Entries open for the 2nd annual SABEW Canada Best in Business Awards

January 07, 2016 Editor News awardbusiness writingsabew canada

Freelance business writers, entries are now open for SABEW Canada's 2nd annual Best in Business awards competition. There are 11 different award categories and entries are open to SABEW Canada members in good standing.

The entry deadline is February 16, 2016. Winners will receive their awards at a SABEW Canada event in Toronto on April 20th.

For more information or to enter your work for an award, head over to this page on SABEW Canada's website.

The 5-Minute Freelancer Q&A #25 — Frances Bula

December 11, 2015 Editor Advice 5-minute freelanceradvicefrances bulafreelance lifewriting advice

In this regular feature, Story Board asks Canadian writers to share a few details about their work habits and their strategies for navigating the ups and downs of freelance life. Frances Bula knows Vancouver. She covers the city's wide-ranging urban issues -- from drug addiction and prostitution to property development and…

John Vaillant on high-impact non-fiction writing

October 07, 2015 Editor Advice advicejohn vaillantnon-fiction writingpitchingtyee master classwriting advice

by Rachel SandersMaster storyteller John Vaillant delivered a highly concentrated dose of non-fiction writing advice last weekend at a day-long workshop in Vancouver that was part of The Tyee's fall Master Class series.The author of the award-winning and bestselling books The Golden Spruce and The Tiger took an intense dive into the…

The Problem of Press Trips

August 26, 2015 Editor Journalism freelance compensationpress tripstravel writingtrouble spots

by Keph SenettFreelance writers are masters of ingenuity. We have to be. Decreasing wages and increasing demands have made full-time freelance writing a losing proposition. Those of us who wish to remain in the field quickly develop strategies to make it work: We stack assignments, boost our incomes with part-time jobs, and network like crazy.…

From research to story: advice for writers

July 08, 2015 Editor Advice advicewriting advice

by Lesley Evans OgdenAt the recent Canadian Science Writers Association Meeting in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, two gurus of science journalism, Tom Hayden and Peter Calamai shared their sage advice on the art of turning research into a story. While their advice was given to and intended for science writers, many of their tips will be useful and…

@crapwritinggigs Twitter account mocks low-paying jobs for writers

June 17, 2015 Editor Compensation @crapwritinggigsfreelance compensationtrouble spots

by Rachel Sanders$5 per post. $0.02 per word. It's numbers like these that make a freelance writer’s heart sink. And there’s no shortage of jobs with this kind of rock bottom writing rate being advertised on the internet these days.For one writer, it all just got to be too much. Six months ago that person started a Twitter account called…

The Born Freelancer Interviews Young Adult & Children’s Author Erin Thomas

April 23, 2015 Editor Advice adviceborn freelancerchildren's writingfreelancer q&a

This series of posts by the Born Freelancer shares personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? Your input is welcome in the comments. Twelve years ago, Whitby, Ontario based freelancer Erin Thomas was a technical writer with a degree in English literature, taking college…

Unpaid Pan Am Games writing jobs raise ire

November 13, 2014 Editor News freelance compensationpan am gamestrouble spotsunpaid writing

[caption id="attachment_9518" align="alignright" width="265"] The altered version of the Pan Am Games' ad for unpaid feature writers.[/caption]Last Thursday, Toronto freelance writer and investigative journalist Andrew Livingstone ran across a job ad posted by the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games.The ad was seeking five writers to produce feature…

A Twitterstorm about unpaid writing… Storified

November 07, 2014 Editor News trouble spotsunpaid writing

[View the story "Journalists react to Pan Am Games' ad for volunteer feature writers" on Storify]

Humber College Print Humour Workshop coming up in New York

October 01, 2014 Editor Event eventhumber collegehumour writingworkshop

Got jokes? Dream of publishing your humour writing? Humber College is gearing up for a two-day humour writing workshop in New York City later this month. Humber Comedy Program director Andrew Clark says the workshop will be a very practical event for people who want to get their work published -- or those who've already been published but are…