Comments on: On the Future of Freelancing: The Journalist as Marketer.

By: c-monster

c-monster — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 22:18:20 +0000

@Anna: I agree. The two probably shouldn’t be conflated. But they often are. Sometimes I feel that journalists have turned to social media and marketing as a cure-all. As in: if I get enough Twitter followers, then all be well. But I think there’s the bigger issue of passion. Those of us who have worked in mainstream media have been trained to hide behind a veil of objectivity, to churn out soulless copy about soulless stuff, all of which makes journalists feel more remote and inaccessible to their readers — which is the opposite of what people are seeking these days. I think part of what we need to do moving forward is to communicate that sense of urgency and dedication in what we do, to be accessible and engaged. Otherwise, well, I don’t know what…

@Velva: No sweat. I’m Carolina Miranda, aka C-Monster!

@policywonk: I feel you. As does my checking account — which seems to be thinner than ever. I’m not advocating giving away work for free. Other than my own blog, I don’t do any writing work in which I don’t get paid. And I’ve cut back in recent months on how much I post here. So, what’s the solution? How will we earn a livable wage from what we do? My answer: I have no idea. And, lord knows if I did, I’d probably be able to afford health insurance.

By: policywonk

policywonk — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 03:00:31 +0000

I have plenty of fire in the belly. What I don’t have is enough money in the bank to pay bills. I literally can’t afford anymore to post for free on my blogs all the ideas, articles, and commentaries or op-ed pieces that I’d like to post because they take all-important time away from finding work that pays — and these days, that’s infrequent enough. And I’m an experienced journalist; it’s just that experience now counts against me because potential employers well know that I need to be paid what I’m worth, not the pittance they’d rather pay. Which is why they’re happy hiring newbies straight out of school or writers with only a year or two of experience who will do a just-good-enough job instead of the excellent job the readers deserve. We experienced folks need things like full-time jobs with benefits and decent pay because we have families and mortgages and bills like health insurance that we need to pay. That makes us dispensible. And THAT’s the new world order, not web 2.0.

By: Velva Lee Heraty

Velva Lee Heraty — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:39:04 +0000

Oops! Not Anna? Well, whoever you are my comment stands. I’m hooked on this blog.

By: Velva Lee Heraty

Velva Lee Heraty — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:31:16 +0000

Anna, all I can say is you are a kick-ass writer and I, for one, expect you to be around a lot.

By: AlizaEss

AlizaEss — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:39:48 +0000

Found your blog through Twitter… loved this piece. As a former English major who was wholly unprepared for the real writing world, I am grateful for the Internet and the insights of long-term journalists such as yourself. Thanks, and good luck!