Who Knows You? Breaking into the World of Freelancing

By Joyce Chen

In journalism, it isn’t so much who you know as it is who knows you.

At the Asian American Journalists Association Los Angeles’ freelance workshop, held at the Los Angeles Times on Jan. 10, four panelists spoke about their respective relationships with the media and the connections they have made along the way.

“I had to network and really learn to sell myself and my writing,” said Elyse Glickman, a Sherman Oaks freelancer, who has written for numerous publications, including Audrey, Fit, Food & Beverage Magazine and MetroMix. “I think that’s one of the hardest parts of freelancing, is just really putting yourself out there and making yourself a commodity – having a website and a business card to really show off who you are.”

Armed with resumes and notepads, about 40 attendees listened to Glickman’s words of advice.

The panel was moderated by KoreAm Journal’s Kai Ma. Other panelists included Albert Kim, former editor at People, Sports Illustrated, Details and Entertainment Weekly, Victoria Namkung, a freelance fashion, entertainment, food, travel and design writer and Chip Yost, a freelance reporter at KTLA.

“Be specific,” Kim warned, in reference to story pitches. “If I get a pitch from someone saying that they want to cover the Super Bowl, I don’t even have to think about it. That’s a no.”

“Know who you’re pitching to and why they should have you write the piece – do your homework,” she said.

One thing that remained a key theme throughout the workshop was the idea of self-promotion.

It’s not in the Asian American nature to toot your own horn, but in freelancing, the panelists emphasized, it’s really about branding yourself, your writing anonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id WHERE tt.taxonomy IN (‘post_tag’) AND tr.object_id IN (269) ORDER BY t.name ASC made by export_wp, wxr_post_taxonomy, get_the_tags, get_the_terms, wp_get_object_terms
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The panelists talked about pushing past minor setbacks and temporary delays because the only thing that mattered in the end was having that final goal clearly imprinted in their minds’ eye.

Freelancing, the panelists proved, is not just about who you know and who knows you, but what you know.

Joyce Chen is a student at the University of Southern California.