Freelance Cafe member Erik Castro won first place in the The National Press Photographers Association monthly peer-reviewed multimedia contest recently. Check it out!
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1st place Individual Audio Slideshow – Musical Maycie Erik Castro Notes: A blind girl’s life in a children’s orchestra (published 10-02-09 Press Democrat) |
News writers are in a helluva fix. Despite spanking brand new news websites, micro-local blogging and dedicated journalism programs trying to figure out how to attract and retain readers, the future is bleak for writers. For it is a future which includes diminishing career prospects.
The fundamental nature of the paid writing career is being turned upside down with these emerging business models. That’s because none of them effectively address the issue of paying writers a living wage. Almost non existent in most of these new programs is any opportunity for advancement within the company or organization.
The labor is cheap for news sites and organizations. The unions are weak and there are few pennies being thrown to writers.
For most writers the future is freelance. The future is without benefits. The future is pay based on how many people click your story. The future is you get your $50 per story, shoot art for that story, hyperlink like mad, and get happy.
The ongoing changes have been fast and furious for writers. Besides layoffs at newspapers, periodicals and other news organizations, writers have had to grapple with learning new technology all the while finding that there are fewer outlets for their work.
Back in the day, journalism was one of the few stable careers that paid writers. Once the work of the blue collar set, by the late 70s journalism had been embraced as a career choice for college graduates. By the late 90s, it was very rare to find a journalist who had not attended university.
And while the pay was always low, at many places there was a nurturing of talent, some advancement opportunity, and the pride of covering your community and feeling like you were part of something larger. It was a career and a community. If I met a reporter from Miami, or Iowa, or Bakersfield, I felt a kinship with that beat reporter or editor.
That’s all over. From my vantage point, you’d be a straight up and down psycho to want to get into news reporting if you’re a young pup. Where’s the payoff? Yeah you got 250 to read your story (if you’re lucky), but you’re still ass broke with huge college loans. What happens when you reach your 40s and you want to settle down and buy a house?
There will always be news organizations like the NY Times that can scrape up the cream young journalists and pay them a nice salary. But, the majority of original reporting is done at the local level and I can guarantee you that unless new programs invest and nurture their talent, there will soon be a steep decline in news quality.
Locally, the Bay Area News Project seems like it will pay a living wage and that is very good. But that project is very much the exception. Right now the Baby Boomers are retiring and the Gen Xers are fleeing journalism fast as they can.
Jennifer Inez Ward
oaklandscene.blogspot.com/
Hello freelancers. Unfortunately I missed the boat on this one (the launch was yesterday) but I hope you’ll check out the site regardless. KALW is doing some fantastic work in the Bay Area and they are VERY good to freelancers – lots of opportunity there. They are currently looking for community correspondents from various places around the Bay, so check out the below and contact “Zoe Corneli” if you have questions. Best, Mia 845-444-4034 (new cell)
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Hi there,
I work with the news team at KALW Public Radio in San Francisco, and we are launching our new local digital news magazine today! I was hoping you could take a few minutes to check it out, and if you so desire, blog or tweet about it or post on Facebook before 7 p.m. tonight. (We’d like to try to coordinate so everyone is talking about it at the same time.)
Here’s a little background:
Since 2003, KALW News has expanded while other news organizations cut back. Now, www.KALWNews.org combines our award-winning news and arts stories with blogs, photos, social media, interactivity, and mapping. We also feature the growing numbers of Bay Area hyper-local journalism outlets for you to check out, as well as a digest of mainstream local news sources. Visitors can submit their own content and use the collaborative “Fixipedia” tool to help generate solutions to issues in the news. The site really aims to capture the essence of what it is to live in the Bay Area. And, to do it better and more comprehensively, we need you! This is public interest media, and your interests matter to us.
If you have a moment to take a look and you like it — or even if you don’t
Hey folks. A couple posts courtesy of the Freelancer’s Guild. There has been some confusion in the past about this, so let me clarify: the Freelancer’s Guild is a separate organization (part of the CA Media Workers Guild) that has its own organizers, events, posts, etc. They are doing some great work for Bay Area freelancers, including trying to get a group health insurance policy, so if you haven’t already, check out their website and join up: http://guildfreelancers.org/gf/
We are Freelance Cafe, a group that started out as a social network and has since turned into an information sharing listserv and community. All of the posts to Freelance Cafe are copied to the Freelancer’s Guild, and while we share a lot of information and resources, we remain two separate entities. If you have any questions about this, please contact me or Sara Steffens <modernsara@gmail.com>, the Freelancer’s Guild organizing guru.
Hope all who attended had a great time at the holiday party, and happy holidays from the very COLD northeast! Best, Mia ___________________________
Topic: Stock photo company?
Is anyone familiar with Cavan Images? They have been posting on Craiglist looking for new contributors, and their Web site claims that their photographers regularly earn $500 – $1000 per day: http://www.cavanimages.com/blog/?page_id=931 * Here’s the latest Craigslist ad:*
Who we are: Cavan Images is a wholly owned image library that buys and commissions work from talented photographers. Photographer’s can either submit images they have shot on their own or, with a proven track record, can be selected for commissioned projects.
What we are looking for: – Assistants and those just breaking out. This is an excellent way to make money using your camera instead of pushing someone else’s lights around. – Professionals looking for a great way to help subsidize the costs of your travels and various personal projects.
Benefits: – Photographer’s that are working with us have free access to the latest digital gear to help pull a shoot together. We currently have Canon 5D mark II kits, which include a 24-70mm 2.8 and a 70-200mm 2.8, plus plenty of flash cards. – Any imagery that we choose to add to our collection will be retouched by one of most highly respected retouching studios around. These retouched images will be returned to you for your own self-promotional and fine art needs. – As our company expands and our outreach grows we will continue to help market photographers working with us through our website and contacts in the photographic community.
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/med/1503605375.html
Topic: Kundiman Poetry Prize for Asian American writers
Kundiman announces Poetry Prize The Kundiman Poetry Prize for Asian American writers New York- Kundiman, Inc. is pleased to announce the inauguration of the Kundiman Poetry Prize in partnership with Alice James Books.
The prize is open to emerging and established Asian American poets. The award of $2,000, publication of the winning manuscript, and sponsorship of a reading make this a highly desirable prize. Submissions are accepted from November 15, 2009 to January 15, 2010. Guidelines for submission are available to http://www.kundiman.org/%5BCLB%5D_Brightside/1.Source/prize.html Alice James Books is a cooperative poetry press with a mission is to seek out and publish the best contemporary poetry by both established and beginning poets, with particular emphasis on involving poets in the publishing process. For more on Alice James Books, go to http://www.alicejamesbooks.org/ . Kundiman was founded in 2002 to provide opportunities for Asian American poets to perfect their skills through education and performance and to promote Asian American literature as a vital part of American letters. Its programs include a summer poetry retreat, held annually since 2004 and a reading series in New York City.
Kundiman’s partnership with Alice James Books for The Kundiman Poetry Prize is made possible through the support of Fordham University. For more information on Kundiman, go to http://www.kundiman.org .
Hey folks. This is from a colleague of mine in Philly. If any of you print folks have a minute to drop her a line, I would really appreciate it! Thx, Mia
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Hello print freelancers!
I have a favor to ask–I am a student in a master’s program at the J School at Temple University and am currently taking my Comm Law requirement. For one of my assignments I am reviewing and analyzing a freelance copyright case from 2001 (New York Times v. Tasini). I am looking to talk to someone who has an opinion about the impact of the Court’s decision–whether good or bad–and has been affected by the decision.
In short, believe it or not, Wikipedia sums the decision up pretty well: ” New York Times Co. v. Tasini , is a leading decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of copyright in the contents of a newspaper database. It held that The New York Times , in licensing back issues of the newspaper for inclusion in electronic databases such as LexisNexis, could not license the works of free-lance journalists contained in the newspapers.”
I’d be happy to talk to someone by e-mail or phone. My assignment is due next week, so if you’re interested, please contact me by next Tuesday, October 27, at the latest.
Thank you!
Tori Indivero
tori.indivero@gmail.com
610.316.0745
There are only two things I miss about working in a regular office job (besides regular interaction with the rest of the working world, of course).
1) IT – Tech Support. I can’t even count the number of hours I’ve spent tearing my hair out over some computer problem that an IT department could fix in minutes. Or how many hours I’ve spent on the phone with obnoxious “help” desks that are horribly misnamed. My own personal IT department is number one on my freelance wish list.
2) HR. Granted, HR departments can be a big pain in the ass, but generally, they help you get paid, on time, and work out all those little details like taxes, benefits, vacation time, and personal/medical leave. I had a baby last May, and I just assumed that because I work for myself, I wasn’t entitled to any kind of maternity or other medical benefits, even though I pay hefty self-employment taxes. Turns out freelancers do qualify for maternity benefits under the Paid Family Leave program (part of State Disability). Only hitch is that you have to pay for related but separate California’s Disability Insurance Elective Coverage. (Essentially, you pay in a certain percentage based on what you make, and if you go on leave, you get back a certain percentage of what you would be making if you were working. The rates are pretty reasonable and the benefit certainly seems worth it.)
I have no idea how I was supposed to know this. It’s not like I could sit down and have a meeting with myself about the benefits available to me as a freelancer. I suppose when I became self-employed I should have done more research about what was available to me and what wasn’t. But mostly I was just trying to get PAID (and keep my equipment running.)
Now I know. And hopefully someone else can benefit from my lack of foresight.
I’m trying to figure out how this site can best serve freelancers. My original idea was to create a go-to place for people looking for freelancers in various fields. They could come to the site, scroll through the links on the right, find the freelancer that best meets their needs, and contact the freelancer directly.
The other option is to make this site an overall resource for freelancers – using the lists on the right to link to resources for each field – how to sites, pitching and pricing guidelines, funding and awards opportunities, legal advice, inspiration, etc.
mediabistro.com and others are already doing this, though you definitely have to do a bit of searching to find the information you’re looking for. I would like this site to be more straightforward.
Ultimately, I would love to include both links to freelancers and links for freelancers, but I fear that would be too much information for one page.
Thoughts?
For those of you who saw the old freelancecafe.org website, you’ll understand why I made this change. I know there are better options than a blogger blog for a website, but this is what I know and I’m sticking with it for now. If anyone feels like kicking down about $10k for a real website, let me know.
In the meantime, I’m hoping to make this site as useful for freelance folks as I can, so feel free to send me links to useful resource sites or your own websites/blogs and I’ll add it this site.
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted to this blog and a lot has changed. Most importantly, Freelance Cafe is thriving on Facebook and the email list has grown to more than 150 members. We recently merged with a journalism MeetUp group in San Francisco, and the gatherings are getting bigger by the month. (We had at least 30 people at our holiday party, mostly thanks to the amazing friends-seeing-other-friends-attending-an-event phenomenon of Facebook.)
We have our first official workshop coming up on Feb. 10 – a tax seminar. And we have other workshops/events in the works. This is exciting! Clearly there are others out there who are as eager as I am to connect with other freelancers. And I will continue to do my best to make that happen.
For now, the blog is back. Stay tuned.
Another resource to offer members – group discounts for the Chicago Manual of Style online. I’m sure there are similar sites/discounts for AP and other style guides.
Small user-group prices:
| 2–5 users | $25.00 per user if the group subscribes by September 30, 2007 |
|---|---|
| 6–10 users | 10% discount – $22.50 per user if the group subscribes by September 30, 2007 |
| 11–15 users | 15% discount – $21.25 per user if the group subscribes by September 30, 2007 |
| 16–20 users | 20% discount – $20.00 per user if the group subscribes by September 30, 2007 |