Two Good Workshops

Freelancing: From Survival to Success
A two-day residential course

Although this workshop is aimed at freelance writers, the principles apply to almost any other creative, self-employed profession.

• Finding outlets for your work: identifying both obvious and unusual markets. Keeping up with changes in the media.
• Generating ideas: how to tap into your creativity. Sources of stories. How to intensively crop a journalistic patch
• Selling ideas. How to deal with editors. Knowing what people in offices do and how they think.
• Negotiating and amending contracts
• Setting your fees and getting money out of people.
• Acquiring skills basic journalism, design, web-design, photography **
• Being organised and efficient: accounting*, tax*, filing, equipment
• Professional knowledge: ethics, copyright*, libel*
• Promotion: branding yourself without losing your authenticity.
• Emotions and psychology: Self-motivation. Positive thinking. Transforming rejection and failure into benefits.
• Networking
• Thinking internationally. A variation of this course, specifically targeted at NUJ and Society of Author members living in Europe, will look in detail at the particularities of freelancing abroad.
• Emergency drill: what to do when work dries up.
• Pioneering your own projects. How to do the kind of work you really want to do

* Some subjects are too complicated to be comprehensively covered in a weekend. The course materials will point towards further information.

** This is not a course on how to write an article/book/web page. The essential skills of journalism will be covered briefly but I'll tell you about teach-yourself books, journalism training courses and other sources of help

Venue: Chateau d'Arlens, Gascony

Course leader: Nick Inman

Dates:Course dates for 2008 to be announced. Please email me to join the mailing list.

Price: 380 euros. The price includes the workshop, meals and two nights’ accommodation (Fri & Sat). Some shared rooms). Sunday night accommodation, dinner and breakfast at extra charge.

Maximum number of participants: 15

Some questions and answers about freelancing

Last updated January 2008.
© Copyright Nick Inman or other individuals or organisations. Unless otherwise stated, commercial use is prohibited except by prior written permission.