Tough Times for Freelancers

It always amuses me that freelancers are usually the last to be paid. After all, we buy our own (very expensive) health insurance policies, manage our own books, fix our own computers and forego vacations. Also, many of us have been forced into freelancing due to the economy. Some of us have applied for several hundred journalism jobs, only to find said jobs are now non-existant. We are then "happy" to sell an article here and there.

Why then do editors and publishers so often pay us late or play games with our payments? I am not sure why, say, a carpenter is paid one half upfront for his fine woodworking but a freelance journalist must wait up to eight weeks for a payment. I once asked for a deposit upfront, and the prospective client acted like I'd swallowed marbles and was asking him to fish them out.

I therefore appeal to all publishers and editors to pay us quickly. That means under 30 days, which is often too long for hungry writers to wait. Don't assume we're rolling in dough and that our 47 other assignments will float us until your check arrives. Assume we need to be paid right now, just like doctors and dentists.

When the economy really turns around, 30 days is reasonable, but no more. Any writer who is happy to wait that long is a writer who doesn't want to lose you as a client. But that doesn't mean you can or should take advantage of that writer, whose talent including fact checking, reporting, writing and overall ingenuity is invaluable to your publication.

I once argued with a young publisher (not someone I was working for!) when he said that advertising, not writing, was the center of the magazine. OK, then -- try selling an advertising-only issue of a magazine and see how well it sells.

Don't Mess With my New York Times

I read this week that the New York Times could possibly trim up to 100 staffers if employees don't take enough buy-outs.
I am hardly angry at the Times' management. They are doing what they have to do, and from what I've read, none of the executives there want to resort to layoffs.
Why not charge readers for the online edition? Yes, I would hate it - but not as much as I'd hate losing the quality of reporting I get from the Times.
We are living in a frighteningly ignorant society, one in which the blog-du-jour (this one included!) is being gobbled up in the name of "news." Young people today are in danger of confusing the difference between a Pulitzer Prize-level type report such as is currently running by David Rohde in the Times (detailing his account being held by the Taliban) and the run-of-the-mill posting on Huffington.
Now, I have nothing against the Huffington Report - it's valuable. And many of the writers who post there are fine scribes. Yet compare any of these postings to the tretise of Mr. Rohde - or the weekly columns of Thomas Friedman or Maureen Dowd, for example - and the similarities are non-existant. It's like comparing acting great Katherine Hepburn with a reality show contestant.

***
I am 48, old school. I like sitting with my paper on the Great Lawn or Riverside Park or on the train. I don't even mind the ink stains in summer, unless they get on my white linen skirt. I find that I can't curl up with a laptop in quite the same way. I could be wrong, but I don't even think the relationship is quite so intimate as with an actual newspaper.

The news of the pending Times layoffs strikes me as the penultimate act before we lose papers altogether.

What a sad day for America, for the world, and for all who value thought-provoking journalism.

My Advice on How to Break Into Business Journalism

My advice:

** Business degree is ok, but if one decides to be some other kind of journalist, it won't necessarily help
** Best is a journalism degree from a prestigious school (NYU, Columbia, if that's possible)
** Get clips asap - even for free at the beginning, in areas that one wants to write on; try NOT to write for free, but a couple clips are ok
** Get an internship under one's belt right away
** Don't step on anyone's toes; burn any bridges - ever. This is a business full of huge egos. Make sure you're prepared to kiss a lot of behinds!
** Have a financial cushion; a second trick if you will (sales, financial analyst, etc.) to help you through the down times
** Learn a second language. At a recent networking event in Manhattan, one recruiter from a top wire service was desperate for someone who spoke Russian!
** Network but don't be a fool; it's important to help others but not at the expense of your own livelihood. Others may disagree, but I gave away work once and haven't written for that publisher since. The person who stepped in was a bit better than I, apparently!
** Don't do this for the money. You have to have a passion for writing and or reporting. It's the ONLY thing that will get you through the lean months and years
** Finally, journalism is undergoing a sea change. The new wave means all is digital. The era of 24-hr news means the top dogs are in this arena: Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, Dow Jones
** Be willing to take any shift for perm jobs; e.g. graveyard at Bloomberg
** Be an ideas person; if you are not, you'll never make it!