AAJA Seoul live-tweets freelancing Q&A

Want to pen features for @YonhapNews? Or travel pieces for @cnngo_seoul? Head to @AAJAAsia’s freelancing Q&A tonight! aajaasia.wordpress.com/201…

happenening now: #Seoul freelancing panel w/veteran freelancer Andrew Salmon and eds Lee Dong-min of @Yonhapnews and Frances Cha of @CNNGo

first q: what makes a good pitch?

good pitch should be 1-2 sentences max, says salmon, bc eds dont have time to read pitch as long as story

lee says you should know what’s new in the story you’re pitching, and what’s been written before

cha says: cnngo is looking for travel angles, “place names are not pitches” — you need to clarify what makes the place worth reading about

next q: what sort of pieces are most successful for your pubs?

lee says the subject, bringing awareness to things ppl not familiar with korea wouldn’t know about

lee cont’d: as a news agency, want subjs to be controversial, up to date and stories be balanced, or alt., v. specialized subjects

cha says @cnngo, voice is really important, and maintaining a “snarky, cool” angles on already written about destinations

50 pct of whether article successful comes down to headline for @cnngo, cha says #aaja #seoul

next q: should people call or e-mail pitches? @yonhapnews and @cnngo says e-mail pref., easier to keep track of them

lee adds: respond to e-mails from eds quickly so you know you got the msg

lee: first step is getting in even a brief CV of what you’ve written before, introduce yourself #aaja #seoul panel

salmon: getting direct phone nos. is biggest challenge #aaja #seoul

salmon: korea is a market that does generate a lot of news, so you have more bground than someone coming in

doualy from npr adds: know who you’re pitching to, and who their audience is before you do anything, and go from there #aaja #seoul

cont’d: have enough information to be able to convince ed why your story is important and why it should be covered #aaja #seoul

…and also, #aaja is a great place to find a mentor and get advice on how to understand freelancing from biz side!

salmon: #korea is one of the v few markets in the world where freelancers don’t starve to death #aaja

your interests are sellable because of this market, salmon says #aaja #korea

cha adds #korea stories are consistently garnering more traffic than other @cnngo cities #aaja

doualy adds to make sure you can get your writing out there so people can read it, and so eds know your writing style and how you work

salmon adds, though expats look down on local #korea eng media, but internet is great leveler and getting byline out there is most important

panelists suggests students need to get out and get internships, putting together mock clips in place of pub clips #aaja

question: specific advice for recent grads and uni students? #aaja panel #seoul

doualy adds freelancers need to know how to be ind operators and know your beat and how to work on your own #aaja

cha says it can also be a stepping stone to FT jobs in other industries and a way to make connections #aaja #korea

and with that the freelancing panel is over for #aaja #seoul! we had a good turnout of about couple dozen veteran and newbie journos 🙂

Special thanks to @eieayo for live-tweeting our #Seoul #freelancing panel and to Ewha Womans University for generously hosting!

Another thank you to our #Seoul freelancing panelists, @andrewcsalmon, @cnngo_seoul and @YonhapNews!