Freelance

The best way to position yourself for a full-time editorial job is to start freelancing for your dream publication first. And if your niche is parenting (specifically for teenagers and tweens), you might be able to earn a byline at Family Circle.

Just make sure your pitch outlines concrete tips for the health and well-being of readers’ families. ”We offer essential advice for tough parenting challenges, fun suggestions for family activities, healthy and delicious recipes, and DIY projects to create a comfortable home,” said senior associate editor Stephanie Emma Pfeffer.

If you’re bursting with ideas in any of those topics, you’re in luck. FC relies on freelancers for about 60 percent of its content.

Get more guidelines in How To Pitch: Family Circle.

This article is one of several mediabistro.com features exclusively available to AvantGuild subscribers. If you’re not a member yet, you can register for as little as $55 a year and get access to these articles, discounts on seminars and workshops, and more.

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

Heart & Soul, which was purchased in January and given a big-name editor to run the magazine, is not giving off an impression of, shall we say, financial soundness.

Just before the purchase was finalized, the National Writer’s Union launched a campaign on behalf of 60 writers who were owed a collective $200,000. The contributors had been told last July that the payment process was delayed during the ownership change.

However, not only have those writers still not received payment, but the new owners are also allowing new debts to pile up.

According to Richard Prince’s Journal-Isms, the magazine has skipped its April issue. Tipsters told Prince that the issue was skipped because the magazine’s entirely freelance team (including editors) went on strike to protest lack of payment. Clarence Brown, president and CEO of the magazine’s acquiring group, responded that actually, no, the magazine is making adjustments in its publication schedule.

Among the angry writers include Sheree Crute, who wrote for the publication before the change of ownership but told Prince that the current difficulties are nothing like she’s experienced before. She’s not the only writer who is still upset. Freelance contributor Harriet Washington, who was not among the writers in the initial complaint, tells us that she is owed more than $5,000 for an article that was accepted more than three months ago (and assigned under the new regime). Since March 13, she’s received no correspondence from editor Sandra Guzman or EVP George Curry…and of course no payment.

Reached by phone this morning, Curry referred all questions to Clarence Brown, who did not respond to a request for comment as of the time of this posting.

Earlier this week, sister blog 10,000 Words wrote about a brand-new site that allows journalists to easily gather their clips in one place without any fuss, without having to know the first thing about coding, and without any design knowledge.

I got an invite code to check Pressfolios out (it’s currently in closed beta, but co-founder Marc Samson tells me that people aren’t having to wait too long to get their invite codes).

Here’s how it works (with help from Pressfolios’ own Tumblr).

After signing up, you can add stories simply by pasting their URLs into the site.

The site automatically determines the headline, news outlet, and image associated with the story. Ok, sometimes it gets the news outlet wrong. But it takes about five seconds to manually edit it. It also seemed to get the wrong photo or no photo for most of the stories I uploaded. But changing the photo is surprisingly easy–I did it in about three clicks without leaving the site. (I imagined I’d have to click on the article, download the image to my hard drive, and re-upload it to Pressfolios. Luckily, this isn’t the case.)

The site doesn’t yet get the date from the story, which is unfortunate, because it has to be manually entered each time. I assume this is on Pressfolio’s punch list of things to fix before the site goes into open beta.

Once you’ve added a few stories you can arrange them:

And you can tag them, which will create separate tabs on your main Portfolio page. You can also create an About page (which is also showing its beta-ness in that some of the fields that you can fill in on your profile don’t actually display anywhere on the public-facing site).

Here’s what it looks like when you’re done:

Neat, yeah?

If you’re logged in, you can also download a PDF of each clip from your Dashboard, a handy option.

So here’s what the site can’t do yet. It can’t batch-import clips. Freelance marketplace Contently, believe it or not, will find what it thinks are all of your clips from a given site in one go. (Contently’s mission is not to provide journalist portfolios–that’s just a side benefit of membership there–so it may not be surprising that for now, the visual appeal of Contently’s portfolios is a bit lacking.)

You also can’t change the layout of the portfolio. Everyone’s looks the same: square images, white background, etc. It doesn’t hurt that this is an attractive look, but design is one of the improvements Samson notes his company is working on. I’d like to see an array of pre-designed templates for users to choose from, as well as the option to change the colors of said templates. Best might be something that presented more text–though humans are a visual species, I suspect editors really do want to read a prospective journalist’s clips, not just look at how pretty they are.

So, okay, Pressfolios is clearly still a beta product.

BUT. With all that said. The old way of making a portfolio site sucked. Either you just pasted text links, as do most of my freelance colleagues, or you had to manually cut and paste headlines, blurbs, links, and possibly images. I’m not gonna lie. It didn’t take forever, even if you knew no HTML. But it wasn’t fun either.

If Pressfolios rockets out of beta with these minor issues fixed, it might not change the world. But it will make a lot of journalists’ lives easier. And isn’t that good enough?

Pressfolios is currently free; once out of beta, the core features will remain free, Samson says. Go sign up for an invite code and try it out for yourself.

Let’s face it, as freelancers we’ve been known to do the hustle. It’s in our blood and hey, even if it’s not, it has to become part of our life whether we’re born with it or not.

According to an article on The Daily Muse, there are a few strategies to land new gigs. Even if you’re already doing some of them on a daily basis, it’s good to be reminded you’re on the right track.

1. Do pro-bono work at first. In the piece, Jessica Gordon writes, “Doing work for free obviously isn’t a long-term strategy, but it is a great one if you’re just starting out and trying to make contacts. If there’s a website you love or a business you want to work for, volunteer to write a blog, document an event, or do some design work for free.”

Is this a beneficial way to get your foot in the door? You bet. The only key is to not continuing to work for free in the long-term. In the short-term it’s a savvy move but once you get the experience, meet new contacts or have your mission accomplished, look elsewhere. As in paying clients.

2. Build a website and self-promote via social media. “Promote it like crazy,” she writes in the piece. Yes, this means Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr. Shout it from the rooftops! Make your entire network aware that you’re available and looking for freelance work!

Some people may have issues with asking for help but if you ask, you will likely receive. Leveraging social media is also a great way to follow editors you’re interested in connecting with; find out what’s on their brains and more importantly, if they share this information, what they’re working on.

3. Get your work into new clients’ hands. A portfolio is important but making sure people actually see it is truly valuable. In the piece, an illustrator subscribes to ADBASE, a database of publishers, design firms and ad agencies. This database continuously updates its content as art directors move around so you don’t have to stay abreast of their whereabouts.

4. Break out of your shell. Now is not the time to be shy; put in face time, meet up with new contacts for coffee, and accept the fact that you may be shy in most parts of your life but this is not one of them. Force yourself outside of the comfort zone by going to events even if you may not feel like it and giving yourself the challenge of exchanging business cards with one person; at the next event increase it to three, etc.

5. Search online job postings. Okay, this may sound like a no brainer but sometimes we may get so caught up in introducing ourselves to new people and offering our services and updating our statuses that we overlook the most obvious one of them all: Job listings. Yes, recruiters and editors actually review resumes so if you think your CV will be submitted into a black hole, think again. And if you don’t think you’re exactly qualified for a specific opportunity or you’re looking for freelance work and the job posting indicates full-time, it never hurts to introduce yourself as a freelancer for potential gigs down the road.

Freelancers: have you ever been on retainer (or a ‘contributing editor’ contract, which we assume is similar)?

What a deal. You agree to be available for X number of hours per month. In exchange, you get paid up-front for those hours, usually at a slightly discounted rate, and whether or not the client uses those hours, you keep the money. It sounds like a sweet deal. You get a guaranteed income, and the client gets an on-tap pro for anything they need, without having to negotiate each project individually.

These arrangements are popular in law firms and with doctors serving the rich. But in the media world, retainer arrangements are a little like unicorns—often talked about but rarely, if ever, seen.

If you can land one, though, are they a freelancer’s dream come true? What about contributing editor contracts? We’d love to hear your experiences — good or bad — with these arrangements. Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

Switching things up, instead of leveraging a job search this post is devoted to fellow freelancers who are focused on productivity. Sure, people with office jobs have the daily grind and structure of a day job, not to mention office space but for freelancers things are a little (okay, a lot) different.

A functional home office is key in terms of having space devoted to working instead of lounging on a couch, the same destination for watching American Idol. Yes, a home office is cost-effective but according to Amy Levin-Epstein and her post on CBS Money Watch, she explained that renting space outside the home is affordable and more productive than working from home.

First of all, in the piece she pointed out a writer she interviewed gave kudos to office space for the main reason of networking. You know, having people interaction during the day: “I like the interaction/working with other freelancers, and I like the programming they offer for freelancers.” For instance, on Wednesdays the source attends “lunch pad” whereby entrepreneurs share a communal salad and dish about their experiences.

As for another reason, a communications consultant told Levin-Epstein it gets her out of the house, makes her more productive, and gives her a sense of a professional community. “I found when I worked at home that I felt too isolated and not a part of the working world. I rent a cubicle at Brooklyn Writers Space. It’s so easy to rent a flexible and affordable space these days, at least in New York City. This was one of the most affordable options — I pay $360 a quarter.”

Getting out of the house and into a work environment, some may argue, can make you more productive. A California-based PR consultant told Levin-Epstein her income has grown since she branched out with an actual office. “I can make more money because when I am at the office, I am totally focused on getting work done.”

And let’s not even think about the fridge being merely 10 feet away at home. Another PR consultant informed Levin-Epstein he rents shared office space in Boston and an extra perk is not having instant access to food 24/7. This way, he leaves his 500-square foot apartment and gets to interact with clients and network on his $99 per month part-time membership plan. Plus, he added, “It also helps me stay focused and avoid snacking all day.”

The Freelancers Union knows that thousands of freelancers have had to deal with deadbeat clients. So they’re asking Twitter to come to them with their best (worst) stories. The result is the hashtag #GetPaidNotPlayed.

Interested in what people are saying? Check out our Storify below, or add your own voice.

If you’re a freelancer, indie, solopreneur or otherwise independent worker, you ought to check out The Freelancery, a blog we’re surprised to realize we only discovered recently.

Writer Walt Kania dispenses advice in a no-nonsense way, coming up with advice and solutions for anyone—not just writers—who works for no boss and wants to make more money.

Some of the advice runs counter to what we’ve heard in the past. Like, putting your price on the front page of a proposal. Calling a client at 3 in the morning. Why it’s OK to say no. And more. Maybe the advice is contrary, but it sure makes sense, at least when Kania is selling it.

Check it out. There’s a wealth of information there.

photo: Hermés

Mikki Taylor spent over 30 years at Essence, first in the mag’s fashion and sewing department in the early 80s and most recently as its cover and style director. You’d think leaving such a prestigious job for the uncertainty of entrepreneurship would come with some trepidation, but Taylor says stepping down to an editor-at-large position just felt right.

“I think for about 60 seconds I had the fear that ‘what if Mikki Taylor doesn’t make it with Mikki Taylor Enterprises?’” the style and beauty expert explained in our Media Beat interview. “Well, what if this doesn’t work? Then, I’ll do something else, because I’m always going to find myself in the place of empowering women. And I know too much to stop now.”

Watch the full video for more of Taylor’s tips on climbing a magazine masthead.

Part 1: Mikki Taylor on Her 30 Years at Essence
Part 2: Essence‘s Mikki Taylor Takes on Casual Fridays