Bloggers get their day (and some cash, too)

Blogging can be a thankless task. Depending on what your blog is about, finding an audience can be hard, and keeping them engaged is a lot of work. But some writers manage to start something great, attracting healthy traffic and building their own online community, one blog post at a time. Some make a bit […]

Posted on November 22, 2011 at 10:04 am by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , , , ,

Why I wrote for the Huffington Post (and why I stopped)

By Emma Woolley The Huffington Post is evil, right? It makes a lot of money from content it doesn’t pay for. It exploits writers and undermines their right to earn livings. It contributes to the overall devaluation of writing and especially web writing. I knew all of this and I still wrote for the Huffington […]

Posted on November 15, 2011 at 10:00 am by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , ,

On fear and hunger: the Born Freelancer’s open letter to employers

I was having coffee recently with a colleague. Okay, actually, in my case, it was hot chocolate. Hey, it was cold outside and I needed a sugar hit. But we freelancers haven’t yet come up with a better expression than “having coffee” to denote a casual meeting. “Having tea” sounds too lightweight. “Having hot chocolate” […]

Posted on November 10, 2011 at 1:51 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , , ,

New food-industry site mimics HuffPost‘s “influence as compensation” model

If it worked for the Huffington Post, why can’t it work for Food & Drink Digital? The latter publication’s public relations manager, Jeremy Vara, is sending a message to potential contributor that asks for them to share their expertise with Food & Drink Digital’s “exclusive audience.” Jim Romenesko posted the email he received from Vara […]

Posted on October 25, 2011 at 10:56 am by editor · One Comment · Tagged with: , , , ,

How to handle “idea theft”

This week on the Toronto Freelance Editors and Writers email list, a member asked the group for advice on a tricky situation. It’s a familiar one to most freelance writers and many editors who work with both freelance and staff writers. This writer had pitched a profile of a young entrepreneur to a weekly community […]

Posted on October 19, 2011 at 12:49 pm by editor · One Comment · Tagged with: , , ,

UBC ends deal with Access Copyright, freelance writers lose out

Joining more than a dozen other large post-secondary institutions across the country, the University of British Columbia has ended a long-standing contract with Access Copyright, a non-profit organization that aims to guarantee fair compensation for writers and publishers when their works are copied. UBC says that the organization was demanding “dramtically” higher fees and wanted […]

Posted on September 12, 2011 at 10:24 am by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , , ,

Another delay for U.S. freelancers awaiting compensation

While the Robertson Settlement saga is still trucking along here (and the deadline to submit claims under second settlement is approaching), our freelancing friends south of the border are getting nowhere fast with their class-action suit against against numerous publishers. Just this month, an appeals court rejected a settlement struck in 2005, based on an […]

Posted on August 29, 2011 at 3:25 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , ,

Freelance class action cheques hit the mail – should we be celebrating?

Freelancers are finally seeing some cash from the Robertson copyright infringement case, but should they be celebrating?

Posted on March 7, 2011 at 4:11 pm by editor · One Comment · Tagged with: , , , , ,