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One of the last sessions at Health Journalism 2017 in Orlando was certainly worth the wait.
Michele Cohen Marill, an Atlanta-based independent journalist, moderated a terrific panel, featuring Brooke Borel, an independent journalist from New York, author, and a contributing editor to Popular Science; Emily Gurnon, senior content editor, health and caregiving, PBS Next Avenue and Tara Haelle, the AHCJ topic leader for medical studies and author and independent journalist from Peoria, Ill. They shared a wealth of valuable pieces of advice for freelancers, and developed the following summary of the most pertinent points. Others in the audience chimed in with their own tips; they are also included below.
General advice
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Be flexible: The industry is in flux, so you won’t figure out how things work as much as find solutions that work for now.
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Develop subject matter expertise: start narrow, then expand.
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Matching your idea to the right publication is a challenge, but may be the key to getting an assignment. (And of course, read the target publication carefully so you know what they’ve written on that subject before.)
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Keep writing. Don’t let rejections daunt you. The story hasn’t found its proper home yet.
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Never sign a contract before reading it through. Be aware of “gotchas” like indemnity clauses, lack of a kill fee and universal rights. Learn as much as you can about negotiating better terms for contracts. Create a network of fellow freelancers that can help with this, and read the “Science Writer’s Handbook” for lots of great advice on contracts and everything else.
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Indemnification clauses are becoming more prevalent, and can be tricky to negotiate. Try striking out the clause, but if the publication won’t do it, insert language that clearly states you will only indemnify them if a court finds you’ve done something wrong.
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Don’t do it alone! Find a partner or a tribe and use them to establish goals and encourage you to follow up on them, workshop pitches, commiserate, etc.
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Keep careful financial records. Use Quickbooks or similar. It saves a lot of grief/frustration at tax time. And never do business with anyone without some type of written agreement, even if it’s just a summary email confirming story parameters, pay rate and deadline.
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It’s all about relationships, and those take time to develop. Meanwhile, work your ass off, never miss a deadline & respond diligently to edits. Your editors will come to depend on you.
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Aim high and don’t sell yourself short! A lot of new freelancers psych themselves out and give away their work for free.
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Create yourself in the image you imagine. Follow your interests, not every penny. Be a business, not just a person doing a job.
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And with a nod to award-winning writer Christie Aschwanden’s “tasty buckets,” follow the rule of three. Look at each assignment and ask:
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is it going to pay me well?
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is it going to further my career?
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is it a passion project that’s fun and I care about?
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Try to get two of these three things.
What I wished I knew when I started freelancing … but it’s not too late!
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Create a second email to use exclusively for press releases, embargoes, mailing lists, etc. (Bonus: Use it for shopping & publication site registrations to avoid spam at regular account.)
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Use filters/folders on your email account. Use labels liberally.
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Get a Google Voice number to use for your cell phone, on your business card, on your website, etc. If spammers or trolls ever get your number, you can change Google numbers more easily without losing your real cell number. Only let people you trust have your real number.
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Do an extensive Internet search for names & photos of you & your family members. Wipe clean what you can. If friends have shared things, ask them to remove it.
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Get a PO Box. Use it as much as possible for business, mail orders, etc.
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Immediately start using a password protector service. (LastPass and 1Password are equally good. Descriptions and comparisons here.)
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Decide on a personal strategy or policy for Facebook and other social media sites. Stick to it unless/until you consciously revise it. Create and use lists on Facebook.
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Get a professional headshot. It’s good to have for conferences, LinkedIn, sites using them, etc.
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Get a personal logo for your name. Use it on your website, your cards and any other websites, blogs, etc., you set up. It helps creates a brand right off the bat.
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Order professional-looking (non-free) business cards. GotPrint seems to have the best prices for really nice quality, but there are many other options.
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Get an EIN (employer identification number) to use for taxes instead of using your social security number. That way you won’t be sending your Social Security number through email on contracts and W2s.
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Lock down social media privacy options as much as possible. Make sure no photos of your kids are visible from Facebook if working on a sensitive or controversial piece.
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If you don’t already have one, get a professional website based on your name. Buy your own domain. If you don’t know how to build it with WordPress, SquareSpace, or other basic options and don’t have time to learn, hire someone.
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Set up a Talkwalker alert so you know every time you’re mentioned online. It’s like a Google Alert but much more sensitive.
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Use two-factor authentication on your email and social media accounts at the very least.
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Create a folder on your computer, backed up in the cloud, called “Harassment Records” and store PDFs of threatening or harassing emails, comments, or other activity. Create another called “Happy Notes” to store notes of gratitude, compliments, etc.
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Optional: Get a credit card that you use exclusively for business expenses and travel.
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Optional: If you need to tweet or post FaceBook or LinkedIn links frequently, such as pay-per-click work or requests from editors to share your work, check out Buffer. It’s a lifesaver.
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Optional: Keep everything on Dropbox (or Google Drive or similar service) so that when your computer crashes, you still have it all in the cloud.
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Optional: Use Evernote Web Clipper and be liberal about creating Notebooks for everything.
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Optional: Intimidated by contracts? Writer’s Guild lawyers will go over them for free.
What works for successful freelancers
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Break down research into a series of tasks. You can see forward progress on complex pieces.
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Set aside a chunk of dedicated time to write. Hide the dock and turn off notifications so you don’t Pavlov every incoming email. Some tasks are worth delegating, such as transcribing, if time/finances allow.
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Follow subject-matter experts on Twitter. Solicit their help when needed.
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Write a bunch of related stories so you only do the reporting once but get a lot out of it.
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Accept that this work is not easy! But seriously:
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Build in enough time to give yourself a day or two for ruminating before writing or before revising for long pieces.
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Find some standing gigs that give you a baseline salary for each month if possible.
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Do not ever take editing personally! It’s not personal and in the end, 90 percent of editing makes your piece better, a goal that you and your editor share.
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After sending out a pitch, consider immediately writing the next pitch on the same story to a different publication. If the first pub says no, you’re ready to press “send” instead of working on a re-pitch while feeing bummed from the rejection.
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Relationships: They are far more valuable for gaining steady work than any amount of training or casual networking or excellent work that I have done.
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The power of “no” is important in negotiating, to know when to walk away from a contract or to resist editorial changes that corrupt your work.
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Plan and schedule everything: Outline stories before writing them. Keep a spreadsheet with all queries and LOIs and follow up on them. Check in with editors you’ve previously worked with to see if they have work.
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Be a strong presence in the network you want to be part of, whether through events and conferences or community groups, social media, blogging etc.
Tools to help you do your job*
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Calendly: An app to help you schedule meetings without back-and-forth emails. Freemium—a free basic plan or more features for a monthly fee. (alternative: Doodle).
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Call Recorder: A free app to record phone calls on iPhone, Android or Skype.
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Evernote: Keeps track of your notes-to-self (all those Post-its!) and brainstorming ideas, which you can share between devices. Freemium — a basic version is free, versions with more features cost $35 or $60 per year.
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Freelance Success: ($99/year) Network of freelancers sharing advice and tips, plus editor interviews, market guides, databases, tools, pitch calls and other resources.
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How to Pitch: ($250) Anne Trubek offers this two-week online course to help freelancers improve/learn how to pitch. After the course, ‘alums’ can join a private Facebook group to continue the conversation. One-on-one coaching is also available.
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MindNode: ($10) A brainstorming tool for Mac, iPad and iPhone.
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Office Time: ($47) Software for Mac and Windows that tracks your time on projects, syncs with iCal, and provides an invoicing tool.
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Pear Note: ($40) An app for Mac or iOS (iPad, iPhone) that integrates your recording with your text notes to make it easier to locate the content you want.
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Planner Pad: Desk and spiral-bound organizers (yes, paper!) that help you set priorities and schedule meetings. $20 and up.
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Rev.com: ($1 per minute) A human-generated transcription service, with fast turnaround.
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Scrivener: ($40) This is like having electronic index cards and cork board—a method for organizing research and writing for projects or long, complex articles or books. Can also be used to organize overall freelancing workflow.
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TapeACall: ($8/year) A phone recording app for mobile that lets you label and download recordings.
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TopTracker: A free app for Windows, Mac or Linux that enables you to track your time on tasks (and when idle). Designed for freelancers.
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Transcribe: ($20/year) A tool to make it easier for you to transcribe your interviews. You can set your audio to the speed of your typing and each keypress is automatically saved. You can dictate and your speech will be converted to text.
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Trint: (25 cents a minute or monthly plans) An automated speech-to-text transcription service, with time-stamping.
*AHCJ does not endorse any specific tool or service; these suggestions were crowdsourced among panelists and attendees.
