Freelancers

silvine

This might not be the right forum for this.. but are there many freelancers knocking about and if so what media outlets do you find are best for approaching?

Snickers Man

I think it's best to build up some area of knowledge and contents in a particular discipline that people want to know about. If business journalism is your thing, pick a sector and get to know about it. What are the coming things for Ireland? Financial services, biotechnology, energy efficiency, carbon offsetting and of course the old reliables of agriculture or information technology.

Or if fashion is your thing, as it was with the guy on No Experience Required that could be an "in" as well but the competition for that sector would be particularly high and the claws particularly sharp.

Or if you're really tough you could try building up a knowledge of sports but that's the one area where EVERYBODY thinks they know more than the next man. Even if the next man is called Ferguson or Wenger.

Armed with knowledge of one of those areas you can approach a number of titles and suggest things to them, rather than ringing up on spec and saying 'got any jobs, mister?'.

G'Luck.

silvine

Cool thanks, that was good advice.

I would be interested in the technology sector, human interest stories, social affairs issues and politics.

Sport or fashion wouldn't really be my think. I think your arguement on this type of journalism, could be aimed music/film journalism too. Everybody thinks reviewing films or gigs would be a good laugh and a way to make money out of going out.

The more I learn about the profession, the more I realise how contacts heavy, and how condensed, Irish journalism is.

La La

silvine wrote:

The more I learn about the profession, the more I realise how contacts heavy, and how condensed, Irish journalism is.

journalism is all about contacts. at least if you want the job you really want. a journalist's best friend is his/her little black book - and that goes far beyond Irish shores. if you turn up in a new country looking to knock around a paper for a while, you stand a far better chance of getting in if you have built up a decent list of contacts. takes time but.

jrey1981

Just to throw in my two cents, contacts aren't necessarily the be-all and end all.

While they are important, if you're only starting out, you're not going to have a bulging black book. Apart fom anything else, they take a long time to cultivate.

La La

jrey1981 wrote:

Just to throw in my two cents, contacts aren't necessarily the be-all and end all.

While they are important, if you're only starting out, you're not going to have a bulging black book. Apart fom anything else, they take a long time to cultivate.

my two cents was pretty much the same as your two cents, only I worded it differently.

of course someone starting out isn't going to have contacts coming out of their ears.....but in general, it's one of the more important things to bring to the job I think. no one said anything about it being the be all and end all.

ODS

Throwing in my tupence worth - old school - its more important to have a good nose for news - that and an aminable nature by which you can readily talk to someone new as if you knew them for years.
Re media outlets to approach, start with the tabloids and concentrate on one local paper woulld be the way I would go about it - tabloids will pay, while the local is always good to show a consistancy of work if and when you may wish to up the game. Dont bother with national broadsheets yet - all the best

jrey1981

I think a nose for news is far more important than having good contacts tbh.

OP you might want to pitch some feature ideas to magazines as well as looking at local papers.

flogen

ODS wrote:

Dont bother with national broadsheets yet - all the best

I disagree with this - I've gotten a fair few shifts and plenty of commissions, all from national broadsheets.

While the broadsheets might be a little harder to get work/printed in, a decent writing style and some knowledge of any given topic will get you there eventually, even if it takes a little bit of persistence. Ruling out broadsheets limits you a lot in what you're able to write about and I don't think someone coming new into journalism should rule anything out, especially not if it's just a little bit harder to attain than a tabloid or local paper.