Freelance writers need to think like entrepreneurs
One of the lessons we are learning from the corona virus is that the news is a commodity. Nearly everything you want to know about this disease is available online free, everywhere, all the time. In the language of economists, this kind of news product has little “exchange value”–people see no reason to pay for it.
In order to create value and therefore earn more money for their work, freelance writers need to think more like entrepreneurs: they have to differentiate themselves by their content and the way it is delivered.
Freelancers have a good model to emulate in many digital media startups launched by entrepreneurial journalists. These innovators are creating digital media to fill the niches that mass media view as unprofitable. Mass media need massive audiences to attract mass advertisers, so they produce general interest content that generates clicks–celebrities, sports, sex scandals, disasters, sensational crimes.
The message for freelance journalists
The digital media startups that are prospering focus on the needs of users for specialized information relevant to their professional and personal lives–technology, science, health, personal finance, business, local government, the environment–and package it in ways that the users will pay for. Advertising has a reduced importance in their business models.
If you cover local news, you could specialize in covering a topic of local concern. That might be the quality of the public schools, the quality of the hospital and health services, the condition of the roads, the environment, energy, water quality, garbage pickup, internet access, emergency services, the award of public contracts, how public money is being spent, or whatever people are talking about. In the US, some of the best examples of this are Texas Tribune, Minnpost, and the Voice of San Diego.
Graphics: another type of storytelling
One way to create value is to take information and package it in a different format. An example is a laid-off business journalist in Spain who was always interested in data and graphics. He used his severance package to tide him over while creating a service for producing graphics, maps, and charts from public databases. His company, Porcentual, now has dozens of broadcast and print media clients in Spain that pay for graphics customized for their audiences.
The editor of a successful Dutch startup describes their strategy as covering “not what happened today, but what happens every day.” In other words, they investigate deeply into why and how problems occur and how they might be solved. (Here is more on this ad-free digital news publication, De Correspondent.)
To differentiate yourself as a freelancer, you want to create the sense among your readers or users that they are members of a special club that benefits from inside information. Have your “club members” help you gather information and share tips. A good example of this strategy is eldiario.es in Spain, which has revealed high-level corruption involving politicians and corporations.
Don’t write about news conferences
What you shouldn’t spend a lot of time covering is official pronouncements from politicians and news conferences. That information is a commodity: Everyone has it.
When everyone zigs, you should zag. Digiday has profiled two digital startups that differentiated themselves both on their content and their distribution methods. The Skimm is an email newsletter created by two former TV producers whose informal style and content appeal to young professional women. It has 7 million subscribers. The Business of Fashion started out as a consultant’s personal blog but has evolved into a subscription website whose content melds the creative and commercial strands of this global industry.
The Skimm has raised some $28 million from investors attracted by their rapidly growing loyal audience and varied revenue streams. The Business of Fashion has a base of subscribers paying roughly 250 euros a year. It also generates revenue from events and a jobs board.
The intimacy of newsletters
If you launch an email newsletter, the value of the subscribers is that you own the relationship, whether they are paying or not. You are communicating directly with them on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. You don’t rely on an intermediary like Google or Facebook to reach them. Those platforms don’t take a cut of your advertising or subscription revenue unless you say so.
Many freelancers have become entrepreneurs through email newsletters. Ghost.org has provided a host of successful examples. The Atlantic did an in-depth study of newsletter entrepreneurs and how they have been attracting the attention of venture capital investors.
How to create value
Whenever I try to view the world of digital media with optimism, I return to Robert Picard, the media economics expert. In his book Value Creation and the Future of News Organizations, he lays out the strategies that journalists should adopt to survive in the digital media world.
Among his recommendations for media, which I believe can also apply to freelancers are:
- Specialize in terms of the topics or geography that you cover, and focus on producing high quality rather than high volume.
- Emphasize news and journalism rather than the “soft” popular topics of the mass media. Investigative journalism has tremendous value to users; it demonstrates your independence and public service.
- Interact with users and bring them into the conversation. Ask them to help you collect information and suggest topics to cover. Ask them for tips.
- Add value to information by processing it. Take massive amounts of data and make it digestible with interactive maps, graphics, and charts.
- Increase the value of your work to society by focusing on topics that are important to users rather than advertisers and the powers that be.
Don’t be a follower. Be the one that others follow, quote, and interview. The value lies in offering something unavailable anywhere else. It pays to be different.
The message in the virus: differentiate or die