Build your own online editorial brand

I had a conversation with an artist friend of mine this weekend that me thinking about the question all of us in and around the media is currently pondering – the future of journalism.

We were talking about her boyfriend, an extremely talented but not widely known artist who is currently working for a number of comic book publishers. Although he’s already been working on a freelance project for more than three weeks now, he still doesn’t know how much he’s going to earn per page and how long the contract will last, and given the current job climate out there, he’s nervous about asking.

That situation will be familiar to any of you out there who have worked on a freelance or contract basis for a lot of major media owners. Most consider themselves lucky to have the work and don’t want to rock the boat asking about silly little things like money.

I’m getting to my point.

Widely speaking, as an artist, you’re as good as the gallery who puts on your show or the client who buys and gushes about your work. Otherwise, you’re an unknown, and your talent is questionable as it has yet to be given the mark of approval of a major art gallery or culture brand. There are of course exceptions to this, but bear with me.

As journalists, we all want to have been published by major media brands that are respected globally, whether as staffers or as freelance contributors. It is the BBC, and major newspapers and broadcasters who give us, as journalists, that stamp that says we have talent, that we’re good, that we can be trusted and should be listened to as reporters and storytellers. In fact, it isn’t until some have that seal of approval that they have the confidence to go off and start freelance careers.

I really think that is finally changing – at least in journalism. Adam Westbrook goes into this alot in his eBook but I want to make a point of it too.

The internet offers you the opportunity to build your very own journalism brand, around yourself. I’m not talking about a yourname.com portfolio site, but a journalism brand that you create and file to, as though it’s an editor breathing down your neck, only it isn’t.

You may be producing journalist content on a particular geographical area (mexicoreporter.com, kigaliwire, borderreporter.com), or a particular subject (Philip Bloom, Adam Westbrook, Alex Wood, RosenblumTV, Nothing Shocks Me – I’m a Scientist), but the important thing is that it’s good, it’s your work, and it’s online.

If you’re in the least bit entrepreneurial and want to be known for your work rather than just the media you work for, then the web is huge opportunity for you. Yes, you may have to work for free to build up a volume of content, but it’s a much better way to spend your time than sitting in a newspaper office as an ‘intern’ waiting for someone to throw you a bone.

You get to decide your stories, and how to tell them, and you’ll learn a mountain about how to do it better along the way. Start innovating and get out there – it’s a much cooler way to get noticed, not only by existing media owners (mexicoreporter.com got me a job at the Los Angeles Times and my current employer, the FT), but perhaps even by your own, possibly paying, audience.

Now get out there and get on with it.

Tags: Featured

Category: Featured, editorial, journalism, media