LA TIMES, owned by the Chicago Tribune Company, laid off yesterday. The exact number of cuts is not known. However, as Mediabistro.com reports, stars went. They are said to include Sharon Bernstein, Tim Rutten, and Jerry Crowe. A few weeks ago, there was a layoff at the HARTFORD COURANT, another Chicago Tribune media property.
Obviously, in an industry that hasn't found its way to make it in a digital age, being at the top of your field matters less and less. To save costs, newspapers are relying more and more on good-enough. NEWSWEEK still has the budget to stick with maintaining first-class content.
So how does a writer continue to make a good living? Many writers don't want to hear this. However, this is what I have discovered during a rocky professional journey during the past two years.
Yes, keep our hands in journalism. Having up-to-date clips in our portfolio is necessary to stay in any and all the communications games. However, don't let that drain us. Traditional journalistic clips are worth less than digital ones, at least in attracting the kinds of work available.
Overall, the closer to the point of sales we get the more marketable are the skills we use. Through trial and error I have found my way into social media marketing [Download Socialmediamarketing]. Initially, I assumed there would be a demand for my social media skills themselves. Wrong. What was available in terms of assignments wasn't enough to pay the bills. What prospects wanted to see was a resume and cover letter which demonstrated experience in social media marketing, everything from email blasts to the PR Web type release to building communities. Get that experience. That's what I did.
Another reality of making a buck in our time is to focus on the right fields to write about. Not all are equal, at least in terms of marketability. Technology, science, medicine, healthcare, finance/investment, and fashion are all good. There is a glut in business per se, personal reflections, and legal. Not having samples in hot fields means not getting assignments.
Also, as Henry Cloud hammers in "Necessary Endings," as we move along we should be pruning our networks. That group of writers we hung with three years ago could be holding us back today. Stick with those who have access to streams of revenue. If someone is bemoaning the passing of the good old days, run.
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