This message was sent to ##Email## Advertisement December 10, 2019       About |  How to Join |  Our Members |  Find a Writer |  For Writers Subscribe |  Archive      Member-Exclusive News The Hunt for Editors for Client Connections New York is on! ASJA Each year, ASJA welcomes 65+ literary agents, editors and marketing managers to Client Connections, our flagship speed-networking event within the New York conference. We have just sent out our first batch of invitations and we need your help! If you have clients seeking writers, please ask if they’d like to attend our event, which takes place April 20 from 2-5 p.m. Bonus: The member who registers the most clients wins a FREE day at the conference. Contact Jeanette Hurt at jeanettehurt@sbcglobal.net or Erin O’Donnell at erinod1@gmail.com for details. ASJA Confidential: The Yin and Yang of Writing (part 2) ASJA Last month's column looked at the state of freelancing today. This month, we drill down into the lives of ASJA's book authors.  READ MORE ASJA Success Story ASJA Member Name and Location: Margie Goldsmith, New York City Success Story: Became a lifestyle (culture and travel) contributor to Forbes.com How I Landed the Gig: Pitched during Client Connections at the ASJA Conference Net results: $1,000+ Comments: I have been a member of ASJA since I began freelance writing almost 20 years ago. Joining ASJA was the smartest decision I ever made. Not only are the yearly conferences extremely useful, but I’ve made many wonderful writer friends through ASJA. Over the years, thanks to pitching editors during Client Connections (including one editor I followed into the ladies’ room, pitched, and placed the story), I have landed many assignments and contributing writer gigs. Virtual Client Connections is Back! ASJA Jump start your 2020 business by participating in the next Virtual Client Connections, Jan. 28-31 and Feb. 4-7. At VCC you can meet editors and agents by phone or Zoom. You’ll get to pitch story ideas one-on-one or talk about what a particular editor is looking for. Sign-ups for the next VCC will be Tuesday, Jan. 13, at 2 p.m. EST and again on Jan. 14 on ASJA's website on a first-come, first-served basis. Stay tuned to the Forum, ASJA Weekly and the ASJA website for more information or contact stacey.freed@gmail.com or LisaRoepe@gmail.com with questions. Prospective New Members Listed ASJA Another new group of applicants for membership in ASJA has passed the Membership Application Committee's review and the list of prospective members has now been posted. We invite active members to review the list and send any comments to James Cafiero at Jcafiero@kellencompany.com no later than the comment deadline shown. Comments will be sent to the Application Committee for consideration. All comments will be kept confidential and for Application Committee use only.  READ MORE HOT LINKS ASJA Don’t miss the conversations on the ASJA Forum! Check out a few hot topics here: Yeet this Noncompete? Conferences Call ASJA Takes a Stand Against Anti-Freelancing Bills Support the ASJA Charitable Trust with Every Amazon Purchase! ASJA Shop on Amazon? ASJA members, family and friends now have an easy way to donate to ASJA Charitable Trust! Next time you’re ready to shop on Amazon, start your shopping session at the URL http://smile.amazon.com. Select American Society of Journalists and Authors Charitable Trust as your charity, and Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible purchases! Ready to start shopping? Click here to default ASJACT as your charity of choice! Freedom of Expression is at a 10-Year Low, Study Says Columbia Journalism Review According to a new report from the U.K.-based charity Article 19 (named for one of the clauses in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights), freedom of expression has reached a ten-year low globally, as a result of what the report calls “digital authoritarianism” and threats against journalists. Governments in a number of countries have been increasing online surveillance and cracking down on content and behavior that indicates dissent, the report says.  READ MORE How Tracking Her Excuses Motivated This Writer to Pen a Novel NBC News After quitting the nonprofit she co-founded in 2017, author Leigh Stein had no more excuses not to write her second novel. At the time, Stein, a book coach and writing instructor, says she was dedicating most of her personal time to overseeing her nonprofit, a community for women writers, where she served as executive director. “I thought: ‘Isn’t this ironic that I’m running this organization for women writers but I am too burnt out to write anything myself?’” she tells NBC News BETTER.  READ MORE How to Become a Freelance Writer: Complete Guide to Get Started MoneyCheck Do you have a talent as a wordsmith? Life as a freelance writer might be a career worth considering if you have complete command of the English language. The demand for content online is staggering, with millions of websites requiring top-quality articles, blog posts and web content. Making it as a freelance writer isn’t as challenging as you think. You could find your first gig as a writer in less than a week if you know where to look and how to present your work. In this article, we’ll provide you with a strategy that’s effective at launching your career as a freelance writer.  READ MORE Freelancers Mental Health at Risk From Badly Behaving Clients Journalism.co.uk New research suggests that over half of freelancers don’t feel the businesses they work with are making any considerations for their mental health, and 61% of freelancers say that poor mental health has had a negative affect on their ability to work at some point. Leapers, a community group supporting the mental health of the self-employed, asked over 500 U.K. freelancers about the relationship between their work and their mental health, and discovered some of the biggest stressors are not about working on your own, but rather issues such as not feeling talented enough (74%), lack of control over their working schedule (47%) and 71% are stressed by their clients ghosting them.  READ MORE 3 Ways the Freelance Economy Could Impact Businesses in 2020 Forbes The freelance, or gig, economy has grown in the U.S. over the past few years. According to the 2019 Freelancing in America report commissioned by Upwork and the Freelancers Union, 57 million Americans freelanced this year, compared to 53 million in 2014. For many, gone are the days of trekking into a corporate office to be tied to a desk for 8 to 10 hours per day. The workforce appears to be changing, and freelancers are becoming a major contributor to the U.S. economy.  READ MORE 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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