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A Professional Guide to the Business, 
Aimed at the business of freelancing rather than the craft of writing, the book's 26 chapters cover many different aspects of freelancing and the writing life the sort of nuts and bolts that ASJA members discuss when they get together socially, at conferences and workshops or online at the ASJA Phorum. (For a look at the Table of Contents, click here.) More than two dozen ASJA members contributed chapters, all of them aimed at making a freelance writing business more efficient and more productive and earning more money for the owner/operator/writer. The concept and outline for the book came from an ASJA committee headed by Florence Isaacs. The book was edited by Tim Harper, and the foreword is by author and journalist Sam Freedman, who is also associate dean at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Here's an excerpt from the proposal that ASJA member Nancy Love, the agent for the book, showed to St. Martin's: "In this book, some of America's best and most successful freelance writers tell how they did it, and how they do it. They share the secrets of what worked for them, and what didn't. They offer strategies, tactics, advice and tips. The writers are among the 1,000 members of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious organizations for professional writers and one of the most difficult to join because of its stringent admission requirements. . . . "The ASJA is an organization for full-time freelance writers, nearly all of whom write nonfiction articles and books. Not all of them are "name" writers, but they are well known in the magazine and book worlds. They are the writers whom editors call when they are looking for quality and reliability. Their work is distributed nationally and internationally, and is typically available at newsstands and in libraries. ASJA is primarily a journalism organization, by and for journalists. Consequently, this book is written by and for journalists, for writers of nonfiction. But the philosophy, businesslike mindset, how-to advice and step-by-step tips are all applicable to any type of writing business, from serious fiction to romance to direct marketing to technical writing. . . . "The ASJA leadership decided to do this book for several reasons. The primary goal is to help other writers, both ASJA members and other writers who would like to have the clips to qualify for ASJA membership someday. Secondary goals are to help brand' ASJA and raise its profile, and to help fund ASJA programs, including those that support the First Amendment, enhance writer-publisher relations, and promote increased professionalism in journalism and publishing. . . . "The contributors will offer insights not only from their own experience, but from the experiences of many others among the ASJA's membership. Unlike typical writing books that offer a single author's theories and prescriptions and experiences, The ASJA Guide to Freelance Writing will offer many different ideas for many different readers/writers to try. Different things work for different people; some writers swear by voice recognition software and some don't; some writers update their expenses daily, others don't. The ASJA Guide to Freelance Writing will give readers writers opportunities to pick and choose what works for them. The writers contributing to this book know that their tips and advice work. And any one of the thousands of tips and bits of advice in this book can result in thousands of dollars in added income. The ASJA Guide to Freelance Writing is the kind of information that writers would share, and gather, if there was a giant freelance water cooler where they could gather and compare notes to help each other."
The book, among many other topics, will tell writers:
There's talk of a book party to mark publication in September at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York, along with a workshop or panel discussion on freelancing that will be open to the public. Details will be published in the newsletter and posted online as they become available. Meanwhile, feel free to put in an advance order for the book either at your local bookstore or through one of the online booksellers.
A Trade Paperback Original St. Martin's Griffin Order Now ASJA Members click here to order |
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