Our Business of Freelancing Course Is Selling Fast—Grab Your Spot Today!

Do you struggle to balance your personal life and freelance work? Do you have a hard time perfecting your pitch or landing assignments? Do you want to transform your freelance career into a well-run business?

Sign up now for the IIJ’s Business of Freelancing course. We only have 5 spots left and for just $147 you can participate in 8 weeks of live, interactive classes and develop a customized business plan and path to financial and emotional sustainability. Unlike other journalism classes, you’ll receive individual attention and personalized feedback by the IIJ’s very own Katherine Reynolds Lewis. You’ll also learn surefire ways to get assignments and preserve your time, energy, and resources. This class is for freelancers of all levels who are interested in building income and achieving their goals.

The class will begin with a open-to-all video call on Tuesday, March 21, at 1 pm ET. Come with any questions or concerns you may have! The course will then run every Tuesday from 1-2 pm ET from April 4 through May 16. Hold Tuesday, May 23, for a possible final cohort meeting.

For more info, visit the course page.

If You Want to Cover Communities in the Western US, Check Out High Country News’ Fellowship!

High Country News is looking for Virginia Spencer Davis fellows.

This fellowship is for early-career journalists interesting in reporting on rural communities in the American West and how they’re changing. The fellows will get the opportunity to do on-the-ground reporting as well as professional mentorship and career development. The fellows will be able to deepen their knowledge on rural Western communities’ agriculture, food systems, and rural land conservation, to name a few subjects.

The fellows will work on both short and long form articles and a major capstone project, like a reported feature or multimedia story.

Fellows will work about 32.5 hours each week during the 11-month-long fellowship. They’re paid a stipend of $1,281.27 biweekly as well as a work-from-home allowance of $100 per month and a signing bonus of $500 intended to help cover the cost of IT equipment.

For more information or to apply, visit their website.

The deadline to apply is April 21, 2023.

Last Call to Watch the Conference Replays!

See why 300 people registered for the amazing freelance conference! We thought we'd be talking about how to pitch better, negotiate higher rates, understand contracts, land fellowships and develop new revenue—and we did. But even more profound, we had challenging conversations about our responsibility as storytellers to the subjects of our narratives, the language we use, how to ethically report in and from marginalized communities, and navigating a turbulent and problematic journalism industry. Here's what one attendee said:

"I was blown away by every session I attended, from the learnings I took away from the super pitch session to how inspiring I found the conversation between Stephanie and Ly. I have so many notes I'm parsing through with advice that will help me move forward with my freelance journalism goals and also pursue paths I hadn't even thought of! So grateful for this incredible space and all that I learned the last two days."

If you’ve already registered for the conference, you have until April 10 to watch the recordings.

More Resources, Upcoming Opportunities, and Interesting Reads

• Read Hanaa’ Tameez’s “The Prison Newspaper Directory finds that the number of prison-based papers is growing” for Nieman Lab. In it, she explores the reasons for this recent recorded uptick in prison press and what prison journalists and newspapers do that outside journalists can’t.

• Read Samir Husni’s investigative tribute to magazines for Poynter: “Where Have All the Magazines Gone?” In it, he discusses why newsstands are a mere fraction of their former size and magazine publishers are shrinking. Support the newsstands in your local bookstores, grocery stores, and coffee shops!

• We're always eager to connect with freelance journalists of color who'd like to be involved in the work of the IIJ or contribute to future programs. Email [email protected] to volunteer — or if you have an idea for a partner, funder or topic we should explore.

Thank You to Our Supporters!

Thank you so much to the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the O'Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism, the Fund for Investigative Journalism, and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, for supporting the conference. The IIJ appreciates you!