Summer’s days are numbered, and that means one thing: the return of pumpkin spice.

No, wait. Back to school — that’s what I meant. It’s time for kids to go back to school.

For parents, that means deploying the logistics skills of supply chain ninjas to purchase the right notebook, laptop, calculators, etc., find first-day outfits that manage to please kids and meet dress code regulations, and other coordination heroics that I can’t imagine. Thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

Because many editors go on vacation in August, we freelancers can also take this time to prepare for the final months of the year. Maybe we need to look hard at our income and seek some higher-paying projects. Maybe now is a good time to brush up on our pitching skills before we contact editors again. We can address tasks that we tend to put off when working on stories, from taxes to grant applications.

We often put these tasks aside because they’re challenging. So make sure to celebrate when you do them. I’m not yet back to work because I’m now focused on the probate process after my stepfather’s death. But I had a brief loss of sanity yesterday and vacuumed my room. (I am allergic to cleaning.) You better believe I celebrated — I told everybody that day. Gold star for me!

Whether it’s a not-so-humble brag, a bit of indulgent self-care, or just a sincere pat on the back, give yourself credit when you tackle the back-to-fall stuff. Pumpkin spice latte, anyone? 

~ Sara

Last week, we were fortunate to connect with journalists at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Atlanta! Thanks so much to those of you who attended our panel on building sustainable income as an independent, and thanks of course to our amazing speakers: Tatyana Arrington, founder of What the Film; LaMar Holliday, CEO of the Holliday Collaborative Agency; and our moderator, IIJ leader Shernay Williams. 

Our gratitude also goes out to everyone who joined us for our freelancer meetup, co-hosted by our partners at the Association of Independents in Radio, Fund for Investigative Journalism, International Women's Media Foundation, and Next Gen Journalism. 

Connect with IIJ founder Katherine Reynolds Lewis in San Francisco this September at the annual Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists conference! On Sept. 10 at 11 a.m. PT, she’ll co-present a panel on freelance life in today’s media landscape with COYOTE Media’s Soleil Ho and Kae Petrin, co-founder of the Trans Journalists Association. 

Then, join Katherine for a 6 p.m. PT meetup, co-hosted by the Association of Independents in Radio, the Fund for Investigative Journalism, and the International Women’s Media Foundation! The IWMF’s Tat Bellamy-Walker and FIJ’s Eric Ferrero will also be there.

It’s that time! IIJ webinars are back in September, bringing you monthly sessions that build your skills, connect you with assigning editors, and expand your horizons as an independent journalist. Join us for sessions on food freelancing, funding your reporting, earning money as a creator journalist, and more! Your $30 registration also includes access to the webinar recording after the event.

Webinar registration opens on Sept 1. See the full lineup on our website here, and join the waitlist here to be notified as soon as we open registration.

Enrollment is open for the fall 2026 cohort of the IIJ’s Business of Freelancing Course! Capped at just 30 participants, this eight-week program will teach you the fundamentals of building a sustainable freelance career. IIJ leaders Shernay Williams and Emma Carew Grovum will cover how to choose the right blend of lucrative and passion projects, negotiation strategies to prevent scope creep, and time management and invoice systems that will make the business side of freelancing painless. 

The course runs from Oct. 1 to Nov. 19. Register before the end of the month to take advantage of early bird pricing: Only $199 for eight weeks of transformative learning!

The Food Section, the award-winning newsletter about food in the American South, invites pitches for long features, shorter pieces, and book reviews. 💰$1,114.98 for features, $200 for short pieces. Learn more from the pitch guidelines, and send ideas using the form here. 

The Food Section founder Hanna Raskin is speaking at our Sept. 25 webinar!

Balls and Strikes reports on the Supreme Court and the broader U.S. legal system, and it is looking for new contributors. 💰Usually $0.50 per word. Read pitch guidelines here, and send pitches to [email protected]. 

The Pulitzer Center invites reporters to apply for Democracy Reporting Grants to assist with travel and research costs, as well as records searches and other expenses. Themes of interest include voting rights, civil rights, free speech, and election transparency. 💰Often $5,000 to $10,000, depending on scope. Learn more and apply here. Deadline: Monday, Aug. 31.

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business invites journalists to apply for the spring 2027 cohort for the Stigler Center Journalists in Residence program. This 12-week program takes place from March to May. 💰$14,000 stipend, airfare, and tuition. Learn more and apply here. Deadline: Sunday, Sept. 20.

Investigative Reporters and Editors invites freelance journalists to apply for short- or long-term freelance fellowships to support investigative reporting projects. 💰$2,000 or $4,000 depending on scope, year membership to IRE, and more. Apply here. Deadline: Tuesday, Sept. 1.

📖 Of the 170 media positions advertised on JournalismJobs.com last month, only 11 paid more than $100,000. More than half the jobs below that number paid less than $60,000. This analysis comes from the latest Substack post by Lisa Rowan, a longtime journalist who regularly comes across jobs that pay less than her starting salary in 2008. “I refuse to believe that a journalist, regardless of years of experience, regardless of whether they cut their teeth in j-school or in the field, should be paid less than $50,000 a year,” she writes. 

📖 When Australian investigative journalist Bension Siebert lost his job, he turned to a rather unusual side hustle to fund his award-winning reporting: sex work. He not only earns far more, but he also has more control over his time. As Jimmy Briggs reports in the Daily Mail, “sex work had helped [Siebert] 'save' his investigative journalism career, allowing him to finance interstate reporting trips for stories.” 

📖 Some good news in AI: Anthropic is adding watermarks to all AI-generated text to comply with EU regulations. “Platforms are now rushing to watermark AI-generated content after backlash from users and to avoid regulatory scrutiny,” Ivan Mehta writes for TechCrunch. Companies who have already marked AI content to varying degrees include music platform Suno and Substack, while Google, Meta, OpenAI, and others have pledged to follow EU regulations.

🗓️ Thursday, Sept. 10 - Join the IIJ for a panel at the 2026 convention for NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists in San Francisco! At 11 a.m. PT, Trans Journalists Association co-founder Kae Petrin, COYOTE Media worker-owner Soleil Ho, and the IIJ’s Katherine Reynolds Lewis will present a panel on “The Reality of Freelance Journalism Today.” 

🗓️ Thursday, Sept. 10 - Our freelancer meetup at NLGJA, co-hosted with AIR, the IWMF, and the FIJ, takes place at 6 p.m. PT. Come meet IIJ leader Katherine Reynolds Lewis, IWMF leader Tat Bellamy-Walker, and Eric Ferrero from the FIJ! Register here. 

🗓️ Friday, Sept. 25 at noon ET - Webinar - Dig In: How to Succeed on the Food Beat, featuring Guardian editor Cynthia Greenlee, Ravenous co-founder Jaya Saxena, the Food Section founder Hanna Raskin, COYOTE Media co-founder Soleil Ho, and moderator Alicia Kennedy, founder of Tomato, Tomato. Learn how these journalists have created unique career paths, and learn how to pitch their publications! Register starting Sept. 1 for just $30. Join the waitlist here.

🗓️ Thursday, Oct. 1 at 3 p.m. ET - The fall 2026 cohort of the IIJ’s Business of Freelancing course begins! Over eight weeks, IIJ leaders Shernay Williams and Emma Carew Grovum will teach you the core strategies and systems that will enable you to build a sustainable and fulfilling freelance career. Learn how to negotiate strong contracts, build a strong client network, and more! Register here for just $199 early bird pricing, but hurry! This price only lasts until Aug. 31! 

🗓️ Friday, Oct. 16 - The IIJ’s Ann Marie Awad will participate in an 11:30 a.m. ET panel on what to do if you’re laid off at the National Association of Science Writers virtual conference. She’ll be joined by freelance writers Alaina G. Levine and Elizabeth Pennisi, CNN Senior Science Reporter Kasha Patel, and Vita-Activa’s Luisa Ortiz Pérez.

🗓️ Friday, Oct. 16 at noon ET - Webinar - Global Freelancing: The Secrets of Traveling Entrepreneurs. Learn how to thrive as a freelancer abroad from seasoned digital nomads: journalists Tiara Darnell, Russell Nichols, Zerline Hughes Spruill and Saul O., founder of RemoteQueer. Register starting Sept. 1 for just $30. Join the waitlist here.

🗓️ Friday, Nov. 20 at noon ET - Webinar - Fund your Freelancing with Fellowships and Grants. Grab your share of the money funding freelance journalism from the Education Writers Association, Freelance Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, and Trans Journalists Association. Learn what application reviewers are looking for! Register starting Sept. 1 for just $30. Join the waitlist here.

🗓️ Friday, Dec. 11 at noon ET - Webinar - Pitching Arts, Culture, and Travel Stories. Learn what it takes to land your next story in Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, or Aeon Magazine in this session featuring editors from all three, hosted by IIJ leader Erika Hayasaki. Register starting Sept. 1 for just $30. Join the waitlist here.

🗓️ Friday, Jan. 22 at noon ET - Webinar - Winning Revenue Strategies for Creator Journalists. Join us for an inside look at the revenue strategies of successful creator journalists like Serena Maria Daniels of Midwest Mexican, Monique Madan of Two Can Be True, Garnet Henderson of Autonomy News, and Yashica Dutt of Featuring Dalits, in this session led by URL Collective’s Kirstin Garriss. Register starting Sept. 1 for just $30. Join the waitlist here.

▶️ Podcast: From WaPo to Solo: Karen Attiah on being a "Modern-Day Warrior Philosopher"

▶️ Podcast: UT Prof Anita Varma on how freelancers practice “Solidarity Journalism”

▶️ Podcast: Learn From Editors’ live feedback on environmental pitches

▶️ Podcast: Journalist Kavitha Cardoza on covering education and poverty

▶️ Podcast: How to pitch unique NYC immigration stories to Documented

▶️ Podcast: Freelance journalism FAQ with Katherine Lewis and Shernay Williams