Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer August 11-17
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:
- CMG registers as a third party in the federal election [CMG]
- PWAC Chat: All about setting fees [Storify] (via @SueHorner)
- What freelance work looks like in Germany vs. Canada [J-Source]
- You can boost Indigenous reporting — here’s how [Ricochet]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- Here’s 3 micropayment platforms to help fund the future of news [Journalism.co.uk]
- BuzzFeed Founder Jonah Peretti: “I Don’t Think A Union Is Right” For Staff [BuzzFeed]
- Are Podcasts the New Blogs? [The Freelancer]
- 4 tips for dealing with discouragement [Freelancers Union]
- Don’t Give Up: 5 Motivating Tips for New Freelance Writers [The Write Life]
- Who’s the leader behind the union moves at Gawker, VICE and Salon? [Poynter]
- Will The Washington Post’s New Talent Network Become the Uber of Freelancing? [The Freelancer]
- Report: Upworthy’s Lefty Owners Scared Employees Out of Unionization [Gawker]
- VICE voluntarily recognizes workers’ union [Poynter]
Last week on Story Board:
- Yellow Pages Canada offering content mill rates for app writing work: CMG Freelance is advising freelance writers across Canada not to accept work from Yellow Pages that pays in the range of 6 to 9 cents per word…
- Levelling Up as a Freelancer (or How to Spot a Turkey of a Gig): Do you know when to turn down a contract? Wait. Turn down? What?! If the very thought of turning down work seems outrageous and counterproductive, you need to read on…
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.
Yellow Pages Canada offering content mill rates for app writing work
CMG Freelance is advising freelance writers across Canada not to accept work from Yellow Pages that pays in the range of 6 to 9 cents per word.
Story Board has heard from several highly experienced writers who were approached by Yellow Pages Canada last week with an offer to write “Smart Lists” for Yellow Pages’ digital properties. The work involves compiling lists of recommended businesses for the YP Dine app and other Yellow Pages apps.
Each “Smart List” consists of up to 850 words covering 10 different local businesses. Writers are expected to cover businesses with which they have personal experience, as well as businesses that they research online. For each list, Yellow Pages is offering a flat fee of $50 plus “great exposure through our site, apps and other marketing channels.”
In case you thought Yellow Pages was a dinosaur medium, the company’s digital platforms accounted for nearly half a billion dollars in revenue in 2014.
Story Board contacted Fiona Story, Yellow Pages’ Director of Public Relations, to inquire about the reasons behind the low fees being offered for their digital content. Ms. Story responded via email.
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Levelling Up as a Freelancer (or How to Spot a Turkey)
How to quickly evaluate every freelance opportunity
by Miranda Miller
Do you know when to turn down a contract?
Wait. Turn down? What?!
If the very thought of turning down work seems outrageous and counterproductive, you need to read on.
Read the rest of this post »
Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer August 5-10
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:
- Broken Pencil magazine celebrates 20 years [Masthead]
- Evan Solomon back in political mix with new radio show on SiriusXM Canada, column in Maclean’s [Globe and Mail]
- Secret negotiations trading away CBC [CMG]
- Evan Solomon lands new politics program on radio [Toronto Star]
- Tech startup aims to connect journalists with subject experts faster [J-Source]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- 10 Smart Freelancer Tips to Use Every Day [Design Shack]
- 5 free video editing apps for journalists [Journalism.co.uk]
- Writers at Vice Media vote to unionize [WSJ]
- New service helps freelance foreign correspondents find fixers in faraway places [Poynter]
- Getting Paid By the Pageview: Good or Bad for Freelance Writers? [The Write Life]
- Why it feels like you’re always working (and how to fix it) [Freelancers Union]
- In America, only the rich can afford to write about poverty [The Guardian]
- These journalists are creating a freelance newsroom in Bushwick [Technically Brooklyn]
- How can we adequately fund independent journalism? [All Digitocracy]
- The Smarter Way to Set Freelance Writing Rates: Avoid Hourly Work [The Write Life]
- Journalists and hotel housekeepers: Why both need a union [Poynter]
- Top 10 blogs for writers [Write to Done]
- A list of hidden journalism-related social media groups [Poynter]
Last week on Story Board:
- The Deadly Sins of Freelancing: Relationships. Every successful freelancer knows that healthy professional relationships are everything. So if things aren’t going so well, perhaps it’s time to take a close look at whether you might be doing something that is annoying your editor/producer/client…
- Content Creators Coalition making inroads for artists’ rights: The Content Creators Coalition, an American organization that advocates for “creators of cultural content,” has had some success over the past few weeks with its campaign for artists’ rights…
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.
Content Creators Coalition making inroads for artists’ rights
The Content Creators Coalition, an American organization that advocates for “creators of cultural content,” has had some success over the past few weeks with its campaign for artists’ rights. In mid-July, NPR dropped out of the MIC Coalition — a group that is allegedly lobbying to reduce payments for music use — after pressure from the Content Creators Coalition and the musicFIRST Coalition.
The Content Creators Coalition’s response to NPR’s withdrawal states that the organization wants to develop a partnership with the broadcaster to develop “innovative methods of licensing that will benefit music performers, music creators and NPR listeners.”
Amazon also withdrew from the MIC Coalition in June over its focus on music pricing.
The Content Creators Coalition is now working with musicFIRST to support the Fair Play Fair Pay Act, which was introduced in U.S. Congress earlier this year. The Act would require terrestrial radio stations to pay royalties to performers as well as songwriters.
You can follow the Content Creators Coalition on Twitter or like them on Facebook to stay up-to-date on the latest news on artists’ rights and compensation.
Deadly sins of freelancing
by Lesley Evans Ogden
Relationships. Every successful freelancer knows that healthy professional relationships are everything. So if things aren’t going so well, perhaps it’s time to take a close look at whether you might be doing something that is annoying your editor/producer/client.
To dive into the pet peeves that drive these people nuts, I contacted a few editors – a completely non-random sample of people I know – and asked them to tell me what most annoys them when working with freelancers.
Remember, these individuals represent the people that give you contracts, skillfully improve your work, and send you a paycheque, so finding out what really gets under their skin could be really valuable. Maybe even lucrative. So read on…
Laura Helmuth, Science and health editor at Slate magazine
One of my main peeves is unclear subject lines. Editors get a tremendous number of emails every day (just like everybody does) and it’s really tough to tell what is a pitch from a legitimate freelancer and what is junk that we can ignore. Freelancers should always put “pitch” or “story idea” in their subject line or, to be even more clear, “freelance pitch” to specify that you’re not a PR firm pitching some idiotic new energy drink.
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Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer July 28-August 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:
- Six Summer Reads to Improve Your Freelance Business [PWAC Toronto]
- I’m calling it: Podcasting is the future of journalism [The Tyee]
- CBC journalist takes to Twitter to find live-hit harasser [J-Source]
- Women and newspapers [Canadaland]
- Five freelance journalists win hostile environment training bursaries [Journalism Forum]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- Salon agrees to recognize union, starts negotiations on contract [Poynter]
- Why Your Article Pitch Was Rejected [Make a Living Writing]
- The best ways to be productive when you’re working at home [Mashable]
- Ask a Freelancer: Help! A Client Owes Me $2,000! [The Freelancer]
- 24 Of The Worst Things You Can Say To A Writer, According To Twitter [BuzzFeed]
- There’s a Facebook group to help journalists figure out their plan B [Poynter]
- Authors tweet hilarious advice on what NOT to say to a writer [EW]
- Does Your Freelance Writing Career Need to Grow Up? 4 Ways to Tell [The Write Life]
- 11 tools to automate your day-to-day [Freelancers Union]
- A former journalist created a site to help journalists find experts [Poynter]
- 10 Reasons Why That Other Writer Always Seems to Get Ahead [Freelance Writing Gigs]
Last week on Story Board:
- The Born Freelancer Looks Back Over 4 Years: One of the greatest joys of writing a regular column like this is that your work stays online indefinitely and is there for all to read for eternity. On the other hand, one of the greatest drawbacks of writing a regular column like this is that your work stays online indefinitely and is there for all to read for eternity…
- The 5-Minute Freelancer Q&A #22 — Kayli Barth: 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.
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 Looks Back Over 4 Years – Part 1
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.
One of the greatest joys of writing a regular column like this is that your work stays online indefinitely and is there for all to read for eternity (or until the CMG forgets to renew the domain name!)
On the other hand, one of the greatest drawbacks of writing a regular column like this is that your work stays online indefinitely and is there for all to read for eternity.
I’ve been looking back over my four years of columns as “The Born Freelancer”. Some of them were pretty good, some maybe less so. But I hope all have helped many of you in some way navigate your own journey as a freelancer. For good or bad I have tried to share my experiences as honestly as possible and with as much self-awareness of my own strengths and weaknesses as I could muster.
I find myself mostly sanguine with their content. I don’t violently disagree with my past self on any crucial points. Indeed, most of the advice I wrote is still identical to what I would say if I were writing the same topics for the first time today.
But I have scribbled down some notes as I reviewed the posts. None of them are exactly earth shattering revelations but rather further additional or updated comments. They are listed in no particular order.
The 5-Minute Freelancer Q&A #22 — Kayli Barth
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.
Kayli Barth is a Montreal-based freelance content marketing consultant who does a little bit of everything — from social media management to blog writing to digital marketing strategy. Last winter she decided to take full advantage of the freelance lifestyle: she gave up her apartment and moved to southeast Asia for four months. Earlier this month, as she was settling back into life in Montreal, she took the time to speak with Story Board about mentorship, working abroad, and her personal blog about freelancing.
What does a typical day of work look like for you?
Oh there’s no typical day for me! I do have a few regular clients that I’ve been working with for a long time. So if they have campaigns coming up or new product launches, program launches, whatever their business is, I work with them to develop the marketing and communications strategy for it. Some days I’m creating graphics for their Twitter or Instagram accounts and some days I’m writing blog content. Some days I’m writing an opt-in piece and designing a PDF guide. So there’s a really big variety. Email newsletters, sales copy sometimes. Creating landing pages.
So you’ve found diversifying your skills has been good for your freelance career?
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Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer July 20-27
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:
- Broken Pencil celebrates two decades of ‘zining [Canadian Magazines]
- The Syrup Trap brings its humour to print [Masthead]
- Wrongful dismissal suit by The Tyee EIC has been settled [Canadian Magazines]
- The Sad Story of Canadian Geographic [Canadaland]
- CBC urged to find new funding models [Globe and Mail]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- In public memo, Gawker founder advocates for a more humane company [Poynter]
- The ‘9 to 5’ job is going extinct [Christian Science Monitor]
- Inside the conflicted mind of a freelancer [The Freelancer]
- How to handle a time crunch [Freelancers Union]
- Citing “an inflection point in global media,” Pearson sells the Financial Times to Nikkei [Nieman Lab]
- Why Research Will Make or Break Any Journalist’s Career [The Freelancer]
- Taylor Swift makes concessions on photography contract [Poynter]
- NPAA helps revise Taylor Swift credential agreement [NPAA]
Last week on Story Board:
- Newspapers reject overreaching freelance photography contracts: Freelance photographers have something to celebrate this week: a little pushback from newspapers against overreaching contracts for concert photography…
- 7 Must-Have Social Media Tools for Freelance Writers: In my column on growing your freelance business in 2015, one of my “must-haves” for you this year was a beefed-up social media presence. So… how’s that going for you? Here are some of my favourite social media tools to help you on your way…
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.
