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If you missed a session or were unable to attend the New York Conference this year, you’re in luck! ASJA has recorded sessions from both days. Buy the full package, one day, or an individual session. Please note that Friday sessions are available to members only. Purchase the recordings at ASJA’s Live Learning Center.
By Sandra Gurvis
When Mridu Khullar Relph started freelancing from India some 15 years ago, she felt she was at a disadvantage. “People told me it would be very difficult to make a living as a freelance writer, and in India, pretty near impossible,” she recalls. “So at first, I hid the fact that I was based here.” But then she had an aha! moment. “I wanted to do cool stories so I made India my advantage and specialty. I understood the Western market and mindset and offered a unique perspective.” Soon her byline started popping up in major U.S. and U.K. publications, including The New York Times, TIME magazine, The Independent, CNN, Forbes, ABC News, Christian Science Monitor, GlobalPost and more. She also garnered several awards, including being named Development Journalist of the Year in 2010 for her work on waste picker women in India.
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MasterWriter gives you Word Families, a unique reference dictionary that will open up a new world of possibilities for descriptive words, Phrases, Synonyms, Rhymes, Pop-Culture, a searchable Bible, the Definition and more. We recently added Figures of Speech, a new set of dictionaries which gives you instant access to Metaphors, Similes, Onomatopoeia, Idioms, Oxymorons, Allusions, Alliterations and Intensifiers.
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ASJA offers so many opportunities for members to connect with potential clients and with each other, which hopefully lands us all more work. We'll feature member success stories each week. Share your success stories with us! Contact marijke@medhealthwriter.com.
Member Name: Cheryl Alkon, Natick, MA
Success Story: In 2016, I earned $11,579.50 directly from my involvement with ASJA.
What happened: As I looked over paperwork while working on my 2016 taxes, it was clear that my ASJA membership played a part in my earnings that year.
In 2016 alone, I spent $850 for ASJA dues, conference costs and conference recordings. But that year, I also earned $2,975 from assignments I heard about from other ASJA members. I earned $3,996 from an editor who I met at the Member’s Day cocktail party at the 2016 ASJA New York conference. I earned $4,438.50 from a trade journal whose editor I met at the 2010 ASJA conference at what was then called Personal Pitch (and I’ve written consistently for that editor every year since). I earned $170 from a website whose editor I met at the 2016 Client Connections.
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The newest, busiest topics in our members-only online forums Compiled by Mark Obbie, Forum Chair
DIVERSITY QUOTAS FOR SOURCES
When an editor’s requirement that your quoted sources meet specific demographic quotas turns into a reporting nightmare, how do you respond? (Join the conversation)
A YELP FOR EDITORS
A gripe session about bad editing yields an innovative idea: a service that lets writers share reviews of specific editors. Five stars for copy doctors who save us from our garbled thoughts; one star for hacks who cover our bylines in embarrassment? (Join the conversation)
A NYC LAW FOR US ALL?
The new Freelance Isn’t Free law in New York City may apply more broadly than just to New York publishers hiring New York writers. Our members are tracking down and sharing answers to common questions. (Join the conversation)
FORUM TIP OF THE WEEK
Use the “new posts” button to see what’s new since your last visit, and click on the down arrow next to a thread title to see only the comments added since you last viewed that thread.
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: The latest posts seek writers on real estate, travel, camping, and many more. When you see freelance work opportunities, please share them in this forum — it’s a group effort.
Log in daily to see the latest discussions and check out tips on making the most of the forums. Remember, you must log in to the forums in addition to logging in to the members-only side of the ASJA website.
Sally Olds, Chair, First Amendment Committee
Anyone interested in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, censorship, book banning, and the obscenity trials of what has been called the most important English-language book of the 20th century will want to read this award-winning book. If you have read part or all of Ulysses or any of James Joyce’s other books, you’ll have a special interest in — and will receive a special reward from — Kevin Birmingham’s scholarship, graceful and witty writing, and the remarkable cast of characters who fought and triumphed to make Ulysses become legal in the United States and around the world. If not, you’ll still experience a thrilling read.
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Entries are now being accepted for the Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism, the nation’s top investigative business journalism contest.
The annual awards contest, named in honor of renowned investigative business journalists Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, celebrates the best in investigative business journalism each year. It is sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Entry rules and a link to the application are available here. Gold, silver and bronze winners receive cash awards of $5,000, $2,000 and $1,000, respectively.
Columbia Journalism Review
The journalist who writes code is one of the least understood roles in the news business. Even the job titles are mysterious, and vary from newsroom to newsroom: data journalist, visual journalist, graphics editor, news app developer. When an interactive, visual story or news app is published, the work is often chalked up to “wizardry,” ignoring the endless spreadsheets, databases, scripts and debugging that led to the beautiful graphic.
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The WRITER
The first quarter of 2016 was a writer’s dream: my debut novel had been sold; I’d started book publicity efforts; I was making a difference publishing new writers at the literary magazine I edit for; I had a solid idea for a second novel.
And then my MFA program up and died.
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The Content Standard by Skyword
As a freelance writer, you’re aware of how vital the relationship you build with your editors is. To find out that an editor you really enjoy working with is leaving the company or the position can feel devastating. You’re left questioning everything. Will I still get the same amount of work? Will the new person hate my writing style and force rounds of revisions on me? After the time you’ve spent learning each other’s communication styles and building up a rapport, it’s scary to start again. But you don’t really have a choice in the matter. That doesn’t mean you can’t find some agency in a situation.
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Fast Company
The ranks of freelancers are growing. An October 2016 report by Upwork and Freelancers Union puts the number of independent workers at 55 million — a whopping 35 percent of the workforce.
But the same things that make freelancing an attractive career option–flexibility, income opportunity, and even job security–lead to some drawbacks. The report found that among full-time freelancers, the second biggest concern behind being paid a fair rate was unpredictable income.
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The American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) does not endorse any company, product, or service sold by any corporation, institution or member supporting our organization. Corporate partnerships, advertisers and sponsors are not an endorsement of a product or service and may not be represented as such, in any way. The use of the ASJA name and/or logo, or representation of such, without the written consent of ASJA, is strictly prohibited.
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