Issue #15: Where To Find Work Right Now
I am continuing to open up paid subscription issues like this one to everyone through April, in case they may help someone deal with the challenges of the current crisis a little bit better.
Dear friends, welcome to Ad Astra. I am delighted you’re here.
This week, I am offering to you a short and sweet list of resources to check out right now if you’re looking for creative work.
This pandemic has brought with it many different kinds of challenges for all of us. One of them, for a freelancer like me, has been a sharp drop in existing assignments and opportunities to create new work with new publications. Editors are being placed on furlough and some magazines are stopping their publishing indefinitely. It’s a difficult time, no question about it.
Still, even at this moment, there’s work to be found.
Below are the sources I’m looking into each week as we’re deepening into this crisis. It’s not an exhaustive list and if you know of any opportunities to share, please let me know so I can include them in upcoming issues.
I hope this resource can help you find new opportunities or start thinking about this difficult moment a little bit differently.
Where to find work right now
1. Twitter feeds
I’m not a power user of Twitter (read: I barely spend any leisure time on the platform), but it is really useful for finding work opportunities. Many assigning editors post their calls for pitches on Twitter regularly and if you’re a writer or photographer looking for work, you should be checking it out.
You can use the following queries to watch Twitter for calls for pitches:
And of course, you can create your own queries based on what type of work you’re looking for.
You don’t have to manually enter these searches every time either. You can use Tweetdeck to set up columns for these queries and keep an eye on them daily (thank you to fellow writer Valerie Stimac for this tip!).
Here’s how my Tweetdeck looked like as of yesterday:
2. Content companies
Right now, I have three projects going outside of travel journalism: one copywriting project and two projects building websites for folks. I found two of them through word of mouth and one of them through a content hiring agency.
Content hiring agencies do the work of finding clients for you, so you don’t have to spend time doing so yourself. They act as an intermediary between you and a client, establishing project scope and handling payments.
How does working with agencies impact your pay? That depends on the agency.
Look for an arrangement where an agency adds a fee on top of the rate you quote. This is important because the agency doesn’t take a cut out of your earnings, but instead is charging a slightly higher fee to a client on top of the fee you want to receive for the project — and the client either agrees to this total fee or not. You don’t have to compromise your earnings and you get clients who are willing to pay more instead of the ones who are looking for cheap work.
Here are a few agencies on my radar:
Content Hiring (this is the agency I work with at the moment)
3. Industry newsletters
Your inbox may already be flooded right now, but I found these several newsletters worthy of an open.
Mandy Hofmockel’s Journalism Jobs is focused on full-time jobs (a recent email had jobs like a Copy Editor at The New Yorker and a Social Media Editor at Travel + Leisure) but worth keeping an eye on
Pitchwhiz sends out regular updates from publications looking for pitches via email (a recent email included pitch requests from Eater Atlanta and Washington Post) and they have a lot more posted on their site
Study Hall is a media newsletter and online support network for media industry professionals with different subscription levels
Study Hall has recently shared a really useful list of publications that are currently accepting pitches and those that are not (due to pandemic-related freelance budget cuts). Find it here.
Alright, short and sweet, like I promised.
I hope you and your loved ones are staying safe and sound. If you found this week’s resources issue helpful, please consider sharing it (link to the online version here) — and be well.
Onwards,
Yulia
This week’s joy links:
I’m reading Lebanese-American Painter, Poet, and Philosopher Khalil Gibran on Why We Create by Maria Popova
I’m listening to Stromae, a Belgian wonder of a musician
I’m watching Something In The Rain, another Korean drama about love and dysfunctional families
Here’s an on-going list of pandemic relief resources:
The founder of Spanx is giving a $5,000 grant to 1,000 female entrepreneurs to help alleviate the immediate needs and support the long-term recovery of those impacted
New York Foundation for the Arts has created a list of emergency grants for artists offered by various organizations
The NatGeo emergency fund for journalists is giving grants to journalists who provide local coverage of the pandemic (includes photographers, videographers, filmmakers and more).
Freelancers Relief Fund is offering financial assistance to cover essential expenses like food, utility payments, etc.
Here’s a very thorough list of resources crowdsourced by the Freelancers Union ranging from legal help to emergency funds to state-specific resources (thank you to Carrie from Lyman Creative for pointing this one out!)
Ann Friedman (creator of Ann Friedman Weekly) is currently donating all her newsletter ad revenue to organizations or individuals whose lives and livelihoods are affected by the pandemic. You can nominate someone here.
Facebook is making $100 million in cash and ad credit grants to small businesses impacted by COVID-19. Details to come soon here.
Here’s a list of financial institutions offering relief to customers experiencing hardship.
Know of another resource I should list in the next issue? Hit reply and let me know.
Finally, if you find any joy or value in this labor of love, please consider supporting it by becoming a paid subscriber below. And if you already subscribe: THANK YOU.