#Tip of the day for journalists: Pitching advice for freelancers

Image by monkeywing on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

If you are a freelance journalist who has experienced regular rejections to pitches to editors, you might be able to relate to this post on MediaSpank.

It includes an interview with the anonymous Pitching the World blogger – who is pitching to all 642 magazines listed in the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook.

For help on pitching, sign up for this successful freelance journalism course and see our list of other courses.

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

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#Tip: Try creating a CV infographic based on your LinkedIn profile

Visual.ly, an infographics, tool that we have written about regularly on Journalism.co.uk, has just released a new tool that allows you to create an infographic of your CV based on your LinkedIn profile.

There are five designs to choose from.

The personalised infographic can be embedded, downloaded or linked to.

Visual.ly has teamed up with Kelly Services to create the tool.

You can build an infographic based on your LinkedIn profile in seconds by following this link.

Related: 

Five free portfolio and profile platforms for journalists

Portfolio site for journalists launches

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#Tip of the day for journalists – creating freelance opportunities

On Poynter, Beth Winegarner offers some helpful pointers for freelancers keen to track down new opportunities. Her tips cover topics such as network building and making your specialism known. She also highlights the value of having an online portfolio.

Earlier this week Journalism.co.uk produced a list of online portfolio and profile platforms which journalists can use to share examples of their work and experience.

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

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#Tip of the day for journalists: 25 popular tools for freelancers

Meranda Watling of 10,000 Words recently blogged about a survey by BestVendor, a “New York-based start-up site aimed at connecting users with useful apps and software”.

The survey asked about freelancer’s most popular apps, such as those to help share files or manage the business side. 10,000 words lists the 25 most popular ones cited by the respondents.

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

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App of the week for journalists: Stamped, where Time is sharing film reviews

App of the week: Stamped

Devices: iPhone

Cost: Free

What is it? An iPhone app that allows you to share and discover recommendations for films, books, music, restaurants and more.

How is it of use to journalists? This app is one social media managers should be aware of, music journalists and anyone who writes book, film or restaurant reviews.

The app, which launched in November by ex-Google employees, works not by encouraging users to give a restaurant, book, film or track a star rating, but people add a stamp and a line explaining “what makes it stampworthy”.

A handful of news sites have pushed out reviews with links to their sites, including New York Magazine and the Austin Chronicle, which share restaurant reviews, and Time magazine, which is posting its “all-time 100 movies” and recent film reviews.

Stamped users can then comment or like a review, engaging with the news site.

During a wider conversation about the use of social media at Time, Cathy Sharick, managing editor of Time.com, told Journalism.co.uk how her team started using Stamped about six weeks ago.

The way we look at new platforms is that we like to get there in early and see what happens.

I think over the next few months they have some things coming out that will probably grow their audience so we want to see where it goes.

A few specialist journalists, including movie critic Peter Travers, share their reviews and engage with users of the network.

Other journalists have also recommended and reviewed products (such as Instapaper, Apple TV and Google Maps).

For more on Stamped see this post on TechCrunch.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – advice for using Skype and recording calls

Freelance journalist Christopher Goodfellow has written a blog post recommending Skype for interviews.

His post recommends a call recorder and details the cost-saving potential.

It’s also worth reading:

• 10 fantastic apps, tips and tools for recording audio
• How to record a Skype call on an iPad / iPhone
• How to record phone interviews

Tipster: Sarah Marshall

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

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App of the week for journalists: ExpenseMagic

App of the week: ExpenseMagic

Devices: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch (Blackberry and Android versions will be available soon)

Cost: Free (with options to pay for bookkeeper services)

What is it? An app that allows you to photograph expenses receipts, add details and have a PDF of your accounts emailed to you every month.

How is it of use to journalists? Unlike many of our recommended apps which focus on using your smartphone for reporting, this one helps you manage some of the more mundane necessities that go along with doing any job.

This one is of particular use for freelance journalists, but could be useful for anyone who regularly claims expenses.

The app allows you to photograph a receipt and save it and the related data to the cloud. You have two options: firstly to manually enter the data or, if you want to pay, get a bookkeeper to do it for you.

You can then have a PDF emailed to you (or an accounts person in your news organisation) every month, detailing your expenses.

One handy function is that you can sync with a phone’s diary, allowing you to attach a claim to a specific event or meeting.

For overseas travel, ExpenseMagic uses a phone’s GPS location to automatically select and convert a claim from a list of 159 currencies.

You can submit claims directly into three cloud accountancy software packages – FreeAgent, Freshbooks and Xero.

The makers of the app say that it is “fully compliant with UK tax laws”.

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Tool of the week for journalists: Cuttings.me

Tool of the week: Cuttings.me

What is it? An easy to use portfolio tool created by a freelance journalist for freelance journalists.

How is it of use to journalists? Cuttings.me was built by freelance journalist Nicholas Holmes who wanted a way of presenting links to his best work.

Launched in October, Cuttings.me now has thousands of links and is being used by journalists from the BBC to the New York Times to Al Jazeera. You can see Nicholas Holmes’ portfolio at Cuttings.me/nicholasholmes.

Last week it was been adapted and redesigned with the help of feedback from other users.

As of this today, Cuttings.me has a “multimedia clippings” feature, which opens up Cuttings.me for broadcast journalists too.

Another feature released today is RSS, allowing anyone who wants to subscribe to a feed of your best work to have an easy way of doing so.

RSS was “one of the most-requested features since the redesigned site launched late last year”, according to Holmes, who is is tourism Editor at AFP/Relaxnews and a freelance contributor to other publications including the Independent.

It’s quite a major upgrade and means users will be able to activate a personal RSS feed of their work, allowing them to easily export their cuttings to sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn to ensure all of their contacts are kept up-to-date, whenever they add a new piece to their Cuttings.me page.

A short video on how to get started with Cuttings.me is below.

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Take part in Frontline Club survey on freelance safety

The founder of the Frontline Club, Vaughan Smith, is asking freelance journalists around the world to take part in a survey about the physical risks of their work.

The survey is aimed at freelance camera operators, video journalists, photographers, stringers and other independents anywhere in the world.

Smith says:

I believe that there is an opportunity, post embed-free Libya, for a practitioner-led initiative to move the industry forward on news safety.

In April this year the Frontline Club will host workshops, bringing management, practitioners and freelances together to discuss the issues.

It is my view that freelance interests have suffered in the past for lack of representation. Opinions on these matters outside the mainstream are broad and no freelance can confidently speak for another.

I intend to take a first step to address this by using the data from this survey to inform the debate on safety. The results will be published but not the names of any contributors.

The survey, which should take no more than 10 minutes to complete, can be found at this link.

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Video: Freelance foreign correspondent discusses reporting from Yemen and Libya

GRN, an agency for foreign correspondents, has posted a video interview with freelancer Portia Walker.

In the first in a series of interviews from GRN, Walker talks about her year covering the Arab spring in Yemen and Libya.

A former TV current affairs producer with Al Jazeera English, Walker explains how she moved to Yemen just before the Arab spring began.

She speaks about the “baptism of fire” in reporting from Yemen for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, Washington Post and the Economist as well as GRN’s TV and radio clients.

Expecting to spend time in Libya researching features, she found she was spending her time “daily news reporting” which “did not go down well at some times with the authorities” and led to her arrest a gun point.

You can find out more about GRN in this Q&A interview and read guide on how to become a roaming reporter.

The video interview is below.

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