Doomed to Freelance?

By Tim Beyers
Check out my about.me page!

BusinessWeek has a new cover story in which it describes today as the era of permanent temporary workers, one in which corporate profits have soared as pay has sagged and benefits have gone missing. Read it here.

source: guardian.co.uk

Be warned: the story is depressing. And yet I take comfort — irrational comfort, possibly, but comfort nonetheless — in this quote:

“With the economy expanding again, and employers loath to add permanent workers, temp employment is one of the few sectors of the labor market that is growing rapidly,” writes BusinessWeek’s Peter Coy.

That’s good news. Skilled writers with the temerity to risk rejection may be positioned to profit from the economic rebound underway, even if the publishing industry isn’t recovering as fast as others. Or at all.

Did Terrorists Just Save the Publishing Industry?

By Tim Beyers
Check out my about.me page!

Along with family, friends, presents, and far too much food, Christmas Day brought news of a thwarted terrorist attack on board a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. CNN is reporting that a 23-year-old Nigerian man named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab activated an explosive device that caused a fire as the airplane began its descent.

On TV, talking heads are speculating about heavy-handed new security rules. Ignore them. We already know how the Transportation Security Agency and airlines are responding, thanks to analyst Charlene Li.

Editorchat to Get a Winter Makeover

By Tim Beyers
Check out my about.me page!

After 11 months on the job, Editorchat is taking a break for the winter. Well, okay, not for the whole winter, but for December. My co-founder Lydia Dishman and I are taking the month to try and make the experience, and the blog, better.

You might say we’re returning to our roots. We’re taking time to remember why we started this thing. Here’s what we said back in March, when former BusinessWeek Executive Editor John A. Byrne joined us for a chat:

If you have yet to try Editorchat, think of it as the world’s cheapest, real-time writer’s conference covering issues of substance facing the publishing industry. We think these sorts of discussions are essential for survival as writers. Having BusinessWeek join us makes us think that we’re onto something.