Sonia Weiser On Her New Chapter With Study Hall

Sonia Weiser at her Bat Mitzvah

In May, Sonia Weiser announced that “Opportunities of the Week,” her newsletter which rounds up journalism and media gigs and pitch calls, is now part of Study Hall. 

Weiser—who has written for The Washington Post, LA Times, Boston Globe, The New York Times, and various other publications—started her newsletter in 2018 after feeling both inspired by the impact of the New York Times’s reporting on Harvey Weinstein and jealous of journalists who were making a real difference. Providing resources and connecting journalists with opportunities felt like a manageable way to contribute, albeit a small one.  

Over the past six years, Weiser has become a go-to source for freelancers seeking resources and guidance in an increasingly tough industry. 

“The feeling of the need to do something concrete and useful has driven a lot of what I do in the freelance world,” she says. “Finding the holes in the market or funding, or whatever it is and feeling this nagging guilt of well, no one’s doing it: I guess I should do it.” 

I spoke to Sonia about starting her newsletter, how freelancing has changed in recent years and what freelancers can do to build solidarity.

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. 

What have you learned about running a newsletter on a professional scale?

The biggest thing I’ve learned is that, once you sign on to do something, people are going to be constantly asking you to do more, which is a thing I wasn’t prepared for. At the beginning, I didn’t really set up boundaries, which is something I absolutely should have done. Instead, I was like, “contact me for anything, I will help you. I’ll help you with pitches, I’ll help you with resources.”  That spiraled to a point where I can no longer handle it. But there’s no real way of backtracking to be like, “Hey, guys, I now have boundaries.”

Also, even if your product is driven by your own moral compass, you are creating something for money. At some point, you do have to put your foot down and say, “I cannot accommodate everyone, and everything.” That’s something that I never really implemented, much to my own detriment. I wasn’t respecting myself as someone who created a business. 

Since you started your newsletter, what changes have you noticed that have in terms of  the number of freelance opportunities or the freelance landscape? 

When I started it, the second I sent out a newsletter, there’d be 10 more [gigs or pitch calls] that I missed. Ultimately, I had to say, “Okay, I’m gonna send it out at 2, I don’t care what I missed, this is just going to be the sign off.” We were entering the end of the personal essay boom. There were still a lot of calls for those highly specific prescriptive essays and then for a chunk of time, it seemed like editors from all echelons jumped to Twitter [because they realized] they could reach freelancers this way. For a while, it was truly [ubiquitous].

Every publication was doing it. Then the industry changed. Editors got laid off and there were more and more freelancers and editors got resentful of their inbox being flooded with pitches that weren’t up to par, so they stopped posting on Twitter, and [commissioning stories] became far more insular. 

[You had to] know the person to get in with them. I don’t think people realized initially that when you post a call for pitches publicly, it’s not going to stay in your bubble—it’s going to spread.  There’s a lot more international freelancers [then there used to be], trying to break into American publications. They are the ones who are often unfairly blamed for a lot of the inbox mess, even though there are also bad journalists from everywhere. 

A lot of editors are now [posting pitch calls] on LinkedIn because on LinkedIn, you can request people to DM you, which blocks everyone who doesn’t have a LinkedIn premium account. Twitter is the same thing. I feel like there are more and more hoops they are hoping people will jump through to self-select or are implementing purely to gatekeep. 

What do you think that shift does to media or how does it impact the writing being commissioned?

You end up getting a lot of the same people writing for them. You get a lot of similar voices, a lot of homogenous opinions across the board. That’s definitely a downside. On the flip side, it eliminates [pitches from] people who just want to throw them an idea that isn’t developed.  Having to do that extra step of finding someone’s email address gives [writers] that second to be like, wait, this is actually not worth anyone’s time. And we’ve all had those ideas that demand an internal editor to be like “you know this is absolute nonsense, right?” 

This year has been brutal for the media industry. Are there any projects that give you hope? 

There are definitely people doing cool things. No doubt. It’s just a question of getting those cool things funded. If you don’t have funding, a passion project can only go so far. Especially a passion project [where you] are trying to bring on other people to work with you. The fact that people have [all these] ideas is exciting. But the fact is that funding isn’t really available for them is incredibly disappointing.

 At this moment, how can freelancers show solidarity with one another?

One way we can support each other, and also just to create a community of editors and freelancers, is to counteract the cruelty of the industry. It’s an uphill battle for everyone, and trying to knock each other down to get ahead isn’t productive in the long run. Solidarity can [also] look like sharing rates and policies publicly, so other freelancers know what they’re getting into, recommending people for jobs, telling people about job openings that might interest them, and promoting other people’s work on your platforms. There also needs to be an understanding that everyone has different needs, priorities, values, and interests: we don’t know someone’s financial situation or what they want to work on. It’s one thing to tell someone “you deserve to be paid more,” but ultimately, we need to trust writers to make their own decisions. 

Inversely, I’m a big fan of tough love. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I do think there’s value in pushing your friends to stretch themselves or to interrogate their own opinions. A bit of “I know you can do better” or “what are you adding to the conversation?” can go a long way. I have a friend who once sent me my own tweet and told me that I could write something funnier. It’s that kind of feedback that forces you to grow as a writer. 

A lot of us grew up with teachers and our parents telling us we were good writers. That’s why many of us became writers. Sometimes you need someone to withhold that kind of praise or take you down a peg to realize that you’ve been coasting. But again, know your audience. 

Finally, I know not everyone can afford to give advice or consult for free, nor should that be the expectation, but if you have the means and the time, offering one-on-one guidance to less experienced writers, writers looking to segue into other lines of work, or those who are trying to find a new job can have a tremendous impact. Pick a thing that you’re good at and that takes minimal effort. I do resume revamps on a sliding scale (which usually means nothing) because they’re easy for me and you’d be amazed by how many wildly qualified people have no idea how to write about their own accomplishments. Or format them. Or use spell check. 

If you’re someone who walks everywhere, schedule informational calls while you do errands. If you commute on the subway, use that time to look over people’s pitches. Mentorship doesn’t have to be a burden nor does it have to take away from the time you need to spend on your own work. 

Do you have any advice for people starting their own newsletter or media project? 

In terms of [newsletter] platforms, rather than recommending one, I would say do your research, because they all have slightly different functionalities. It’s going to be a question of what makes the most sense for your idea and what makes the most sense for your budget and for the way your brain works. 

Also, there’s a million pieces of advice going around about the best ways methods to staying organized. I organize people’s houses for fun and I always say it’s not about abiding by the trendy techniques, it’s about finding solutions that fit your specific needs. If you’re never going to fold your clothes like Marie Kondo, then I’m not going to set up your dresser for that. If you never fold your clothes period, then we’ll find things you can drape them over. Same for businesses. I’m not a “set aside specific times to answer work emails” person so trying to implement strategies that go against my preferred way of functioning just doesn’t make sense, even if they might be better. 

Also, think of it as a business. You don’t have to have a five-year plan, but at least have a few-month plan. If it’s a paid thing, what is that going to look like? How are you going to deal with customer service. What kind of brand image are you hoping to project? What marketing techniques do you want to implement? What audience do you want to attract and how will you go about reaching them? Treat it as its own thing, not as an extension of everything else you do. 

In addition to the newsletter, what are some other projects you’re working on?

I’m working on a book proposal based on an LA Times article I wrote about romantic banter. [It looks at]:  what is our drive to find romantic banter? What is its purpose in relationships? How does it evolve over the course of our relationship? What cultural touchstones formed our desire for it? What does it look like in other cultures, demographics, relationship pairings? How does it backfire? How was it different from platonic banter? 

I [plan on] answering [these questions with]  sociology [research], and then also journalism and interviews with people and I’m hoping to do fly on the wall things at singles events around the country. I got back on the dating app Feeld specifically to find sources, but more people are asking about my feet than my book. 

Otherwise, I’m pitching more and just generally looking for more writing opportunities.