Want to know why newspapers are cutting jobs while online media companies can’t hire people fast enough?
Advertising.
Last year, Internet advertising jumped 26 percent to $21.2 billion, according to the 2007 Internet Advertising Revenue Report released this week from The Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
It’s the fourth year of record growth for online ads. By contrast, print advertising in U.S. newspapers dropped 9 percent in 2007, to $42.2 billion. That’s still a big number, but it’s the second decline in as many years and industry analysts predict it’ll shrink to $10 billion by 2017.
Since most media properties still make most of their money through advertising rather than subscriptions, it makes sense that jobs will follow the money. That includes freelance jobs. While opportunities to place freelance stories in print editions of U.S. newspapers are dwindling, that’s not the case online. A quick scan of job boards on sites such as Freelance Writing Jobs, JournalismJobs and Editor & Publisher shows just how many paid writing gigs with top-tier media properties are out there.
If you haven’t ever written for an online publication, it might seem intimidating. But there are more similarities than differences. If you’re a good writer or a news hound you can learn the rest, such as writing blog posts, and using Web tools and search engine optimization.
You can check out other freelance writing gigs for online publications here:
MediaBistro.com
Jobs For Bloggers
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Online News Association (members only job board)
Michelle –
You make an excellent point, and this is just one more reason freelance writing is such a great gig.
Companies of all sizes need web content, and that’s a trend that’s only going to increase. Freelance writers can fill this need without swelling the ranks of on-site employees.
This profession just gets better and better!
I agree that the call for Web content is getting louder. But in my experience, many publishers still pay less for Web-only stories than for stories that will appear in print. I’m not sure what the rationale is for that. One trade magazine I write for has seen it’s print news hole shrink while traffic to its Website and subscriptions to its various e-newsletters is skyrocketing, along with advertising. They pay the same per-word rate for print or online, but maybe if the trend continues their rates for Web stories will eclipse those for print articles. That’d be nice.
Michelle R.