How To Become a Freelance Journalist (Day Course)

We are hosting our mega successful ‘How To Become a Freelance Journalist' masterclass this February.

This is best suited for people who have always loved writing but have never been published before in national or global publications. This is for people who want to write articles but don't know where to start with getting paid for it. This is for those who have always wanted to see their name in their favourite magazines, newspapers and websites.

I'll walk you through how to structure your article pitches, guide you with how to execute the piece start to finish for the publication, and talk you through how to build relationships with editors so you can get more of your articles commissioned by them in future.

By the end of this intensive day course, you'll be able to successfully pitch your personal stories and be on your way to getting commissioned. It's worth noting here, that we have been working with writers for years on getting their articles published and paid in major titles and our success rate is incredibly high.

There will be four Zoom sessions in the day broken up.

9.30am - 10.30am - Intro to pitching stories and exercises on how to come up with story ideas

11.15am - 12.15pm - How to format the perfect pitch to editors

1.30pm - 2.30pm - What happens when you get the commission (how to write the piece for the editor)

4pm - Drop-in session to ask any questions from the day

As well as invaluable tips from the Freelance Sessions on how to pitch your stories to editors and get them commissioned, it also includes a great takeaway from the session (this is to be kept as a nice surprise until the webinar). If you want to know how to get your voice heard in national and global publications, then this is for you.

The day will arm you with the knowledge, contacts and skills to think like a freelance journalist, pitch like a pro and craft out dynamic pitches editors will want to commission.

These no-nonsense teachings have helped hundreds of people break into journalism and given many the career they had dreamed of for years. Many of our clients have gone onto land columns and regular editorial international work.

You don’t need to be coming from a journalism background to write these pieces. You don’t need to have worked on a news desk previously. And you certainly don’t need to have been published to get published.

You can start from scratch and you can start today.

Before I break the session down, here’s a few things I’m NOT going to teach you:

✖ I’m NOT going to tell you to start working for free because it’s good exposure, looks good on your CV, is a valuable experience or any other nonsense like that. You should get paid for your work. It’s as simple as that.

✖ I’m NOT going to advise you to focus your efforts on local news publications. I have nothing against local newspapers. They do important work and an admiral job. However, while lecturing at universities up and down the country, I’ve learnt that many students are told to focus on writing for local newspapers because it’s more “realistic”. That’s quite simply not true. You can write anywhere, no matter how big they are. And I can help you get there.

✖ I’m NOT going to claim you’ll never be rejected again. Rejection is part of the job. There isn’t a journalist I know who doesn’t have their ideas rejected on a regular basis. Even veteran journos who have been in the industry for decades have to hear no every now and then. So if you don’t like being told no, freelance journalism might not be for you. A little resilience goes a long way. That being said, I have proven extremely effective at increasing people’s chances of being commissioned.

Here’s a taste of what you will learn:

✓The mindset of an commissioning editor. I’ll teach you how editors think, what they look for and how they make decisions. Once you know this, you can adapt your pitches to give them exactly what they want.

✓ Secret techniques to make your ideas thief-proof. I’ll reveal some surprisingly simple tweaks you can use to personalise your pitch and make sure that only you can write the piece. This stops outlets taking your idea and getting one of their staff writers to write the article.

✓ How to craft pitches that get YOUR IDEAS published. I’ll show you how to creatively format your ideas focusing on headlines, news hooks, and journalistic techniques to create a bold and newsworthy pitch.

Recording

We will be recording the masterclass and sending it out to all attendees after the event, so if you can't make it on the day or have to leave half way through, you'll still be able to get the full experience. You will also be sent out takeaways from the session including pitching templates, a bundle of relevant editor contact emails and exclusive tips on pitching.

30 tickets are available.

We have a no-refund policy.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Testimonials from our last day course:

‘I can’t recommend these masterclasses enough - all of Jess’s advice is absolute gold dust for anyone seeking to land a paid commission. I scribbled down absolutely everything she said at the masterclass I attended, and landed a paid commission at a dream publication one day later!'

Izzie Price

'I’ve written for Vice, the Sun, the Times, the Independent, Women’s Health and the Metro since attending your webinars. I’ve also had pieces commissioned by the Sunday Express + Mirror. I’m a single parent + I was a bit nervous about spending out, but as I’ve obviously earned what I spent many times over. It’s sometimes hard to justify spending money on yourself when you have children!

Dr Rebecca Tidy

For any questions, please do get in touch with us on: https://www.instagram.com/thefreelancesessions/