Attendees Share Best Tips from Conference Day 3
To recap the third and final day of the ASJA 2025 conference, I’m turning things…
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ASJACon2025 Day 2 Recap: Improve Your Writing and Storytelling Skills
In challenging times, writers play an important role, and honing your skills makes you a…
ASJACon2025 Day One Recap: Stay Optimistic in an Era of Uncertainty
It’s always been hard to be a freelancer, but in 2025 it’s getting even harder….
Pulitzer Winner Lane DeGregory and NY Times Editor Mike Wilson on Making Writing Come Alive
Lane DeGregory wants you to forget everything you ever learned about the inverted pyramid. The…
Author Wil Haygood On Topics, Process, and Telling Stories That Address ‘Black and White' America
In honor of Black History Month, we’re re-running this Q&A between ASJA lifetime member and…
Meet the Member: Darcy Lewis, “Accidental” ASJA President
When Darcy Lewis said yes to an invitation to help ASJA develop and launch a…
Navigate the Path to Publish at ASJA 2025 Conference Book Sessions
ASJA’s mission is to help independent writers survive and thrive, and we’re dedicated to being…
ASJA Offers 5 Scholarships to 2025 NYC Conference
ASJA will offer five scholarships to the 2025 conference, ASJA: Always in Fashion, NYC 2025,…
ASJA Offers Emergency Funds for Freelance Writers in L.A. and Beyond
Established nonfiction freelance writers affected by the recent devastating wildfires in Los Angeles can apply…
Update: 28 Freelance Outlets Are Coming to Client Connections 2025
As of Jan. 8, more than two dozen editors, agents, and content outlets have signed up for ASJA’s signature ‘speed dating for freelancers’ event at the conference.
On Fear, Freelance Writing, and What I Learned Serving as ASJA President
On Jan. 1, I will join an illustrious club: ASJA past presidents. It’s something I…
WSJ Custom Content Head, FIT Professor to Keynote ASJA 2025 Conference
It’s hard to predict exactly what 2025 might have in store for freelancers and other…
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What Happens if the President Chews Gum? Or, Editors Hate Characters That Resemble Cardboard Cutouts
As a development editor, I come across many manuscripts that introduce every character with a…
Corporate Publishing vs. Traditional Freelancing: Author, Prepare Thyself
With freelancers bemoaning the present state of journalism, I can only offer the salvation that…
Wacky Writing Rituals: What's Yours?
It’s rumored that Victor Hugo wrote Les Miserablés in the nude (apparently he instructed his…
The Play's the Thing
During downtime from writing for the education market, I sometimes vary my time by working…
The 30-Minute Novelist
Novels, when abandoned, begin to stink. A journalist with a desk piled high with work…
Managing the Business Side of Your Freelance Career — Online
The freelance life comes with plenty of benefits. It also comes with the hassles of…
How to Organize Your Notes for a Round-Up Before You Tear Out Your Hair
Online publications such as travelandleisure.com and yahoo.com have always included round-ups and slideshows, but these…
It’s Never Too Late
Recently, there was a feature article in my local paper about an 80 year old’s…
So You Want to be a Foreign Correspondent
While serving an extended stint as president of the São Paulo Foreign Correspondents Club back…
Don’t Make These Mistakes that First-Time Self-Published Authors Make
I get a lot of authors coming to me for self-publishing advice and these are…
I Turned a Book Into a Health Technology Business
Single, with teenage daughters, I had to make a decision. Receive 10 percent royalties on…
Take a Break!
The main reason some of us became freelancers – which I’ve been full-time, again, since…
Freelance Writing Meets Online Education: How to Get Involved
The incredible growth of online education represents the largest financial opportunity for freelance writers in…
Pitfalls of Negotiating Your Own Book Contract
After hearing multiple friends talk about the benefits of having a literary agent when negotiating…
How the most successful writers (and others) schedule their days
I’ve spent the past several years writing about time management. I’ve studied the schedules of…
Getting Started in Science Writing
Science. It’s a word that strikes fear in some people’s hearts—and delight in others’. I’m…
Giving the Purity Test to Nonprofit News
“Non-profit news” has a special ring to it, an Ivory Soap patina of “99 and…
Another's Voice
When it comes to ghostwriting, one of the most challenging aspects of writing the manuscript…
The Help: How I Work with a Virtual Assistant
I started using a virtual assistant for one reason: sleep. After the last session of…
3 Reasons Why Making an App Could Boost Your Writing Career
About three years ago, my tech-savvy buddy Kurt Collins and I asked ourselves a question:…
Financial Writing Niche: Potentially Lucrative
When I started freelancing 14 years ago, I fell into a niche – financial writing…
Put These 'Take-Home' Lessons to Work
There’s something about “take-home message” that rubs me the wrong way. With a few exceptions,…
What Writers Need to Know about Information Products
We writers hear almost daily about magazine markets drying up, publisher advances plummeting, and online…
How to Use Social Media to Support Your Writing Career
Far too many freelancers say things like, “I don’t have time for Facebook; I don’t…
Sell Books with Your New Public Speaking Skills
The new brain research says we should all do something new and challenging to grow…
Let’s Write Some History
I’m a history geek. Favorite historical figure: Teddy Roosevelt. Favorite historical event: the Defenestration of…
Frommer's Refuses to Call It Quits
I was still reeling from the news that Google was closing down Google Reader, and…
Getting to Know You: Four Ways that Biographers Approach Their Subjects
Yes, I’m a biographer. I’ve proudly claimed that title ever since my first book—an independent…
My Own Slow Writing Movement
About eight years ago (!), sitting in my literary agent’s kitchen sipping on a glass…
Writing the War: A Military Spouse's Perspective
When I decided to wade into freelance writing a couple of years ago, I wasn’t…