Other forums for freelance chatter?

I hang out at www.accentuateservices.com/xmb. There are also some writer groups on facebook.

Do you know about MediaBistro? http://www.mediabistro.com/bbs/ Almost as good as AbsoluteWriter! ;-)

No, I don't pay for the MediaBistro's Deluxe. I researched it and do think it's worth it, but I have enough editors and markets to pitch -- I need to focus on creating excellent article ideas. Plus, I think the Big National Magazines in the deluxe package may be too big, you know? Too competitive -- like Oprah magazine, for instance. I think my chances of getting published there are fairly small right now, even if I did have the right contact info!

So though I decided it would be worth it to pay MB, I didn't go through with it.........which perhaps means I don't think it is worth it! But the only way to know for sure is to try it. It could be worth it for one freelancer, but not another. And, it only takes one article assignment to pay for it!

I signed up for the AvantGuild membership at MB and so far am finding it worth the cost. But I'm new to freelancing and don't have contacts with a lot of editors yet. And like Laurie says, it'll be even more worth it once I get an assignment that pays for it!

Although it's not strictly a writers' board, there's a lot of freelance chatter that goes on around Twitter too. Monday nights from 7-10 CST is Journchat and then Wednesday nights from 8-10 CST is editor chat. (I Haven't been to that one yet, going tonight, so I can tell you about it tomorrow.)

I'll just note that according to BigBoards AW is the largest general writer's message board.

There are other writer forums?

Moth, why's is it worth the cost? I'm just curious what the membership offers......I mean, I know what it says it offers, but is that what you find it valuable?

Laurie PK said:

Moth, why's is it worth the cost? I'm just curious what the membership offers......I mean, I know what it says it offers, but is that what you find it valuable?

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I think I find it valuable because I'm so new to freelancing -- I don't know if I'll renew in a year or not. But the Content page is what I'm finding valuable, especially the How to Pitch and Pitches That Worked sections. The How to Pitch gives specifics for loads of different mags -- which editors to query for which department, what they want, what they don't want. Detailed info. Also I found an editor's e-mail there that I couldn't find anyplace else. (Of course I double-check editor's names with the current mastheads, since some of those articles are two years old.)

There's other stuff they offer members (an e-mail address, profile page, etc.) but I have no need for any of those, at least at the moment. I do sometimes lurk on the forums there but I confess I don't know if they're part of the paid membership or free to the public.

I also like the How'd You Do That section, where they interview people who got great gigs/results/etc. And there's other sections that I can't remember right now but I like them too. Basically everything on the Content tab is where I mostly go on MB.

It's kind of a hand-holding thing for me I guess, since I'm still feeling my newbie-ness. Once I get a few assignments under my belt I'll be looking at the other perks to see what else I might take advantage of. So for the moment it's worth the cost, but it might not always be.

spacekadet said:

Moth - I think the magic question is: did having any of that information help you get a commission?

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Not so far! Working on that, though.

You might also want to check out the forum at Freelance Success. A subscription is a bit expensive ($80?) but you can get a week's free access.

Writer's Weekly also has a forum, but I don't think it's very active.

Looks great! I bookmarked it and will read more thoroughly later. I'm interested in the LinkedIn info, since I haven't started that yet...