Think big

Freelance writers may be a small business owners, but that doesn’t mean you have to think small.

Major media companies are working to beat the recession by repackaging and repurposing what they do to get more customers – and you can too. You don’t even have to think of innovations yourself. Just copy what the big boys are doing.

One example – the New York Times recently announced some of its most notable writers and columnists will be teaching online classes through the paper’s Knowledge Network online education center for $125 to $185 per session. If you’ve been in the writing business for awhile, taught a class or two or regularly talk to industry conferences or local groups, you’ve probably accumulated enough background material and experience working in a live setting to offer yourself as a writing coach. Whether you charge as much as the New York Times is beside the point – it’s another potential revenue stream.

Here are a few other examples of innovations big media or online companies are undertaking, and how freelance writers can follow suit:

1. Put on a fresh face. Over the next few months, Yahoo will be giving its various online services a major facelift, including its flagship search engine service. Among other things, the new look is meant to make search results more relevant to what people are looking for, and to tap into information from social networks.
The freelance twist – If you haven’t touched your website or blog design in a while, it’s time for a remodel. If you don’t have the hours, money or inclination for a complete overhaul, at least read through the text on your site’s standing pages to make sure it reflects the current direction of your business, or where you’d like to take it in the next three to six months – all the better to stay relevant to what visitors to the site are looking for. If you have a blog, a minor tune up could include checking to see if links on your blogroll still work, swapping out old picture for new ones, or adding a landing page for new Twitter followers.

2. Go online. Earlier in 2009, a cash-strapped Seattle Post Intelligencer opted to shut down its printing presses and go online-only. The news outfit – you really can’t call it a newspaper anymore – cut its editorial staff but added dozens of neighborhood bloggers.
The freelance twist – If you’re not already writing for web-based publishers or blogs, now’s the time. That doesn’t necessarily mean signing up to write for a pittance for content aggregators such as Examiner.com or Demand Studios. There are plenty of other relatively well-paid online-only publishers in consumer, business, technology and trade magazine niches. As outfits like the SeattlePI.com ramp up neighborhood news coverage, some are looking for experienced writers who can cover hyperlocal beats. You might not make a lot of money at it at first, or by itself, but it could become a launch pad for other work, just as community newspapers have long served as a training ground for young journalists.

3. Team up. Come September, the Los Angeles Times will take over delivering papers for its one-time arch-rival The Orange County Register (no word what affect a potential a bankruptcy filing of the Register’s parent company that’s expected any day might have on the deal).
The freelance twist – Find a couple like-minded freelancers and collaborate on a project. Parenting freelancers Teri Cettina, Kris Bordessa and Jeannette Moninger turned their shared interest into an e-book on successful parenting article queries called Cash in on Your Kids they’re marketing through their respective websites and other channels. Another group of freelance writers spearheaded by Jennifer Maciejewski latched onto the frugal living phenomena and started the Cities on the Cheap franchise, with individual writers running websites that list coupons, freebies and cheap things to do in their respective cities.  It’s a great example of the power of working together to create a whole that’s more than the sum of its parts.

4. Go mobile. From Wired to BusinessWeek to NPR, news organizations ares repackaging content and sticking it on the iPhone. Wired’s app lets you read every gadget review the tech magazine’s every published. BusinessWeek’s has data on 42,000 public and 322,000 private companies worldwide. NPR’s lets you listen to your favorite public radio station whenever and wherever you are.
The freelance twist – Pair up with a local software developer and come up with your own mobile app. Take classes on how to get started from organizations such as Knowledgewebb, News University or the Online News Association. Because mobile apps of all kinds are so popular, you don’t even need to know how to do all the back-end stuff yourself – you can buy pre-packaged software code for functions such as sending messages to users or completing online purchases from mobile app startups like UrbanAirship.

Have you taken an idea from a big company and recast it into something that works for you? If so, please share.