CRAIG SILVERMAN

I’ve been following Adrian Monck’s series (1,2,3) of blog posts about how “journalism is not to blame for the decline of newspapers.” The most recent one, which quotes from a post/speech by News-Record editor John Robinson, got me thinking about the changes we’re seeing in the world of media and publishing — and how these changes are impacting freelance writers.

The newspaper business ain’t what it used to be, and therefore neither is writing for newspapers. Magazines are also changing. (Robinson’s speech was also noted by Gazette Editor-in-chief Andrew Phillips on his recently-launched blog. Bookmark it.)

Being a freelance writer today is remarkably different than it was when I sold my first article 12 years ago. To name a couple of the more discussed points, pay rates haven’t changed much over the last 30 years (at least in Canada), and new contracts being offered by publishers demand more rights than ever before, which can make it tough to resell and republish work.

I know: wah, wah.

I’m not interested in complaining about the situation because I’m equally tired of hearing editors and others complain about their plight: falling revenue and subscriber numbers, fragmentation of the audience etc. These are serious challenges, but it’s time to focus on solutions. I say the same thing to freelancers when I speak to them, as I did last week in Ottawa.

Yes, we should be trying to negotiate better contracts and word rates, but we should also recognize the current business climate and stop pining for the good old days. Most importantly, we should be focused on taking advantage of opportunities created by all this change.

I think a lot of freelancers and editors/publishers got caught watching things change. In some cases, we were reporting about the larger trends, yet didn’t see how they applied to us. I get the sense that newspaper people are currently more focused on solutions than freelancers are. I often hear my fellow freelancers complaining and trying to reclaim the way things used to be.

Our clients are changing. We’ve got to change, too.

How should we change? I don’t have all the answers, but here are a few ideas. I’ll also say up front that I need to work on each of these areas. Writing this post has driven that point home.

Build Your Brand, Rather Than Your Clients’ – Freelance writers have, in my opinion, traditionally been bad at branding ourselves. We often define ourselves by the brands we work for (“I write for The New York Times” etc.), rather than making those brands a part of our identity. Someone will tell you whom they write for and expect that name brand to tell you something about them. Freelancers need to create their own personal brand — something that can attract clients in this Googleized world. Also, thanks to the Internet, your brand can attract an audience. We used to have to rely on clients for that. Take a look at how Penelope Trunk has built her brand. (Her blog is here; her company is here.) Her clients will change, but she will always be the Brazen Careerist until she decides otherwise.

Yes, branding means a website, but it really means thinking about what you want to convey about yourself. Clients will come and go; you can’t define yourself by them. That’s their brand, what’s yours? Who are you? How are you unique? As Seth Godin said to me during a recent interview, you want to make it so that you’re the best, the only, choice for what you do.

Be Platform Agnostic — This is the buzzy term used by Arthur Sulzberger to explain that The New York Times isn’t just going to be a newspaper — its reporting will live on multiple platforms. I don’t think most freelancers have begun thinking this way. In truth, it represents a huge opportunity. There have long been people who sell a story and photos as one package, but we can go beyond that basic combo. This could mean selling a story and photo for the newspaper, a photo slideshow and/or short video interviews for a website, a radio report from your recordings etc. If contracts are going to demand more rights, which can make it hard to resell an article, then we need to find better ways to slice and package our work in order to extract the most value. One story can become many different things, all of which can earn additional income. But in order to do that, we need to…

Always Be Training — One of the smartest things I’ve ever done was take an HTML programming course one summer during university. It helped me understand the Web, which caused me to learn more about the Internet and eventually to take up blogging. That led to Regret the Error, which led to a book etc. As freelancers, we need to expand our skillset. I’ll always be a writer first, but if I can also take a good photo, and shoot and edit video and audio reasonably well, then I’m in great shape to tell — and sell! — a story in a variety of ways. That means more jobs, more exposure, more possibilities for me. By constantly working to add new skills that can aid us as storytellers, freelance writers will be even more useful in a platform agnostic world. These skills can help us replace revenue lost due to bad contracts and other factors.

Build Your Own/Sell Direct — Meet Paul Lima. Paul is a fellow freelance writer/speaker based in Toronto. Paul sells some of his work to newspapers and magazines, among other things, but he also sells some of his writing on his website. He’s selling his words direct: no dealing with pitching editors, invoicing etc. He has written several ebooks and makes them available on his website. He’s taken advantage of services like Lulu.com and PayPal to become both a creator and a retailer. Some things will naturally need to be sold to a traditional market such as a publication, but there are services and technologies that make it easier than ever to sell your work directly to people (your audience). Blogging services and ad networks have also made it possible to build your own publication or service. If you’re not happy with the markets you currently serve, then you need to go after new markets or create your own. Selling direct is one option. Building your own is another idea. One more suggestion is too…

Develop Networks — Forgive me for stating the obvious, but we are living in a networked world. Freelancers often work alone and from home, so networks are crucial for us. Social networking tools like Facebook can help connect us to our community. Business networking tools like LinkedIn can connect us to colleagues and clients. Organizations like PWAC are an additional business network. Building and maintaining these networks is essential for a freelancer, but I think there’s one network that we need to get working on: story networks. Take FeatureWell as an example. Freelancers should be coming together and creating organizations that can help place/syndicate our work. We rely so much on others to accept a pitch, offer a fair rate, give a good contract. We should be looking to shift some of the power into our hands so we have more negotiating clout. We should be taking advantage of the Internet and building new networks that distribute our work and increase our exposure and revenue.

The bottom line is that freelancers need to start thinking strategically about what we do. Our business is changing and, just like our clients, we need to adapt and innovate.

No more complaining; it’s time for ideas and solutions.

What are yours?