Editor’s note: This Writer’s Lifeguard column should have been posted earlier, but I procrastinated. The columnist, Jules Older, still unrelated to me, makes an offer to give his eBook away free for Cyber Monday. I strongly believe he will extend that offer one more day. Why? A.) Jules is generous. B.) Jules is familiar with the art of procrastination. — Susan Older

By Jules Older, Editor at Large, Displaced Journalists

One month and a couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Lifeguard Gerry Wingenbach. Was he embarrassed! He’d just spent an

Jules Older

extremely uncomfortable night in the drunk-tank in beautiful Whistler, British Columbia. By the time he got to this:

The invitation for my night’s accommodation came from a uniformed young man; I’m guessing 22. He wasn’t comfortable until he had my hands cuffed behind my back. And I felt shame sitting alone in the backseat of his Ford sedan. It was like being in a hockey penalty box on wheels. A friend of mine at Whistler who watched this encounter told me later that the young man was “the kind of guy everyone picked on in high school, and now it was payback time.”

I was cursing the fact that the ski magazine I’d edited for lo those many years was no more. I was dying to publish Gerry’s confession.

As I was, another article by another skiing Lifeguard, Kristen Ulmer. Hers was on skiing like a man. It contained (if that’s the right word, and it isn’t), this riff:

I remember I used to be told, “You’re the best woman skier I’ve ever seen!” and I always thought, “%$#@ you!” I want to ski like a man. We all do. I want to frequency male power; be like a giant, veiny phallus thrusting down the mountain. Like a hairy, naked savage running out of the cave. Like an F-16 blasting through Jell-O. And then it happened. I knew how to publish both these stories and more. I’d publish an eBook and call it SKIING THE EDGE: Humor, Humiliation, Holiness and Heart. Exactly one month later, I had 21 chapters by 20 leading ski and snowboard writers ready to roll. It should be available on a Kindle, iPad, Nook and Sony Reader (as well as your home computer) starting next week.

My first go as publisher. My first eBook. SKIING THE EDGE. How sweet it is. And how scary. And what extraordinary writing. But don’t take my word for it. Here’s writer and contributor Lisa Richardson, who was asked to judge a major competition for the year’s best ski writing:

Whatever is happening out there in Media Land is shriveling up the market for long form work, and the  world of ski storytelling is no different. So what began as a full body immersion in the best ski writing of  the year became a glimpse at the declining opportunities for ski writers to tell stories beyond schilling  resorts in buffed up service pieces masquerading as features.

As it turned out, the best ski writing isn’t getting published.

Chapter Two. Fast forward to October. Another email pings into the in-box. Jules Older, my one-time  editor of the now defunct Ski Press has an idea. (The four most thrilling and dangerous words in the  English language: I have an idea.)

To read the rest of Lisa’s analysis of the decline of published ski writing and her take on the book, I urge you to go to the blog “Lisa Richardson Bylines.”

Which brings us to Cyber Monday, a.k.a. Today.

While the big-box store websites are offering great deals today, I think I can go one better.

SKIING THE EDGE will sell for $3.99.

But today — for you, gentle Lifeguard — it will sell for $0.00.

Let me know if you’d like an advance copy. No charge. And since it’s a PDF, you can read it just as you’re reading this.

Oh, and if you’re thinking, I don’t ski, so it’s not for me — not so fast. Though it includes occasional ski words — bullwheel, couloir, chairlift — I promise, this is a book for lovers of great writing, not just great ski writing.

eBook FAQs

SKIING THE EDGE is my first eBook, and the learning curve has been as steep as a double-black-diamond run at Vail.

If you’re thinking about publishing an eBook of your own, here’s what I’ve learned so far.

I’m no nerd, and I’m not digital savvy. Can I do this?

Yes. You’ve just described me, and I have.

I’ve heard that when you publish online, people can steal your stuff.

I’ve heard the same thing. Don’t let that stop you from doing it.

If I’m working with other writers, do they have to sign a contract with me?

Yes. That’s one piece of advice everybody agrees on.

Is it enough to offer the ebook for sale on Amazon’s Kindle?

No. That’s the biggest player, but don’t neglect Apple, Sony and Barnes & Noble. Or home computers.

How do I reach them?

Through either SmashWords or BookBaby. Both companies reformat your Word document so it uploads to Kindle, iPad, Sony Reader and Nook.

Which one is best?

They’re both good, and since they both have clarifying websites, see which one works best for you. In my case, partly because I thought the process would go faster and I’d get the book out by the opening of the ski season, I went with BookBaby. I’m happy with the choice.

How much should I charge for my travel ebook?

God, I wish I knew. I wish anybody knew. I went for $3.99, but only time will tell if that was smart or cripplingly wrong. We’re in the arena of mystery and magic. Ebook prices range from free to every bit as expensive as old-fashioned dead-tree books.

What’s the quality of eBooks?

The full range, from despicable to “I wish I’d written that.”

How bad is the e-competition?

It’s your worst nightmare. There are, by actual count, 34.5 gazillion eBooks already out there, all raising their hands and shouting, “Choose me! Choose me!” That’s your competition.

What can I do about it?

Write well. Edit well.  Use a strong and appealing cover. Publicize the bejeezus out of your book. Tell everyone you know about it — and get them to tell everyone they know.

Are there other ways to publicize?

Your local radio and TV stations. Hometown paper. Alumni magazine. Websites, Twitter, blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, the works. Use ‘em all.

How about publicity opportunities to avoid?

Rule of thumb: If it costs more than $20, it’s more than likely a scam. Unless you’re shelling out big bucks for a publicist you know and trust, stick to the free stuff.

What about giving books away free to get the buzz going?

The practice has its advocates, but I’m not one of them. Long before the Digital Age, publishers were saying, “I can’t give you any, you know, money, but the exposure will be great for your career.” Didn’t believe it then; still don’t.

Anything else?

A little luck is always a good thing. Skill and persistence are even better.

– jules

– 30 –

Jules Older hangs out at http://julesolder.com. He opines about San Francisco restaurants and New Zealand life on the apps, San Francisco Restaurants and Auckland Insider. SKIING THE EDGE is available on every electronic and mobile platform, including computers.

August 4, 2011

By Susan Older, Founder of Displaced Journalists and Real World Media

I refuse to give up on the journalism profession. I refuse to give up on displaced journalists, either. Not just the people in our Displaced Journalists community here on the Web, on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, but all journalists who can’t find a place where they belong anymore.

We need to reinvent our profession to keep good journalism alive.

Our society depends upon a free and vigilant press. It is a fundamental building block of our democracy.

• It provides citizens with the news and information they need to make their lives safer, easier, happier and more fulfilling.

• It gives citizens the comfort of knowing someone is out there looking after their interests.

• It provides the fundamental role of ensuring an informed electorate.

• It holds accountable the officials citizens elect at the polls.

Why is journalism broken? We all know the answer: It’s money. It’s not the Internet. It’s the lack of revenue models for both print and online news and information operations.

Only Steve Jobs has hit on a real revenue model. The App Store is brilliant, but it appears publishers who try to sell their content as apps will get only a small bite of the Apple – too little for sustenance. We need to think about how we could emulate that model without giving our product away.

We need to determine who will pay for quality content. I believe the demand still exists.

We need to restore citizens’ trust in the news they read and the journalists who report it. We can do this. The solution lies in getting the best and the brightest back to work and in a position to mentor young journalists, to pass on the mojo, the dedication, the ethical standards and the devotion to excellence that once defined our profession.

I propose a revolutionary solution to save journalism and journalists.

Real World Media.

It is a big idea and it will require serious funding. Can it be done? Absolutely. Can I do it alone? Of course not. We need help and we need funding. I do believe, though, that it is a start.

We must pose the question of how to find buyers for quality content. Let’s give it a shot. Let’s come together to devise a plan that will improve as it evolves. We need solutions that address the concerns of citizens of local, state, national and global communities. Let’s be realistic: globalization has changed the rules of the game. Almost all of the things we cover are playing out to some degree on a global scale.

So what is the future of journalism? How can we address these issues.

Real World Media: What is it? Why participate?

Real World Media is designed to be the first location-based (think FourSquare), mobile-device-driven global news web. It will provide tailored news and information coverage by top-notch, vetted reporters, photojournalists and news videographers who are already at or near the scene – and top notch editors who interact with these journalists and fine-tune their work.

Real World Media will provide journalists with the work they haven’t been able to find and the respect they deserve. Journalists will be paid fairly and immediately (think PayPal) – a rare occurrence for freelancers in the wake of our industry’s massive job losses.

Journalists will be associated with the best and the brightest colleagues – reporters, editors, photojournalists and news videographers – all of them drawn to Real World Media because it’s a prestigious, trusted network and it’s their best chance of getting fair compensation for a job well done.

The editorial board of Real World Media will screen journalists who seek to be part of its global network. Journalists who have the right stuff will start receiving assignments once it’s up and running. Journalists who don’t make the cut right away will be referred to customized training and performance-improvement solutions to help them qualify at a later date.

The first step in any new venture is to look at it from the point of view of the customer. Of course, this has always been the case for journalists. We’ve been trained to make coverage decisions based on what our readers want. I have always referred to this as the “what does it mean to me” factor. Readers didn’t subscribe to newspapers unless they delivered news and information that directly affected their lives. How can we make our coverage so good that readers or users will pay for it online? It’s a tough question, but we must come with a solution. We can’t just give up.

What about coverage of “what they need to know”? Yes, we’ve always done that, too, because the great thing about newspapers was that readers stumbled upon things they couldn’t have predicted they would want to read. It was serendipity. That’s something we’ve lost to varying degrees as news and information migrated to online sites. Now users tend to go to the sites that reflect their specific interests or views. Real World Media will offer engaging enterprise stories, photos and video designed to put the serendipity back into news sites.

What keeps Real World Media customers up at night?

Entrepreneurs in every field look for the “pain point.” They ask the question: “What keeps our potential customers up at night?” If they can’t answer that question, they need to go back to square one and figure it out.

Let’s look at our potential customers’ needs and address them as if we were speaking directly to them.

This is a sample scenario:

You are a managing editor at a news and information operation – either print or online. You have dismissed more of your staff than you knew was wise. You did it because, financially, you believed you had no choice. You or your publisher felt it was necessary to trim the budget to stay in business. Unfortunately, you got rid of the best and the most experienced journalists because their salaries were the highest.

Now you’re looking at a decimated newsroom and a big story breaks – one that directly affects your readers and your community. It could be floods, drought, and forest fires. It could be corruption in your local police department or city hall. It could be a scandal, playing out in Washington, one that involves local or state officials. It could be a story about a local military man or woman engaged in battle half way around the world. You want to cover these things, and you want the local angle, probably with photos and video, but you don’t have a staffer to spare.

What do you do?

• Do you send a journalist, possibly insufficiently experienced, to deal with a difficult assignment, bagging the important story he or she was working on before you had to shift gears?

• Do you resign yourself to using a wire service story, knowing that they are extremely unlikely to give you the local angle and that the same story will appear everywhere else?

• Do you call a freelancer whom you may not know? Are you confident he or she will get to the scene on time? Are they any good? Do you need to find a photojournalist or news videographer, as well?

• How much time can you afford to spend setting this coverage in motion?

You get the point. No matter what you do, you rob your readers of one thing to give them another. That hurts. You never had to make this tradeoff in the past. You once had a good and sizable staff that was capable of doing it all and doing it all well. Your newsroom ran smoothly – okay, as smoothly as possible. You could afford to take time lining up freelancers around the world for a big story, and once you did that you had a big enough staff to assign your own reporters to get the local angle.

Readers were loyal because you gave them news and information that truly affected their lives – their children, healthcare, family budgets, safety, schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, housing, etc. When it came to investigative reporting or breaking news coverage that affected your readers anywhere around the globe, you gave readers your best. Can you do this now, with sparse resources?

Real World Media clients: what we give you

So you decide to become a Real World Media client. Real World Media will provide a simple and affordable solution to the many problems brought about by staff shortages. You will get full coverage without breaking the bank. You, your publisher, your readers and great journalists can all sleep at night.

Real World Media takes your requests and uses cutting edge technology to locate journalists, photographers and videographers around the world to cover the story to your specifications. Maybe it’s a story breaking halfway around the globe, but it affects people from your town, city or state. Real World Media will cover the global and the local angles of the story.

You will pay Real World Media and its journalists well because you know they are worth it and you get what you need from them. Just think about what you once paid your most valuable staff members, the ones you had to dismiss as advertising dwindled and news and information took off into uncharted digital territory.

Real World Media is not designed to take jobs away from working journalists. We’re happy to see journalists working at all. As for jobless journalists, we genuinely hope they will find great jobs again. For now, though, why not tap into their talent and experience through a system you can trust. But let me be clear: Real World Media is not a content mill.

It’s a win-win for everyone. You will save on salary, benefits, travel expenses, and expensive equipment by using the services of Real World Media. Journalists will get what they need by joining the Real World Media network, which ensures that they will be paid fairly and rapidly. As our network grows, we hope to negotiate group rates on benefits such as health care.

Your readers will get what they want, whether it is international or domestic coverage with a community angle or an investigative reporting project right down the road that you cannot begin to staff. It might even be a feature story you just know your readers would enjoy, one that would enrich their lives.

As a client of Real World Media you  will have at least three options:

• You may make a special request for a local angle on any given story. Real World Media journalists will report it for you. This will serve your needs regardless of whether the story is happening inside or outside of your geographic community. It doesn’t matter. You will have the option of informing readers of more than what’s happening. You will tell them exactly what it means to them, with quotes from local citizens and local officials.

• You may request an exclusive story that will not be available or even visible to other clients on the Real World Media site. This will serve your needs if you want an exclusive on a breaking story or if you want a highly qualified team to handle an investigative project or local story that you don’t have the staff to handle.

• You may buy a story that appeals to your audience straight off the Real World Media site. This will serve your needs if you simply want the best possible coverage on an important story. This would serve your needs if you don’t need a local angle and aren’t concerned with exclusivity, but don’t want to run a wire service story identical to the one your competition carries.

Real World Media will run the network. We will find, evaluate and direct the reporters, editors, photographers and videographers. We will have layers of editors – all highly experienced, respected and trustworthy. We will maintain a website featuring synopses of all the stories available for purchase, the price, and the option to negotiate exclusive stories or big stories with local angles.

You will tell us what you need and we will find the best journalists for you. We will use cutting-edge, location-based, mobile technology to stay in touch with journalists (reporters, editors, photographers or videographers) who are at or near the scene and prepared to take the assignment. If another journalist is required to interview people in your community for a local angle, we will provide that service, too.

You will pay a fair price for stories produced by Real World Media’s global network of journalists because you know they are worth it. They will fill the void created when you laid off your best staffers.

Real World Media will charge for the story, the photos or the video you commission from our network of journalists. You will be obligated by contract to buy the assigned story, photos or video, regardless of whether you use it. You will pay more if you decide to alter your original request. Of course, good reporters, photographers and videographers think for themselves and are highly likely to deliver more than you asked for, simply because of the situation they find on the ground when they are in the process of reporting or shooting photos or video.

Real World Media will have a multi-layered network of highly experienced and vetted editors to ensure that customers receive professionally edited products.

None of this is carved in stone. In fact, this is just a jumping off point.

Please join the discussion and add you thoughts on this concept. I am working on the website and marketing materials now. I would love to hear what you think, here on the Displaced Journalists site, on the Real World Media Facebook page, or privately at susanolder@realworldmedia.org. If you have other networking ideas, let’s find a way to implement them.

____________________________________________

Editor’s note: You are reading this on Displaced Journalists, so you may be wondering why I chose to speak to the customer rather than directly to you about this idea I’ve been hatching for the past year. The answer is this: You can see your role as you read this. We need to draw attention to the concept and get customers and funding sources interested. All of the information I’ve come up with thus far is in this piece, except for how we will price stories and how much Real World Media journalists will be able to earn. At this point, I don’t know how much you will earn if we do get funding and this becomes a reality. However, I am devoted to ensuring that journalists are paid fairly. You will be part of the process as we begin to determine rates. In no way will this resemble a content mill. If any of you can offer your programming, design or marketing skills for the cause, I can certainly use them. I have no funding at this point, and, of course, Displaced Journalists has never been about making money.

– Susan Older

Editor’s note: If you know me, you know I wouldn’t normally suggest working for nothing. However, I know Tom Stites. I think his revolutionary, non-profit venture to serve less than affluent Americans has a real shot at success.

Tom Stites

Whether you’re at the intern level or a seasoned journalist willing to take a gamble on an exciting startup, you would invest a small amount of time to be in position for a full-time gig if the project takes off.  — Susan Older

By Tom Stites
Founder and President, the Banyan Project

The Banyan Project is moving toward launching a pilot project to test its pioneering new business model for Web journalism and is searching for a reporter/editor.  The project is devoted to serving the distinctive information needs of less-than-affluent Americans, a huge public that’s ill-served by mainstream journalism and has borne the brunt of the Great Recession.  At first this will be a volunteer position requiring 8 to 10 hours a week to research and write simple service journalism items for the pilot; presuming that the pilot is successful, for the right person this could grow into a challenging full-time paid job.

The ideal person for this position would be an experienced journalist with 1) empathy for the lives of the less-than-affluent and 2) interest in the life issues they face, including family health when uninsured or underinsured, credit and savings when money is scarce, and jobs in a down economy.  People who are neither affluent nor poverty-stricken make up about half the population, and there is almost no reliable reporting to help them with the things that keep them up at night.  This position’s mission is to help them sleep better.

Banyan’s aim is to create a new business model and institutional structure for Web journalism that can thrive in the digital future.  The model’s foundation is the consumer co-op, meaning that Banyan sites will be owned by their readers the way depositors own credit unions and shoppers own food coops.  The Banyan concept has won a Game Changer Award from the 2010 WeMedia conference and has led to a fellowship at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, which opened Harvard resources for detailed business planning.

Banyan Publishing Corp. is incorporated as a nonprofit and it has filed with the IRS for 501(c)(3) tax exempt status.  Fundraising efforts are well under way.  To learn more about the broad Banyan concept, go to banyanproject.com.

If you’re interested in a detailed job description, send me an email at the address on my website, tomstites.com.

By Aaron Crowe
Tales of an Underemployed Dad

I’m taking meetings for the next two weeks as I try to decide if my career choice to be a journalist is a dying profession or a thriving one. I think it’s a thriving one where storytellers are still needed.

Aaron Crowe

Instead of going door to door, applying for jobs online or seeking out businesses to hire me, I’m turning the tables and offering my services for the next two weeks so I can be an exclusive writer/editor for companies that need such work. I’m calling it “Rent a Journalist.”

As a freelance journalist since being laid off at a newspaper about three years ago, I’ve spent a lot of my time chasing down job leads, applying for jobs, and doing everything I can to get the next freelance assignment. I’ve had steady work for most of that time, writing personal finance stories for WalletPop. But that’s going to change soon.

The AOL site is being absorbed into another website as part of the Huffington Post acquisition by AOL. I work on a monthly contract and have been told to reapply for my job as a fulltime writer, which I’ve done, but I’m unsure if I’ll be hired fulltime. Since the company has offices in New York and Los Angeles, and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, I don’t know if they’ll hire me fulltime to work from home, as many writers/editors at WalletPop do.

If we come to an agreement, great. If not, this is part of my backup plan, which I’m trying out for the next two weeks as I offer my writing and editing services, among other things, such as social media liaison, to businesses. I’m pitching my services to existing or past clients, abut I’m also approaching websites I’d like to work for, the ones who I think would like my work.

This is my pitch:

Instead of wondering if I’ll be available to write for your website or publication in the future, you can lock me in with an offer now to work for you. I’ve covered personal finance for WalletPop for a little more than two years, and have some of the highest-trafficked posts on the website. I can do the same for you.

I’m open to long-term contracts or month-to-month; but what I’m mainly looking for is steady work and a commitment. It can be exclusive on a subject — family finances, for example — but that will take a longer commitment, such as daily blog posts. Or it can be a weekly column on something like personal finance and the food industry, that will still be a long-term contract but will only be for writing once a week.

The advantages to your company in signing me now? You get my time and work before anyone else does, guaranteeing you a steady stream of quality work that will be unique to your publication. As a journalist I’m trained in general assignment stories, and can provide original reporting and writing on any topics you need. Again, I’ve specialized in personal finance writing for the past few years, so I can write for your site on those issues, or expand to tech, families, food, retail, education, health, and many others. For example, I currently write for Dealnews.com about the psychology of shopping each week, so I wouldn’t be available to write about that topic for other sites.

I have other services I can provide, including helping with social media campaigns, writing publicity and press releases, covering corporate events, and photography.

Don’t let this opportunity pass. Rent a journalist — this journalist — before it’s too late.

The secret to profitability on the Internet has finally arrived in an innovative blend of social media, Web mobility, and creative e-commerce applications.

By Matt Anderson, Henning Hagen, and Gregor Harter

The short history of the Internet can be summed up in a few words: Attracting a crowd is relatively easy. Monetizing that crowd? Not so much.

Earlier it was (the now nearly forgotten) Netscape and (the barely memorable) Friendster that drew the big audiences. Then, MySpace surged in popularity. Now this distinction belongs to Facebook and YouTube, with their billions of active visitors. But despite the extraordinary numbers of enthusiasts they can claim, many of today’s Web giants are confronted with the same problem: no clear path to profits. Google, Amazon, eBay, and to some degree Facebook are the rare exceptions among a sea of unprofitable websites.

Still, the emergence of vastly popular community-driven sites offers a glimpse into a new business model for smart retailers and consumer goods companies that bygone Internet ventures didn’t offer: an approach we call social apponomics. By enhancing the sheer magnetic power of social media with community-based marketing and tailored applications, social apponomics affords companies a pathway for breaking down the barriers to profitably commercializing online activities, not just for individual transactions but as part of an ongoing customer relationship.
Three elements of social apponomics are critical to success.

Read the rest of the story at strategy+business magazine.

By Susan Older, Founder, Displaced Journalists

When journalists do their jobs – reporting, writing, editing, and shooting still or video images – they tend to turn to trustworthy sources among their own contacts or other well-known sources trusted by their colleagues.

That habit saves time, but it skews our coverage toward established viewpoints, when we all know that, in most cases, fresh perspectives would make for more balanced, interesting stories.

News Certified Exchange (NCE), an initiative launched in 2009 by veteran journalists, is offering an alternative – an online service free to independent or newsroom-based journalists, featuring an array of

Kathryn McManus

certified interview-ready sources in more than 1,000 specialty areas. Journalists pay nothing to use the service, which provides a page for each expert source profiling them in video, describing their background and listing their credentials and contact information.  Experts update their keyword tags and story pitches to maintain ongoing relevance to the news cycle.

The idea sparked in 2008 when NCE CEO Kathryn McManus was the head of CNN Japan.  “As a journalist, I would receive hundreds of solicitations a day from organizations highlighting story ideas and experts that I would promptly delete,” says McManus. “Then when I needed someone, I would scramble, trying to find ‘interview-ready’ experts (not generalists) who could comment.  The solution seemed so easy: a database of certified ‘interview-ready’ experts that the media can draw from when the need arises.”

McManus brought in another seasoned journalist as co-founder: Jerry Krieg, who had been CNN’s Senior Executive Producer. Together they reached out to journalists globally.  The response was overwhelming.  Krieg says journalist after journalist told him, “I wish this had been built yesterday. It would have made my life much easier.”  Then NCE asked the opinions of a wide variety of communications directors and business leaders to get their response. They were overwhelmingly in favor of the idea.

Based on the feedback they received from journalist colleagues, NCE created 23 “interview-ready” standards of certification.

What sets NCE apart from other source databases is the fact that veteran journalists screen potential sources for genuine professional expertise and media readiness.  NCE turns away non-experts and experts who are not “interview-ready.” Certification falls into three categories: print, TV and radio. All three categories play into the Web, so it doesn’t have its own category. There are icons on each profile indicating a particular source’s certification status.

NCE also has an editorial board made up of heavy hitting journalists to make sure that its journalistic standards are maintained.

NCE has gained the trust of journalists, communications experts and industry leaders. NCE has hundreds upon hundreds of experts, and NCE experts are quoted daily in the news.  Journalists from more than 250 news organizations tap into NCE’s database.  These include Bloomberg, The New York Times, NBC, CBS, PBS, MSNBC, USA Today, Reuters, Fortune, Vanity Fair, AP and The Wall Street Journal.

Experts can attend one of NCE’s “Influencing the Headlines” (ITH) seminar events for  $500. Attendance includes an executive media skills workshop (taught by broadcast journalists), lunch and a panel discussion with leaders of industry and media. There is an additional fee of $2,000 for ITH participants who wish to become certified and join the NCE database. The next event will be in Chicago April 8 at Medill, Northwestern University’s School of Journalism.

For non-ITH participants, the cost is $4,000.00 and includes a customized media skills session with a veteran journalist, an HD web cam for remote broadcast and positioning on NewsCertified Exchange for three years.

What’s in it for the experts? Exposure. Being on NCE furthers their career goals and shines a spotlight on them as individuals, but also on their companies, agencies or organizations. Experts, thus far, include authors, former statesmen, top medical and legal specialists and other thought leaders from around the world.

On the Exchange, journalists can decide for themselves whether someone is a good interview candidate. Experts’ online profiles feature video clips, professional experience and background information, social media links, and contact information. This is an enormous time-saver for busy journalists looking for fresh viewpoints. If an expert is used, NCE does not receive any kickback.

Journalists who register can log onto the site see a scroll bar of top stories. There is a featured “story pitch” – intended to be something that would be of interest to many reporters and editors. There is a search field for finding experts. For example, if you type in “nuclear” you will get at least three pages of experts you might not have known about otherwise. Journalists can also use the drop-down menu of areas of expertise for fast and easy identification of sources.  Additionally journalists and other visitors to the NCE site can search a database of expert-generated story ideas that offer unique perspectives and fit into the news cycle.

Website analytics document that journalists in 54 countries have searched the NCE database.  They are experiencing explosive growth with global intake daily.

Editor’s note: I attended NCE’s “In the Headlines” event in New York last month to get an idea of whether it would help people in the Displaced Journalists community. I was impressed. It’s a fantastic resource. Go to the site and register (no fee). You’ll see what I mean. In the interest of full disclosure: After NCE CEO Kathryn McManus and I met, she asked if I would be interested in serving as an expert in the journalism arena. One thing I have going for me: I am passionate about preserving and reinventing our profession. I’m going to try it, but I’ve never been a broadcast journalist, so I’m really counting on their coaching to make me “interview-ready.” Wish me luck! — Susan Older

By Jules Older

When you’re out of work, or, put more genteelly, underemployed, what do you do with your newfound leisure time?

Jules Older

By ‘leisure time,’ I mean time nobody’s paying you to use.

Everybody’s different in needs, time, mortgages and inclination, but I know what’s working for me. In hopes that some of it will work for you, here goes:

Learn new stuff. The new stuff I’m learning is videography. As the world grows more visual and more digital, it will be increasingly usefulblahblahblah.

That’s likely true, but the real reason I’m learning it is that I want to. I love it. I love watching my skills grow from naught to naught half bad. You can judge for yourself at http://www.YouTube.com/julesolder.

I’ve had three great aids in learning to shoot and edit.

One is a tiny, cheap, incredibly versatile Canon camera. I’ve used the pocket-sized Canon SD940 IS to shoot about 30 videos. I still can’t believe how good it is, most especially in low light.

The second is Apple’s iMovie, a tool that comes at no extra charge with every Mac. It’s made for enthusiasts, not professionals, but it’s met or exceeded my needs and desires nearly every time.

Third — maybe first — is the best bargain I’ve found, ever. It’s Apple’s One to One program. When you buy a new Apple computer, you’re given the opportunity to sign up for One to One. Take it.

Costs a hundred bucks for a year. For that hundred, you get to meet with an expert once every week or two to work on any aspect of Macology you like. Just about everything I know about videography, I’ve learned at the Chestnut Street Apple Store. Costs me, oh, $1.50 an hour.

Do good things. Last time I was in New Zealand, the earth moved. It moved in Christchurch, which experienced its first quake ever. This time, a few short days after I got off the plane, Christchurch had its second. And this was the big one.

On the theory that it might be me, I did what I could to ameliorate the horror. Through my Jokers list, I kept friends and relatives up to date on our safety, our friends, and what was happening in Christchurch. Because I’m a member of Ski Club of International Journalists, I did the same with the 200 or so media mavens I’d met only the week before. I used both lists to raise funds for the victims.

And I volunteered to go to Christchurch. I volunteered three times to three organizations. And while none took me up on it, I couldn’t have even made the offer if I’d been gainfully employed.

Stay in touch. The Christchurch quake was only one way of many I’ve been in closer touch with friends and colleagues since those monthly checks stopped rolling in. I’ve used the down time to pick up lapsed relationships and to start new ones. That’s been nice.

Hasn’t always worked out the way I planned, though. When I left a message for an old friend who’d moved to L.A. asking if he was ok, he admitted “My first thought was — what’s he want?”

I suggested he’d been in Los Angeles too long.

Hard times roll. Renewing my freelance ‘career’ has reminded me how bloody hard freelancing really is. For instance, from New Zealand I wrote what I think was a pretty fine op-ed piece about the quake, Why it’s good it happened here. Sent it to, oh, seven or eight papers and three magazines in five countries. My hometown paper didn’t bother replying — thanks a lot, San Francisco Chronicle. Others said no, not for us. In the end, one paper and one magazine took variations on it, but it was hard yakka getting the thing sold.

That’s all, folks… except for one thing. Remember: Life is what’s left when you’re out of work. Better learn — or re-learn — to enjoy it.

— jules

Jules Older (amazingly, no relation to Displaced Journalists Founder Susan Older) is a freelance travel writer, the author of children’s books, the creator of the iPhone app San Francisco Restaurants, a speaker, a broadcaster and a consultant. Learn more about Jules here. To become a Lifeguard, just drop Jules a line at jules@julesolder.com, saying, “I’m a writer.  Sign me up!”

Social Commerce Today
Posted on January 6, 2011 by Paul Marsden

So next month’s (Feb 2011) Wired magazine (UK edition) has just dropped, with a cover story on social commerce, by editor David Rowan and editorial assistant Tom Cheshire.

The cover text- “What are you selling? Big Brands want to cash in on your Facebook friends: Ecommerce is over – Long live social commerce” gives you a flavor of what to expect.

The article is a well-written executive briefing of the social commerce space, peppered with smart quotes and buzz-worthy data-points (summarised below); the sort of content agencies will want to hand out to clients, entrepreneurs to VCs and marketers to budget holders.

We recommend getting your hands on a copy; currently it’s languishing in dead tree media only – no iPad or web yet.  But here’s our annotated speed summary:

Speed Summary:

• Social Commerce, building “a social layer on top of online commerce”, “turning products into conversations”, is attracting big funding, big buzz and generating big revenue.

Read the rest of this story on Social Commerce Today by clicking here.

By Jeremy Caplan, Poynter Online

Entrepreneurial journalists spot the seeds of start-ups where others see remnants of the news industry’s retreat. Earlier this month, I worked with 19 forward-looking journos who convened at Poynter to get a jumpstart on their new micro-businesses.

One narrowed the focus of her niche news site for Filipino Americans, while another refined his plan for RootedAustin.com, a local portal for Austin, Texas. The early-stage ideas — like many of the new notions flowing across the journalism landscape — spanned from micro-local sites to services aimed at bolstering journalism’s infrastructure. In prepping to launch their businesses, the journos are moving past some common myths.

Myth No. 1: Journalists lack entrepreneurial skills and spark

Reporters can’t do numbers. Creative types and money don’t mix. So go the stale myths. Stepping beyond that bunk, the reality is that top journalists actually have a range of relevant skills. Many have strong analytical skills, a reportorial mindset and a knack for storytelling, all of which are invaluable in helping a start-up thrive. Read the entire story here on Poynter Online.

By Jules Older

As journos, writers, editors and authors, we’re living on a fault line.

Jules Older

And journos, writers, editors and authors in San Francisco live on two fault lines. The famous one is the San Andreas Fault, which may bring the house down sometime soon.

The lesser-known one has already brought down many colleagues and friends.

This one’s a grinding shift of epochs, not of tectonic plates. We live on the divide between the Gutenberg Era and the Digital Age. The days of print may be done, and many friends who write or shoot for newspapers and magazines, who write or edit books, have lost their source of income.

Oh, and not just friends. I was editor-in-chief of two magazines, both victims of the shift. There went the income.

With the magazines gone and others going — I know this will shock you — assignments became rather scarce. As newspapers began folding along with magazines, former journalists and once-were-editors started competing with freelancers for rapidly shrinking editorial space.

You’ve heard that old Chinese curse, May you live in exciting times. If you’ve made your living in print, yer soaking in it.

The app: San Francisco Restaurants

I was soaking in it.

Then the phone rings. No, because we are now in Digi Times, an email arrives. It’s from Sutro Media, a couple of entrepreneurial San Francisco engineers who want to know if I’d like to create an iPhone app about San Francisco restaurants.

I don’t email back; I pick up the phone. “If I do, I want to do it my way.”

“Which is?”

“Which is the opposite of Yelp and Urban Spoon and all those.”

“Which means?”

“Which means not crowd-sourced — one man’s palate, one woman’s photos. Which means uncorrupted by influencing ads, by pay-to-play, by anonymity.”

“What have you got against anonymity?”

“A lot. Writing as “Foodfreak,” the owner proclaims how fabulous his restaurant is. Writing as “Truthseek,” his competitor down the block swears that it totally sucks and he got ptomaine poisoning last time he was there.”

“Anything else?”

“Matter of fact, yes. I want to take users to where San Franciscans eat, not just to the same old stops on the Tiki Tour. I want to get them off the Tourist Reservation. I want to introduce them to bargains, not money flushers. I want to name my favorites and to castigate the overpriced and the overhyped.”

Sutro says, “When do we start?”

I say, “We just did.”

Sutro says, “Oh, and who’s the woman?”

“That would be Effin Older, my wife, the photographer.”

The app, San Francisco Restaurants, went live on Thanksgiving. Now, it’s been through three expansions. It still costs 99 cents. Upgrades are still free. And it’s beginning to reach beyond the bridges to where visitors go on their big San Francisco trip.

Effin and I are eating out a lot. We each weigh just under 400 pounds. [Editor's note: Not; I've seen them.]

Ah, but am I getting rich, rich? Am I making anything like what I did when I was the editor-in-chief?

Hell no, not even close.

Do I care?

Hell, yes. But writers are used to get-rich-slow schemes. Especially when we’re living on a fault line.

– 30 –

Jules and Effin Older are the creators of a bunch of kids’ books, a gaggle of YouTube videos (www.YouTube.com/julesolder) and the iPhone app, San Francisco Restaurants. Click here to buy the app. If you buy it, help a fellow journalist out and add a review of San Francisco Restaurants in iTunes.