The Study Hall Reading List For Early-Career Freelancers

A reading list of past Study Hall content geared toward journalists taking the next step in their freelance careers.

Freelancing can be hard to navigate, especially when you’re doing it for the first time. How do you keep track of all your clients? Where do you log all your contracts and payments? And what about finding editors who want to work with you in the first place? Running your own freelance business is tricky at first, but it doesn’t have to be agonizing and at Study Hall, we’re here to help.

We’ve gone through our archives and put together a list of guides and essays about the business of freelancing. While this reading list is perfect for journalists who are newer to freelancing, they can also serve as a helpful reminder for anyone in the business looking for a refresher.

Here’s the Best Advice for New Freelance Writers, According to Freelancers  

A Beginner’s Guide to Communicating With Editors – Here’s how to take the first step in your freelance writing journey.

A Primer on Contract Negotiation and Rights Management – How to negotiate, what terms to watch out for, and other contract questions answered by a lawyer. 

Warming Up To Cold-Calling – On the perils of reaching out to potential sources.

How to Set Up a Freelance Master Doc to Keep Track of All Your Pitches – My pitch doc has kept me from missing deadlines, losing emails, and taking on too many (or too few) stories at once.

Informational Interviews Work for Freelancing. Here’s How to Make Them Less Painful. – Keeping up a steady flow of these casual conversations throughout the year can help connect you to interesting people, expose you to potential new work opportunities, and define the work you’re doing or want to do.