rewards, says social media expert Paul Gillin, who blogs at NewspaperDeathWatch. In this post from October, Gillin recounts the story of one enthusiastic college student who parlayed a summer intership with a major daily newspaper into a paid blogging/reporting gig there.

The worst of times: layoffs, more every day including downsizing at some of the country’s biggest papers. Just yesterday, the Los Angeles Times said it was cutting 250 jobs, including 150 in the newsroom, bringing its total editorial staff to 700, down from 1,200 in 2001. In recent days, job cuts have also been announced by the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune, Baltimore Sun, Hartford Courant, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and many others.

But the best of times? Some actually think so. Newspapers are cutting jobs to save money as they grapple with lower advertising revenue. But at the same time, the more innovative papers are reorganizing newsroom operations to create the news organizations of the future, organizations with an integrated newsroom that will produce information to appear in a variety of forms: print, online, on air and on mobile devices.

So is the glass half empty and getting emptier each day, as some news industry prognosticators believe? Or is it half full, and poised to eventually fill up again, some optimists believe?

My take: newspapers of the future will have to act like the Internet start ups I’ve written about for so long. They’ll be a lot leaner so they’ll have to do more with less. And because they don’t have as many layers of bureaucracy, they’ll innovate much faster than they could as larger, more established organizations.

Here are a few recent articles about what’s happening in the newspaper industry to read and decide for yourself:

THE PESSIMISTS
Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News examining combining some jobs – The rival dailies are considering merging photo departments and other jobs as a way to cut costs.

What newspapers still don’t understand about the Web – In this post, Publishing 2.0 – a Website that covers the evolution of media – gives newspapers, and the Washington Post in particular, an A for effort but a lower grade for execution in moving material online and making it relevant to local readers.

‘There will be no newspapers delivered in paper form.’ – Ballmer – Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s big dis of the present newspaper and magazine industries in a wide-ranging Q&A with the Washington Post published in June.

THE OPTIMISTS
Times to cut newsroom staff and pages published – LA Times Editor Russ Stanton’s memo to staff about job cuts and reducing the number of pages printed by 15 percent a week.

The future of journalism, part I – Social media and online news expert Paul Gillin’s take on what newspapers need to do to transform themselves for 21st century.

Editor & Publisher’s Best of the Web – Thanks to Paul Gillin for bringing my attention to this regular E&P column on innovative things newspapers are doing on their Websites.

Save the Press – Long-time reporter and writer Timothy Egan’s New York Times op-ed piece on the present state and possible future of U.S. newspapers. Don’t miss the comments section.

Where do you think newspapers are headed?