All About Freelancing

The world of freelancing for a science writer is interesting, exciting — and sometimes overwhelming. The resources on this page are developed by freelances, for freelances. You'll find tips on writing query letters, managing your time, contract negotiations and many other subjects of interest to freelances. For more help, contact NASW's freelance committee.

Contract questions and answers for freelance science writers

Q: When a publisher offers me a contract, I'd better sign it or I'll lose the job, right?

December 31, 2007 04:18 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Contract questions and answers for editors and publishers

Q. Shouldn't publishers be able to obtain the copyright for all the articles we publish? After all, we're paying for them.

December 31, 2007 02:22 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Resources for Self-Publishing

(Prepared for an NASW Science in Society Workshop: October 27, 2006, by Dennis Meredith.) NASW members now have an alternative to traditional publishers, in the form of self-publishing. This alternative has arisen in part because of the advent of print-on-demand services such as iUniverse and BookSurge; the ability to sell books through online outlets such as Amazon.com; and the ability to publicize books and other products through web sites, blogs, viral marketing, etc. This reference list constitutes the beginning of NASW's effort to help its members decide whether to self-publish.

October 7, 2006 09:15 PM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

NASW Group Health Insurance Available in Some States

NASW Members looking for health, long-term care, vision, and dental insurance should be made aware that NASWers in NY (up to Ulster, Putnam, and Rockland County) (Oxford), CT, NJ, Greater Chicago, including part of Indiana, California, and Florida (CIGNA), can get health insurance through TEIGIT, The Entertainment Insurance Group Insurance Trust.

September 30, 2006 01:26 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Frequently Asked Questions About Freelancing

Where can you find story ideas? Should you send stories on spec? How should you track your time? Two veteran freelances address these and other questions.

February 4, 2006 03:37 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Contract Negotiation: Getting What You Want, Gracefully

Negotiating a contract can be the most gut-churning part of being a freelance. In this article, reprinted from Freelance Success, Jennifer Pirtle offers sound advice and personal tips for arriving at agreement without knuckling under or burning your bridges.

February 4, 2006 02:42 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Useful links for science freelances

February 4, 2006 02:38 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Small-Business Grant Writing Can Be Big Business

Grant writing can boost your freelance income. Do you want to try your hand at it, but don't know how to get started? Jeanne Erdman tells all.

February 4, 2006 02:11 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Beware the Double Dip

Although it may be possible to survive as a freelance on straight journalism alone, most of us also take on other work as well, for universities, corporations, or research institutions. Jeanne Erdmann explores the rules, guidelines, and pitfalls in working both sides of the line.

February 3, 2006 10:29 PM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Freelancing from Abroad

Thinking of plying your trade from a foreign land? Nancy Bazilchuk is currently doing so from Norway, and offers some pithy advice, including "Don't be fooled by the conventional wisdom that 'everybody speaks English.'"

February 3, 2006 10:28 PM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Nice Work If You Can Get It

When Beryl Benderly opened an NASW Jobs List email in 2001, she didn't know it would eventually take her to Mexico, South America, and most recently, up the Panama Canal. Herewith, her lucky tale.

December 1, 2004 12:00 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Hit the Ground Running: Finding the Sources You Need to Report a Science Story

When you're on a tight deadline, you need information fast. Glennda Chui offers her best advice for finding the people and papers you need. Among her tips: "If all else fails, try directory assistance — either on-line or on the phone — and see if you can get the source's home number. You'd be surprised how many people are listed."

November 1, 2004 12:00 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

How to Deal: Negotiating a Better Contract

At the NASW Annual Meeting in February of 2004, two experts offered their experiences and insights in a workshop devoted to freelance contract negotiation. According to Erik Sherman, "The best first thing to do is say, 'I'd like to see your first North American Serial Rights Contract, please," while Kraig Baker suggests, "If you want to be successful, your first tactic should be whatever tactic keeps the publisher's lawyer out of it." Special Thanks to Alan Kelly, Owner, Verbatim Instant Transcripts, for generating this complimentary transcript for NASW

September 1, 2004 12:00 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Writing for Scientists, Especially on the Web

(This is Part 1 of a much-expanded version of an article that is scheduled to appear in the second edition of NASW's A Field Guide for Science Writers, edited by Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson, and Robin Marantz Henig, which Oxford University Press is scheduled to publish next year.)

June 1, 2004 07:15 PM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Agents: To Know Them is to Love Them

Do you need an agent to sell your book? How do you find a good one? In November 2003, The nasw-freelance list featured a discussion on this topic with much advice from experienced authors. Highlights (and there were lots) are collected here.

March 1, 2004 12:00 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Beyond Search Engines

Past time for a roundup of a few Web sites particularly useful to freelance science writers, not least because they are all free. All but one, anyway.

January 1, 2004 07:22 PM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Secondary Rights: A lot of heat, not much light right now

Secondary rights are the rights to resell your work after its first publication. With all-rights contracts growing like kudzu, some authors' groups are trying to work out collective deals and micropayments in order to facilitate reselling stories. Here, freelance Jeff Hecht relates some recent news on these efforts.

January 1, 2004 12:00 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

(The Sad State of) Health Insurance Options for Freelances

Looming over the otherwise idyllic life of the freelance writer is the dark cloud known as health insurance, for which the only silver lining seems to be the silver lining the pockets of the insurance companies. In this report, David Lindley provides a snapshot of how NASW freelances are getting their insurance (or not), and provides some recommendations, both for the individual freelance and for NASW as a whole.

December 1, 2003 03:01 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Legal Update for Magazine Editors

Contracts, rights grabs, negotiations — What advice are magazine editors getting from their lawyers, and how does it affect the freelance? Robin Marantz Henig sat in at a meeting of the American Society of Magazine Editors, and files this report from the other side.

May 14, 2003 02:48 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Once Upon a Midnight Query

In early March 2003, the NASW-freelance list held a lively discussion about query letters — their value, their formality, their structure, and their success. What follows is edited from that discussion.

March 1, 2003 12:14 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Her writing was too colorful for academia . . .

. . . so Beryl Lieff Benderly became a freelance. Benderly explains how she went from a prospective anthropology Ph.D. to a highly productive freelance science writer. Along the way, she spent a little time at the U.S. Employment Service, wangled a creative writing stipend from the D.C. unemployment office, and stumbled on a book-writing project that made her an expert in deafness.

November 1, 2002 03:50 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

The Craft of Querying

Rebecca Skloot gives her advice and tips on crafting successful queries. "Queries aren't just about showing that you have a good idea, they're about making yourself stand out by showing that you can write."

March 10, 2002 01:52 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Survey reveals two distinct types

Some make a living at it, but most do not.

February 1, 2002 04:12 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

You are not totally alone

Results of first freelance survey are out. Can freelance science writers make a living at what they do? Make a decent living at it? What kind of stuff do we write, and for whom do we write it? How do we think the National Association for Science Writers treats its freelance members?

February 1, 2002 04:03 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Top ten reasons why freelancing beats a real job

Guess what Richard Robinson puts at the top of his list. And the bottom, too.

February 1, 2002 03:43 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

A deep reverence for technology

"I can't remember or even imagine having to use a typewriter to do my job . . . " Emma Patten-Hitt writes about the importance in her working life of her e-mail pager, a fast laptop, voice recognition software — but not a Palm.

January 1, 2001 03:14 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

How to Cover a Medical Meeting

A discussion on the NASW Freelance Listserv dealt with tips for writing about medical conferences. For example: Are chinos okay at a radiologist's meeting? What do cardiologists eat for lunch? Do you need a laptop, or maybe a pen that'll write in the dark during PowerPoint displays? And the big one: To tape or not to tape?

February 26, 2000 10:43 PM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Can you survive as a freelancer?

This document is the record of a discussion that took place on the nasw-freelance mailing list from January 19th through January 27th, 1998. It deals with a number of issues critical to anyone trying or hoping to make a living as a free-lance science writer.

January 27, 1998 03:06 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Spinning A Specialty

Nonfiction writers used to be generalists, even science writers. Not now, not for a long time. To get an assignment today, you specialize. Editors are looking for a particular approach to a subject, a certain tone or, occasionally, deep knowledge. For science writers in particular, showing that you have written on a topic before can confer on you instant expertise and create confidence that you understand its complexities.

January 1, 1998 02:05 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)

Ten Tips For Writing A Proposal/Query Letter

Condensed from NASW's own Science Writers (1996), by Janice Hopkins Tanne

January 1, 1996 02:01 AM — Continue reading (NASW members only)