Freelance Unbound

Still in Cornwall, still minimal internet access. But part two of four pillars of freelance success is over at FleetStreetBlues. Enjoy…

Right now I’m in Cornwall, getting away from journalism, work and, given the lack of reliable internet access where I am, the modern world.  But just so you don’t feel all neglected, you can pop over to Fleet Street Blues to read a series of guest posts by me. With luck, they should be running […]

Just because it’s Friday and I’m taking it easy, here’s a link to my newly published feature on prediction markets for Director magazine. It’s nice that I can start pointing to some reasonably high-profile material on the web in my portfolio. For some reason much of the rest of my work of the past two […]

Part 1;   Part 2;   Part 3;   Part 4;   Part 5; At last, the end of the journey and a handy summary. But first, Recovering Journalist Mark Potts has a very good post on Life After Journalism that is really worth reading. A former 20-year journalist (hmm – like me), Mark Potts is now “an entrepreneur and […]

Part 1;   Part 2;   Part 3;   Part 4;   Part 5; It’s been a bit of a marathon, but finally we’re getting to the end of the recession-busting advice. In the next post, I’ll put together a handy summary, so you don’t have to wade through so much copy to see the bullet points. First – […]

Part 1;   Part 2;   Part 3;   Part 4;   Part 5; It’s round three of media survival tips for recessionary times. Last time, I talked about Assessing Your Skills, Learning New Skills and Updating Your CV. Now we’re pretty much focusing on networking, networking and networking. And maybe some advertising. First, though: Draw up a plan Be organised. […]

Today I spent an hour in a vast lecture theatre giving a talk about freelance journalism to first-year students at Kingston University.  It was great fun, actually, and I got to use their super high-tech AV equipment (which luckily didn’t break down on me). That’s me on the right looking suitably dorky in front of […]

Part 1;   Part 2;   Part 3;   Part 4;   Part 5; Sometime between September and Christmas last year, my business plan fell apart and I was faced with the grim prospect of actually having not enough money coming in this year. It happened to a lot of freelancers I know, all at the same time. I […]

According to anecdotal evidence – it’s pretty bad. It’s not a good time for journalism students graduating this year, certainly.  Tracking the job ads on Journalism.co.uk gives a rough indication of how the job market is going.  Just before Christmas 2008, there were just over 100 jobs on the site – mainly journalism, but with […]

During last autumn’s climate of fear about a collapse in the publishing industry, I registered with People Per Hour – a freelance marketplace that allows you to bid on projects posted by a whole range of potential clients. I was curious to see how it worked, and also thought I might even get some paying work […]