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ASJA
Due to other commitments, I was unable to get to November’s conference in Chicago, so I did the next best thing and asked organizer Joanne Cleaver and attendee Nancy Peske to share their thoughts. By all accounts and with a total of nearly 200 participants, both days were a huge success.
As Nancy, who went to Friday’s “Spotlight on Ghostwriting” put it, “It was good to hear that other ghostwriters face the same dilemmas as I do and also to learn their different ways of dealing with common situations.”
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ASJA
We've extended current registration pricing for the Austin conference through Dec. 8, 2017. Register now at ASJA.org to attend sessions on freelance finances, personal branding, content marketing and more. Plus, 16 editors including Texas Journey, CreditCards.com and Keller Williams will meet with members during Client Connections. We're also pleased to announce a conference scholarship sponsored by WeWork. The scholarship includes a travel stipend and is intended for writers (member or nonmember) who otherwise couldn't afford to attend. Apply by Dec. 15 here. Register for the conference here.
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We promise our communities to build and improve their quality of life. Through educational programs, grants and scholarships we advance that cause. You will find our focus is on journalistic excellence and thriving communities. It’s our belief the free press is vital to all of our futures, and serving those around us, serves us all.
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ASJA
Your chance to pitch Boston Globe Magazine’s Michael Fitzgerald
Virtual Pitch Slams (VPS) are one-hour interactive phone conference calls during which a moderator hosts a client, who outlines what his/her outlet is looking for from freelance writers. Then, ASJA members give live pitches by telephone, followed by constructive feedback on each story idea.
All the pitching slots for Virtual Pitch Slam with the Boston Globe Magazine have been filled! However, ASJA members and Associate Members may sign up to listen in on the event, as they would for a Shop Talk. Join us at 1 p.m. Eastern on Dec. 12! VPS will also be recorded and accessible via ASJA’s website shortly after the event.
Be sure to read the FAQs here for more information.
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ASJA
Preview the regional ASJA conference taking place in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 3 with conference co-chairs Deborah Blumberg and Susan Johnston Taylor. Learn why you can’t afford to miss this Texas-style event with its emphasis on how to thrive as a freelance writer. Get the scoop on what makes the Texas writing scene special, get a few pre-conference tips on mindfulness for writers, and discover how each session will enhance and support your career. Learn more about editors attending Client Connections and get tips for making the most of those appointments and your time at this one-of-a-kind event.
That’s what we’ll talk about in this month’s “Shop Talk” event.
Join us:
Wednesday, Dec. 20
1 p.m. Eastern (calculate for your time zone)
Register here.
About our guest experts:
Deborah Lynn Blumberg (@dlblumberg) is a health and wellness and business and finance writer and editor with more than 15 years’ experience writing for publications including The Wall Street Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, and Barron’s. Her content marketing clients include the New York YMCA, Keller Williams, and JPMorgan Chase, where she previously worked in marketing and communications. She tells the stories of the people and companies that are changing our world for the better, and has a special interest in functional medicine. She's also working on her first novel, based on the true story of how her great grandparents saved a group of Austrian Jews from the Holocaust with the help of a world leader.
Susan Johnston Taylor (@UrbanMuseWriter) joined ASJA in 2009 and has written about personal finance, business, and lifestyle topics for The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, and U.S. News & World Report, among other publications. She's drawn to stories that offer readers new insights and practical ways to save money, advance their careers, or improve their lives.
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ASJA
If you’re planning on flying to Austin for Write in the Heart of Texas on Saturday, Feb. 3 now is the time to get your tickets! Delta Airlines is offering a discount: Just click the “Advanced Search” link on www.delta.com and enter NMPN3 in the box that says “Meeting Event Code.” If your flight qualifies for a discount, it will automatically be applied to your search results. To sign up for a great speaker and Client Connections lineup,
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ASJA
As you’ve no doubt heard, ASJA has established an exciting new category: associate membership. We’ve done this for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is to help younger writers get a much-needed foothold into the professional world of freelancing. But we’re also reaching out to people you know: staff editors. We are offering a waived initiation fee for staff editors who apply by Dec. 31 and use the code MI-CCE.
Why? Because we frequently hear from many editorial colleagues who want to make the leap into freelancing, whether as a part-time or a full-time proposition. But we also want a way to help members like you develop stronger relationships with editors like them.
The associate membership category for staff editors is a win-win scenario. Members like you get closer contact with staff editors. Staff editors have a way to augment their income or make the transition into freelancing. And let’s face it — when editors get laid off, what’s the first thing they do in the interim? Hang out a freelancing shingle. We’re going to help them do that. And if they apply by Dec. 31, they can have their initiation fee waived by using the code MI-JGG.
We’d like you to help us spread the word of this new membership option among your editors. What’s in it for you? You receive 25 percent off your ASJA dues for each new member who writes your name on the application. So spread the word! Your colleagues can find details on the new associate membership qualifications here.
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Be recognized among the best in journalism.
Submit your best work by: Feb. 2, 2018 MORE
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ASJA
Do you have a topic aimed at professional writers and building their skills and their businesses? GWA: The Association for Garden Communicators has opened their call for speaker proposals for their 70th Annual Conference & Expo (#GWA2018) in Chicago, IL, August 13-16, and is looking for informative and interesting topics covering writing, business, publishing, social media and much more. Whether you are a garden communicator or just a professional writer, all proposals are welcome from GWA members and non-members alike. Deadline: Jan. 31, 2018. Learn more here.
ASJA
Looking to connect with another peer within ASJA? Need a mentor to offer you some tips or perhaps you want to mentor others? Maybe you want a buddy to help you stay accountable for your goals?
Check out the ASJA Peer-to-Peer program! In this informal program, you’ll be matched with another ASJA member based on common writing interests. For more information or to sign up, please contact Pamela DeLoatch at pamela@b2bstorytelling.com, using subject line: ASJA Peer to Peer.
ASJA
The newest, busiest topics in our members-only online forums
What will happen to Paycheck if no one reports on payments? That’s right: it won’t be there. But ASJA members can keep this resource by posting faithfully. It’s easy and anonymous, and the transparency helps us all. (Join the conversation)
It’s Virtual Pitch Slam! Sign up for your chance to talk to Michael Fitzgerald of the Boston Globe — and ASJA. You can also read about what he’s looking for, peruse the publication, and check out recorded sessions. (Join the conversation)
Need work? One simple idea, too often overlooked, helped Jennifer win $3,000 worth of new business for December. (Join the conversation)
Can Grammarly help professional writers? And what about SEO-focused content? (Join the conversation)
JOBS, JOBS, JOBS: This is the place to go for links to new freelance gigs. When you see 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.
A Note of Appreciation from the Membership Application Review Committee
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In the last few months, two long-time ASJA members of the Membership Application Review committee have recently resigned: Mary Mihaly and Sandra Lamb. Each one served many years in this important role to guard the professionalism of our membership. As the chairman of this small team, I wanted to express my appreciation to Mary and Sandy for their years of faithful service.
From, Terry Whalin
CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
Applications are now open for the Winter 2018 McGraw Fellowship for Business Journalism, an initiative of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism designed to support ambitious coverage of critical issues related to U.S. economy and business. The McGraw Fellowships provide up to $15,000 and editorial support for experienced journalists to do the deep reporting needed to produce a significant investigative or enterprise business story. No residency is required; McGraw Fellows work from their own offices. Open to freelance journalists, as well as staff reporters and editors working at a news organization. Five years professional journalism experience is needed. The upcoming deadline for Winter 2018 Fellowship applications is December 15, 2017; Summer 2018 applications will be due June 30, 2018.
What kind of work do we support? Previous McGraw Fellows have worked on a wide range of topics, from What Would Jesus Disrupt? in Bloomberg Businessweek and Towns sell their water systems — and come to regret it in The Washington Post, to Who’s behind the Chinese takeover of the world’s biggest pork producer?, which ran on PBS NewsHour. The Albuquerque Journal published a more extensive multimedia package, Two Nations, One Aquifer: A series about water at the border.
If you’d like to join them, you’ll find more information on the Fellowships at bit.ly/2iqvn63. You can also contact us at mcgrawcenter@journalism.cuny.edu.
In the communication industries of today, change is the new normal. This survey is designed to examine the roles and status of communication professionals, including the types of positions they hold, the role mentoring has played in their careers and their access to management opportunities in all of the major communication industries.
This study and second national survey about the role and status of women and men in the communication industries, is being conducted by the Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in the College of Communication, Architecture & the Arts at Florida International University.
The 2017 survey is being distributed to leading professional associations in newspaper, magazine, online and broadcast journalism; advertising, and public relations. The survey was first administered in 2015 — the first time in at least a decade that all of these industries were being surveyed at the same time. This survey replicates the first survey.
The Kopenhaver Center will release the results of this study in early 2018 and publish them as well on its Kopenhaver Center website. Results also will be sent to the corresponding professional organizations that participated in this study.
Your participation is voluntary, and your responses are anonymous. The survey should take you no more than 20 minutes to complete.
If you have any questions about this survey, please contact Lillian A. Abreu at the Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication, at labreu@fiu.edu or 305-919-4065
The WRITER
We get a little grouchy when we can’t write. Out of sorts. Maybe even a bit nutty. Researchers and psychologists say writers — and creative people in general — tend to be a little nutty, anyway. Writing feels like it’s as essential to our well-being as food and shelter. Perhaps it is. Perhaps there’s more to it than the urge to fulfill our purpose in life, as if that isn’t reason enough to crank up the laptop.
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HuffPost
The self-publishing industry is perhaps one of the most successful industries today that has lifted itself up with it’s own might. It is clearly burgeoning because of the clear advantages it offers. Of course, that doesn’t mean self-publishing is everyone’s darling as this article proves. That said, self-publishing has managed to surprise us, by its rapid evolution into a self-sustained industry on its own.
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Forbes
Consistently growing your income is essential to keep your freelance business afloat. The big question is, how do you command higher rates?
The recent freelancer survey from Hubstaff may have a very simple answer — you can earn up to 65 percent more per hour by just creating your personal website. Their data suggests that the average freelancer without a website earns $20.57 per hour, whereas their peers with one can net up to $33.90 per hour on average. Having a website can bring you almost $28,000 more annually if you work around 40 hours per week.
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Columbia Journalism Review
The aim of this research is to provide a comprehensive overview of how U.S. news outlets are using mobile push alerts to reach their audiences. Its objectives are to better understand how and why news outlets are using mobile push alerts, the decision-making process and workflows behind their use, how metrics inform strategy, and the major challenges presented by push alerts and how outlets have tackled them. The study intends to provide a detailed understanding of the use of mobile push alerts by news outlets of all sizes and backgrounds.
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Entrepreneur
The life of a freelancer is one of flexibility and freedom. You can set your own hours, choose your own clients and be your own boss. And with all of the perks of working remotely that come from a freelance tech career — benefits like not having to miss school concerts or be chained to a desk for the same block of time every day — it’s easy to see why so many people are opening their own businesses. A 2014 study by the Freelancers’ Union found that 34 percent of the workforce was comprised of freelancers.
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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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