The Born Freelancer on Turning a No Into a Yes
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. When selling your freelance services one of the greatest assets to possess is the ability to turn a “no” into a “yes”. Of course, […]
Freelance Friday! Selling Yourself, Selling Your Ideas
Toronto freelancers, there’s a Freelance Friday panel discussion coming up next week called Selling Yourself, Selling Your Ideas. The free event, organized by CMG Freelance, is on Friday May 23rd from 1-4 pm at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel (1 Harbour Square) in the “Pier 9” room on the hotel’s convention level. The panel on pitching, self-promotion, […]
Better now than it used to be: freelancing in Canada
by Tannara Yelland Freelancing full-time is a kind of uncertain work advisable for only serious risk-takers. Your pay is never assured. You’re at the mercy of editors who may have more pressing concerns than responding to pitches. Once you have something accepted and printed, pay can take weeks or months to get to you. […]
Incubating ideas: Where do you get your ideas and how do you organize them?
by Lesley Evans Ogden The start of a new year is an interesting time. It’s a period of looking both forward and back. For me, the dawn of 2014 marked a phase of furious pitching, which cast my mind towards wondering how other freelancers come up with story ideas. Where do their ideas come from? […]
Omar Mouallem advises budding freelancers at NASH
by Allison Leonard “There is a science to pitching freelance magazine articles,” said Omar Mouallem, a freelance magazine writer and editor who has contributed to publications including the Globe and Mail, The Walrus and Alberta Views. Last weekend, Mouallem spoke to delegates at the Canadian University Press’s annual national conference, NASH 76, in Edmonton. […]
Reuse and Recycle
by Tanya Lloyd Kyi We all have the same complaints. Newspapers are regurgitating content. Editors are reusing tired articles. Publishers are recycling old ideas. But while we writers and readers continue to push for great content, we can also steal a page from the publishing playbook. Why not see how many ways we can […]
Opportunities and Pitching — tips from The Freelancer’s Toolbox
The good news for freelancers is that there have never been more places to publish than there are right now. The bad news, as we all know, is that very few places want to pay you for your work. Food and travel writers Joanne Sasvari and Don Genova offered some advice on how to make your freelance career […]
Opportunities and Pitching — Tips from the Freelance Survival Series
Learn to sell yourself, accept all paying work, and approach new publications with your eyes wide open. Those were a few of the messages that came out of the “opportunities and pitching” session at last month’s Freelance Survival Seminar in Toronto. Writers Don Genova and Alison Garwood-Jones spent an hour sharing their experiences and offering advice to a […]
Traits of a successful freelancer. Have you got what it takes?
by Lesley Evans Ogden In May I had the good fortune of spending a week at the Santa Fe Science Writer’s Workshop. There I joined a class of 52 students whose minds were expanded by learning from top American science journalists – staff or freelancers for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, and MIT’s […]
Tips on freelancing abroad from NASH 75
by H.G. Watson Everyone has the image in their head of the glamorous foreign correspondent, working out of busy bureau and going for after work drinks at a smoke filled expat club. But as international news agencies close or make deep cuts to their international bureaus, working internationally has become more difficult for Canadians. But […]
