Editor’s note: I strongly recommend that you apply for this Multimedia Storytelling Institute workshop at the Knight Digital Media Center, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. My experience at a KDMC workshop for journalists interested in multimedia storytelling was amazing.

I know Voice Coach Marilyn Pittman and the others leading the workshop. They’re superstars. You won’t be disappointed. — Susan Older

From the Knight Digital Media Center, April 3, 2012

At every Knight Digital Media Center workshop, we feature presentations from industry leaders and educators – award-winning professionals who join our experienced staff to teach you the latest tools and techniques in new media. This June’s Multimedia Storytelling Institute is no exception.

We are pleased to announce that Marilyn Pittman, a voice coach with more than three decades of experience as a TV news anchor, talk show host, reporter, commentator and radio producer, will be joining us again to lead this very popular session: Talking the Copy.

“Your voice is the most basic and important storytelling tool you have,” Pittman says.

During this session, Marilyn will work with participants on advanced voice techniques, including how to emphasize copy using speed, tone and delivery when recording radio or narration for videos. At the end of the session, participants learn how to do stand-ups and narrate stories in front of the camera. The stand-ups, along with Marilyn’s coaching, are recorded and uploaded to your workshop iPad.

Pittman joins our very own UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism educators, who will also present throughout the two-week workshop. Richard Koci-Hernandez, assistant professor of new media, is an Emmy Award winning visual journalist. Jeremy Rue, an award winning online journalist, is a Ford Foundation teaching fellow and former news photographer.

The KDMC two-week summer institute at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism will deliver best practices for crafting compelling interactive online content; provide you with strategies for creating successful social media engagement campaigns; teach you how to use storyboarding for multimedia project planning; and give you the tools to design captivating visuals with data for effective community building and audience engagement.

Register Today the early bird discount of 10% expires on April 15th.

To learn more please contact:

Vicki Hammarstedt
vhammarstedt@berkeley.edu
+1.510.642.3892
http://kdmc.berkeley.edu

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.

Editor’s note: The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., is taking applications for its August workshop in entrepreneurial journalism. I attended this workshop last July. I learned a

Poynter's Bill Mitchell engages journalism entrepreneurs at the workshop in July 2010. (Photo courtesy of The Poynter Institute)

great deal about starting my own business and how to make the most of my skills and ideas in the digital news and information marketplace. I reworked and refined my strategy for a new venture I’m building to take Displaced Journalists to a new level. I’m still working on it. Some ventures roll out quickly; others take time. Some require little funding; others require major funding. If you attend, you’ll come away enlightened and invigorated, with new tools, resources, strategies, game plans and perspectives. The colleagues I met at this workshop continue to serve me well as a sounding board and support group. — Susan Older

Workshop dates: Aug 02, 2011 – Aug 05, 2011
Apply by:  Jun 15, 2011

If you’ve launched an online news and information venture, let Poynter teach you how to use the right tools to help you succeed.

We’ll work with you to refine your business model and share tips and resources that are helping entrepreneurs around the country who have attended this popular Poynter workshop.

Here’s your chance to refine your strategies for creating content, engaging an audience and finding revenue to support your enterprise.

This seminar is supported by a grant from the Ford Foundation. Tuition and hotel costs are free. Participants pay other travel expenses, including airfare.

We’ll ask you to do some pre-work before you come, thinking through the business basics behind the site you’ve launched and reviewing case studies of others’ ventures. Then, in four engaging and jam-packed days, you’ll work with experienced faculty, outside experts and your classmates to:

•    Identify the problem your business hopes to solve, pinpointing the fundamental pain you’ll ease at the heart of your venture;
•    Apply a smart business model to your idea, thinking through customer segments, your key partners and resources, your value proposition and more;
•    Learn tools for understanding your audience and engaging them;
•    See new ways that technology can help achieve your goals;
•    Refine your revenue model;
•    Learn a framework for handling ethical dilemmas that arise as an online publisher;
•    Improve your “pitch” for telling others about your business;
•    Hear techniques for managing change and working in an entrepreneurial environment.

You’ll receive one-on-one coaching from our faculty including our two Ford Fellows in Entrepreneurial Journalism Teaching, Mark Briggs and Jeremy Caplan. (Click on their photos to read their bios.) And you’ll leave with a new network of entrepreneurs who can share ideas, encouragement and inspiration long after the course has ended.

Who Will Benefit:

• Entrepreneurs who have launched or are beta testing their idea for a new venture.
• News organization executives hoping to encourage “intrapreneurial” ventures or to partner with niche ventures in their community.

We join Entrepreneur.com’s “Two Weeks to Startup” series on Day 5. Click on the links below to read the first four stories, and follow the rest of the series on Entrepreneur.com.

After repeated attempts at squeezing your square self into a round hole, you may be finally admitting it isn’t going to work — you’re just not cut out to be someone’s employee. If you want to say good-bye to corporate America and embark on a journey toward the greener pastures of entrepreneurship, we can help. Come with us on this two-week journey toward business ownership. From helping you think of a business idea to creating your business and marketing plans, these two weeks can set you on the right path.

Day 1: Finding the Right Fit

Day 2: Research your Business Idea

Day 3: Calculating Startup Costs

Day 4: Write your Business Plan

By Kimberly Stansell
Entrepreneur.com

Today, you’ll learn where look for the money you need to launch. Part five in a 10-part series to help you start a business.

Once you’ve decided on the type of venture you want to start, the next step on the road to business success is figuring out where the money will come from to fund it. Here’s a quick look at where you can begin.

Most entrepreneurs self-finance their businesses through personal savings, credit cards, second mortgages, or loans from friends and family. You may also be able to match your qualifications with a microloan: Private and SBA-backed agencies make loans from a few hundred dollars to $25,000. You can find a local microlender through the SBA’s Web site. You might also investigate crowdfunding, a way of networking with people online willing to invest usually small amounts of money to back a venture they believe in.

You may also qualify for a niche or specialty loan. For example, the lending and learning organization called Count Me In makes loans to women entrepreneurs in small amounts up to $50,000. Some large banks also offer special loan programs for women, minorities and small-businesses.

Although there’s no such thing as “free money” for small businesses, there are some cash awards, prize money and minigrants offered by a dwindling pool of organizations.

You can also seek venture or angel funding. Both angels and venture capitalists are looking for great ideas that can translate into highly profitable businesses. Read the rest of the story here on Entrepreneur.com.

Quick Pitch: LetsLunch is a new networking service that introduces you to the movers and shakers of Silicon Valley.

Genius Idea: Social climbing is an art form often perfected over the business lunch. For entrepreneurs, these lunches could help them network their way to crucial industry partnerships or funding deals.

Newly launched startup LetsLunch facilitates these potentially serendipitous lunch dates by matching passionate professionals, based on their social reputation scores, for lunches. With enough positive feedback from lunch dates, regular Joes and Janes can score their way to lunch with a dream business date.

After signing up with LetsLunch, users add their Twitter, LinkedIn, Hacker News and Stack Overflow accounts. The startup will then churn that data to spit out a reputation level from one to 10, and that score will be used to match the user with other would-be lunchers.

The LetsLunch user then defines a personal radius for lunch get-togethers and ticks off days and times that he or she is free for meeting up. LetsLunch e-mails the user on the day of the lunch with information on the who, what, where and when details of their lunch. Afterwards, the lunchers are invited to share feedback on each other, which in turn affects their reputation levels.

LetsLunch’s ultimate reward is a lunch meeting with a vetted VIP user — industry veterans and investors. The site selects users with the highest ratings — having participated in a minimum of four lunches — each month to have lunch with one of the coveted VIPs on their wish lists.

The list of VIPs is still quite small and some names are likely to strike your fancy more than others. Lunch with SoftTechVC’s Jeff Clavier or August Capital’s David Hornik, for instance, could pay off quite nicely for the first-time founder.

Right now, the invitation-only startup is currently focused on the entrepreneurial Silicon Valley crowd, but it hopes to expand to Los Angeles and serve the showbiz types soon enough.
The LetsLunch service is free — and each user pays for his or her lunch — but eventually the startup may introduce premium accounts at a monthly subscription rate.

The startup offers industry professionals a unique way to climb the professional ladder, but it’s not without its quirks. Not everyone will love the service’s matching technique or reputation scoring method — there are no bonus points for Facebook friends here. The site could also use a facelift and introduce ways to help users pick places for lunch that meet their dietary needs.

LetsLunch has roughly 1,000 users, with thousands more clamoring for access. Mashable readers in the San Francisco Bay Area can cut the line and sign up for LetsLunch using the invitation code MASH495435 during sign up. Those that miss this small window of opportunity may be able to gain entry without an invitation code if they have a high enough reputation level.

EIGHT years ago Apple launched iTunes, a digital store selling music singles for 99 cents apiece. For record companies ravaged by piracy, it seemed like a good deal. Only later did many come to regret allowing another company to set retail prices and to get between them and their customers. On February 2nd Apple and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation launched the Daily, an iPad newspaper that will cost 99 cents a week. It will not dominate the digital news market the way iTunes came to rule the digital music market. But it sets a worrying precedent or two.

The Daily is a mixture of the newfangled and the old-fashioned. It has whizzy graphics, including video and “360-degree” pictures. Sport fans can receive the twitterings of their favourite players. Unlike most websites, though, the Daily is only available in America. It features outmoded things such as editorials and paid reporters. Although it can be updated to take in breaking news, it is primarily a daily, not an hourly.

In one sense it is a trailblazer. The Daily is the first product to offer recurring subscriptions through Apple’s store. So far most publishers have been obliged to sell single issues of newspapers and magazines on the iPad. As a result, sales are erratic: Wired, a technology magazine with a beautiful app, sold 100,000 digital copies last June but just 24,400 in December. The Daily’s sales model is better than that. But not much better.

Read the rest of the story at The Economist by clicking here.

By Elizabeth Wasserman
Inc.com

A great business plan is a living, breathing blueprint for your business that can help you navigate and manage your company while also helping potential investors, partners, lenders, and others understand your business strategy and your chances at success. A business plan is never quite finished because you’re always revising it, reviewing it, and building upon it. In fact, more important to your business’ future than having a written, 30-page, coil-bound plan to distribute is the business planning process that you undertake on a regular basis to hopefully keep your ship headed in the right direction without losing sight of your long-term destination.

”In my company, we’ve been working on the same plan for more than 20 years — we review it every month and revise it every year.  We’ve printed it out a dozen times and shined and polished it. We share it with the team constantly, but it is never done,” says Tim Berry, president and founder of Palo Alto Software, maker of Business Plan Pro software, who blogs at bplans.com. “When your business plan is finished, your company is finished.”

The following pages will help you understand why you should write a business plan, components to include in a business plan, and how to use the plan internally to meet your business goals.

Dig Deeper: Setting Company Goals

How to Write a Great Business Plan: Reasons to Write a Business Plan

For those of you just starting a business, writing a business plan is a crucial first step. It can help you describe your product or service, detail your marketing strategy, and lay out your sales and operational forecasts — including the ever important cash-flow projection so as to keep your business on track for profits. Putting these plans in writing can hopefully start a healthy business planning process that your business revisits on a regular basis, updates, and revises.

Read the rest of the story on Inc.com

By Michele McLellan, News Leadership 3.0
Knight Digital Media Center
January 25, 2011

As traditional news organizations do less, local foundations are becoming more willing to make grants in support of news and information projects. Still, their resources are not limitless and I often run into journalist entrepreneurs who have highly unrealistic ideas about what might get funded. Here’s a reality check.

As the Knight Foundation launches a new round of its Community Information Challenge, I asked foundation officers and grantees to share their experience with grant making for news and information. (Disclosure: I am a consultant to this challenge but I play no part in evaluating projects or determining who gets a grant.)

1. Don’t be surprised if a foundation doesn’t rush headlong to embrace journalism

While a few foundations such as Knight and McCormick are long time funders of journalism, most foundations traditionally focus on community needs such hunger, homelessness, education and health.

The good news is that foundation interest in news and information projects is growing, according to recent studies by Knight.

Temper that with the understanding that foundations may face a learning curve about news and information and particularly about journalism independence. Be sure to test assumptions in discussions of a grant.

“Identify a person you can communicate well with at a foundation who has some decision-making influence—and make sure it’s someone who understands and appreciates the value of independent journalism, as opposed to someone who sees supporting journalism as an extension of public relations,” advises Paul Bass, editor of The New Haven Independent, which won a Community Information Challenge grant in the first year of the initiative.

Foundations may be particularly ill at ease with funding for-profit start ups, says Vivian Vahlberg, manager of Chicago News Matters, a project of The Chicago Community Trust that, among other things, funds small non profit and for profit news sites.

“Entrepreneurs seeking foundation funding need to understand just how rare – and uncomfortable—it is for foundations to even consider funding for-profit organizations. It’s not their business; they normally fund nonprofits that are set up, like foundations are, with a mission that contributes to the public good. The idea that precious tax-advantaged foundation dollars might help private businesspeople make money makes them really uncomfortable – particularly given all the pressing human needs that are competing for scarce foundation dollars. They consider it only because the old news business model is currently broken – and they realize that it might take a period of time before new business models will generate enough money to support the information that our society needs.  So for-profit companies need to position their requests as bridge funding – and need to demonstrate that they have a promising plan and a timetable for becoming self sufficient,” Vahlberg said.

2. Do your homework about the mission of the foundation

We journalists may see journalism as the end unto itself. But many foundations are more likely to be asking how news and information fits in with their main mission.

Click here to read the rest of this story on the Knight Digital Media Center site. While you’re there, look around. The resources are plentiful and invaluable

Michele McLellan writes “News Leadership 3.0,” a standing column for the Knight Digital Media Center. Email Michele here. She’s @michelemclellan on Twitter.

By Logan Braman
Special for Displaced Journalists

I’m a journalist, but I don’t consider myself displaced. If anything, I’d say I’m a journalist who has been set free. I, along with three co-founders, just launched the first part of Rooted Austin, a local news portal for Austin, Texas. We think it’s the best time to be in the business of journalism, and you should too.

The journalist part of me started growing when I was very young. I remember reading two newspapers a day, every day. Surprisingly, Fort Wayne, Ind. is still a two-newspaper town. I loved every bit of the papers, but the features and comics sections always got my attention first. I was a voracious reader anyway, and the newspapers became part of my daily routine. I thought it would be neat to be one of the people writing the stories or taking the pictures, but I didn’t really think I would do it in the future. I thought I was going to be a Blue Angels pilot. I never thought I could find something more exciting than that in journalism, but I have.

I didn’t use the computer every day when I was young, but my time with it increased quickly as college approached. By the time I got my first laptop, about 90 percent of my news consumption took place online. This trend continued through my time at Ball State University when I was completing the requirements for my magazine journalism and journalism graphics majors. I worked for the student newspaper and magazines (both print and digital) and eventually found myself creating and consuming news in an almost purely digital format.

When I got a smartphone, the amount of information I consumed in any kind of print medium dropped to almost nothing. I tend to be interested in how the tools I use work, so the next step of my journalism education included mobile development. The mobile aspect of things also pushed me to familiarize myself with social media more than I had in the past.

I worked at a professional newspaper, and the state of the industry was scary. People were taking buyouts, layoffs were in the future, and everyone was working at breakneck pace to get the basic product out the door. It was (and still is) a great paper, but it was an environment where the revenue generator (the paper) came before everything else. It needed to be that way, but I wanted to focus more on the Web and its potential. I lived on the Web, and the people like me did too.

All that goes to show you why I think the way I do about journalism and information in general. The future (at least for people like me) will mean everything comes on a screen of some kind. According to a 2009 study by the Council for Research Excellence, we already spend an average of about 8.5 hours a day in front of some kind of screen. It doesn’t seem like that can increase, but I know my average is around 12 hours in front of a screen on a work day.

It’s simple then. The future is on screen, whether it be a television, desktop computer, laptop, netbook, tablet, mobile or something completely new. What isn’t so simple is figuring out the future and, for some, switching gears to make it work.

That’s where the idea of Rooted came from. I knew I wanted to continue my work in digital journalism, and there just weren’t any jobs in traditional media that fit the bill. At best, the digital jobs involved limited multimedia creation, and at worst they were all about social media and shoveling everything out of a print product to the online space. Fortunately, three other talented journalists were in the same boat, so we decided to make a run at a journalism start-up on our own.

If we couldn’t find the jobs we wanted then we would make them.

We want Rooted to be Austin’s home page. We will curate the best of existing news and give users the tools to tell us what’s important. When we find a story our community loves, we’ll step in and fertilize the story with our own special blend of storytelling.

We think storytelling that is based on what the community wants can be monetized. We also think the storytelling should be deep, immersive and interactive on the Web. Text and photos are fine for presenting information, but we also want to take advantage of sound, video and motion graphics to help us tell the stories of Austin. Perhaps most importantly, we want the people themselves to tell the story in their voice or with their likeness as much as possible. Eventually, we plan on including text, photos and videos from our community on Rooted as well.

Another crucial component for Rooted’s success is interaction with the community. We think it’s important for journalists to be completely transparent and open with information. We already do it on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and we’re going to do it in our work as well. We want to be seen as the people we are, and we hope that will lead to richer and fuller community interaction. On the Web, it’s less about the organization and more about the people – when it comes to both creators and users alike.

Can we make it profitable? I think so. More importantly, can we provide something of value to the Austin community? If we do it right, certainly. What should other journalists do? That’s where the answers get a bit harder.

I decided to do what I love. You should too. If you have an entrepreneurial streak, find a good idea with a revenue stream to support it and go for it. You’ll notice I didn’t say, “If you have a good journalism idea,” and that’s because there are opportunities everywhere for people with the skills we journalists have gathered over the years. You also don’t have to have the great idea in the first place. If you see a start-up you want to work at, go pitch yourself with all the passion you have

Get outside of your journalism-only mindset if that’s where you find yourself. If you’re an information junkie, find someone who will pay you to gather data. If you’re a wordsmith who loves finding the exact word for the job, then find someone who needs beautifully written copy. If you’re a designer, branch into a different area that utilizes your specific skills. If you’re interested in the Web, get a programming book and start learning a new language.

I followed my passions and the result is Rooted. You can follow your passions to anything, so long as you have the passion. As a fellow journalist, I know finding something you can pursue with relentless energy isn’t the problem. So get out there and do it!

Send Logan a message at logan@rootedaustin.com. Find Logan on Twitter at twitter.com/lmbraman.

By Curtis Brainard
The News Frontier, The Observatory — August 03, 2010 12:48 p.m.

When Investigate West, an investigative journalism site, sprung up last summer after the virtual collapse of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, we called its founders—former P-I staffers committed to finding a fresh models for the news business—the “new pioneers of the west.”

Now, a little more than a year later, those pioneers have established a respectable and relatively stable homestead, and earned the esteem of the news partners to whom they have farmed content so far. Life on the frontier hasn’t gotten any easier, though. Members of Investigate West’s small staff worked on “sweat equity” until June, when they finally began paying themselves, and they have had to adapt in order to survive.

Read the entire story at Columbia Journalism Review.