Description
Book SynopsisFreelancers make up one of the fastest-growing groups of workers in North America. But, in today’s fractured and quick-paced media industry, where do you start? This book is a guide for journalism students, recent graduates, and early-career journalists looking to better understand both the creative and business sides of freelance work in Canada and the US. Learn how to develop your personal brand, how to pitch to different types of publications and media outlets, and how to plan for your financial future as a freelancer (yes, it's possible!).
Practical and easy to read, The New Journalist's Guide combines more than a decade of the author’s personal experience as a freelance journalist with the perspectives of freelancers and experts across Canada and the US in a range of fields.
Trade Review“Meg Wilcox has managed to take the complexity out of a career path that intimidates so many journalists. Packed with sharp advice on everything from pitching stories to protecting your rights, The New Journalist’s Guide to Freelancing should be on every freelancer’s shelf, right next to the thesaurus and stylebook. I wish I could go back in time and give it to my younger self to save me from lost time, money, and embarrassing mistakes.” — Omar Mouallem, multimedia journalist and bestselling author of Praying to the West: How Muslims Shaped the Americas
“Finally, a guide for freelancers that not only illuminates professional practices that can seem opaque yet also shines a light on issues of labour, power, and equity. Along with trade tips and engaging profiles, freelancers will gain the vital insight that, in today’s tumultuous journalism industry, you don’t have to go it alone.” — Nicole Cohen, Associate Professor, University of Toronto, author of Writers’ Rights: Freelance Journalism in a Digital Age
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: What is freelance work? MEET A FREELANCER: Anupa Mistry, writer and producer
- Chapter 2: Building your brand … and your network. MEET A FREELANCER: Gabe Bergado, editor and writer
- Chapter 3: Ready, set, pitch! MEET A FREELANCER: Jeremy Klaszus, writer and founder of The Sprawl
- Chapter 4: It's Business Time. MEET A FREELANCER: Erin Lowry, financial writer and author of the Broke Millennial series
- Chapter 5: Freelance Business Basics. MEET A FREELANCER: Trevor Solway, filmmaker
- Chapter 6: Tax Time. MEET A FREELANCER: Kat Eschner, freelance science and business journalist
- Chapter 7: Navigating the law as a freelancer. MEET A FREELANCER: Rebecca Collard, broadcast journalist and writer
- Chapter 8: Contracts and negotiations. MEET A FREELANCER: Omar Mouallem, nonfiction writer and filmmaker
- Chapter 9: Freelance work in the bigger picture. MEET A FREELANCER: Desmond Cole, independent journalist, activist, and author
- Last Thoughts
