Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?

From Canada: 

• Tips for a newbie freelancer [J-Source]
• One year in, Twitter's Canadian arm strives to define itself [Globe and Mail]
• 5 ways I grew my business using LinkedIn [Freshbooks] (via @LuigiBenetton)
• Nobody’s a Critic. Who holds journalists to account in Canada? [The Walrus]
• What's wrong with journalism education? [J-Source]
• Fresh faces emerge as winners of NPAC National Pictures of the Year competition [J-Source]
• Organizing precarious workers: Unions think sector-wide to help freelancers [Rabble]

 

From the U.S. and beyond:

• The Power of Slow: How Busy Freelancers Enhance Productivity by Working Smarter [Contently]
• Seven reasons why you should raise your fees starting today [International Freelancers Academy] (via @LuigiBenetton)
• 5 Reasons You’re Not Ready to Self-Publish Your Book [The Write Life]
• 5 reasons freelancers undercharge for their work [Freelancers Union]
• ‘Reasons to Date a Reporter’ sound more like reasons NOT to date a reporter [Poynter]
• More than 40,000 magazine jobs have vanished since 2003 [Poynter]
• Firm puts Vice in its sights for intern class action [Capital New York] (via @mediagazer)
• 5 Good Reasons Why You Should Join a Professional Association [Culpwrit] (via @eac_acr)
• Content used to be king. Now it's the joker. [Medium] (via @sladurantaye)
• Byliner, an Online Publisher of Long-Form Writing, Seeks Partners [New York Times] 
• BBC News Division To Cut 500 Jobs [Forbes] (via @NiemanLab)
• 9 Things You Don’t Want to Admit You Miss About the Office [Contently]

 

Last week on Story Board:

• Sara Steffens on the challenges and benefits of freelance organizing: Sara Steffens has been on the front line of freelancer organizing for several years. Along with fellow journalist Rebecca Rosen Lum, she helped set up the freelance unit of her Newspaper Guild local in in the San Francisco Bay Area...
• Gadgets and Gizmos: What are the top apps for freelancers?: As a freelancer, time is money. The more efficient you are with time management, the more money you can theoretically make. So I don’t know about the rest of you, but I live with the perhaps naïve delusion that if I could just find the right tools and use them well, superhuman productivity would be mine...

 

Spot a story you think we should include in next week's Off the Wire? Email the link to editor@thestoryboard.ca or tweet us at @storyboard_ca.