Category Archives: Freelancing

Freelancers start national group to oppose independent contractor legislation

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Carolyn Crist

About Carolyn Crist

Carolyn Crist (@cristcarolyn) helps AHCJ’s freelance members find the resources, tips and contacts they need to create and run a successful business. A freelance journalist and author, Crist covers health, medicine and science stories for national news outlets such as Reuters, Runner’s World and Parade. She also writes for trade and custom publications. Contact her at carolyn@healthjournalism.org.

Karon Warren

Karon Warren

Spurred to action after the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act passed the House on Feb. 6, a group of freelance writers created a website, Twitter and Facebook group for Fight for Freelancers USA — and they want every type of independent contractor to join the fight.

“Anybody who gets a 1099 should be in the group,” said Karon Warren, a 20-year freelance writer based in Georgia who co-founded the group. Warren and fellow members of the American Society of Journalists and Authors created the group to mirror the Fight for Freelancers NJ and Fight for Freelancers NY groups. Continue reading →

AHCJ freelancer dishes on her $135K year in new ebook

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Carolyn Crist

About Carolyn Crist

Carolyn Crist (@cristcarolyn) helps AHCJ’s freelance members find the resources, tips and contacts they need to create and run a successful business. A freelance journalist and author, Crist covers health, medicine and science stories for national news outlets such as Reuters, Runner’s World and Parade. She also writes for trade and custom publications. Contact her at carolyn@healthjournalism.org.

Jen Miller

Jen Miller

AHCJ member and freelance journalist Jen Miller earned $135,000 from her writing in 2019 and, after posting about it on social media and receiving a positive response, she decided to create a white paper to explain the details to others.

The 30-pager has a solid 11 chapters, including a By-the-Numbers guide to her income and examples (with templates) of how she landed four clients — a mainstream consumer publication (ahem, the New York Times), two B2B publishers, and a health care organization. She includes a “lessons learned” section at the end of each case study, too, to help others replicate her work. Continue reading →

Legislation update: AB 5 may exempt freelance writers but PRO Act passes

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Carolyn Crist

About Carolyn Crist

Carolyn Crist (@cristcarolyn) helps AHCJ’s freelance members find the resources, tips and contacts they need to create and run a successful business. A freelance journalist and author, Crist covers health, medicine and science stories for national news outlets such as Reuters, Runner’s World and Parade. She also writes for trade and custom publications. Contact her at carolyn@healthjournalism.org.

A view of Congress

Photo by Sean Stayte via flickr

Independent contractor legislation continues to shift quickly at both the state and national levels — with writers and editors waiting to see what happens next.

First, California legislators may ease restrictions against writers and photographers, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Feb. 6.

Assembly Bill 5, which went into effect in California on Jan. 1, established a cap that limits freelancers to 35 submissions per publication per year. The law has already affected freelancers and publications, including several AHCJ members. Continue reading →

These resources can help meet your 2020 freelance business goals

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Carolyn Crist

About Carolyn Crist

Carolyn Crist (@cristcarolyn) helps AHCJ’s freelance members find the resources, tips and contacts they need to create and run a successful business. A freelance journalist and author, Crist covers health, medicine and science stories for national news outlets such as Reuters, Runner’s World and Parade. She also writes for trade and custom publications. Contact her at carolyn@healthjournalism.org.

Photo: Luke Jones via Flickr

Setting goals, creating a business plan, outlining quarterly objectives — the process may go by different names, but the steps typically are similar. When you run your own freelance business, it’s important to review what you did previously and decide what you want to do next. Early in their careers, freelance writers may set specific goals for marketing, pitching and publishing to reach the income and dream publications they want. With more experience, freelancers may set broader intentions for the year and their next steps forward, which could include writing a book, speaking on stages or building a brand. Continue reading →

What you need to know about freelancer legislation in 2020

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Carolyn Crist

About Carolyn Crist

Carolyn Crist (@cristcarolyn) helps AHCJ’s freelance members find the resources, tips and contacts they need to create and run a successful business. A freelance journalist and author, Crist covers health, medicine and science stories for national news outlets such as Reuters, Runner’s World and Parade. She also writes for trade and custom publications. Contact her at carolyn@healthjournalism.org.

By now, you’ve likely heard about the independent contractor bills in several states that could derail how freelance writers do business in 2020. In California, for instance, where AB 5 took effect on Jan. 1, freelancers are already being blacklisted from certain publications, losing weekly columns and seeing reduced contract terms. Journalists in New Jersey (S4204/A5936) and New York (S6699A/A8721A) are pushing against similar legislation in their own states.

The details shift quickly, so here’s the latest (and where to connect with others) in 2020: Continue reading →

Year-end wrap-up: What your colleagues are reading

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Pia Christensen

About Pia Christensen

Pia Christensen (@AHCJ_Pia) is the managing editor/online services for AHCJ. She manages the content and development of healthjournalism.org, coordinates AHCJ's social media efforts and edits and manages production of association guides, programs and newsletters.

Fireworks for the new yearWe’re closing in on the end of the year and the inevitable annual lists. We thought this would be a good time to review the blog posts written this year that got the most views. It turns out they cover a wide swath of topics in health care, from careful use of language and covering studies to vaccines and caring for our aging population.

Have a look for yourself: Continue reading →