Allie Wilkinson: A “how did you do it?” profile.
by Lesley Evans Ogden
Allie Wilkinson is a Washington DC based freelance science journalist. I met her at a freelancer workshop called Courage Camp in Colorado in August 2014, and since that time, I’ve followed her online and seen her career flourish.
Wilkinson is the founder of a blog called, “This is what a scientist looks like,” a project designed to challenge stereotypes about our perceptions of scientists. Her work also appears in places like Scientific American, Popular Science, Wired, Discover, Science, National Geographic News, Slate, and Popular Mechanics.
Over the past year she has also broken in at Nature, earned as spot as a contributor at Forbes, and published her first article in the New York Times.
Those are pretty impressive additions to any journalists’ resumé, so I was intrigued to find out how she went about cultivating these new opportunities.
The following are excerpts from my recent interview with Wilkinson.
Was there a particular strategy that you took in approaching these new places?
Two of the opportunities came about through networking. With Nature, I actually met the editor at Trivia Night at the National Press Club. Friends had taken me along. I was not thinking of it in a professional capacity, and then during introductions, I found out that one of the people on our team was an editor. She was very interested in having environmental reporters, so she gave me her card.
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Forum on unpaid internships in Vancouver on November 4
Unpaid work has become increasingly normalized over the past few years. Internships are seen as valuable opportunities that offer a way for workers — especially younger ones — to break into many different industries. But they are also insecure, lacking in oversight and potentially exploitative. Where should we draw the line on unpaid internships? A forum in Vancouver next week will address that question and look at the ways in which organizations can help advocate for fair working conditions.
Confronting Internships: A Forum on Reforming Unpaid Work is a celebration to launch a special issue of the Journal tripleC called Interrogating Internships: Unpaid Work, Creative Industries, and Higher Education. The event is scheduled for Wednesday, November 4 from 7 to 9pm at the SFU Centre for Dialogue (580 West Hastings St.).
Enda Brophy, Assistant Professor with SFU’s School of Communication, is one of the event’s organizers. He says that, unlike Ontario, western Canada hasn’t yet seen much public debate around the politics of internships.
“In organizing this forum we are aiming to bring attention to this urgent topic, but also to begin a conversation on how the internship system can best be transformed to suit the needs of the countless young people for whom it has become a necessary (and often exploitative) stepping stone to accessing their jobs of choice,” he told Story Board this week via email.
Forum speakers will include John Arthur (board member of the Canadian Intern Association), Eric Glatt (a founding member of Intern Labor Rights in the United States), and Iain Reeve (an organizer at the Generation Squeeze campaign, a project lobbying for more stable living and working conditions for young Canadians).
The event is free to attend. For more information or to RSVP, check out this Eventbrite page.
Follow the Money: How to Find Clients & Structure Deals for Freelance Success
by Miranda Miller
Ah, the freelance life… lazing on the beach, trying not to tip the hammock as you reach for that one last piña colada you’ll allow yourself before settling in for your two hours of afternoon writing.
Or maybe you’re the type of freelancer who bakes all day, between keeping a spotless house and nurturing impeccable gardens, with all that time you spend at home.
Okay, time for a reality check.
So, About That…
In truth, the vast majority of people who have left the 9-5 grind in search of this idyllic freelance life have quickly learned that it’s not all sunshine and lollipops. Internet gurus promise vast riches in a 10-hour work week, but in truth, only the top 19% of American freelancers make $50,000 or more, including the 5% of freelancers smashing through the six-figure ceiling.
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Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer Oct 20-26
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 cancels evening tablet editions [J-Source]
- Postmedia targets cost-cutting as it seeks new revenue streams [Globe and Mail]
- New research: print magazine readers outnumber digital 2 to 1 [Magazines Canada]
- Freed Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy sets sights on change [J-Source]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- As reporter networks fragment, startup seeks to fill gap [Poynter]
- Why I Hired an Editor to Help Me Polish My Personal Essay [The Write Life]
- Working From Home: Awesome or Awful? [The Atlantic]
- Can WordRates Help You Earn More Money as a Freelance Journalist? [The Write Life]
- Why HuffPo and other ‘new’ media journalists are choosing unions [The Conversation]
- 25 Things You Should Probably Outsource [The Freelancer]
- Story dust: Lessons learned on feature writing from Lane DeGregory [Poynter]
- Vice blacks out homepages and social media to call for the release of journalist Mohammed Rasool [Nieman Lab]
- How to Use the Pomodoro Technique as a Freelance Writer [The Write Life]
- Why some promising freelance platforms fail [IJNet]
Last week on Story Board:
- Ali Mustafa Memorial Award for freelance photojournalists application deadline Nov. 1: A new award honouring a freelance photojournalist killed in Syria is now accepting applications. The deadline to apply for the first annual Ali Mustafa Memorial Award for People’s Journalism is Sunday, November 1st…
- Debate on unpaid internships still evolving: The past few years have seen a crackdown on corporations and organizations that are still hiring unpaid interns. Despite the pushback, there is still a demand for internships, most unpaid…
- Keeping in touch with clients: The client put my business card on his desk. He had held onto it since 2003, after we had worked together on a safety newsletter. That’s right, since 2003. I was stunned…
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.
Ali Mustafa Memorial Award for freelance photojournalists application deadline Nov. 1
A new award honouring a freelance photojournalist killed in Syria is now accepting applications. The deadline to apply for the first annual Ali Mustafa Memorial Award for People’s Journalism is Sunday, November 1st.
The award is given in honour of Ali Mustafa, a Toronto freelance photojournalist who was killed in Aleppo in March 2014 while he was photographing the destruction caused by the war in Syria. His work had been featured in The Guardian, Le Nouvel Observateur, Journal du Dimanche, Les Echos, and The Times of London. He was only 29 years old when he was killed.
The award was set up by the Ali Mustafa Memorial Collective as a way to honour his memory and pay tribute to the work of freelance photographers. It seeks to support freelance photographers who are documenting social justice-related issues.
The winner of the award will receive a maximum of $3,000 to cover such costs as travel expenses, equipment, training, visa, insurance, and living expenses. The winner will also be given a one-year membership in the Canadian Media Guild’s Freelance Branch and a one-year professional membership in the News Photographers Association of Canada.
For more details about the award and how to apply, visit rememberinalimustafa.org. If you have any questions, you can send them to AliMustafaAward@gmail.com.
Debate on unpaid internships still evolving
Toronto panel discusses why, despite crackdowns, unpaid internships remain all too common.
Despite outcry over unpaid internships, people continue to debate their merits. Screenshot by J-Source.
By Marielle Torrefranca
The past few years have seen a crackdown on corporations and organizations that are still hiring unpaid interns.
Despite the pushback, there is still a demand for internships, most unpaid. Why is the demand still so strong?
That was the main question under discussion at Interns, Connect! A Forum on Upsetting Unpaid Work. The event was held in conjunction with the launch of a special issue of the open-access journal tripleC called Interrogating Internships: Unpaid Work, Creative Industries, and Higher Education.
The two-hour panel took place at the Centre for Social Innovation Annex in Toronto on Thursday, Sept. 24 and featured Andrew Langille, a labour lawyer and general counsel for the Canadian Intern Association; Josh Mandryk, director of the Canadian Intern Association; Jainna Patel, a former intern for Bell Mobility; Katherine Lapointe, an organizer of the CWA Canada’s Associate Member’s program; Deena Ladd, founder and coordinator of the Workers’ Action Centre; Carlo Fanelli, a visiting professor at Ryerson’s Department of Politics and Ella Henry, co-chair of Students Against Unpaid Internship Scams.
Under the moderation of Toronto Star’s Work and Wealth reporter Sara Mojtehedzadeh, each panellist noted that the state of the “intern issue” is in need of a fresh direction.
Are you keeping in touch with clients?
by Sue Horner
The client put my business card on his desk. He had held onto it since 2003, after we had worked together on a safety newsletter.
That’s right, since 2003. I was stunned.
As a writer, I’m thrilled to be invited to quote on new projects with someone I have worked with before. As a business owner, though, I’m embarrassed that *I* had not contacted him in all those years, just to keep in touch.
It’s true we might have lost touch anyway. He had changed companies, and the original colleague who connected us was now using an agency instead of me. But as any business owner knows, it’s easier and more pleasant all around to do more work with existing clients than to beat the bushes to find new clients.
Over at the Well-Fed Writer Blog, fellow indie Peter Bowerman described a similar situation, wondering why we lose contact with customers. He agrees there are lots of reasons why we might not work with a client any more, all of which have happened to me:
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Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer Oct 14-19
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:
- Which Party Cares About Freelancers? The Election Issue [Living Freelance]
- Canadians must demand better journalism, says CBC’s Derek Stoffel [J-Source]
- CJFE Press Conference with Mohamed Fahmy in Toronto [J-Source]
- Memo: Amanda Lang to leave CBC [J-Source]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- Meet the new ‘Yelp-like’ app for freelance writers [New York Post] (via @Romenesko)
- Key advice for young writers getting started in games journalism [Journalism.co.uk]
- 9 Things Freelancers Should Do To Get Higher Rates [Fast Company]
- How the most successful people keep track of their best ideas [Fast Company]
- How NOT to write a pitch email [Freelancers Union]
- Working on the Road: 4 Tips for Freelance Writing While Traveling [The Write Life]
Last week on Story Board:
- The Born Freelancer on Whether or Not to Believe: I was talking with a colleague recently. We were comparing notes about the freelancing life and duly complaining about this and that, when out of the blue he said, “Well, it’s not so bad for you, at least you always believe in what you’re working on”…
- Scott Carney’s WordRates to launch on Monday: Last spring we told you about the Kickstarter for WordRates, a website aimed at improving rates and working conditions for freelance writers. Since his successful Kickstarter ended, Colorado-based writer Scott Carney has been working with developers to bring WordRates to 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 on Whether or Not to Believe
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.
I was talking with a colleague recently. We were comparing notes about the freelancing life and duly complaining about this and that, when out of the blue he said, “Well, it’s not so bad for you, at least you always believe in what you’re working on”.
When I asked him to explain, he replied, “Well, I have all the same problems you do but rarely get the satisfaction of having dealt with them for something I believe in”. In other words, he was a true “gun for hire”. He didn’t necessarily have to believe in the project he was working on. As a result he had far more work and far more revenue streams than did I. Now maybe I had more “satisfaction” than he did but how relevant is that to the working freelancer with bills to pay and mouths to feed?
So I got to pondering – do you really need to believe in your work?
Scott Carney’s WordRates to launch on Monday
Last spring we told you about the Kickstarter for WordRates, a website aimed at improving rates and working conditions for freelance writers. Since his successful Kickstarter ended, Colorado-based writer Scott Carney has been working with developers to bring WordRates to life. Last week he announced that the site will launch at 8 a.m. this coming Monday, October 19th.
Carney launched the project in response to the stripping of valuable rights from freelance contracts at major magazines. He envisioned WordRates as a way to put some power back in the hands of writers.
His site has a dual purpose. The WordRates side will serve as “a Yelp! for journalists,” giving freelancers the opportunity to post information about their experiences with various publishers, including word rates and information about editors. The PitchLab side of the operation will act as a literary agency, pairing writers with mentors to workshop ideas and shop them to top magazines in exchange for a 15% commission.
Last week, Carney revealed the identities of some of his mentors – award-winning writers from The New York Times Magazine, New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Wired including Trevor Aaronson, Vince Beiser, Erin Biba, Charles Graeber, Jonathan Green, Jon Lackman, Robert Levine, Jason Miklian, Luke O’Brien, Neal Pollack, Paul Tullis and Joel Warner.
Contently ran an interview with Carney last week that explores some of the plans for PitchLab. Although the site intends to represent only the very best story pitches they’re sent, Carney hopes that WordRates will have a wider impact. His ultimate aim is to push all writers to be more aware of their value to the businesses that profit from their work.
That’s a goal we can definitely get behind. Check out Carney’s creation next week at Wordrates.com.
