On Cue: Switching from Print to Podcast? It May Not Be as Big a Stretch as You Think
by Meagan Gillmore
I never intended to host a daily podcast. But in March 2019, I unexpectedly traded in a notebook for a microphone and took on the role of guest-host for The Pulse, a daily show on AMI-audio that focuses on current affairs related to disability and accessibility.
Before, I thought print journalists began podcasting because of disruptions in legacy media.
Now, I think the desire to create a community with a story is what often fuels such a move – and I’ve realized print and audio have more in common than I thought.
My stint in podcasting was brief – the show went on hiatus a few weeks after I stepped in as a temporary host – but here are a few of the lessons I learned along the way.
Know what you need to learn
Liz Beatty, a magazine writer and former communications specialist, says she doesn’t view audio work and writing as very different from each other.
“I don’t think it’s two separate worlds,” she says.
But the jump from print to audio was still an adjustment.
Read the rest of this post »
Off the Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer April 30-May 6
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, communications, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- Distrust in media is on the decline, journalists tell survey [J-Source]
- BIPOC Writers Connect: Mentorship, Networking, Training [TWUC]
- Announcing the 2019 NMA nominees [Magazine Awards]
- Good News, Bad News: A snapshot of conditions at small-market newspapers in Canada [National NewsMedia Council]
- Shutting down social media does not reduce violence, but rather fuels it [J-Source]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- New to freelancing? Here’s how to stick to a budget [Freelancers Union]
- Down and Out in the Gig Economy [New Republic]
- The Gig Economy is Global Now. Here’s How to Navigate It. [The Freelancer]
- Why are journalism contests so expensive to enter? [Nieman Reports]
- The 7 Essential Elements of Your Freelance Website [Bloglovin]
- Money + Misdirection: the shadow of “charge what you’re worth” pricing culture [Medium]
- Journalists as characters: Using first person narration to drive stories [Open Notebook]
- How to convince a potential client to sign off on your proposal [Freelancers Union]
Recently on Story Board:
- Webinar — Declutter Your Data: Breakfast Lesson webinar if you’re on the west coast!) called Declutter Your Digital Data on Wednesday, May 22nd at 12 noon ET (9am PT) and author Angela Crocker will teach you how to declutter your digital life…
Spot a story you think we should include in next week’s Off the Wire? Email the link to editor@thestoryboard.ca or tweet us at @storyboard_ca.
Webinar: Declutter Your Digital Data
These days, we all have digital DNA filled with an unwieldy amount of data. Photographs, social media accounts, blog posts, and old news reports fill mobile phones, tablets, hard drives, and the cloud. This results in the digital clutter problem, a largely invisible issue hidden inside sleek mobile phones and invisible data storage.
Join us for a Lunch and Learn webinar (or a Breakfast Lesson webinar if you’re on the west coast!) called Declutter Your Digital Data on Wednesday, May 22nd at 12 noon ET (9am PT) and author Angela Crocker will teach you how to declutter your digital life.
The session will be based on on Angela’s three year personal digital cleanse. Strategies to declutter data, organize information, and sort out accessibility combined with methods to keep the digital “paper tiger” under control will give participants actionable steps to put into practice immediately.
Angela Crocker has been described as a pioneer of ethical social media, a business savvy digital goddess, and an information organizing superhero. She’s also been called the Ann Landers of the online world, making sense of the sometimes confusing digital domain. She’s the author of five books including the 2018 release Declutter Your Data: Take Charge of Data and Organize Your Digital Life. Learn more at AngelaCrocker.com and connect with Angela on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter.
To register for the webinar “Declutter Your Digital Data” click on this link. If you’re a CMG Freelance member, enter the code “CMG-FL” when you are asked for an affiliation code. If you are not a member, you can enter the code “SBoard” to register to participate in this webinar for free.
Live viewings of our webinars are open to everyone. We’ll be making a recorded version available to members of CMG Freelance after the event. For information about the price and benefits of CMG Freelance membership please check out the CMG Freelance website.
Off the Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer April 23-29
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, communications, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- The pedestrian misogyny behind the van attack [J-Source]
- Deep Research seminar live tweet recap [PWAC Toronto]
- Forcing reporter to give RCMP info on ‘dead’ terror suspect ‘unreasonable,’ Vice argued at hearing [J-Source]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- My Sim is the most successful freelancer I know [The Outline]
- How to write a good pitch [The Write Life]
- 5 E-commerce Business Ideas That Work Well For Writers [Freelance Writing Jobs]
- 5 Tricky Financial Truths for Freelancers [The Freelancer]
- How to Land Freelance Writing Jobs as a Beginner [Freelance Writing Jobs]
Recently on Story Board:
- Toronto freelancer social night April 30: Toronto-area freelancers, CMG Freelance president Don Genova is in your area this week and is hoping you’ll join him for a casual get-together this coming Tuesday night, April 30 at The Wellington…
- The Born Freelancer on (Not) Having Your Ideas Stolen: If you’re a professional freelancer, you quickly come to the realization that your ideas are the very foundations of your creative existence, the begetters of all income. And so you must learn to treat them with a greater degree of protectiveness than you might wish to do otherwise…
- CAJ conference opening night freelance mixer in Winnipeg May 2: Freelancers, if you’re going to be in Winnipeg during the CAJ’s annual conference next month, you’re invited to a casual opening night mixer sponsored by CMG Freelance…
Spot a story you think we should include in next week’s Off the Wire? Email the link to editor@thestoryboard.ca or tweet us at @storyboard_ca.
Toronto freelancer social night April 30
Toronto-area freelancers, CMG Freelance president Don Genova is in your area this week and is hoping you’ll join him for a casual get-together this coming Tuesday night, April 30 at The Wellington (520 Wellington St. West) from 6 to 8 p.m.
It’s a chance to meet other freelancers for a bit of camaraderie, networking, and some drinks and snacks. All freelancers are welcome, CMG Freelance members and non-members alike.
The get together is happening in ‘The Front Room” of The Wellington, the reservation is under “Don – Canadian Media Guild.” Please drop Don a line at freelance@cmg.ca to let him know if you can make it. First round of drinks and snacks are on him!
The Born Freelancer on (Not) Having Your Ideas Stolen
This series of posts by the Born Freelancer shares personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.
The police tell us to stencil our name or other uniquely identifiable mark on our most valuable property. In the event it is stolen, that simple procedure will help identify it as ours and greatly increase the odds of having it returned.
It’s not so simple with ideas.
We writers love to discuss them. We throw them around verbally with playful abandon, embellishing them as we go along, before more fully deploying them in some creative work or another… if they haven’t irretrievably morphed and gotten away from us first.
By their very nature, ideas are a gift from the cosmos. Where do they come from? Who can say. How do we perceive them? I do not know. Are they really “ours”? Maybe – but only for a little while. Are any of them actually original? Possibly – but only very few.
During some periods in our creative lives (if we’re lucky) they flow like never ending fountains of inspiration, easily discarded because another dozen or more are soon on their way. During other, less indulgent and more stressful periods, the flow can reduce to a trickle – or even worse – it can shut off entirely for no apparent reason.
So it may appear to court the displeasure of the muses (of whom I have written elsewhere) to hoard or in any way obstruct their natural exuberance in the wild. Especially in this age when it has never been easier to share ideas or trade them with others near or far online.
However, if you’re a professional freelancer, you quickly come to the realization that your ideas are the very foundations of your creative existence, the begetters of all income. And so you must, perhaps regrettably, learn to treat them with a greater degree of protectiveness than you might wish to do otherwise.
Loose lips sink ships…
CAJ Conference opening night freelance mixer in Winnipeg May 2
Freelancers, if you’re going to be in Winnipeg during the CAJ’s annual conference next month, you’re invited to a casual opening night mixer sponsored by CMG Freelance.
Come out to Tavern United Bell MTS Place (345 Graham Ave) at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 2nd. It’s a chance to meet some freelance colleagues from across the country for a little networking and freelance camaraderie.
CMG Freelance will pick up the first round of drinks and some snacks for the table as well. Everyone is welcome — members and non-members alike. The reservation will be under “Don, Canadian Media Guild.”
Please RSVP to CMG Freelance president Don Genova at freelance@cmg.ca to let us know if you plan to attend. Hope to see you there!
Off the Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer April 16-22
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, communications, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- Can a news media that doesn’t really oppose fascism ever cover it well? [J-Source]
- #CAJ19 conference [CAJ]
- How beat reporting in 2019 works at 3 different-sized outlets across Canada [J-Source]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- Are you sure you want to go freelance? [Work Notes]
- Northern Ireland: Freelance journalist Lyra McKee shot dead during riots [IFJ]
- 20 Inspiring Writing Podcasts to Subscribe to Right Now [The Write Life]
- 6 morning habits that will help you slay the work day [Freelancers Union]
- How a “Side Project” Helped Me Overcome Freelance Fatigue [The Freelancer]
- How to charge late fees when clients don’t pay on time [Freelancers Union]
- 7 reasons a freelance journalist should start a podcast [Muck Rack]
- Extreme loneliness or the perfect balance? How to work from home and stay healthy [Guardian]
- How to Spring Clean Your Work Computer (and Make It Feel New Again) [The Muse]
Recently on Story Board:
- 2019 Access Copyright Payback claim period open until May 31: All creators who were affiliated with Access Copyright as of December 31, 2018 are eligible to submit a claim this year for written and visual work published in books, magazines, journals and/or newspapers between 1998 and 2017…
Spot a story you think we should include in next week’s Off the Wire? Email the link to editor@thestoryboard.ca or tweet us at @storyboard_ca.
2019 Access Copyright Payback claim period open until May 31
Writers and visual artists, the 2019 Access Copyright Payback claim period is now open and you have until until May 31 to submit your claim.
All creators who were affiliated with Access Copyright as of December 31, 2018 are eligible to submit a claim this year for written and visual work published in books, magazines, journals and/or newspapers between 1998 and 2017. Works published in 2018 will be eligible for a claim next year.
If you’re not yet registered with Access Copyright and you have published work that fits the claim criteria, now is a good time to register via Access Copyright’s online affiliation portal so that you’ll be ready to submit your claim next year.
For a full explanation of how Access Copyright and the Access Copyright Foundation could contribute to your income stream, check out this Story Board post.
For more information or to submit a claim go to the Access Copyright website.
Off the Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer April 9-15
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, communications, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- Seven students each awarded $10,000 in scholarships [J-Source]
- Which online skills are journalism bosses expecting from students? [J-Source]
- 3 really good things that can come from doing your taxes [Rags to Reasonable]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- 6 ways writers drive their editors crazy [Freelancers Union]
- As the industry matures, content marketing platforms develop growing pains [Managing Editor]
- Hitting home runs with pitches [Nieman Storyboard]
- Reddit for Writers: 47 Writing Subreddits to Explore [Writers Digest]
- 10 simple ways to spring clean your inbox [Inc.]
- Journalists of Color Face Harassment by Sources [Open Notebook]
- 4 Foolproof Ways To Find Expert Interviews For Your Articles [Journo Resources]
- Need Backup? How Freelance Writers Can Find Subcontractors to Work With [Freelance Writing Jobs]
- How to negotiate your rate like a pro (Part 2) [The Freelancer]
- How to negotiate your rate like a pro (Part 1) [The Freelancer]
- After a tough Winter, beware of the Springtime, “Yes, of course!” [Freelancers Union]
Recently on Story Board:
- Annual CAJ conference features sessions for freelancers: On day one of the conference, CMG Freelance is sponsoring a one-hour session dedicated to freelancing. “Going solo: 411 boot camp for the freelance journalist” features freelancers Kalli Anderson, Alison Motluk, Justin Ling, and Sunny Dhillon…
- PWAC Toronto deep research seminar April 23: The seminar will offer practical information about conducting in-depth research online, in person, at libraries and other places.You’ll pick up some tips on locating hard-to-find data, statistics, historical information, records, and transcripts and find out how to go beyond Google searches and make information requests…
Spot a story you think we should include in next week’s Off the Wire? Email the link to editor@thestoryboard.ca or tweet us at @storyboard_ca.
