Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer Oct 15-20

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: 

• When Iggy Pop can’t live off his art, what chance do the rest have? [Globe and Mail]
• How media unions are making strides to improve working conditions [J-Source]
• Ivor Tossell on journalism and personal branding [J-Source]
• How to make your journalism portfolio stand out [J-Source]
• 5 ways to have your most productive fall ever [PWAC Toronto]
• J-Source launches International Reporting Bureau [J-Source]

From the U.S. and beyond:

• How to overcome the fear of sharing your writing in public [Lifehacker]
• The Art of Street Reporting, Part I: Talking to Sources [The Freelancer]
• Use the 45/15 rule for productive procrastination [Freelancers Union]
• 5 ways journalists can find stories on LinkedIn [Journalism.co.uk]
• How This Young College Graduate Went From Unemployed to Podcast Wunderkind [Contently]
• Break Through a Productivity Wall by Cleaning Your Workspace [Lifehacker] (via @freelancersu)
• Freelancing is a Real Job: Tips for Responding to Critics and Skeptics [The Write Life]

Last week on Story Board:

• NewZulu Canada fills a need with its photography crowdsourcing platform: Legal cases that have arisen over improper use of photos sourced from social media over the past few years have demonstrated a growing need for a better system for crowdsourcing citizen journalism. Enter platforms like NewZulu — a crowdsourcing platform that recruits users to upload their photos of news events for potential sale to news outlets…

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.