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Authors for Japan update

THE total raised in the Authors for Japan auction launched by Keris Stainton topped £13,000 (including Gift Aid.)

Out of that, I'm delighted to say that donations sent for training sessions or mentoring I was offering, added to money I pledged for two lots came to around £650.

Thank you to the kind people who paid money to the Red Cross for some of my services. I snapped up coffee and cake with literary agent turned author Alison Bond and all four Skate School books signed by Kay Woodward.

What a fantastic achievement by Keris. It was an honour to be part of it.  

Ten tips to help you blog for charity

A version of this post was written for the BMB blog.

As the tragedy of earthquake and tsunami unfolds in Japan, parent bloggers are harnessing the power of social media to help those devastated.

Rebecca at Two Become Four rounded up ways that the community have rallied round: How can we help Japan?

Freelance journalism mentoring included in Authors for Japan auction

THIS is a cross-post from Authors for Japan. The sessions mentioned below also include exercises set between phone calls and tailored feedback. These are included in an auction and the hope is that people will bid and raise money to help relief efforts in Japan.

Please see the Authors for Japan website for more information, plus some amazing offers from high profile authors.

ITEM: One place on four-week telephone mentoring sessions for aspiring freelance journalists (usual price £250 plus VAT) plus signed copies of The Greatest Guide to Freelance Writing, publication late 2011; Love to Write: A School Run guide to helping your child in literacy (provisional title), publication due 2011.

Authors for Japan

AUTHORS are being asked to donate lots to be auctioned in aid of relief efforts in Japan.

You can find out more at Keris Stainton's blog, below:

Authors for Japan, can you help?

Please let Keris know in the comments or by email what you may be able to do to help.

Going freelance after being made redundant by a regional paper? Some hard-learned lessons to help you on your way

WHAT can self-employed journalists learn from The Apprentice? While fired candidate Anita didn't look after those dreaded fixed costs, many of the rest are so busy fulfilling some crazed 'killer entrepreneur' stereotype, they'll never get anywhere with the people who really count - their customers.

RECENTLY, Dan Mason wrote this post on things to do before being made redundant if you're currently working for a regional news organisation.

I went freelance 10 years ago after working on regional papers. These days my work has grown into running an agency with colleagues. That's why I wanted to share some advice for those starting out on a similar path.

I've learned some hard lessons. Although I left regional papers under different circumstances to redundancy (I needed to go away and be a mum) these pointers are based on the sorts of experiences anyone moving on from local papers to work for themselves are bound to encounter. In these toughest of times, I'd say they are more important than ever.

Advice on "earning a living through the credit crunch" from Press Gazette

PRESS Gazette got in touch recently to ask for my input for a feature in its Freelance section on how to continue to earn a living through the "credit crunch".

My advice was featured next to that of Helen James from www.freelanceuk.com and www.freelancealliance.co.uk, who supplied excellent tips about finding as much work as you can from existing clients - which can be more straightforward than going for new clients.

How objective can you be?

I VERY much admire the fella in this video, because of his track record in some very important investigative journalism. I also admire him for admitting he "lost it" and saying he shouldn't have done.

There are some topics that I'm not objective on, but can write about objectively - click here for one example.

In this example, I know I would have lost it too. But then I haven't got the guts to do this sort of thing in the first place.

[Linda]

Building a specialism in your freelance writing career

IF you check out my portfolio here, you'll see that there are several headings for the different subjects I like to write about.

For the time being, "business and careers" is missing and I find myself having to make room to put that section back.

I've added a new one instead - "technology". That's because here I am interviewing a politician's campaign team about their use of 'micro-blogging' for today's Guardian.