Secrets of the Freelance Life

Being stood up by Britney Spears in Las Vegas, going on free vacations, and filing stories from sweatshops in Mexico all come with the territory, a panel of freelance journalists told students at NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute (SPI).

Virginia Sole-Smith

As Donna Sapolin, Magazine Director of SPI, deftly moderated, four top freelance writers and editors generously shared secrets and advice about how to get published happily and steadily in some of America’s leading publications. How to get started? Virginia Sole-Smith, who has filed stories from sweatshops in Mexico and whose bylines appear in the Progressive, the New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, and Elle, among other publications, suggested setting up a schedule to help keep on track. When she was starting out, she made a list of potential stories and publications which might run them, and then resolved to pitch three stories a week. Within three months, Sole-Smith was a published journalist. “Set your own goals and deadlines and be strict with yourself,” she emphasized.

My life As An Intern

Glamour intern Laura Riggio

Imagine what it’s like for a relatively shy person (that would be me) to approach total strangers in Union Square or Bryant Park or Herald Square and say, “Excuse me, would you like to be in Glamour magazine?” Well, that’s just one of the many challenges I face as an intern working for Suze Yalof Schwartz, the Executive Fashion Editor at Large at Glamour.  As a student in NYU’s Master of Science in Publishing program, I’m encouraged to intern to gain more industry experience—and at Glamour, I’m getting plenty! In addition to finding subjects on the street for our “real women” photo shoots, I’m busy helping Suze with her pages in the print magazine, her blog “Slaves to Fashion” on the Glamour website, and her appearances on television networks as a style guru for the magazine.