Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer July 19-25
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- Kirstine Stewart leaving job as Twitter vice president [Toronto Star]
- How to be a faster writer [LinkedIn]
- We need to talk about The Walrus in the room [J-Source]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- 7 Ways to Be a Successful Freelancer—and Book More Repeat Assignments [Mediabistro]
- 18 Unusual Habits of Famous Writers [Freelance Writing Gigs]
- Here are 6 reasons why newspapers have dropped their paywalls [Nieman Lab]
- 5 Things To Do When Business Slows Down This Summer [Freelance to Freedom Project]
- The Freelancer’s Guide to Smartphone Photography [The Freelancer]
- 5 client red flags you should never ignore [Freelancers Union]
- 5 Ways to Reinvigorate Your Small Business During a Summer Slump [Fundbox]
Last week on Story Board:
- The Born Freelancer on Averting Deadline Disaster After Data Loss: For a writer on a deadline it’s probably the worst nightmare imaginable. You have just spent hours honing your latest work. It could be the result of a glitch in your software. Or a sudden loss of household power. Or even that nearby cold cup of coffee suddenly dumping its contents into your keyboard. One moment it was all there on the screen. The next moment (or perhaps a few moments later after a reboot) your work is gone…
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.
The Born Freelancer on Averting Deadline Disaster After Data Loss
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? Your input is welcome in 
the comments.
For a writer on a deadline it’s probably the worst nightmare imaginable.
You have just spent hours honing your latest work.
It could be the result of a glitch in your software. Or a sudden loss of household power. Or even that nearby cold cup of coffee suddenly dumping its contents into your keyboard.
One moment it was all there on the screen. The next moment (or perhaps a few moments later after a reboot) your work is gone.
You feel nothing but abject panic in the pit of your stomach.
Then you remember you have always backed up – or have an automatic back up protocol in place – and the panic subsides. You can just revert to your last saved draft. Whew!
But what if you forgot to back up? Or what if your back up software somehow malfunctioned? What if you face total data loss?
You now face deadline disaster.
What do you do?
Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer July 12-18
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- Freelancers helped invent digital communications tools to build online networks [J-Source]
- Briarpatch surpasses fundraising goal [Masthead]
- Are Canadian public editors and ombuds independent enough to do their jobs? [J-Source]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- 6 Lucrative Freelance Writing Clients to Add to Your Portfolio [The Write Life]
- Social media and the changing face of conflict reporting [Journalism.co.uk]
- 5 Reasons Writing is the Worst Job Ever (And Why We Do it Anyway) [The Write Life]
- 6 freelancing rules that aren’t confusing at all [The Freelancer]
- Fox reaches settlement in landmark lawsuit over unpaid internships [Hollywood Reporter]
- 7 Ways to Be a Successful Freelancer—and Book More Repeat Assignments [Mediabistro]
Last week on Story Board:
- The 5-Minute Freelancer Q&A #31 — David Hayes: In this regular feature, Story Board asks Canadian writers to share a few details about their work habits and their strategies for navigating the ups and downs of freelance life...
- There’s gold in them thar trade mags!: As freelance writers, we often overlook trade publications as potential markets—largely because they are not visible. Rarely sold at newsstands, the majority of trade magazines are mailed directly to private audiences—usually to members of a particular trade or profession—be it doctors, pilots, bankers, bakers, embalmers, and truckers…
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.
The 5-Minute Freelancer Q&A #31 — David Hayes
In this regular feature, Story Board asks Canadian writers to share a few details about their work habits and their strategies for navigating the ups and downs of freelance life.
David Hayes (TimFinlan/Toronto Star)
David Hayes is an award-winning freelance journalist who has written four nonfiction books as well as features and articles for publications such as The Walrus, The New York Times Magazine and The Globe and Mail.
A career freelance writer, he shares his expertise through a course in feature writing at Ryerson University in Toronto as well as through the Toronto Freelance Editors and Writers listserv (TFEW) — an email listserv that he co-founded in the late ’90s.
David took the time to speak with Story Board recently about what makes a good feature pitch, the importance of freelance networks and the best opportunities for writers these days.
How did TFEW come to be?
Alex Gillis and I co-founded it. I was teaching at Ryerson full time and Alex was my student. He and another woman, a writer named Siobhan Roberts came up to me and said “it’s so lonely being a freelancer. You’re home alone all the time. You have no one to talk to. It would be really nice if a bunch of us freelancers could get together.”
Read the rest of this post »
There’s gold in them thar trade mags!
by Sandra Phinney
As freelance writers, we often overlook trade publications as potential markets—largely because they are not visible. Rarely sold at newsstands, the majority of trade magazines are mailed directly to private audiences—usually to members of a particular trade or profession—be it doctors, pilots, bankers, bakers, embalmers, and truckers.
In some cases, trade magazines are mailed to corporate stockholders, government departments, agencies, or educational institutions. Others are created as marketing tools by retail giants, and offered at checkouts or mailed to card-holding customers. My guess is there are as many trade publications as there are regular mainstream publications in Canada, so the market potential is vast.
Where to start
Remember the old adage, “Write what you know?” Add to that, “Write what you are interested in.” So, for example, if food strikes your fancy, visit cooking schools, food technology centres, processors and restaurants—and get copies of the trade publications they subscribe to.
Sure—writing for some trade journals can be a bit technical and dry. Penning a story about basement waterproofing for a construction magazine or the latest feeding technology for pigs for a farm publication may not appear to be very scintillating. Yet, weave in a little human interest and even dry topics can be a lot of fun. I once had an editor ask if I would write about funeral co-ops. Turned out to be fascinating.
Once you’ve read a handful of trade publications, you’ll notice that they frequently feature profiles. So, for example, if you know of a lawyer who has a penchant for flying kites, it could make for a great story in The Lawyer’s Weekly. Does your pharmacist collect exotic birds? Has your family doctor just come back from doing a stint for Doctors Without Borders? All worth pitching to related professional publications.
Read the rest of this post »
Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer July 5-11
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- Postmedia announces plan to reduce $648 million debt [J-Source]
- Who still believes Postmedia is Canadian controlled? [The Tyee]
- Shrinking press galleries leave little time for journalists to dig deep [J-Source]
- Briarpatch magazine supporters step up; it is going to double contributor rates [Canadian Magazines]
- Ryerson reporting project on Truth and Reconciliation makes waves [J-Source]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- Why Successful Freelancers Must Make Time for Self-Care [The Write Life]
- What to Do at Every Stage of a Late Payment [The Freelancer]
- How to pitch for the holidays [Mediabistro]
- 5 Ways to Set Yourself Up for Full-Time Freelance Writing Success [The Write Life]
- Vice Contract Requires All Rights, Photographers to Pay for Any Losses [Fstoppers]
- How BuzzFeed wants to use its social media acumen to take on the hoaxers [Nieman Lab]
Last week on Story Board:
- Freelancers helped invent digital communication tools to build online networks: Before the Internet and World Wide Web became fully commercialized in the mid-1990s, freelance writers and photographers began using computer networks as organizing tools as early as 1992…
- New monthly payment option for CMG Freelance members: Good news, CMG Freelance members: there’s now a brand new way to pay your dues…
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.
New monthly payment option for CMG Freelance members
Good news, CMG Freelance members: there’s now a brand new way to pay your dues.
You’ve still got the option of paying the annual fee of $150. But if you’d prefer to pay on a monthly basis, you can pay $15 per month for your freelance union membership.
The monthly dues option gives you access to all of the benefits of membership — except for the CMG Freelance media card. To be eligible for the media card, you’ll need to pay annually because the card’s expiry date is linked to your annual membership renewal date.
Interested in joining our freelance union? You can apply here or check out this page for more information about the benefits of membership.
And if you’ve been thinking of joining, now is a great time to take the plunge. While supplies last, we’re offering a welcome package that includes our “Exposure Bucks” t-shirt, a notepad and pen and some other CMG Freelance goodies.
If you have any questions about membership please feel free to contact CMG Freelance president Don Genova at freelance@cmg.ca.
Freelancers helped invent digital communications tools to build online networks
This post is the sixth in a series called “E-Lancer Writes,” exploring the working conditions, rights, and collective organizing strategies of freelance journalists, interns, and other low-wage or temporary digital media workers.
By Errol Salamon 
Before the Internet and World Wide Web became fully commercialized in the mid-1990s, freelance writers and photographers began using computer networks as organizing tools as early as 1992.
Even before rights-grabbing contracts became the strong concern they are today for freelancers in Europe and North America, and before freelancers launched social media campaigns to resist these contracts, they formed online networks to express their concerns.
Freelancers go online
British and Irish freelancers of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), which has represented freelancers since 1951, launched an electronic communications network in 1992 called NUJnet. The NUJ became the first union in the UK to use online tools to communicate with its members and to encourage members to communicate with each other, wrote international trade unionist Eric Lee in his book The Labour Movement and the Internet: The New Internationalism.
NUJnet was the first online tool to organize freelancers. It was created even before the Mosaic web browser was released in 1993 and helped popularize the Internet.
Read the rest of this post »
Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer June 28-July 4
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- The BBC is coming to Canada [Poynter]
- Global Reporting Centre, a new nonprofit, wants to tell the world’s biggest untold stories [Poynter]
- BBC announces new investments in Canada [BBC]
- A rough 24 hours for Canadian media: BuzzFeed and Global retreat [Nieman Lab]
- Briarpatch magazine needs $15,000 to keep publishing [J-Source]
- BuzzFeed Canada closing Ottawa bureau [J-Source]
- Heritage minister drafts advisory panel to help her consider sweeping changes to cultural policy [Canadian Magazines]
- BuzzFeed Canada to close Parliament Hill bureau [Globe and Mail]
- Publishers prepare for possibility of Canada Post strike [Masthead]
- How Toronto Life’s publisher plays Moneyball [J-Source]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- How to tell when a spark of inspiration is worth pursuing [Freelancers Union]
- What news organisations can do to protect journalists reporting from conflict zones [Journalism.co.uk]
- Media coalition pushes to increase safety for freelance journalists [IJNet]
- Freelance Writers: How to Take Time Off (Yes, Really!) [The Write Life]
- The “no shame” formula for rising from failure [Freelancers Union]
Last week on Story Board:
- Writers speak out against The Walrus’s new freelance agreement: At some point this year – it’s not clear precisely when – The Walrus began offering an updated freelance contract to its contributors. Some aspects of the supposedly improved Walrus agreement once again have Canadian freelancers speaking out against contract clauses that infringe on their rights…
- Another freelancer alleges “idea appropriation” by The Walrus: During the past year, management at The Walrus magazine has been accused of poor treatment of staff and freelancers. This month, another freelance writer has come to Story Board with new allegations…
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.
Writers speak out against The Walrus’s new freelance agreement
Last fall, The Walrus’s contributor agreement came under scrutiny during what is referred to by many freelancers as “the Alex Gillis affair.”
The incident – which you can read about in detail on Canadaland – led to a discussion on the Toronto Freelance Editors and Writers listserv about kill fees and “idea appropriation.”
Literary agent Derek Finkle weighed in on the subject on TFEW, commenting that “Writers should be paid in full for changes in direction outside of their control” and that the language in The Walrus’s kill fee clause contributes to “condescending behavior” towards freelance writers.
Finkle’s note was followed by a message from Walrus editor-in-chief Jonathan Kay, who invited Finkle to meet with him and discuss his concerns.
Finkle met with Kay to discuss the contract. But although Kay assured him he would contact him again once a new draft was prepared, Finkle said he never heard back about the changes Kay intended to make.
At some point this year – it’s not clear precisely when – The Walrus began offering an updated freelance contract to its contributors. Some aspects of the supposedly improved Walrus agreement once again have Canadian freelancers speaking out against contract clauses that infringe on their rights.
Read the rest of this post »
