Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer January 15-21

Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?

From Canada:

• Students overcome gov't-teacher dispute to publish school paper themselves [Globe & Mail] (via @jsource)
• From tabletops to laptops, Canada's most rustic magazine goes digital [RRJ]
• 7.5 take-aways from Canadian University Press NASH75 [J-Source]
• Canada Post updates Publications Mail prices [Masthead]
• Ombudsman Review: Comedy in information programming [CBC] (via @sladurantaye)

 

From the U.S. and beyond:

• The Top Ten Reasons to Self-Publish Your Book [LinkedIn] (via @LuigiBenetton)
• Is the book a crucial cultural artifact, or just an outdated container for content? [PaidContent] (via @mathewi)
• How news orgs can sell sponsored content without lowering their standards [Poynter]
• 5 ways journalists can use smartphones for reporting [Poynter]
• 6 Ways to Promote Your Book on a Budget [GalleyCat]
• Rolling Stone finally comes to iPad, with buy links to iTunes [PaidContent] (via @NiemanLab)
• Mutter: 74 percent of newspaper audience is over 45 [Poynter]
• Why Write Your Own Book When An Algorithm Can Do It For You? [Readwrite] (via @NiemanLab)
• The Atlantic publishes then pulls sponsored content from Church of Scientology [Poynter]

 

From Story Board last week:

• Massey College Press Club to host discussion on Idle No More: The Massey College Press Club has organized a last-minute event for Tuesday January 22nd called Reporting from Attawapiskat: Idle No More and Journalism in Canada...
• Professional liability insurance for freelancers in the works: Freelance contacts are sprouting some worrisome clauses these days, with many publishers attempting to shift responsibility for defamation onto writers. As a result, Writers Coalition (the plan developed by Actra Fraternal Benefits Society to offer group insurance to independent content creators) is looking into the possibility of offering professional liability insurance to freelance writers...
• Erin Millar offers young freelancers advice at NASH: Freelancing takes guts. It’s intimidating to approach someone you don’t know and ask them to pay you to write. What if they say no? Or worst of all, don’t even respond to your carefully crafted pitch? Yet getting your foot in the door at any publication means getting over your fear...