You’ve got a blog and an audience but your dreams go further. If they include a byline in a newspaper or magazine, or a regular spot on television or radio, you don’t have to go back to Journalism School to make it happen. In this session you’ll hear from a long-time Freelance writer who used her blog to make her dreams come true. She’s sharing the insider scoop along with the tips and tricks you need to know to become a freelancing machine. Want to learn more? Access slides and audio recordings of this session and more when you purchase the NMX Virtual Ticket at http://nmxlive.com/virtual/

1. From Blog Post to Front Page:
How Your Blogging Skills can
help you Launch a Freelance
Career
Heather Greenwood Davis
www.globetrottingmama.com
@greenwooddavis

2. The #1 Mistake bloggers who are new
Freelancers make…
Undervaluing what you already do

3. The Bad News…
• The world of print journalism is shrinking
• Stories are smaller and shorter
• Budgets are smaller
• Newsrooms are laying off writers and then those
professional journalists are becoming freelancers

4. The Good News…
Newspapers:
*continue to reach high circulations
*reach significant segment of the population that isn’t
on social media
*don’t have an internal workforce and need to rely on
freelancers
Magazines:
- Can pay well - The biggest ones start at $2 per word.
- Options for every interest and level of experience

5. The Good News…
Television:
*Boosts your reputation as an expert faster than any
other medium
*high traffic to your site of new to you audience
Radio:
* broad range of opportunities and topics
longer more focused storytelling and marketing
opportunities
*Easily saleable skill set

6. The Value of Traditional Media
• Expand your existing profile
• Launch you in a new
area of expertise faster,
further
• Offer an adjunct advantage that is
saleable to brands and advertisers

7. How do you break in?

10. New Media
Traditional Media
Access
THE NEW
FREELANCER

12. The new secret to Freelance Success :
1. Who I Knew: Professional NETWORKING
2. What I did: Developing Marketable CONTENT
3. Who I told: Actively Marketing my skills

13. Networking Online:
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chatter + marketer = success
Interact - don’t just broadcast
Show don’t tell
Follow or create lists of the people you
want to work with
• Learn the lingo of the industry
• RESOURCE: Mediabistro

14. Networking Online:
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Protect your reputation
Online = On-Air
Don’t be an Ass
Make genuine connections
Study the pubs you want to work with
Understand Pitch etiquette
Pay Attention
Be Yourself

15. Networking Offline:
• Join the old school groups and
associations: ASJA, SATW, NATJA, NABJ, etc.
• Consider local associations
• Make coffee matter
• Follow the Rules; Break the Rules
• Colleagues matter
• Build your Tribe
• Be an Ambassador

18. Content
Perfect the Pitch
1. How does this story meet an editor’s needs?
2. Why am I trying to tell this story now?
3. Why me?

19. Content
Question: How do I Find Good Stories?
Answer: Ask Someone.
Connect with people who know where they
are.

20. Create Good Content
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•
•
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Write about what YOU know
Tell the story in a way only you can
Tell the story no one is telling
Put a new media spin on an old media
standby
• Do the unexpected
• Be Ready

21. Marketing
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Bring your audience to the table
Offer a multi-platform approach
Show don’t tell
Share your successes
Get help if you need it
Use the tools you’ve already mastered

22. Freelance Success Formula Recap:
1. Who You Know
2. What you produce
3. Who else knows it

23. Questions?
Where to Find me
www.globetrottingmama.com
@greenwooddavis
Facebook.com/GlobetrottingMama
On a Plane