Off the Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer Dec 18-24
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, communications, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- National Magazine Awards call for entries [Magazine Awards]
- Changing public perceptions of mental illness [J-Source]
- Skill-sharing workshops help freelancers confront new world of work [Thunderbird]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- National Writers Union and National Association of Science Writers form partnership [NWU]
- 16 smartphone apps to delete before the new year [Fast Company]
- The Onion Goes Union: Humorists Ratify First Contract With WGA East [Deadline]
- Advice for freelancers taking parental leave [Freelancers Union]
- Hey freelancers, this new tool could make your life a lot easier [The Write Life]
- The Freelancer’s Guide to Taking Time Off [Medium]
- Tip of the day: How to achieve award-worthy investigative journalism [Journalism.co.uk]
- Freelancing: Expectations vs. Reality [The Freelancer]
Recently on Story Board:
- The Born Freelancer reviews the Zoom H4N Pro digital recorder: To get the best bang for my limited freelancer buck I needed hardware that not only met but surpassed my immediate needs and would encourage me to extend my recording skill sets…
- Submissions open for the 2019 National Magazine Awards: If you’ve written a great piece of magazine journalism this year, the time has come to make a submission to the National Magazine Awards. If your publisher isn’t planning to submit your work, you can submit it yourself — and the awards foundation even offers freelancers a discount on entry fees…
Spot a story you think we should include in next week’s Off the Wire? Email the link to editor@thestoryboard.ca or tweet us at @storyboard_ca.
Posted on December 24, 2018 at 6:00 am by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: news, Off the Wire
The Born Freelancer Reviews the Zoom H4N Pro Digital Recorder
This series of posts by the Born Freelancer shares personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.
OK, so nobody will ever accuse me of being an impulse-shopper.
I’ve been looking into buying an up to date portable digital recorder for years. I even found a long-forgotten reference to this fact in a post of mine on this site from 6 years ago!
Meanwhile, I’ve made do with the audio recorder app on my cheap smartphone. It was basically adequate for print interviews on the go but not any good for broadcast interviews or stereo recording in the field. (I’m sure more expensive phones could do a better job but I don’t want a more expensive phone.)
All this came to a head recently when I attended portions of the Vancouver Podcast Festival where I found great inspiration and motivation to create my own. My smartphone would no longer do. My research told me the cheapest options were not the best; they would not allow me to grow.
To get the best bang for my limited freelancer buck I needed hardware that not only met but surpassed my immediate needs and would encourage me to extend my recording skill sets.
My decision
Posted on December 20, 2018 at 3:00 pm by editor · One Comment · Tagged with: Advice, born freelancer, recording equipment, recording gear, the Born Freelancer
Submissions open for the 2019 National Magazine Awards
If you’ve written a great piece of magazine journalism this year, the time has come to make a submission to the National Magazine Awards. If your publisher isn’t planning to submit your work, you can submit it yourself — and the awards foundation even offers freelancers a discount on entry fees.
The Freelancer Support Fund offers a 50 percent discount on registration fees to freelance writers, photographers and illustrators. The discount applies to your first two award submissions. The final deadline for submissions is January 18, but if you get your entry in by January 11 you can also take advantage of the discounted early bird submission rate.
The National Magazine Awards have 18 writing and visual award categories, including feature writing, investigative reporting, fiction, photography and many more. The winner in each category will receive a $1000 cash prize.
For more information about the submissions process, check out the National Magazine Awards Foundation’s website.
Posted on December 18, 2018 at 9:50 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: Awards, National Magazine Awards, National Magazine Awards Foundation
Off the Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer Dec 11-17
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, communications, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- The case for indie news media taking federal dollars [The Tyee]
- Alberta Press Council to shut its doors [Alberta Press Council]
- The 2018 CAJ Awards are open for nominations [CAJ]
- Advice on getting started from 7 successful freelancers [The Freelance Hustle]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- In a chilly year for the news business, union organizing is smoking hot [Poynter]
- How Freelancers Can Manage Seasonal Affective Disorder [The Freelancer]
- A law firm in the trenches against media unions [CJR]
- Slate’s newly unionized writers and editors give OK to strike [Bloomberg]
- New York Magazine’s staff is unionizing [BussFeed News]
- Freelancers, get ready for the coming recession [Forbes]
- How to conduct difficult interviews [The Open Notebook]
Recently on Story Board:
- The Fine Art of Picking a Niche: This isn’t an article about whether you should choose a niche. I believe that specialization is key to stand out from the writer-saturated landscape. Jack of all trades and all that. Still, for most of us, picking a writing niche is difficult, especially if you have diverse interests or experience…
- Bargaining on CBC freelance issues underway: In November members of the CMG freelance bargaining subcommittee met with CBC management to begin negotiations on provisions for freelancers in the CMG-CBC collective agreement, which expires March 31, 2019…
Spot a story you think we should include in next week’s Off the Wire? Email the link to editor@thestoryboard.ca or tweet us at @storyboard_ca.
Posted on December 16, 2018 at 8:44 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: news, Off the Wire
The Fine Art of Picking a Niche
By Nkiru Asika
This isn’t an article about whether you should choose a niche.
Heather Greenwood Davis
I believe that specialization is key to stand out from the writer-saturated landscape. Jack of all trades and all that.
If your writing business is still new like mine, (I launched as a B2B lead generation writer in July), then you cannot afford to be a prima donna about your niche. My clients so far haven’t necessarily fallen into the lead generation or even B2B subset. So, in reality, my current niche is “people that pay.” Followed closely by “people that don’t suck.”
But I firmly believe that when you focus on an industry or a particular type of content (like Gordon Graham, who has marketed himself successfully as That White Paper Guy), your reputation as an expert will help you attract more business, and command higher fees. You will also be able to write that content better and faster than any generalists.
Still, for most of us, picking a writing niche is difficult, especially if you have diverse interests or experience. There’s a tendency to second guess yourself to a standstill.
I had the privilege of interviewing three very different writers who have all found their sweet spot, either by accident or design.
Read the rest of this post »
Posted on December 13, 2018 at 2:04 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: Advice, Marketing yourself
Bargaining on CBC freelance issues underway
In November members of the CMG freelance bargaining subcommittee met with CBC management to begin negotiations on provisions for freelancers in the CMG-CBC collective agreement, which expires March 31, 2019.
The major issues under discussion are
– the proper use of contracts including:
– the appropriate use of the different categories
– when members should be hired as temporary vs. freelance contract
– the process to produce a contract or reasonable alternative before work begins
– clarity regarding freelancers who do temporary employee work as well
– appropriate language regarding the engagement of minors
– rates that reflect the value freelancers bring to CBC
Three more days of negotiations are planned for January. In the meantime, if you freelance at the CBC and have any concerns about the above issues, please get in touch with Freelance Branch President Don Genova at freelance@cmg.ca.
Don Genova, Freelance Branch President
Alison Motluk, CMG Freelance Member
Jonathan Spence, CMG-CBC Branch President
Karen Wirsig, CMG Staff Representative
Posted on December 10, 2018 at 7:00 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: Canadian Media Guild, CBC, collective bargaining, news
Off the Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer Dec 4-10
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, communications, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- More Fuel for Investigation into Torstar, Postmedia Newspaper Swap [The Tyee]
- TWUC Short Prose Competition [TWUC]
- Former and current Torstar employees to be questioned under oath over investigation about Postmedia deal [National Observer]
- A generation of journalists are struggling [J-Source]
- A new survey shows how poorly writers are paid in this country [CBC]
- Nonprofit news: Lessons from south of the border [J-Source]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- Introducing The Freelancer’s All New Rates Calculator [The Freelancer]
- Finally Ebony Pays! [National Writers Union]
-
At NPR, an army of temps faces a workplace of anxiety and insecurity [Washington Post]
- Is your “check engine” light flashing? What to do if your freelance career stalls [Freelancers Union]
- 6 books that will help you become a better writer [Inc.]
- “Killed for speaking the truth”: Tributes to 9 journalists murdered in 2018 [The Guardian]
- Here’s How the World’s Most In-Demand Freelancers Get Great Assignments–And Paid Top Dollar [Inc.]
- Increase your freelance income without selling [Rockin’ Freelance]
- The therapeutic power of saying “no” [Freelancers Union]
Recently on Story Board:
- New webinars for CMG Freelance members: As a union for freelancers, one of the supports that CMG Freelance offers is professional development opportunities. In addition to in-person training opportunities, we’ve also run almost two dozen webinars over the past few years on subjects ranging from social media for freelancers, to financial planning, to pitching stories, to negotiating contracts…
Spot a story you think we should include in next week’s Off the Wire? Email the link to editor@thestoryboard.ca or tweet us at @storyboard_ca.
Posted on December 9, 2018 at 8:51 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT
New webinars for CMG Freelance members
Annika Reinhardt leading the “State Your Worth” webinar.
As a union for freelancers, one of the supports that CMG Freelance offers is professional development opportunities.
In addition to in-person training opportunities, we’ve also run almost two dozen webinars over the past few years on subjects ranging from social media for freelancers, to financial planning, to pitching stories, to negotiating contracts.
For the past couple of years, we’ve been inviting anyone who is interested to participate in our webinars live. But one of the benefits of membership in CMG Freelance is the ability to watch archived webinars in the members section of our website.
We’ve updated that page with a few new webinars recently.
The most recent webinar is “State Your Worth” with negotiation and compensation professional Annika Reinhardt, the founder of Talent Collective. We’ve also just posted a webinar with lawyer Mark Donald, who offers legal advice for journalists on defamation, privacy concerns and reporting in conflict zones.
If you’re a member, take a few minutes to browse through the list and take advantage of this training resource. If you’re not yet a CMG Freelance member, you can find more information about the cost and benefits of membership in the union right here.
Posted on December 4, 2018 at 10:58 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: CMG freelance, webinars
Off the Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer Nov 27-Dec 3
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, communications, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- Supreme Court ruling a ‘blow to press freedom’; media union vows to fight on [CWA Canada]
- Digital democracy project to examine online disinformation [J-Source]
- Another busy week at the CBC bargaining table [CMG]
- Funding journalism means defining who’s a journalist — not a bad thing [J-Source]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- How to create a freelance project that stands out from the crowd [Freelancers Union]
- Tips for covering poverty [IJNet]
- Why projecting your 2019 budget now can help you save money [Freelancers Union]
- How to be an artist [Vulture]
- Finding the science in any story [Open Notebook]
- How to maintain your freelance career while pregnant [The Freelancer]
Recently on Story Board:
- Ann Douglas on the seven stages of book publishing: Douglas, whose many published books include the “Mother of All” parenting series, gave a presentation at the recent Level Up writers’ conference in Toronto. She offered reams of helpful advice gleaned from her own experiences in the publishing world…
Spot a story you think we should include in next week’s Off the Wire? Email the link to editor@thestoryboard.ca or tweet us at @storyboard_ca.
Posted on December 2, 2018 at 8:57 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: news, Off the Wire
Ann Douglas on the seven stages of book publishing
Thinking about writing a book? If so, Ann Douglas has some advice for you.
Douglas, whose many published books include the “Mother of All” parenting series, gave a presentation at the recent Level Up writers’ conference in Toronto. Her talk focused on the process of publishing non-fiction books through traditional publishing avenues. She offered reams of helpful advice gleaned from her own experiences in the publishing world.
Douglas says there are seven stages in the book publishing process, all of which are rife with potential pitfalls.
Stage One: The book idea
Whether you have one burning idea you’ve always wanted to write, or 25 wildly different ideas for a book, your first task is to find a focus. Ask yourself, says Douglas: what is the best project for me, for the reader and for a potential publisher right now? One potential pitfall here, she says, is not taking the time to assess your idea. Will anyone actually want to buy this book?
Read the rest of this post »
Posted on November 27, 2018 at 6:00 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: Advice, book publishing, Marketing yourself, pitching, writing advice
