To do good writing, read good writing. Here’s the good writing I’ve been reading this week:
Freelance Union founder and executive director Sara Horowitz kicks off a series of articles in The Atlantic with a piece called The Freelance Surge is the Industrial Revolution of Our Time on how writers and other freelancers are transforming the economy, how corporate and government policies haven’t kept up, and how individuals must depend on a “new mutualism” to succeed.
I see this mutualism, or whatever you want to call it, manifesting itself in the content aggregators of the world, but also the small custom publishing shops and content strategy agencies that are cropping up offering work on a project or contract basis to writers, copywriters, graphic designers, etc. I see it in co-working spaces that let freelancers work together but apart. I see it on a more informal basis on the networks that individuals are forming with fellow freelancers that they use or recommend on a regular basis, i.e., the design work I pay freelance writer and web developer Ron Doyle for, or the freelance photographer I hire for headshots.
Other good reads from this week:
Online Journalism Awards names envelope pushing finalists (Tech Journal South)
How journalists deal with economists’ ethics (Reuters)
How to prepare to launch your start-up (Inc.)
On reading old stuff (How Does That Make You Buy?)
Google offers peek behind its search results (CNet)
Develop your link bait repertoire (ProBlogger)