Category Archives: Freelance

Freelancers: put your tax questions to our expert

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Nigel Simmons FCCA, managing director of Acconomy Limited, is on hand on the Journalism.co.uk forum to answer questions on tax from freelance journalists, whether its getting started with VAT or moving to the UK from abroad.

This is a part of a sponsored feature on Journalism.co.uk, but to put your question to Nigel it’s free – you just have to sign up to the forum.

There are full details of how to participate at this link and more details about Nigel’s firm Acconomy on the company website. Acconomy is a specialist accountancy practice for journalists and freelancers and is accredited by the Professional Contractors Group (PCG).

The advice contained in the tax advice section is intended as general guidance relating to a generic situation. No responsibility can be accepted by the author for actions taken by readers as a result of reading the advice given.

Readers should always seek professional advice from their own advisors who will be aware of client’s particular circumstances.

Put your questions to Skillset about training bursaries for freelancers

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Skillset, the media industry skills council, is answering questions about its new multi-platform training bursary for broadcast journalists today, as part of an online Q&A session.

You can put your questions to Alice Dudley, TV fund manager at Skillset, via the Guardian’s career section forum.

The multi-platform bursaries offer a grant of up to £800 for freelancers with an interest in working in broadcasting to spend on a range of 38 pre-selected, foundation-level courses, including an introductory course on social media and shooting video for the web.

To be eligible for a bursary, candidates must demonstrate either professional experience in the UK TV industry or the wider creative media industries with a view to working solely in TV or in broadcasting as part of a multimedia role.

There are 500 places available as part of the scheme.

Networking group for writers spreads to London

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WriteClub, a friendly networking group for all kinds of writers, is planning its first London meet-up after some successful get-togethers in Brighton.

“So far (in our Brighton meetings) we’ve had journalists, copywriters, editors, authors, fiction writers and poets get together for gentle networking,” says Leif Kendall, one of the founders.

“The main purpose is to help working writers meet other working writers, and so learn from each other and expand our networks.”

The group’s London meeting will take place on Tuesday 1 December at 19:30 in the Yorkshire Grey pub: Yorkshire Grey pub, 46 Langham Street, London, W1W 7AX

There’s no formal agenda – just a place to swap tips and advice.

Write Thinking: How a tech freelancer became his own publisher

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A guest post on Write Thinking, from (former) freelance journalist Roy H. Rubenstein on the launch of his new online magazine and how he’s set up sponsorship for the venture.

A specialist journalist (his new site Gazettabyte covers opticom developments in the datacom and telecom industries), Rubenstein had been freelancing for six years for a magazine, which was closed in July.

“I now have my own title. No more surprise phone calls telling me to stop writing as the magazine is about to fold,” he writes.

Full post at this link…

Freelancers – how well are you marketing yourself online?

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It’s your last chance to book on Journalism.co.uk and Guy Clapperton’s ‘Introduction to online marketing for freelance journalists’ course, to be held at Journalism.co.uk’s central Brighton offices on Monday 12 October 2009.

For the low price of £85 + VAT, we’re offering attendees a place on this course as well as a year’s subscription to our online database of freelance journalists. This is normally £50 per year, so depending how you look at it you’re either getting yourself exposure to our 120,000 plus monthly unique users for free, as well as learning how to get the best possible exposure for yourself, or you’re making a great saving on a course that’s been described as ‘really useful’ and an ‘enjoyable evening’ by previous delegates with an ‘excellent’ tutor.

Guy Clapperton, who will be teaching the course, is a veteran freelance journalist, media trainer, and social media expert, and the author of ‘This is Social Media: Tweet, Blog, Link and Post Your Way to Business Success’. Guy will be taking you through all the steps you need to take in order to ensure you’re getting your name out there online, in the right avenues and in the best way. With the current economic climate, increasing numbers of journalists are looking at turning freelance, so it’s advisable to take advantage of any opportunity to make yourself stand out from the crowd that you can.

Your listing will include the following:
* a profile page in Journalism.co.uk’s database of freelance journalists
* a subscription to our freelance newsletter
* access to our members-only freelance forums, where you can find exclusive job leads sourced by us for you
* get your name out there to our unique community of visitors from all sectors of journalism and publishing.

For more information on the course and to book, please visit the course page.

Freelance Frontline: Let us know what you’re up to

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Journalism.co.uk has just posted the first in what we hope will become a regular series looking at the work of freelance journalists – in all its many and varied forms.

You can read the first installment featuring Stephen Maughan, on starting out as a freelancer; Mark Joyella, on his role as a ‘community supported journalist’; and new blogger Vik Iyer.

Let us know what you’re working on: we want to hear about published articles, book plans or newly launched websites.

Just finished a big commission? Send us a link. Looking for contributors for a new pitch? Get in touch.

You can drop our news team an email, send us a tweet or leave a comment below.

Overdue freelance payment? Make a YouTube video

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US blogger and freelance writer Tina Dupuy has seen some success, after posting a video complaining that the Tampa Tribune in Florida had failed to pay her $75. She claimed she submitted a piece to the newspaper, which was then published without replying to her first to negotiate a payment. She said she sent them an invoice and didn’t hear back.

But following the video, the newspaper has now put her cheque in the post, she said in a new video this week.

Jim Beamguard, editorial writer at the Tampa Tribune, said Dupuy’s pay was her private business (although she was free to discuss it), and told Journalism.co.uk in an email:

“We receive hundreds of emailed items a day from people hoping to get published.  Many are letters to the editor, but many more are from bloggers, professors, politicians, PR firms, special interests, and ordinary folks just wanting to be heard.  Most of it goes out to every email address these writers can find. A lot of this material can be read free somewhere on the internet. Tina’s column arrived in the mix without mention of a fee. We didn’t just lift it from her blog. We only found out after it was published that she had been trying to sell it.”

And there is more good news for Dupuy: the strategy seems to have helped secure some other payments. She wrote to the LA Daily News chasing a cheque. She got this reply:

I am holding onto your check in the hopes we’d get you to do a YouTube video about not getting paid by us. We could use the plug.

Just kidding!!!

Mariel Garza
Editor, LA Daily News

Here’s Dupuy’s second YouTube video:

Adam Westbrook: 6×6 tips for freelance journalists

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During the last fortnight, multimedia journalist Adam Westbrook has published six guides for freelance journalists – with a strong emphasis on practical steps and digital tools available for freelancing.

You can read the full series at this link or jump to the individual posts listed below: