Freelance Training: Secrets to Success
New to freelancing? Think it might be in your future? You’ll get some tips of the trade from some of the best in the biz in this session. You’ll find out how to find work, what editors expect from freelancers today and how to negotiate pay. You’ll also get some helpful resources you can use. Join us…
April 28, 2 p.m. Eastern
Download the call here.
Call in and listen to the call: Dial 1-619-326-2753 West Coast. Access Code: 639030.
Moderator:
Daniel P. Ray is editor in chief of CreditCards.com, a personal finance website focusing on credit and debt issues. He has been writing and editing consumer-oriented stories about money and personal finance for 15 years. He started his career at The Miami Herald, and before joining CreditCards.com, he was editor in chief at Bankrate.com. Dan has won multiple awards, including six Best in Business awards from SABEW. He was one of the 25 online personal finance editors invited to the Personal Finance Online Summit, an event held at the White House in 2011 and again 2012.
Dan has worked with freelance writers for 20 years and even was one himself briefly, until he discovered that while freelancing offers great freedom, chief among them is the freedom to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Speakers:
Jonathan Blum is a full time, independent professional writer based in New York City the creator of #DigitalSkeptic, His current clients include TheStreet, Entrepreneur Magazine, Crain’s New York Business, and several corporate customers. His book Beating The Algos” the #DigitalSkeptic’s™ Survival Guide to the Information Economy is due out later this year.
Jennie L Phipps is editor and publisher of Freelance Success. She says that she is not retired, but she writes about it – all the time. She is a contributing editor for Bankrate.com, covering retirement topics and blogging daily about retirement. Recently, she has also blogged about retirement for Allstate Insurance and Discover.com.
In the last couple of years, her regular clients have included custom marketing company NewsCred, McGraw-Hills’ construction weekly ENR (Engineering News Weekly), the American Moving and Storage Association’s Direction magazine, Investor’s Business Daily’s technology section, MediaWhiz, MLive.com, The New York Post, and Agence France-Press.
In the last few years, she has also contributed regularly to HGTV, the National Association of Realtors, Better Investing, Sunset Custom Publishing, McMurry/TMG custom media, Crain Communications, Imagination Publishing, and The New York Times marketing department.
For the last 15 years, she has published a weekly subscription newsletter and online community, FreelanceSuccess.com, whose members are mostly former staffers for newspapers and magazines who now freelance for a living. The mission of Freelance Success is to help subscribers figure out how to make a good living from their editorial skills. In another life, she worked for Gannett Co. Inc., for 20 years, the last 10 as the editor-in-chief of a succession of mid-size dailies you’ve never heard of. She divides her time between Florida and Michigan.
Michelle V. Rafter is a Portland, Ore., business journalist covering work, tech and cars, and a freelance editorial project manager. She writes a twice monthly careers column for the Orange County Register and new Los Angeles Register, and contributes to Edmunds.com, Workforce Management and Westways. Her stories have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, MSN Money, NBCNews.com, Purple Clover, Entrerpreneur.com, Inc.com, among other consumer and business publications. She also works as a contract editor and editorial project manager for such organizations as AAA, Great Place to Work Institute, creator of the annual Best Places to Work list; SmartBrief, Federated Media and Street Fight.
A long-time self-employed reporter, Rafter started WordCount: Freelancing in the Digital Age in January 2008 to discuss writing basics, tech tools for writers and what freelancers need to be successful today. WordCount has been recognized as a top 10 freelance blog by blogRank, a top 10 writing blog by Writing White Papers, and a top 40 freelance writing blog by oDesk. WordCount has been a member of the BlogHer advertising network since February 2010.
Rafter belongs to the Online News Association, American Society of Journalists and Authors, American Society of Business Publication Editors, and SABEW.
From WordCount: Freelancing in the Digital Age
Articles provided by Michelle Rafter.
On Research, Reporting and Interviewing
http://michellerafter.com/2012/11/27/7-steps-to-becoming-a-trend-spotting-ace/
http://michellerafter.com/2011/10/04/getting-sources-to-talk-secrets-from-an-ex-fbi-profiler/
http://michellerafter.com/2008/02/05/asking-the-hard-question-top-10-interview-tips/
http://michellerafter.com/2011/05/25/12-insider-interview-tips-from-2-accomplished-writers/
http://michellerafter.com/2011/01/19/8-secrets-for-getting-better-haro-query-results/
http://michellerafter.com/2009/05/18/new-ways-to-use-linkedin-to-find-story-sources/
http://michellerafter.com/2012/06/28/dear-wordcount-is-it-ok-to-conduct-interviews-via-email/
http://michellerafter.com/2011/01/05/goodbye-google-8-internet-search-alternatives/
http://michellerafter.com/2013/02/06/8-online-search-tips-from-research-ninja-marshall-kirkpatrick/
On Writing
http://michellerafter.com/2013/02/20/writing-basics-the-lead/
http://michellerafter.com/2013/08/15/back-to-basics-the-nut-graph/
http://michellerafter.com/2008/11/20/why-good-writing-is-all-about-context/
http://michellerafter.com/2011/02/07/writing-basics-the-deck/
http://michellerafter.com/2010/07/12/back-to-writing-basics-the-quote/
http://michellerafter.com/2013/06/02/how-to-write-fast/
http://michellerafter.com/2010/07/21/more-tips-for-writin-fast/
http://michellerafter.com/2013/06/16/a-few-words-on-writing-short/
http://michellerafter.com/2014/01/30/exorcise-filler-words-from-your-writing/
http://michellerafter.com/2010/12/02/how-to-keep-your-writing-fresh/
http://michellerafter.com/2012/09/11/4-simple-steps-writers-can-take-to-become-better-proofreaders/
http://michellerafter.com/2008/09/12/7-steps-to-cutting-a-story-thats-too-long/
Famous Writers on Writing
http://michellerafter.com/2012/09/27/10-things-j-k-rowling-taught-me-about-writing/
http://michellerafter.com/2011/10/12/10-writing-lessons-from-annie-proulx/
http://michellerafter.com/2011/05/04/my-5-favorite-books-on-writing/
http://michellerafter.com/2012/11/19/6-writing-lessons-from-barbara-kingsolver/
Additional information from Jennie Phipps:
For pricing info, I recommend Laurie Lewis’ What to Charge: Pricing Strategies for Freelancers and Consultants – Paperback
Accountant June Walker’s Tax Advice for the Self-Employed. She has lots of free tools and an inexpensive record-keeping system
Kelly James-Enger’s Six-Figure Freelancing – a great book for anyone trying to get a freelance business off the ground.
Michelle Rafter’s WordCount, a website that concentrates on practical ways to find work and up-to-date skills information.
Subscribe to Freelance Success — participating in the forums and exploring the information in the newsletter will help you figure out how to make your business more profitable.
For more information on “Freelance Training: Secrets to Success,” contact Mary Jane Pardue, mjpardue@missouristate.edu or 417-836-8834 or Kimberly Quillen at kimberlyquillen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8280.
Presented as a member service by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
