Off the Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer April 3-9
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- Working Media podcast: Karen K. Ho [J-Source]
- 27 writers make 2018 CBC Short Story Prize longlist [CBC Books]
- CMG welcomes new President of CBC/Radio-Canada, urges focus on investment in local news and programming [CMG]
- What a failed media startup can teach us about involving readers in reporting [Nieman Lab]
- How I Survive on a Variable Income [From Rags to Reasonable]
- Torstar hiring 20 reporters as it rebrands, revamps Metro newspapers [J-Source]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- 5 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started Freelancing [The Freelancer]
- Why education is essential for freelance success [Freelancers Union]
- 31 Free Writing Contests: Legitimate Competitions With Cash Prizes [The Write Life]
- Framing your professional value: Tips for older freelancers [Freelancers Union]
- Onion Inc. has unionized [AV Club]
Recently on Story Board:
- Need help with your taxes? Get organized with the New School of Finance’s free course: It’s tax season, freelancers, and that means it’s time to dig out that pile of receipts and tax slips and get them organized. If that idea fills you with dread, the New School of Finance has a free course that might help…
- Halifax freelancer meet-and-greet April 18: Come and join us for this casual social night where we’ll make connections, share ideas and discuss ways we can work together to improve the working lives of freelancers…
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.
Need some help with your taxes? Get organized with the New School of Finance’s free course
It’s tax season, freelancers, and that means it’s time to dig out that pile of receipts and tax slips and get them organized. If that idea fills you with dread, the New School of Finance has a free course that might help.
The Toronto-based fee-only financial planning firm’s Tax Prep Party is a short tutorial filled with good, basic information to help you get your papers in order.
There are two video modules — one is a general tax preparation checklist and the other is specifically aimed at sole proprietors. The course explains the various slips you’ll need to submit with your return and will remind you of all the little tax credits and deductions that will help you save money on your taxes. Tax Prep Party is presented by financial planner Shannon Lee Simmons, whose entertaining and energetic personality livens up an otherwise tedious chore.
Whether you’re completing your tax return yourself or hiring a tax preparer, Tax Prep Party will help you make sense of the jumble of slips and receipts. As a bonus, if you register for this free course you’ll be offered a discount on the New School of Finance’s comprehensive business course for freelancers, Sole Prop School.
The deadline to file your personal income taxes is April 30. Self-employed people have until June 15 to file their return, but you might not want to wait until that deadline to file… because you’ll pay interest on any taxes you owe between April 30 and June 15.
For more advice on filing your tax return as a freelancer, check out these posts from Story Board’s archives.
Halifax freelancer meet-and-greet April 18
Halifax-area freelancers, mark your calendars: CMG Freelance is hosting a spring meet-and-greet on Wednesday, April 18 at The Marquee Ballroom (2037 Gottingen Street) from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Come and join us for this casual social night where we’ll make connections, share ideas and discuss ways we can work together to improve the working lives of freelancers.
Enjoy a slice of pizza and a drink on us while you network with other freelancers and learn about the CMG and the support we provide to freelance workers.
Off the Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer March 27-April 2
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- Forum Freelance Fund Bursaries [Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma]
- Opinion: How Ottawa should spend its $50 million to support local news [J-Source]
- These journalists help deliver a community newspaper on the weekends [Poynter]
- Survey Reveals Canadian Freelancers Saddled With Unpaid Invoices [WWD]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- Unequal Rights: Contract Workers Have Few Workplace Protections [NPR]
- 6-Step Guide to Writing a Killer Project Proposal [The Write Life]
- 4 Tips for Breaking Into Branded Podcasts [The Freelancer]
- 40 time-tested tips for journalists that never go out of style [Poynter]
- Time is on your side: Building client relationships [Freelancers Union]
- Interviewing for career-spanning profiles [The Open Notebook]
- Paste Magazine is too indie to pay its contributors properly [Huffington Post]
- Should you compete or collaborate with other freelancers? [Forbes]
- Before you quit your day job, make sure you can deliver [Freelancers Union]
Recently on Story Board:
- Vancouver media mixer on April 18: Vancouver media workers, freelancers and journalism students, come out and join us for a free networking event on Wednesday, April 18 at Shebeen Whiskey House in Gastown from 6:00 until 8:30 p.m…
- 2018 Forum Freelance Fund competition for hostile environment training bursaries now open: The fund provides bursaries for Canadian freelancers to attend dangerous environment training courses. It provides bursaries of up to $2500 to Canadian freelancers. Foreign freelancers doing significant work for Canadian publications are also eligible to apply…
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.
Vancouver media mixer on April 18
Vancouver media workers, freelancers and journalism students, come out and join us for a free networking event on Wednesday, April 18 at Shebeen Whiskey House (212 Carrall St.) in Gastown from 6:00 until 8:30 p.m.
There will be free snacks and drinks on offer as you make connections, test pitches, and share advice with people working (and studying) in the media across the city. Mentors from a variety of media outlets will be in attendance.
The event is sponsored by CWA Canada, the country’s only all media union, with 6,000 members at media companies and newspapers coast to coast. CWA Canada is the parent union of the Canadian Media Guild, which represents members at media outlets such as VICE Canada, CBC, and The Canadian Press, as well as freelancers through its voluntary membership program. CWA Canada also has a free membership for student, volunteer, precarious and emerging media workers through its Associate Member program.
This event is free to attend, but please register to reserve your spot on this Eventbrite page.
2018 Forum Freelance Fund competition for hostile environment training bursaries now open
The 2018 Forum Freelance Fund competition is now open for submissions. The fund provides bursaries for Canadian freelancers to attend dangerous environment training courses.
The fund provides bursaries of up to $2500 to Canadian freelancers. Foreign freelancers doing significant work for Canadian publications are also eligible to apply.
The deadline for this annual bursary competition is April 19. Winners will be notified by May 31. Bursary winners will then have two months to choose and register for a hostile environment training course.
The Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma runs the competition in association with the Rory Peck Trust, a U.K.-based organization devoted to promoting the safety of freelancers. The competition was founded in 2011 and has awarded 27 bursaries to freelancers since then.
More information and application requirements are available on the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma website.
Off the Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer March 20-26
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- Student journalist award winners honoured at the Emerge Media Awards [Canadian Magazines]
- Radio-Canada reporter won’t face harassment charge [CBC]
- Torstar and Postmedia talked job cuts before deal, Competition Bureau says [Globe and Mail]
- CBC’s Carol Off discusses the ethics of source relationships at 2018 Atkinson Lecture [J-Source]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- Miss Having Coworkers? Here’s How to Start a Writing Group [The Write Life]
- 4 ways to improve productivity when you work from home [Freelancers Union]
- A Smarter Way to Price Your Freelance Projects [The Freelancer]
- How to keep your credit score stable as a freelancer [Freelancers Union]
- How writing a Pulitzer Prize-winning story is like eating a big slice of pizza [Poynter]
Recently on Story Board:
- 2018 Dave Greber Awards open for submissions: Freelance writers, if you’ve focused your work on social justice issues this year, it’s time to apply for the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Awards. The competition opened this week and the submissions deadline is Friday, June 22at 5 p.m. PST…
- Build your freelance business with these five small social media tweaks: When I got into social media marketing there were three networks with straightforward strategies. Today, there are many more platforms and the rules seem to be ever-changing. Tactics that worked a few years ago don’t seem as effective anymore. So what is a freelancer to do?…
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.
2018 Dave Greber Awards open for submissions
Freelance writers, if you’ve focused your work on social justice issues this year, it’s time to apply for the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Awards. The competition opened this week and the submissions deadline is Friday, June 22 at 5 p.m. PST.
The awards honour the memory of Dave Greber, a Calgary-based freelancer who wrote extensively about social justice issues during the final decade of his career. Created in 2004, the awards are given to writers of social justice-related non-fiction. There are two awards — a $5000 prize for a book and a $2000 prize for a magazine feature. Work that has not yet been completed for publication is also eligible for submission.
To submit your work for a Dave Greber Award, you must be a resident of Canada and spend 70% of your working time as a self-employed freelance writer.
Detailed submission guidelines can be found on the awards website.
Several previous Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award winners have been interviewed for Story Board. You can read their advice for writers right here.
Off the Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer March 13-19
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- Women journalists and the glass ceiling [J-Source]
- The 2018 National Magazine Awards Jury [Magazine Awards]
- Radio-Canada reporter arrested for harassment after requesting interview [Ottawa Citizen]
- Turning newspapers into charities: A new model for the future? [J-Source]
- Internet giants should support local news, culture, Melanie Joly says [Toronto Star]
- Competition Bureau raids Postmedia headquarters over swap & closure of newspapers that cost over 300 jobs [Globe and Mail]
- The Canadian Press corrects errors in Indigenous section of CP Stylebook [J-Source]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- 3 Ways to Quit Waiting for “Perfect” Writing Conditions [The Write Life]
- 10 social media guidelines for freelancers [Freelancers Union]
- 10 tips for setting up your LinkedIn profile [Journalism.co.uk]
- NWU and ITT Sign Freelancer Agreement [National Writers Union]
- Freelancers And Low-Paying, Difficult Clients: A Love Story [Forbes]
- 5 tips for writing blog posts [Poynter]
- 6 Questions to Consider Before Accepting a Freelance Writing Gig [The Write Life]
Recently on Story Board:
- Webinar: Handling the Physical and Emotional Realities of Journalism: Journalism can be a risky business – not just in conflict zones but in many domestic settings as well. The risks have grown steadily across the years, and no one is more vulnerable than the freelancer, working without the technical, physical and emotional support of a single employer…
- Ottawa Media Mixer on March 20: Ottawa media workers, freelancers and students, you’re invited to a free media mixer later this month. Mark your calendars for Tuesday, March 20th and head down to Union Local 613 (315 Somerset St W) from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m…
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: Handling the Physical and Emotional Realities of Journalism
Journalism can be a risky business – not just in conflict zones but in many domestic settings as well.
The risks have grown steadily across the years, and no one is more vulnerable than the freelancer, working without the technical, physical and emotional support of a single employer, usually at a financial disadvantage too.
With all this in mind, CMG Freelance has organized a webinar led by Cliff Lonsdale, co-founder and president of the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma.
“Handling the Physical and Emotional Realities of Journalism” is scheduled for Wednesday, March 21 at at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Register for the webinar at this link
Cliff approaches the topic with a long and varied background in foreign and domestic reporting, both staff and freelance, as well as TV and radio production, news management and teaching journalism at the graduate level.
The Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma is a charity dedicated to the mental and physical wellbeing of journalists, freelance or staff. Among other things it provides risk-awareness programs and hostile environment training bursaries for freelancers. These courses now routinely address mental health issues as well as physical dangers.
You can register for the webinar here. CMG Freelance and CWA Canada Associate Members can use their membership numbers to register. For a limited time, CMG Freelance is making live viewing of our webinars available to non-members. If you’d like to watch this one, you can use the special code “Storyboard” in place of a membership number.
Archived webinars are available for viewing by CMG Freelance and CWA Canada Associate Members on this members-only page on the CMG Freelance website. Subjects of previous webinars include social media, contract negotiating and financial planning for freelancers.
Students, volunteers and emerging media workers can sign up for a free CWA Associate Membership right here.
For information about the price and benefits of CMG Freelance membership check out the CMG Freelance website.
