do freelancers all have day jobs to provide their income?

Hi there!

i suppose what id like to know is how happy are people with their day jobs....

actually, i have no idea what i want to know anymore. never mind.

No matter how much I love to write, I couldn't do it 8 hrs a day (I couldn't do anything 8 hrs a day). Even if I didn't need the mullah, I'd still get a "regular" job.

Content for the moment, but likely soon to change because the pay ain't cutting it.

For god's sake keep away from the hip-hop thread!

my problem is that my freelance work is suffering as im becoming disenchanted with doing it for little pay and not having enough time to put my all into it. im worried people will stop giving me as much work, so i really need to get my standards up again. but your break wont come just like that - you need to network, ask people, make a lot of effort and persevere. people dont give breaks just like that, sad to say.

That said, you can be a happy freelancer if you adjust your expectations to reflect your dayjob. I've freelanced for more than a decade and never had any desire to make it a fulltime occupation. The downside is that I've missed out on a lot of writing opportunities, but that's always been mitigated by the fact that I have a lot more fiscal stability. It also keeps me from taking shit assignments just to make money--I have complete autonomy about what I want to write about, which to me is of absolute importance.

The bottom line is that you have to find out what works for YOU.

Now I'm finally moving back through to Glasgow I have to get a day job to pay the rent. I had applied for some media jobs and had considered a press officer job but decided it would take most of my energy. A clerical job won't be hugely exciting, but it means I can put my creative energy into my freelancing and my fanzine for the time being.

I'm only 24, so I'm not too hung up about careers just yet. Some of my friends have done really well for themselves, and fair play to them, but I quite fancy having two or three years more fun (join a band, maybe do a tefal course and spend a few months abroad for example) before climbing onto the career ladder.

I look forward to re-reading this post in a few months time when I'm bitter and disillusioned!

web/freelance writers... what's your day job?
Professional Music Writers?
Why to you folks seem to dislike the ones who makes a living writing about music?
Why Should People Be Paid For Writing About Music?

geeta has a good point. I'm 31 this year and have freelanced for about 4 years, my bf hasn't had a day job in 20 years of freelancing, but now he's almost 46 and he's a bit sick of it. It's still new and fun for me. The thrill of it is that your whole life can change with one phone call or one introduction. Just today, after 3 months of NO WORK WHATSOEVER i get a huge 4 day gig from a girl i met over a year ago! Very exciting!

Also, steady jobs may give you insurance, but insurance hardly covers anything and it's so expensive! You'd be better off just saving your money and getting your healthcare in Taiwan.

&hey, I hate to be a plugger, but I've been very concerned with self-employment issues lately. Some friends & I built a website that's mostly for helping freelancers or anybody to publicise their services & get matched up with people who need what they do. it's free of course.

it's called daylo, no linky, google if you might be interested, we intend to be huge & helpful. I hope my standing in the community won't be compromised by self-mention (also very concerned with the tangibility of online reputation).

:-((((( So will you quit yer job soon, Ned? (Sorry, if you already talked about this somewhere else, I have been trying to catch up on ILX but failing.)

At the moment I am employed on a very occasional basis by one outlet.

So I suspect the day job is here to stay.

Lots of writers,

Not so many outlets/magazines..

= oversubscription

and "not much money in it"

?

Ever since my career as an editor went down in flames, I've been a part-time dad/sloooow book writer. Thankfully my wife is much more successful and her employer provides health insurance -- as everybody knows the cost of insuring yourself has gone through the roof since the 90s.

Lately I've been trying to tailor some of my music and technology theories to fit in the articles format so I can "get back in the game" freelance-wise. This thread has provided some timely inspiration/motivation aka a kick in the pants. Thanks!

Now this IS interesting. I'd always thought of the Guardian as the good guys, but I don't know anything about their freelance policies. Care to elaborate?

I've muttered it here and there -- basically I've been pressing for a reclass of my job to a higher pay/admin level, given what I'm doing already. There have been encouraging noises but no more, so these next couple of months will involve me pushing things more, while we wait on budget news as well (an unavoidable factor). What ultimately happens will depend on that.

I'm one of the full-time freelancers. Jobless' first post could have been written by me a month ago. I'm still going after full time writing jobs, but hen's teeth, gold dust, all that jazz. Freelancing is picking up (mainly due to forcing myself to stay positive and not sink into an unproductive slough of despond), but I'm still considering getting a rubbish-y part-time job to clear debts more than anything. I think I'd become a very bitter person if I gave up altogether.

Thanks Alex (NYC varient), your post was quite inspiring/ comforting.

to be honest, i'd say that unless you were skilled in news reporting, newsdesk work, subediting, feature writing and reviewing, or were regarded as an expert in one particular field, you're going to struggle. if - like a lot of ILXers - you're just after the odd bit of music work here and there, i really don't see how you can hope to survive without another job.

of course, the national union of journalists here in the UK hates and despises freelances whose main income is non-journalistic: the argument is that every little bit or bob of work you take is depriving a full-time freelance hack of income. i'm not sure i agree at all, but ... it's one to discuss while i get back to some serious editing work on this 4,000-word piece by, heh, a very distinguished scottish freelance. (stew: you know who i mean.)

you need to be able to turn your hand to anything, be a constant mine of ideas, and keep pitch-pitch-pitching with the thickest rejection-proof skin in the world.

this is true, or half-true. i'd dispute the 'constant mine of ideas' thing -- it's more complicated than that. you have to be fairly tuned in to what will sell, ie what editors like. this is why i am not a freelancer.

well, exactly. in fairness, i think the NUJ's main beef is with amateur photographers, but they've kicked off about "non-journalists" before.

politeness will stop me talking about the number of so-called professional journalists i know who couldn't tell one end of a sentence from another, heh.

as for the "constant mine of ideas" ... don't be too worried about the vagaries of the market. sometimes the most unusual pitch will grab my a commissioning editor's attention. when i was freelancing, i would have a hit rate of one idea accepted for every five or six produced. that seems about the norm.

but as someone very wise said upthread: you have to find out what works for you.

I kind of want to write about music, but reading music journalism always reminds me how much I don't know.

sorry :)

as for the NUJ: that's the point. you never know when you'll need it. seriously: keep paying those subscription fees. without wishing to sound like a big wank, there is power in a union.

and the press card: i've used mine once. i look like the yorkshire ripper in the photo.

:-/

otm

the best advice i ever got about freelancing was from jess- 'you gotta be ray liotta with this shit'

he means this?

http://www.nooniefortin.com/images/OperationDumboDrop.jpg

here's a question: got first 'big' writing gig. doing a bunch of things, including reviews, assignments, my own little projects, etc. believe it or not, got it through craigslist.

while i'm happy to keep doing this for free-- i have one semester left at college, after all, and it is a good resume-builder-- i am really strapped for cash despite my current day job. when i go back to finish this fall, the situation will likely get worse. thing is, i'm afraid to ask for compensation, tho the original ad i responded to said that small amounts of $$$ would be provided. should i ask about moneys and risk losing the gig or just keep going with it and hope that eventually i get a check in the mail?

Forget poverty -- what about maintaining one's toehold in the discreet bourgeoisie? I like to eat a good dinner a couple times a month, decent wine, and nice clothes, plus have a mortgage. I'm very grateful for the freelance gigs I've gotten in the last six or seven years, but even now as an editor, I don't make 1-100th of what my day job(s) pay.

But I suspect that, even if I had the means, I couldn't write all day. I like the distraction afforded by a job that's not literature or music-related; it refreshes the imagination, and prevents one from slipping into self-absorption.

Arts Editor

Washington City Paper is looking for a full-time editor to oversee its coverage of the arts, both online and in the print product. We're seeking someone who can assemble a lively, stylish, and cerebral section of arts criticism and reporting each week, populate a dynamic arts blog with reporting and commentary, and innovate new ways of covering the local arts, in forms both short and long. We want an editor who is eager to write everything from breaking news stories to quick-response blog commentaries to months-in-the-making cover stories, and who can recruit and manage a corps of freelancers. Competitive candidates should also possess less revolutionary, conventional skills with respect to knowing about the arts, editing copy, meeting deadlines, dealing with freelancers, and so on. Interested? Please send your stuff--cover letter, resume, clips or thesis, miscellany--to j✧✧✧@washingtoncitypa✧✧✧.c✧✧.

jobs at

I'll bet that pays at least $20,000/year

I'll bet that pays at least $20,000/year

30,000 actually I think

I have a dayjob but I'd like to do freelancing as well. How did y'all get into it? Where should I look for opportunities? I'd be most interested in writing reviews of books, films, or albums. I've published some stuff but only in this one journal my friend edits, so I guess I have a portfolio.

Similar. I've written quite a bit of music journalism now, but nearly all of it's been unpaid.

^Isn't that the next great debate? 'Forever interns'?

ppl looking for editorial assistant jobs: this is legit.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/wri/4333872034.html

That Washington D.C. City Paper job is legit, just a lot of work for 30 grand.

And still not filled

well that's a whole 30 grand a year you don't want to give it to just anbody

Someone finally got hired and just moved on to Slate.com

So the D.C.'s weekly Washington City Paper is again looking for an arts editor

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/pages/workhere/

Become the Arts Editor

A job like that has to pay $30K so that all the copy editors and freelancers are under the illusion they have something to work toward.

Some who have written there have dreamed bigger and even succeeded. Katherine Boo, who later wrote award-winning books and for the Washington Post and the New Yorker, started at the City Paper, as did Ta-Nehisi Coates, and current New Yorker contributer Jelani Cobb.

They just hired someone btw.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-dural-puncture_headache

http://priceonomics.com/the-priceonomics-freelance-writing-program-s1000/

so let me get this straight. they don't take pitches, but they advise you not to write pieces on spec. where exactly do they expect the content to come from?

sounds like they want a half baked pitch and then they can shoot it down with fewer hard feelings?
i read it as "we're not looking to develop new writers or hire full-time people but if you'd like to join the talent pool our fee is competitive"

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6707243/music-journalism-usa-today-times-picayune-daily-news

Music coverage at metropolitan dailies has taken a major hit in recent weeks, with writers at several legacy city papers leaving their full-time positions.

Jim Farber announced on Sept. 17 that he had been let go from the New York Daily News, where he had been covering music since 1990, in a round of layoffs that hit the paper's highest-profile talent particularly hard. New Orleans’ Times-Picayune dissolved its music department in a 21 percent budget slice of the paper's content operation. The Advance Publications-owned title laid off music writer Alison Fensterstock and offered her colleague Keith Spera a metro reporting job that would, according to a Facebook post, allow him to "write the occasional music-related news story."

The 2.8-million circulation national daily USA Today, meanwhile, said goodbye to its longtime music writer Brian Mansfield. The Nashville-based 18-year veteran of the paper reveals his next move will take him out of traditional journalism into a new role as content director at public relations firm Shore Fire Media (Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, St. Vincent).

Saw Alison Fensterstock speak at an EMP re New Orleans bounce music and other subjects, and have read her stuff. Its a shame she has been laid off.

Fuck, sorry to hear about Farber. There's fewer and fewer people left.

Just started transcribing and timecoding captions for subtitles. I must be insane.