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

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.

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

Washington ( February 16, 2011) – The Fund for Investigative Journalism is proud to announce continuing support for its grant program for independent journalists from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, based in Oklahoma City.

The Foundation has announced a grant for $75,000 that will give critical assistance to reporters who have the ideas, sources, and know-how to produce groundbreaking investigative journalism, but need help paying the expenses of reporting.

The Fund is particularly grateful for the demonstration of support from the Foundation, as it plays a leading role among philanthropic efforts to sustain and grow nonprofit investigative journalism enterprises in the United States.

“The Foundation has played a crucial role in the resurgence of the Fund as a provider of assistance to independent journalists throughout the U.S.,” said Brant Houston, president of the Fund and Knight Chair of Investigative & Enterprise Reporting at the University of Illinois. “Without this support, the Fund would be unable to help journalists who are doing some of the best state and regional investigative reporting.”

With this latest award, the Foundation has given the Fund seven grants over the past several years, which the Fund has used to help dozens of investigative journalists.

The Fund is also supported by the Park Foundation, the Gannett Foundation, the Green Park Foundation, and contributions from the public.

The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation recently distributed a total of $1.5 million to 21 journalism organizations, including the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

For more information, go to http://fij.org/985/ethics-and-excellence-grant-supports-independent-journalists/

For further information: contact Sandy Bergo, executive director, Fund for Investigative Journalism, 202-391-0206

By Farhad Manjoo
Slate.com

Are you wondering, “will AOL’s acquisition of the Huffington Post be successful?” I bet you are, as that’s been a common search engine query since the announcement earlier this week that AOL will buy the Huffington Post. Other ways you might phrase the question include, “AOL Huffington Post will work?” or “AOL and Arianna good idea?” But some people can’t spell, so it’s likely that a few are searching for things like, “AOL do I need dial-up to read HyffPo now?” or “Ariana Hiffington evil genius or just evil?” Well, any way you search for it, you’re in luck, because you’ve arrived at the best page on the Web to tell you all you need to know about AOL acquiring the Huffington Post—or should I say, AOL acquiring HuffPo. Or, that is to say, AOL buying HuffPo. (HuffPo being the short name for Arianna Huffington’s site, the Huffington Post, which has just been bought by AOL.)

Before I go on, let me stop and say a couple of more important things: Aol, Aol Acquires Huffington Post, Aol Buys Huffington Post, Aol Buys Huffpo, Aol Huffington Post, Huffington Post, Huffington Post Aol, Huffington Post Aol Merger, Huffington Post Media Group, Huffington Post Sold, Huffpo Aol, Huffpost Aol, Media News.

See what I did there? That’s what you call search-engine optimization, or SEO. If I worked at the Huffington Post, I’d likely be commended for the subtle way in which I inserted all those search keywords into the lede of my article. In fact, the keywords above are taken directly from HuffPo’s page announcing its acquisition, and my first paragraph is a rip-off of a search-engine baiting article the site posted on Sunday, “What time does the Superbowl start?” HuffPo’s facility with keywords seems to be one of the main things that Tim Armstrong, AOL’s CEO, loves about the site.

Armstrong, a former Google exec, can’t get enough SEO—according to an internal memo that Business Insider posted last week, he’s pushing for the company to use an “SEO checker” to look over 95 percent of AOL’s stories by the end of March. He believes this will yield a big payoff for AOL; 40 percent of its traffic, the memo says, will come from search engines.

I don’t blame Armstrong or Huffington for pursuing this strategy. Making a living off the news is hard, and if they’ve figured out a way to fool search engines into pushing visitors their way, I salute them. But there’s a long-term problem with their strategy: They won’t be able to fool the computers forever.

Not all SEO is bad, and not all HuffPo articles employ shady SEO, but some of the tricks that HuffPo uses to gin up search traffic are pretty sketchy. These tricks include: stuffing articles with strings of meaningless keywords (HuffPo does this on every piece), repeating potential search queries at the top of a story, and carefully engineering articles in response to rising search terms. These tactics exploit obvious weaknesses in Google and other search engines. If Google’s mission is to provide search results that you—a human being—find useful, then HuffPo’s keyword-glutted pieces don’t belong…. Read the rest of the story on Slate.com by clicking here.

Displaced Journalists’ partner Knowledgewebb, a premier site for digital media and other helpful training, is giving us all a free webinar for Christmas. It’s Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. EST.

From Knowledgewebb.net, Nov. 17, 2010

We’ve all been there. You’re sitting in a meeting or in a conference session, and someone mentions a something you don’t know. You feel like you SHOULD know it after all this time, but at this point you’re afraid to ask for help. Things like…

“What’s an avatar, exactly? And how do I get one?”

“How do I get an email signature?”

“What’s a Google Alert and how do I set one up?”

“I don’t know the difference between Google Voice and Google Chat and all the other Google stuff my friends are using. HELP!”

“What’s this hashtag thing people keep going on about?”

Consider this Knowledgewebb.net’s holiday gift to you and yours. We’re offering this webinar free to everyone, and we’re including a digital goodie bag filled with great resources to download and try. Come prepared with all of the burning questions you have – you’ll get to ask them anonymously and you’ll get immediate answers in the second half of this webinar.

Sign up here on the Knowledgewebb site, and let your friends and colleagues know, too!

Important note:  You must have pre-registered for this free session and received a confirmation message from our office in order to participate.

By Angela Lussier
Special for Displaced Journalists

For those journalists who have read the writing on the wall and are looking for ways to get out of traditional newspapers and into Web-based writing, now’s the best time in the history of the Web to do so. Journalists who follow market and business trends know that, but the way they are currently doing it is often missing the mark.

The traditional resume template is no longer a sure-fire way to get your foot in the door, particularly with technology and Web-based companies who have the cream of the crop from which to select. Now, more than ever, journalists need to differentiate themselves and show their worth, rather than just talk about it.

The top six tips for getting noticed:

1. First, throw out everything you ever knew about traditional resumes. Start thinking in terms of telling your professional autobiography. What does that look like? Think headlines, compelling leads, a bio, not bulleted skills lists. As a matter of fact, don’t use any sort of template, just create something that reflects your accomplishments, your personality, and your vision. This is your anti-resume, and it will give any employer in any industry a true snapshot of who you are and what you want, not just another rambling ho-hum list of the usual job descriptions, dates, and names of companies.

2. Yes, listing all the jobs you’ve held is important, but what’s most important is showing employers why they should hire you instead of the 75 other applicants with the same skill set, the same job titles and the same job duties. The fact that you’ve been a staff writer at the same paper for four years is impressive, but what did you write? Who did it touch? What happened as a result of your stories? What sets you apart from other staff writers? Are you good at getting state troopers to talk? Do you have a knack for portraying victims in a way that preserves their dignity, yet touches readers’ hearts? Your anti-resume should answer these questions.

3. As a professional storyteller, you should be using your resume as an opportunity to tell your story. Turn your resume into a scrapbook/portfolio of stories, photos and slideshows you’ve shot, edited or produced. Pick a theme for the book that truly represents what you stand for, or that represents your beat, and start compiling your best stuff. Have you won any awards? Include those too.

4. Include testimonials from co-workers as well as bosses. You can’t really ask a source or anyone you’ve covered for a reference, but you can go back to some particularly moving or significant stories and follow up on what has happened since you wrote the story. Include that along with your original clip. Has your reporting resulted in any new legislation, or action by city officials? Then tell the story of how! We can all toot our own horns all day, but when you can back up your words with facts, they mean more.

5. Don’t be afraid to get creative. A lot of writers are so used to being objective with their news stories that they’re afraid to show their true selves when it’s appropriate to do so. Well, the story you’re telling this time is yours. How do you want to be viewed? Give your reader or employer the opportunity to get to know you through reading your anti-resume. The #1 purpose of this is to get you the interview. Make it compelling enough that the person reading it wants to pick up the phone and schedule a time to meet you right away.

6. Editors have their pick of the best of the best. So, even if you choose to stay in traditional media, you’ll still need to stand out. That means being a double or triple threat — able to write, shoot video and photos, and produce Web pages or podcasts. So get your real name as a domain name and create a website. Your site should look, read and sound like what you are capable of producing. If you can pull an editor into the site, they’ll know you can pull readers in, too. Take time to learn some basic programs and the basics of design, layout, and both still and video photography. If you haven’t had a chance to produce a Soundslides project, then do it. The demo program is free and the result will show an editor that you can edit and produce. Can’t think of a slideshow to do? Then do one about yourself. Be creative. You get one shot, so don’t waste it.

Finally, target your prospective employer. Don’t just create the same package and shoot off links to 100 papers. Pick two or three papers, sites or employers you’d really like to work for and study them. Do they use a lot of photos? Features? Hard news? Alternative formats? Video? Soundslides projects? Then customize your offering to reflect that. Spend quality time on two or three potential prospects, not hurried time on 100. It WILL make a difference!

Angela Lussier is a Creative Career Consultant and owns 365 Degrees Consulting in Springfield, Massachusetts. She is the author of the Seth Godin recommended book, “The Anti-Resume Revolution” and a speaker at TEDx. Ms. Lussier offers anti-resume writing tips, helps clients discover their target job, and inspires them throughout the job search with creative solutions and personal marketing ideas.

Travelwritten is a how-to site and blog for travel writers who want to become writer-publishers on the Web. Author Durant Imboden has been co-owner, publisher and editor of Europe for Visitors for nine years. He was with MSN, About.com, and other online companies from 1995 until 2001.

Durant Imboden

By Durant Imboden, Europe for Visitors

The Timeses, they are a-changin’. And not only the Timeses: The Chronicles, Tribunes, Presses, Heralds, and Travel Holidays are changing or disappearing, too.

Fact is, the classic freelance model of “I submit article, editor sends money” is becoming less sustainable in today’s publishing environment. Traditional print markets are shrinking, and for a variety of reasons (some legitimate), online markets typically pay less for articles than magazines and Sunday newspapers do or did.

Similarly, guidebook publishers are struggling to preserve their traditional print franchises while searching for new revenues online – and when publishers feel pinched, writers get squeezed.

Bad news for freelancers? Of course. But there’s an upside, too: As long ago as 2004, the U.S. Travel Association reported that two-thirds of all American travelers were online, with some 63.8 million U.S. travelers using the Internet to plan trips. A recent article on the European Travel Commission’s NewMedia TrendWatch site stated:

“Most people begin the holiday research process by searching for destination guides (typically through Google). Often, these in-depth guides either don’t exist, or consumers don’t realise that they exist, on major travel booking sites. By not offering this extra level of information, travel sites risk people leaving and finding this information elsewhere.”

That’s where we, as professional travel writers, come in: We can be that “elsewhere” by leveraging our expertise to create best-of-breed travel-planning sites about specific destinations or travel experiences. Because we’re travel journalists, as opposed to travel marketers or publicists, we can approach our topic whether it’s New York, Newcastle, or New Age karma camps – from a traveler’s perspective.

Just as important, the Web makes it possible for any writer (or at least any writer with editorial and publishing skills) to profit from being a writer and a publisher. On the Web, production costs are minimal, distribution is free, and monthly operating costs– a.k.a. Web hosting – can be less than you’d pay for dinner for two at a chain restaurant.

What’s more, if you focus on “evergreen” travel-planning content, your backlist of existing content will earn money day after day, week after week, year after year with occasional updating – and each new page will be an additional source of revenue (unlike freelance assignments, which typically replace the one-time fees that you earned last week, last month, or the month before).

Caveats:

There are no guarantees of success. Just because you’ve written for newspapers or magazines doesn’t mean you’re ready to be an editor and publisher. There’s also more competition than there was 15 years ago when I created my first travel site, or nearly 10 years ago when my wife and I launched our current family of sites at Europeforvisitors.com.

Even if you do succeed, you won’t get rich overnight. Depending on how much time you can invest, it may take two years or longer to build a site that generates significant income. Web publishing – like book authorship – is more like running a marathon than sprinting: It’s an occupation for writers who have patience, stamina, and long attention spans.

On the brighter side:

The publishing landscape isn’t static–in print or on the Web. Whenever the owner of an existing site dies, retires, sells out to a competitor, or loses interest in updating the site’s content, there’s an opportunity for a new Web publisher to step in and attract an audience.

As the Timeses and Tribunes change, are you ready to change? If so, you could find yourself earning more money and enjoying more editorial freedom than you ever did as a freelancer. Or your efforts could fail miserably – just as an effort to write and sell a book or break into new freelance markets could be a flop.

In my experience, the rewards of self-publishing a travel-planning site outweigh the risks, but–to internationalize a popular expression–your mileage or km/L may vary.

– 30 –

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.