It’s one thing to be desperate for work. It’s another to act like it. You may have just lost a big client, or even more than one, so you’re scrambling to add some new writing assignments to your calendar. You send out letters of introduction and query like crazy. A few nibbles come in as […]
Archives for 2008
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 […]
As optimists tell, it's a great time to get into journalism
Most of the news coming out of the newspaper business is glum, worse than glum actually. Lay offs. Shrinking ad pages. Financial instability. Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service recently dropped their rating of New York Times debt because of the paper’s declining revenues. Imagine that, the Grey Lady a junk bond. But not […]
Multimedia myths debunked
There’s a lot more to learning interactive storytelling than simply figuring out how to operate a digital videocamera or creating a story board for a Web-based news package. But many writers, including freelancers, are still at the beginning of the learning curve, so there’s still a lot they have to learn. Rather, when it comes […]
Writing for free is not a business model
You see them every week on Craigslist, help wanted ads from publishers or Websites that need writers but can’t afford to pay – but you’ll get clips and the exposure will be great! And yet – I’ve never met a grocery store, credit card company or mortgage company that accepted “exposure” as payment. More information […]
Portland Wordstock book festival recap
I went to Portland’s Wordstock book festival over the weekend. John Hodgman, the PC in the “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads, was one of the stars of a weekend that was filled with signings, readings, writing workshops and other book-related activities. In case you missed it, I wrote this guest post about Wordstock […]