Apt. 11D

Life as a Freelancer

The kids are packed up. I'm dressed and caffeinated and sitting in front of my computer. I have to make my plan for the week. 

Last week, I published another article with the Atlantic. This one was about Newark's new merit bonus program. In some ways, it was a fairly easy article to write. Education politics was one of my academic specialties. I knew who to talk to for quotes and can ask the right questions.

In other ways, writing about education isn't so easy.  I'm still burned out on the topic even after finishing that dissertation ten years ago. Sometimes it is easier to write about topics that you are discovering for the first time. The curiosity is there. 

The article did fairly well, thanks to some nice words on Twitter from Randi Weingarten, the president of the AFT. I'm not privy to the actual traffic numbers, but I can get a sense of its popularity from the number of Facebook likes and links from Twitter. 

After I write one of those articles, it is very tempting to sit in front of the page hitting refresh over and over to watch that little counter go up. But it isn't a great use of my time. Luckily, I had plans on Friday and was forced to be separated from my computer. 

It's a new week. And online articles have the same life span as a tuna fish sandwich. So, it's time to choose the next topic.

I have a couple of ideas, but I have to play around with them to see which one has the most potential. I like topics that are grounded in some research, where I can leverage my social science background, but are tied to a timely event.  I like topics that have gotten buried on page 17 of the regular newspaper and really deserve more attention. I like topics that brings attention to women and kids.

I'm slowly turning blogging into a traditional career. I'm still surprised by this turn of events. 

Advice to Bloggers

Alright, I'm still thinking about the blogging conference that I went to this weekend. Let me throw out five minutes of advice. 

1. Content is king. Yes, a nice blog layout is nice, but you know how many pretty blogs with boring content that I return to the following day? Zero. Sure, it's good to advertise your blog on Twitter and Facebook and you may have thousands of friends, but if your content is boring, nobody is reading it. Even your twitter friends who faithfully RT your posts are not reading it. 

2. How do you write good content? You have know a lot about something. You have spend five, eight, even ten hours a day thinking about it. Maybe it's yoga or running or politics or gardening. Whatever your topic, you have to live it and breathe it and write about it. Also, if you write often, your writing tends to improve. 

3. You have to pick an unusual topic. I have seen zillions and zillions of blogs that have the "Bad Mommy" theme. You couldn't pay me to read another blog post about a mom who throws caution to the wind and lets her child watch TV for A WHOLE HOUR. God, what a rebel. I might read a blog post about a mom who throws caution to the wind and has an affair with the contractor. That would be different. But better yet, how about a mom who writes about her deep knowledge of Hostas or libraries or wind currents? 

4. Notice how Twitter spent years developing a great product before monitizing. That's smart. Advertising, especially annoying advertising, decreases your street cred. A little is fine, but keep it in control. 

5. Think about your long term goals. A blog should be a means to an end. A friend blogged at a political blog for a couple of years. Her topic was very narrow, so it didn't build a huge audience. Still, she cornered the market on that narrow topic and the other experts on that topic knew all about her. A good thing. Other people use their blog to promote their other work - seminars, artwork, journalism, novels. 

I'm Back

In 120 degree heat, I waited for the D train in skinny jeans and heels. My body has not popped back to its original shape yet. 

I spent the past couple of days at a conference. I can't say that I learned too much from the actual conference sessions. In a few cases, I knew a lot more than the people on the stage. But I very much enjoyed meeting a lovely group of people. I came away with an armful of story ideas just from the chitchat in the ballroom, and that's the real reason that I went to the conference. 

Sorry for the rough and unprofessional notes about the conference that I left on this blog yesterday. I was a little giddy with my new keyboard. 

Conference Going

This week, I've been simultaneously writing about a conference and preparing to attend it. I'm going to BlogHer conference in Manhattan for the last few days this week. 

My article was about the business side of mommyblogging and women blogging in general: why businesses want to work with women bloggers and what the women bloggers get out of it. I think it needed one more edit, but it's out of my hands now, so I'm going to try to forget about it. (Ugh. I'm obsessing.)

Getting ready for this conference is much, much nicer than the old academic conferences that I used to attend. I'm not trying to prove myself, so there's absolutely no pressure. In the old days, I wouldn't sleep for a few days before the conference, so I showed up all jittery and weird. This conference will be full of floral dressed women; that conference was full of suited old men and younger men in Docker's. At this conference, business cards will include pictures of children; at the other conferences, business cards featured university crests printed on cheap white paper. 

I might squeeze out one more article about this conference. There's a lot to talk about. Martha Stewart and Katie Couric are keynote speakers. Even President Obama will address the women, via a live video feed. 

My conference prep chores have included buying a new floral dress (must fit in!) and a keyboard for my iPad so I can jot down notes more easily. I'll get a hair cut the morning of the conference (an old trick), so I'll have nice, straight conference hair. I need to map out a plan for the sessions that I want to check out. 

I've been snooping around the Internet seeing what the conference-goers are saying. They're excited to get some free stuff and meet people whom they've chatted with online. They hope to spy a few superstars. They want to learn more about SEO and twitter. They want to get away from their children and the daily chores. It's entertainment! It has nothing to do with getting tenure! Neat. 

Writing

In January, much of the real life work that consumed my life in 2011 abated. I finished renovating the old house, so I could sell it. I sold it. I packed up. I moved. I unpacked. I dealt with the paperwork of moving. Changes in Ian's schedule meant that I no longer had six hours of driving time. Time opened up. So, I decided to do some freelance writing. 

I wrote 15 pieces for the Atlantic Monthly and 1 article for GOOD magazine. I've gotten offers to write for other magazines, so I suspect that this writing gig will continue for a while. 

It's not very interesting to write about writing, so I'm not sure what to say about this new career path. I take an idea that I would spit out in 20 minutes on the blog and spend 2o hours making it better. Then I give it to an editor. After it's published, I promote it on Facebook and Twitter. I take a couple of days to recover, then I plan the next article. This morning, I am researching the percentage of wealthy students at elite colleges. 

The good part of freelance writing is that it can be fit into my complicated life. I have an outlet for my ideas. It's very rewarding. The bad part is the hours alone in the house in front of the computer. I've decided that four or five hours per day in front of the computer is all that I can handle. So, the rest of the day is home chores and art classes and kids and various other career schemes.

I've stumbled onto something new. 

How To Get Your Academic Research In the Press

In the past six months, I have had countless conversations with academics about getting the press to pick up their research. They've spent years and years studying and writing about a particular topic and then only five people end up reading their papers. There are a lot of reasons for this gap between academic writing and journalism. The articles are hidden behind a paywall. The academic writing style can be daunting to read. Academics don't know how to reach out to the press. 

I fielded so many questions from professor-friends about this topic that I tried to convince an editor-friend to become a consultant for academics looking to publicize their work. She thought about it for a fraction of a second and then said no. She said that she hated to hurt people's feelings and she thought that most academics have unrealistic expectations about their research. "If I will write it, they will come." Uh, no. 

Let me just share some advice that I've handed out lately. 

1. If you've written a book, then turn the first chapter into an article. Take out the jargon, the methodology section, the literature review, pomposity, all of the charts, and make it fun. Then send an e-mail to the editors of the mainstream magazines that publish articles aimed at the educated audience. The e-mail should include a snappy subject line, two or three paragraphs that sum up the article, and a short bio. If you don't hear back from the editor in a day, then he/she isn't interested. Send it somewhere else. 

2. Get the names of the reporters and writers who write about your particular topic. Send them the paper. In the e-mail, tell them why your research is important and how it fits into a hot topic. Nobody is going to write an article based entirely on your research. They want your research to boost an article about a hot topic. 

3. Let me repeat myself. Find out the names of writers and bloggers who write about your topic. Follow them on Twitter. Send them your research, because the paywall won't let them find it otherwise. For example, I love writing about political-sociology, parenting, autism, education, and public policy. If you have reseach in those areas, I will write about it. I don't write about all areas of political science. I won't do voting data or foreign policy, but there are plenty of journalists who do. Find them. 

4. You have to work as your own publicity agent. Well, everyone does these days. My twitterfeed is full of people pushing their writing. That's cool. I read a good chunk of those articles and RT many of them. All this networking takes time. You can't just set up a twitter account and make your first tweet be about your research. You have to build your network first. Show good will by RT-ing other people's work. You have play nicely in the sandbox. 

5. If your research is very, very narrow, then you have to tell the journalist how it fits into the bigger picture. You might have to include references to other papers and books. You want to make it as easy for them as possible. 

More thoughts from John Sides. 

Sorry For My Absence

Where are you, Laura? I've been completely obsessed with a topic for an article. I've been turning it over and over in my head, writing small chunks in my brain, and then mentally crossing it all out. I lost the car in the mall parking lot this afternoon, because I was so distracted. Finally, I decided that I want to take my time on this topic and not race out of the blocks like I usually do, so that relieved a little pressure. 

Have I said how much I really, really love writing these short pieces for the Atlantic and other venues? I do. 

The Daily Moment of Pain

Dara-Lynn Weiss, the author of the infamous dieting mom article in Vogue, just landed a book deal. The Lesson?  Being a freaky parent is very profitable. 

The Price of Words

My buddy, Suze, is a freelance editor, so she's continually scanning the online job boards for new clients. She periodically sends me the worse job advertisements with wry notes about the downfall of civilization.  

Here's a proofreading job. They are looking for someone who will proofread health related articles. Some of these articles are written by non-English speakers, which will require serious editing. They would like someone with experience. It's a 20+ hours per week job. For all that, they will happily pay you $150 per month. 

A new blog that's devoted to healing and aspiration posts is looking for a blogger who knows HTML, WordPress, and SEO. That blogger should blog a 250-500 word post at least once a day, seven days per week. They estimate that writing that post should take you about 10 minutes per day. For all that, they'll pay you $50 per month. 

Sign up, people! 

The Chatterati

This weekend, I spent a lot of time thinking and talking with Steve about what my next move will be. 2011 was a disaster for work. Disaster. Selling the house and minding the kids was an 80 hour per week job. I did make some headway on a book, but the writing happened in bits and pieces and as a result, the writing is choppy with lots of half finished thoughts. I want to keep working on it, but I need immediate gratification projects, too. Preferably projects that also bring in a little casheroo. 

A blog is fabulous for people who only have bits and pieces of time. 20 minutes and there's a blog post. In another 20 minutes, fun comments appear. It's magical and wonderful. 

I also continue to do this blog, because sometimes you feel like you make a difference. I'm not a hundred percent sure that it makes a difference, but sometimes... maybe... perhaps. 

A few weeks ago, I noticed a small article in Business Week on Lego for girls. I threw out a very quick link to it, tweeted it, put it on Facebook, and threw a note over to my buddy who specializes in writing on these topics. Erin wrote a series of excellent posts on the topic. Her posts were noticed by bigger fish. Pretty soon, the Today Show was debating whether or not Lego for girls was a good thing. 

Did my blog post and tweets directly lead to Matt Lauer and Star Jones fighting about Lego? No. But I was one part of a larger group of people that did make that happen. I am part of a network of people that can take a topic from page 14 and make it page 1. This is very, very rewarding. 

While this blog (or any blog) should not be a career goal or a long term life plan, it is an extremely fun hobby.