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March 2005

ASJA Writers Source

Wondering what's happening with ASJA's Writer Referral Service (WRS)? After months of brainstorming about new directions, and a job search to find the best person to implement these plans, the service has just been relaunched. While its mission is the same -- to help members find occasional writing jobs -- just about everything else has been dramatically revamped.

For starters, the service has a new name: ASJA Writers Source. "We chose that name to promote the ASJA brand," says Jack El-Hai, chair of the ASJA Writers Source Committee. He and his team -- Anita Bartholomew, Ann Douglas, Sandy Lamb, Margaret Littman and Mary Mihaly -- have also restructured the service. Instead of having a director who sometimes acted as a liaison between clients and members, as was the case in the past, this matchmaking role has been abolished. Members who see a writing job that interests them will contact the lister directly, without going through an intermediary.

Here's how the process works: Organizations and individuals who need writers for their projects will use an online form to submit their listings, and pay a small fee. Jack's committee will then review the listings, and those that are approved will appear on a Web page that's only viewable by ASJA members. Each listing will contain a description of the job and the client's contact information.

The service will have one staff member: a marketing coordinator whose job is to promote the service to potential clients. In the past, a weakness of the service was that it primarily relied on listings that came in over the transom. At times, that resulted in a dearth of jobs. In its new incarnation, ASJA Writers Source will target corporations and nonprofits that need freelancers to complete journalistic assignments. Literary agencies, custom publishers and public relations firms could also be sources of future listings.

Jack and his team received a number of applications for the position, most of them quite impressive. After careful consideration, and interviews with the top candidates, they unanimously selected ASJA member Lisa Holton as the marketing coordinator, after her appointment was approved by the board of directors. "We all felt she'd do an outstanding job," says Jack. "One reason why we liked Lisa was that she already had contacts at organizations that we'd like to target as sources of listings."

Although Lisa is a relatively new member of ASJA, she has an extensive track record. She's a former Chicago Sun-Times business editor and reporter, with 23 years of experience in business and personal finance journalism. Her writing specialties include Web and print publications, marketing and internal communications, and books for corporate, higher education and nonprofit clients. For the past seven years, she's run her own freelance business, the Lisa Company, which offers writing, editing and research services.

On the Web, she's written content for the Tamarack Funds, ABA Journal, Robert Half International and Learning Point Associates. Books she's written or edited include The Essential Dictionary of Real Estate, How to Be a Value Investor, 100 Ways to Cut the High Cost of Attending College, and Strategic Planning for the Family Business. She's also written articles for Sunset Custom Publishing, Crain's Chicago Business, Parents, Latina, American Demographics, Working Woman and The Chicago Tribune, as well as white papers for a number of large corporations.

Along with her membership in ASJA, she also belongs to the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) and the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) where she was a co-founder of the Chicago chapter's Small Business Special Interest Group. She is also a former board member of the Society of Business Editors and Writers. If all this wasn't reason enough to hire Lisa, "She's also a straight-shooter and a delight to deal with," adds Jack. Lisa wants to get the conversation started with members on how to best position ASJA Writers Source, so here's her e-mail address: Lisa (at) TheLisaCo [dot] com.

The ASJA Writers Source Committee appreciates the patience of ASJA members during the months it took to define the service's new course, and to staff it. They also thank Jennie Phipps for graciously taking on the job of interim director during this transition. And now that Lisa is at the marketing helm, says Jack, "We're excited about the new direction. I think a lot of people who were disappointed by the service in the past will be pleased as they start to see improvements."

LISA COLLIER COOL of Pelham, New York, is president of ASJA. E-mail the president through www.asja.org/contact.php.