Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer July 21-28

Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?

From Canada: 

• Does Heather Conway have what it takes to save the CBC? [Globe and Mail]
• Why are grants funding freelancers so vital? [J-Source]
• Independent magazine seeks funding on Indiegogo [Masthead]
• 8 bursaries awarded by Forum Freelance Fund for conflict zone training [J-Source]

From the U.S. and beyond:

• For $5 a month, you can put food on a stray climate writer’s plate [Grist]
• I’m Ira Glass, Host of This American Life and This is How I Work [Lifehacker]
• Freelancer for CNN abducted and detained in Ukraine [CNN]
• What to do about freelance fail days where everything you do sucks [Freelancers Union]
• Why Writers Are Opening Up About Money (or the Lack Thereof) [New York Times blogs]
• How a Writer Turned a Rejected Modern Love Pitch into 3 Published Articles [The Write Life]
• What I’ve learnt from a year of freelancing [Kate Bohdanowicz]
• Riding the Juggernaut That Left Print Behind [New York Times]
• How Forbes got to $475 million [CJR]
• 3 things freelance pros do at the end of a gig [Freelancers Union]

Last week on Story Board:

• Nonvella aiming to get writers paid “what they should be paid”: Tyee Bridge remembers the moment he first had the idea for Nonvella…
• 5 Tips to maximize your Twitter potential: In the Information Age, it is near impossible to sell yourself (and your work) without using a multi-platform approach. While your story may have warranted a large headline on the front cover of a national paper, chances are it’s not far-reaching unless you promote it via social media… 

Spot a story you think we should include in next week’s Off the Wire? Email the link to editor@thestoryboard.ca or tweet us at @storyboard_ca.