WordCount is busy celebrating the season and playing in the snow. Beginning Monday, Dec. 29, I’ll spend a week rerunning some of the year’s most popular posts on freelancing, digital media and the news business. Until then, Merry Christmas!
Top 10 digital media trends of 2008
This is the last new post I’ll write in 2008, so it seems fitting to look back at the biggest stories of the year in the digital media business and how they’ll affect on freelancers now and in the future. I’ll weigh in with my top 10 first. Feel free to send your own suggestions […]
WordCount Q&A – NewspaperDeathWatch's Paul Gillin on online community news
Paul Gillin writes the NewspaperDeathWatch blog and it’s safe to say, he’s never been busier. 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 […]
WordCount weekly news recap
Bad news continues for news companies. Tribune Co. filed for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection, freezing deferred compensation payments to former employees and making it uncertain whether freelancers with unpaid invoices will get their money from the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. Listener-supported radio news hasn’t escaped the current downturn. This week National Public […]
How to make money writing about the financial crisis
You’ve heard the expression, follow the money. Well, the silver lining of the U.S. economy sliding into the dumps is there’s plenty of work for business writers who know a mortgage-backed security from an adjustable rate mortgage. If you don’t fit that description now, you could. American University and Arizona State University’s Donald W. Reynolds […]
Freelancers find creative ways to save, grow during bad times
It’s one thing to read a laundry list of actions that freelance writers could take to keep their writing business afloat during the current weak economy, which has hit the publishing industry especially hard. It’s another thing to read what people are actually doing. Here’s first-person advice from a handful of freelancers who answered a […]