Carol Kinney Student ID 503951 Applied Journalism Production September 25, 2014 Freelance Assignment 2 For this assignment, I tried accessing seed.com, but for some reason I kept getting directed to aol.com and could not locate the link to freelance jobs. Next I visited the Mediabistro site and looked at several jobs in other fields, just to see what was out there. I actually found some that seemed very interesting. When I focused on the magazine publishing link, I was a little discouraged. This week there were not many freelance writing positions in that link, and the few that were there were limiting. For example, two of the freelance writing jobs posted wanted someone of Latino descent, which I am not. Two others stipulated residence in cities that I do not live near, or have regular access to. From there I decided to give Craigslist a shot, as was suggested in the video in the class learning activities a couple of weeks ago. I found a couple of possibilities to pitch to on Craigslist and I also found a couple of scams that the video warned about. The one that I chose to fictitiously pitch to is through a site called edrepublic (http://albany.craigslist.org/wri/4667028235.html). The compensation is not much, but the details of the assignment and the chance to be published and build some clips seem promising. I also already have a story idea that seems like the perfect fit for the site. The only thing that bothered me a little bit about the site, is that the job posting was current, but as I was reading through some of the articles, I noticed that not many of them were from 2014, which makes me wonder how truthful the job posting was in that they said that they receive a large volume of submissions. It seems to me that if that were true, there would be more updated articles.
However, it seems like a strong possibility and since I already had the story idea, some of the research done already, and easy access to the subject, I reason that I could write the story without much effort, so it is worth a shot. In this process, I also utilized LinkedIn to locate an editor name for edrepublic.com. Even though the textbooks say not to address communication to the top editor, I discovered that edrepublic is not much more than a one-person web magazine, so I feel that it is appropriate in this case to address the pitch to the top editor. I especially feel this way because the edrepublic website also states that it is a subsidiary of the Blue Beluga Corporation, which I could not locate on LinkedIn, but through a Google search, I found that this is a private “unclassified� (http://companies.findthebest.com/l/32971635/Beluga-Blue-Corporation-in-Fresno-CA) company with the same city address as edrepublic, which makes me further suspect that this is a small operation. I felt more confident in this assignment than I did a couple of weeks ago, and was not as frustrated with the process when I struck out on the first two searches. Overall, it didn’t take more than 45 minutes to locate a freelance job that would be the perfect fit. Additionally, I find myself more open to the idea of freelancing, if only to supplement income or to help me have an income until my perfect employment comes along. Additionally, I find myself looking at some bits of information differently. I know that this is going to sound a little insensitive and morbid, but this morning I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed and came across a local news post about a local part-time writer for a local magazine who had unexpectedly passed away last night in a car accident. The editors of the local magazine were quoted about how she would be missed and praised her contributions to
their publication. I felt very sad for the editors and the writer’s family, but I also thought that they would need to fill that position. I hated myself for thinking this, but I also thought about how sometimes jobs can be found in the least expected places and times and how we are being taught to identify those oddities in order to be successful. This seems to be one of those situations and times.
See Pitch Letter below
Carol Kinney Freelance writer xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Email: September 14, 2014 Aubrey Priest Edrepublic Fresno, California Dear Mr. Priest, Dan Adamek has organized a statewide coalition in New York to fight the Stop Gap Elimination Adjustment that is negatively impacting the poorest school districts in the state. In coordination with his coalition, Dan has traveled across the state organizing groups of people, participated in protests in Albany and in several local communities, has spoken at several major community events throughout the state, and has rallied support utilizing social media. His objective is to educate New Yorkers about the unfair tax structure in the state and to encourage them to fight the status quo on behalf of public school children and their education. Dan has managed to accomplish all of that in the past year, before his eighteenth birthday. This is the article that I would like to submit to you for publication on the erepublic website. The article will be 1500 words long and written to engage the reader to consider what many people see as part of the growing social inequality in America. While the setting takes place in New York State, my research shows that many states practice similar tax strategies that are affecting the quality of education that children receive in public school. This story will be of interest to educators, parents and students old enough to understand what is happening in their schools. I am currently finishing my B.A. in Public Relations via distance learning through California Baptist University. While pursuing my degree, I have written articles for several journalism classes and have clips from those classes available on issu.com. I have also written several press releases for The Evening Telegram and The Observer Dispatch newspapers, as well as an online blog for the Herkimer Basloe Public Library and another blog journaling my father’s newspaper articles that appeared in The Evening Telegram during the 1980’s and early 1990’s. I look forward to receiving your response to my story. Thank you very much for your consideration. Sincerely, Carol Kinney