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The Unconvential Guide to Freelance Journalism: Part 2 – setting up the business
So in Part 1 I explained why I wanted to answer the question of becoming a freelance journalist but also clarify exactly how difficult it can be to work as a freelance journalist. In this part I am going to tell you what, in Australia at least, you need in order to become a freelance journalist and to set up a business. Business type And the first thing you need to know is that yes, you are starting a business. And that you can be all by yourself as a sole trader, work with a couple of others in a partnership arrangement or set up a company with yourself working…
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The Unconvential Guide to Freelance Journalism: Part 1- demystifying the entire thing
A couple of weeks ago, a former university friend of mine (she was doing her BA, I was doing my MA) got in touch with me and asked me to meet her for coffee. I said “Sure!” And we did and she asked me a question: “How do I get into freelancing?” This was someone who has a job at a pretty top end publication but for whom it is a bit too stressful and not quite working out to be what she wants to write about. So I understand why she was asking me the question. I understand why she was considering the freelancing option. But I had to…
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53 free ways for science journalists to brush up on their science… and counting
This is a list of FREELY AVAILABLE basic science primers, courses and videos that science journalists can take to brush up on their beats/niches/topics of interest. NOTE 1: MOOCS = Massive open online courses = free, short, online, provided by universities to give you a primer in the basics of a scientific topic of study. Both MOOCs and the Coursera courses will use Youtube videos so don’t eliminate them on that basis. NOTE 2: Coursera courses vary in length and whether you get a certificate at the end and are offered at different times so some of the ones listed below may drop off and on again depending on when…
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How to write a book: Part 1: Introduction
Three years is a long time. Three years ago, I was asked to run an online group on how to write books. The posts ended up here. A lot has changed in three years. It’s time to re-issue the posts with updated information. So for the next few weeks, every Wednesday (or for some of you, Tuesday night) there will be a post to do with writing a book, answering a specific question in your email and posted on this blog. What’s your part in this? Well, you are welcome to sit back and read the posts but you can also participate. You don’t need to be writing a book,…
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How to tell if you are a writer
You have at least three library memberships and at least three different piles of books that are overdue and need to be returned. You get excited at the idea of getting a higher borrowing limit at the library than usual. You have a thing bordering on an obsession bordering on a fetish for pens. And your-kind-of-pretty notebooks. You may or may not have amassed a collection of these without quite knowing what you will fill them with it. You are a member of an online fandom. At least one. You write fanfiction for it. And delight in the response of others along the lines of how good you are…
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How to have an adventure
Because I had this conversation with my ex-college dormmate from the US: ECD: So what’s happening with you? Me: Nothing much – I am in the middle of packing because I am moving. ECD: Moving? Where to? Which country? Are you done with Australia? Me: *very sheepishly* Um, no, I am going from the city centre to the next door suburb. Fremantle to East Fremantle. ECD: That is still an adventure. You are travelling across the world! I haven’t done that yet. Which brings me to my next point. An adventure is what you make it. Here is another conversation I had with one of my Australian friends a few years ago: So what…
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14 easy rules to simplify your workflow and life as a freelancer
It occurred to me after this post a couple of weeks ago that it might be more useful to discuss in depth the practical but psychological/thought pattern/behavioural tips that you can adopt to help you be more efficient as a freelancer. I have discussions with people all the time over the way they set up their work and the rules they tend to live by in order to run their business. It differs each time. This is how it works for me.
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Caitlyn Nicholas' Drive Me To Distraction
Note: Apologies for missing one week, readers. I was ill. Hopefully, I will catch up fast. I didn’t intend to read romance novels for the challenge. Romance novels are not really my thing. Mostly because I have had past bad experience with many a cliche and many a bodice being ripped by some soldier in the 1800s. But then I got a link sent to me for Caitlyn Nicholas’ Kindle version of Drive Me To Distraction. And for once it wasn’t a cover image of a couple in a wanted/unwanted embrace. It was a car and a woman dressed in jeans staring straight at you. Also there was “distraction” in the title…
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How to network at an editors' conference
Or any other conference really. And by network, I mean meet, chatter, gossip with, not just pop up, deliver your 15 word elevator speech, exchange cards and dash off again. And for those who are still a bit behind, this is the 6th National IPEd Editors’ Conference we are discussing which will be held in Perth in Fremantle in April 2013. In about three months’ time in other words. Before the conference (one is assuming you have already registered for it): Find the program – I have made it easy for you, it’s here. Check out the list of who will be there as speakers and presenters for each session.…
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How to cover a conference as a journalist
Since I am both organising a conference and attending a few for work purposes, I thought I’d write something to help journalists on how to cover a conference. This is the latest one I got invited to recently. The invite and the pitch Two days ago, I got an email in my inbox from a PR/conference organising company I had never heard of before, inviting me to the National Carbon Capture and Storage Conference that will be held on the coming Monday and Tuesday. The first thing to do with such invites if they are potentially interesting is to handball them to your editor. In this case, this meant contacting…
