The Anti 9-to-5 Guide » “And they say print is dead…”

“And they say print is dead…”

November 6th, 2008

That’s the name of a thread on a writing discussion list I subscribe to. The proof that papers ain’t dead yet? The fact that the New York Times had to print 75,000 additional copies of the paper on Tuesday. Here’s a photo of a line of paper buyers at a New York bodega.

Sure, this tick in print media sales was temporary. But the reminder that people like to keep hard copy artifacts of historic events put an extra spring in my step yesterday (as if that were even possible; I was already walking on air after Tuesday’s stellar news*).

It was especially great to receive this reminder after being asked at my last Seattle book reading, “I’d like to break into freelancing for one of the city’s daily newspapers. Is this even possible? Or wise?”** and after our beloved Seattle Times laid off 10 percent of its workforce last week.

*Except for that hideous gay-hating stuff. Geez, people. Get a life. Worry about something that actually matters instead of making a stink about who’s doing who.

**My answer, which I might add, was given before this new round of Seattle Times layoffs, before the Christian Science Monitor killed its print edition, and before the Los Angeles Times announced another round of layoffs itself: “Sort of, but not really. And even if you do get in, budgets are so strained that you might not find the pay worth it. Try the weeklies first (easier to get into, if you don’t mind the paltry pay). Look to papers throughout the country if you can’t crack the local market. And rather than hanging all your hopes on freelancing for those purveyors of newsprint, think magazines and websites too.”

Entry Filed under: This freelance life

7 Comments Add your own

1. SJS | November 6th, 2008 at 9:17 am

Just out of curiosity, which discussion list is this? It sounds interesting.
2. Michelle Goodman | November 6th, 2008 at 9:21 am

I’m not even sure, I’m on so many, some of them by invite only. But here are two public lists I think are great:

http://www.seattlewritergrrls.org
http://digitaleve.org

Not just for women. Or Seattle locals.
3. Jenni | November 6th, 2008 at 9:47 am

I think people are always going to want a tangible copy of things to keep. It’s like CDs. Something about only having digital copies of music (something I can’t actually hold in my hand) bothers me for some reason. The same with books. I want to hold them in my hand and read them, not scroll through a website. Even though newspapers are laying off a lot of people, if they disappeared completely I think people would feel like there was something missing.
4. Michelle Goodman | November 6th, 2008 at 5:39 pm

Jenni, I agree. Sitting in the coffee shop on a Sunday morning reading the paper… ahhhhh!
5. 52 Faces | November 10th, 2008 at 12:47 pm

* – gay-hating
Yes I know! Despicable!

Alright, you’re my second freelancer friend
6. Kristine | November 12th, 2008 at 1:34 am

I’m a former newspaper writer who has struggled to reenter the print world after leaving the print world. The lines for newspapers was the second highlight of the week for me, after my pick winning of course.
7. The Anti 9-to-5 Guide &ra&hellip | March 19th, 2009 at 8:13 am

[...] as the folding of the print P-I is to those of us who learned to write a lede on a typewriter, the noose has been around the neck of newspapers for some time now. Freelance budgets have dwindled, pay rates have shrunk, and paid contributor [...]

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