How to become a freelance online journalist?

[CCitizen]

I have been writing leangthy articles as forum topics on some forums, but is there anything better?

[tellyworth]

Start a blog.

[Colophon]

What tellyworth said. You're on the internet, nobody's stopping anyone from writing.

Just don't expect to be paid for it, because you're on the internet, and nobody's stopping anyone from writing.

If enough people like what you write, you'll get a lot of traffic, and then you can piss off your readers, er I mean monetise your blog with advertising.

[Jonathan Chance]

Feh, fuck blogging.


Look around and you can find reputable sites that will allow you to start out. Likely you get pay-per-click to start but it's something with professional editors and staffing. I have a friend who does very well this way at The Christian Post, for example.

But if you want to be a journalist then be one. But hook up with a site that will provide guidance, support, and credibility. Hell, even the Washington Post has PPC writers now.

[Duckster]

Originally Posted by CCitizen

How to become a freelance online journalist?

Well, first you need some sort of accreditation. A degree in English or Journalism is often the preferred route. Then work for a dying newspaper, maybe radio or TV news to create a credible reputation. You might even try to freelance for a quality online publication for several years.

Of just be a blogger and claim to be a journalist. Just like taking a first aid course and then claiming to be a doctor.

[Exapno Mapcase]

If any of us knew the answer, we'd be paid online journalists instead of unpaid bloggers.

[CCitizen]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Chance

Feh, fuck blogging.


Look around and you can find reputable sites that will allow you to start out. Likely you get pay-per-click to start but it's something with professional editors and staffing. I have a friend who does very well this way at The Christian Post, for example.

But if you want to be a journalist then be one. But hook up with a site that will provide guidance, support, and credibility. Hell, even the Washington Post has PPC writers now.

I do not need to be paid -- I just need an audience better then in blogging.

[CCitizen]

Originally Posted by Duckster

Well, first you need some sort of accreditation. A degree in English or Journalism is often the preferred route. Then work for a dying newspaper, maybe radio or TV news to create a credible reputation.

I have a PhD in Statistics.

[NoClueBoy]

Originally Posted by CCitizen

I have a PhD in Statistics.

I had odds on that being posted.


For a larger blog audience, start linking thru and to other blogs. Add a Google+ acct to your blog. Post links (when allowed) to your blog in forums that have the same reader interest as your blog articles.

[blasto9000]

I did freelance journalism (written and photo) when I was young, working my way up to editor, where I was responsible for the content direction of the publication as well as hiring. There are plenty of news sources in business these days and they're in constant need of front-line reporters.

First, you'll need a résumé. Obviously, as a personal marketing tool, it will need to be well-written and show that you have a very solid understanding of information presentation. (In journalism we called it the "inverted pyramid" method.) When I was hiring I received plenty of poorly-written résumés with all kinds of problems in the English mechanics. (Toss.) I didn't care about formatting much since we had digital typesetting take care of that.

After this, I liked to see that the candidate was knowledgeable in at least one mainstream style guide; in my case, it was the Associated Press Stylebook, but Chicago Manual of Style and a few others were acceptable. Most publications will augment with their own style guide anyway... for instance, to cover the spelling or capitalization of a small town, creek, government office, etc., in their coverage area.

Then I'd look at their work experience. Generally I was looking for someone with experience so I didn't have a protracted learning curve on office housekeeping such as expense reports and other paperwork. I didn't have to explain why they might be receiving a phone call at 2:00 am. I wouldn't hear any complaining if someone had to "stake out" for 96 hours in their car. And so on.

Since my company didn't hire reporters exclusively, my human resources department prevented me from asking for writing samples, which was a pain. If you're not asked ahead of time, you should have writing samples ready to offer the hiring manager in the interview room. If a candidate offered me writing samples with a comparison of his/her article to an article on the same topic written by another journalist, my record was 100% hire for them.

In terms of the types of articles I received as samples, if it was some fluff piece that involved only armchair research, that was the end of the interview.

I wasn't very strict on the college degree requirement; some of my best reporters were high school grads. But on the other hand, in a vast majority of the applications I received, the college grads were much more presentable. Very few non-degree candidates were attention-getting unless they had a lot of experience.

[CCitizen]

Originally Posted by NoClueBoy

I had odds on that being posted.

I hate mathematics with passion and have great interest in social issues. I knew it was a dead end back in '96.

[phreesh]

My buddy did this. He started as a music journalist in college, moved onto paid journalism and then quit. He got back into music stuff at a blog and then sports stuff for his favorite BBall team. Now, he gets paid by that site to write

Most sites will let good writers write articles for free, just shoot them an email with links to particularly good posts or your blog and cross your fingers. Oh, also have a bunch of potential story ideas to show you're serious.

[Duckster]

Originally Posted by CCitizen

I have a PhD in Statistics.

Yeah, so? But can you communicate on topics in a clear manner that the average reader will understand and want to come back for more?

[Martini Enfield]

It depends where you are. One of the issues with Journalism in Australia is that there's a chronic oversupply of university graduates and not nearly enough journalism jobs to go around.

There's a bit of freelancing work here and there but my advice to the journalism students I encounter is generally "Switch to another degree while you can."

[Gary "Wombat" Robson]

[moderating]
There's no one clear answer to this, so I've moved the thread to IMHO.
[/moderating]

My personal advice would be to read up on how to write a good query letter. Once you feel you have a grasp on it, start cranking out queries. After getting hundreds of articles published, I still average about one sale for every four or five query letters I write. In the beginning, it was much worse than that.

[overlyverbose]

Originally Posted by CCitizen

I do not need to be paid -- I just need an audience better then in blogging.

I'd also recommend that you learn the art of the pitch and query letter.

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but...in my opinion, if you're not blogging and not contributing to a free portion of a website but instead just providing free content for exposure or out of the goodness of your heart, it can cheapen the profession for the people who are actually paid to write. I used to freelance for a living and there were so many people out there who were willing to work for dirt cheap or nothing at all that it made getting a living wage very difficult, even though many of the work generated by those willing to work for next to nothing was absolute crap.

Also, keep in mind that you'll be spending a lot of time researching and interviewing people to write - are you sure you don't want to get paid for that?

[Dread Pirate Jimbo]

I started writing sports stuff for Bleacher Report back in December and have been having lots of fun doing it. In that site's case, you have to submit something of a resume, complete with a brief article as an example of what kind of writing quality you can bring to the site. Among the great things about that website are that they give you lots of feedback on each story you submit, and you can progress up the foodchain by a couple different means to spots that do, in fact, have money attached to them.

As a result of that bit of writing, I've also been recruited by two other sites to do some writing for them. The best of those two, Stadium Journey, is a site dedicated to reviewing and evaluating every sports stadium on Earth, such that a fan who is interested in seeing a game somewhere can check the review and be able to anticipate what they can expect. That is a paying gig, although the wages, based on the amount of traffic each article receives, are next to non-existent. I think I've built up about $3 in wages in three months, so it's barely worth mentioning. On the other hand, writing for them does mean I get comped for the games I attend when I go to evaluate a new venue, which is pretty sweet.

So there are opportunities out there, depending on where your interests lie. Go looking hard enough and you should be able to hunt some things up.

[Cat Whisperer]

This seems like a good time to ask this - what is the SDMB policy on linking to blogs etc. like those that Dread Pirate Jimbo talks about?

[CCitizen]

Originally Posted by Duckster

Yeah, so? But can you communicate on topics in a clear manner that the average reader will understand and want to come back for more?

I hope so -- I have written a few letters to editors.

[CCitizen]

Originally Posted by overlyverbose

if you're not blogging and not contributing to a free portion of a website but instead just providing free content for exposure or out of the goodness of your heart, it can cheapen the profession for the people who are actually paid to write.

I am sorry, I am selfish. I want to share my ideas.

[Gary "Wombat" Robson]

Originally Posted by Cat Whisperer

This seems like a good time to ask this - what is the SDMB policy on linking to blogs etc. like those that Dread Pirate Jimbo talks about?

In the context of the thread, no problem. If we're talking about blogs, linking to a particular blog is fine.

On the other hand, plugging your own blog in every post (blog-flogging, as I like to call it) is strongly frowned upon. So is linking to it out of context (e.g., finding a way to link to your cooking blog in a thread about metal content of meteors).

[Martini Enfield]

Originally Posted by overlyverbose

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but...in my opinion, if you're not blogging and not contributing to a free portion of a website but instead just providing free content for exposure or out of the goodness of your heart, it can cheapen the profession for the people who are actually paid to write. I used to freelance for a living and there were so many people out there who were willing to work for dirt cheap or nothing at all that it made getting a living wage very difficult, even though many of the work generated by those willing to work for next to nothing was absolute crap.

There's an old joke that professional writers and prostitutes have the same issue - talented amateurs doing the same thing for free.

[NoClueBoy]

Originally Posted by Martini Enfield

There's an old joke that professional writers and prostitutes have the same issue - talented amateurs doing the same thing for free.

Happens in photography, too. In fact, at weddings (which I rarely do anymore), we have a contract clause concerning the Uncle Bob factor.

"Yeah, my Uncle Bob is a pretty good photographer. He'll be there taking pictures, too."

Not that I object to amateurs as a given rule, only when they get in the way of the professional's job. I went to one wedding recently as a guest, without a camera at all because I don't get in the way of the hired pro, and it was actually shot by about 4 Uncle Bobs and Cousin Susies. Interesting. (The couple was keeping the whole thing as low cost as possible, which I thought was a good thing. Just noticing how that anecdote fits what is quoted above.)

[Eve]

Originally Posted by overlyverbose

I used to freelance for a living and there were so many people out there who were willing to work for dirt cheap or nothing at all that it made getting a living wage very difficult, even though many of the work generated by those willing to work for next to nothing was absolute crap.

Yep . . . in the pre-internet days, I was actually able to earn a living as a freelance magazine writer/editor. Now that everyone with a computer thinks she's Dorothy Parker, those days are over.

[Gary "Wombat" Robson]

Originally Posted by Eve

Yep . . . in the pre-internet days, I was actually able to earn a living as a freelance magazine writer/editor. Now that everyone with a computer thinks she's Dorothy Parker, those days are over.

I was talking to a magazine editor recently about an article I was writing for her. She said she needed some photos to run with it. High-quality images to run at full page width. She's paying $10 per image. I said I don't know a photographer that will work for that rate. Heck, I'm an amateur photographer at best and *I* won't work for that rate.

[iftheresaway]

Originally Posted by Eve

Yep . . . in the pre-internet days, I was actually able to earn a living as a freelance magazine writer/editor. Now that everyone with a computer thinks she's Dorothy Parker, those days are over.

I have a little bit less of this since I'm a copywriter/ business writer, but the thousands of obscenely low-paying jobs at places like eLance, oDesk, etc. attest to the fact that plenty of companies (granted, many of them scammy or just plain shitty) think that because it's on the web, any yahoo who can string two (badly spelled, gramatically incorrect) words together will be good enough. Obviously those aren't the kind of companies I work for, but it definitely affects the overall mood of the marketplace.

[overlyverbose]

Originally Posted by iftheresaway

I have a little bit less of this since I'm a copywriter/ business writer, but the thousands of obscenely low-paying jobs at places like eLance, oDesk, etc. attest to the fact that plenty of companies (granted, many of them scammy or just plain shitty) think that because it's on the web, any yahoo who can string two (badly spelled, gramatically incorrect) words together will be good enough. Obviously those aren't the kind of companies I work for, but it definitely affects the overall mood of the marketplace.

When I first got started in freelancing, I was clueless and signed up on elance (back when it was free - now it costs more to sign up than you'd ever hope to actually make from it). It was absolutely miserable. I provided my first potential client with a quote that was by market standards pretty low, but I was new, so I figured I had to start in the lower range and work up. He was horrified by my "ridiculously high" rate and said he'd expected $1 per article, or 50 500-word articles for $50. He then told me I should be grateful to write for him.

Shockingly, I did not use elance again.

[VOW]

When I first ventured into Vegetarianism, I started out Vegan. And I surfed the web for ANYTHING I could find.

I stumbled across a webzine written by two people who were honest and enthusiastic. It was nice to look at, easy to read, and very informative.

I became interested in Heirloom Beans, and started an email exchange with one of the owners. I was encouraged to write my own column on beans for the webzine.

I didn't get paid anything. I had a lot of fun. I received "fan mail," and I enjoyed the whole experience.

My columns are still archived on the site!


~VOW

[Dogzilla]

There's a certain technique in news writing that differentiates a genuine news story from a blog. Just wanting to "share your ideas" does not a journalist make. Actual journalism writing would include:
•getting interviews and or quotes from multiple sources
•understanding the inverted pyramid
• knowing how to write a clear, concise lead
•knowing how to get all the who, what, why, when, where, and how into the article
•knowing how to corroborate your sources
• and presenting more than one viewpoint.
• Also, keeping one's own personal opinion OUT of the story.

Just starting a blog and waxing poetic about anything and everything is not journalism. That's just essay writing, basically. I get really annoyed when I hear people referring to anyone who writes something as a journalist. Bill Maher is not a journalist; he's a comedian. Michael Moore is not a journalist; he's a documentarian. People like that, while they may write about current events and they may present their opinions about those events, they are under no obligation to present a fair and balanced piece of writing. An actual journalist should be. Just because someone is on TV and either reading the news or talking about the news, that doesn't make them a journalist. Just because someone is "published" on the internet does not mean they have reporter skills and understand exactly how to find and chase down a news story and present it in a fair and unbiased way, with corroborated, verified sources.

Upon preview, what blasto9000 said.

[blasto9000]

Originally Posted by Dogzilla

Upon preview, what blasto9000 said.

I think you did a better job of zeroing in on the OP's original intent.