Poll: Freelancing in a recession

[Loliver]

What impact is the economic downturn having on your work? Are new opportunities arising or are you having to rethink freelancing altogther? (Please note: you need to be registered and logged in to vote).

[Matt]

Sad to say my rates are being cut. Depressing, but not as depressing, it seems, as working full time for a struggling publication. An advantage of not having a full-time job is that I don't have a job to lose.

[mmoselle]

My budget for freelancers has bee cut but I'm commissioning fewer articles at the same rate as always rather than cutting back the rate per word.

[Rhaps]

Can barely afford to pay the rent at the moment. Pretty much gone from being a full time journalist to a full time barman. It's a recession though so I'm not suprised, I just fear for the future of journalism in this country. Newspapers are already closing down as circulation drops and advertising income is slashed. Quite frankly if things do not impove soon I'll be emigrating to Canada or Dubai. Although that said there's no escaping the inevitable demise of the newspaper as we know it with so many bloggers and websites serving in the market for pennies. Paid journalism is dead, time to take up plumbing. 

[ollybarratt]

the market is also totally saturated with journalists at the moment so freelance rates and salaries in the industry will surely drop. i would hate to be one of the thousands of student journalists finishing off their degree and postgrad courses in the next month or so - there's just so little work out there for them all.

http://fsn.typepad.com/blog/

[whealie]

Have had to force myself to cut back as I have been so busy it has impacted on my work life balance. Turnover is at least 60% up so far this year but that was not sustainable so I reckon it will be about 50% by the end of the year.

[frugalp]

I write a blog and have been extraordinarily lucky in that the outlet I write for has continued it, albeit they cut my rate slightly last year. Freelance at some of the other outlets I write for disappeared all together last year. Fortunately I managed to pick up some work from an old employer and was v. grateful for it. But 2009 was v. tough and I had to slash my budget and take on lower rated work that I wouldn't normally take. Things are better this year.

However, I think my case is rare. Many other freelancers - particularly those who work on newspapers and magazines - who I see at a networking group have seen their work disappear overnight as publications axe sections, such as career supplements, that aren't attracting enough advertising revenue. A contact of mine moved in with a relative because he could no longer pay his rent after his work dried up and a designer I know has moved back home abroad to save money. He can live cheaply over there with his family while earning UK money and working remotely.

[Gabbie]

There has been more competition lately thus a good contract is hard to come by and the bid for the contract gets cheaper. However I am trying to learn new skills so I can better qualify for other tasks. I think this is the best way to survive the field of freelancing.

[Desire2Write]

It's a tough marketplace out there, especially in the freelance arena. It's becoming harder and harder to get quality clients on-board. It seems they may have all been so badly hit by the recession that they are not looking for any writers. In saying this I've been unwell for a good while now and unable to write so maybe things have been picking up since start of the year.

[frugalp]

Interesting. I think in the future we will all have to have other strings to our bow, such as the commentator above. Living by freelance journalism alone may not be possible. We may need to do other things such as teach, write press releases, create websites for people, act as media consultants or give talks - anything that helps pay the rent.

[RebeccaB]

I have recently taken on a staff job, working two and a half days a week as a comms officer for a leading charity and freelancing for the other half of the week. It is only now that I have a steady income and excellent staff benefits again that I can see how ill f/l full time made me for the last year. I feel like I have finally come out of a black hole I couldn't even see I was in at the time.

Now I'm in a very fortunate position where I enjoy my staff job and can take on enjoyable f/l projects without having to do low-paid jobs I would not have considered three or four years ago. I realise I'm incredibly lucky as on average 100 people applied for the staff positions I was going for. I hardly write any news or features these days - the bulk of my f/l work is copywriting, PR and tourism guides. I would never have predicted this when I went freelance four years ago with a steady stream of well-paid commissions from good quality mags and websites.

Good luck to everyone - the industry is changing beyond recognition and we do all have to adapt.

[bossbuild]

It sure has been a bumpy ride the last couple of years for a lot of freelancers but i think it depends what field you work in really. People always want news, so us journalists will always have work. It's the builders and tradesmen that i think this recession has hit the hardest. People are less willing to spend money on repairing things when they go wrong!

[YoungMind]

Unfortunately I can say that people are not interested in reading or watching the news. Thus the falling numbers in newspapers and their websites.

It gets harder and harder to make a living out of Journalism but, I would say that, all comes to whether you are determined or not !!

[zakir90]

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[zakir90]

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