ABSW Briefing Sponsors 2008/09:
- Two top-notch training sessions from Mike Harrison
- Essential information for the professional writer
- Book now to avoid disappointment!
23 April 2008. Copy Rights and Responsibilities
£10 (ABSW), £25 (join on night for £15 discount) Note- Sorry, no student discount
If you smith words for a living – whether as a freelance or staffer, or as a writer or commissioner – you need to know about intellectual property. This briefing will explain how copyright is the stock-in-trade of the writer, and the opportunities for earning it represents. It will deal with the balance between self-interest and duty that arises from the law of copyright and the associated issues of moral rights, attribution, the increasing problem of rights grab, and the special implications of copying in the digital age. If time and demand permit, it will also stray into simple law for journalists, and dream a bit about ways of improving the contract terms to which freelances have to submit.
15 May 2008. Angling and Wrangling
£10 (ABSW), £25 (join on night for £15 discount) Note - Sorry, no student discount
A high proportion of the words that appear in print or broadcast media have been generated by freelances. Self employed writers maintain offices, generate copy, send the invoice, collect the fee, police the use of their material and, often, carry the can. In every respect they are running micro-businesses. Their clients are mainly large corporations who are dependent on them for material to publish. To survive in this asymmetry, each side needs to understand the problems faced by the other. This briefing will look at issues of pitching and negotiating, how to couch a proposal, what editors look for, how to negotiate the detail, secure terms and follow through to payment.
The speaker, Mike Harrison
Mike Harrison regards himself as a fraudulent member of the ABSW. Sure, he does write, and has done it for a living, with roles ranging from staff producer/director in BBC television to lonely freelance churning out news and features for radio, magazines and newspapers. And he does have a bit of science, with a Physics BSc and a chunk of career developing new ways of teaching the stuff. But the skeleton in his cupboard is the long periods he has spent in management, both in large corporations and in developing small, high-tech businesses – even a stint working inside that most fearsome of business organisations, a management consultancy.
Special Admission Price for each event:£10.00 ABSW members;£25.00 Non-members
(Sorry, there will be no special student rate for these briefings and no series discount.)
Non-members will be offered the opportunity to join ABSW on the night. Those who arrive with their forms (available for download from http://www.absw.org.uk/ fully filled out will receive their £15.00 refund in the form of a reduced membership fee.
Attendance at both events is limited to 25. Spaces will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. To reserve a place email ted.nield@geolsoc.org.uk now. You will be told if you have secured a space, and asked to confirm it by either:
£10 (ABSW), £25 (join on night for £15 discount) Note- Sorry, no student discount
If you smith words for a living – whether as a freelance or staffer, or as a writer or commissioner – you need to know about intellectual property. This briefing will explain how copyright is the stock-in-trade of the writer, and the opportunities for earning it represents. It will deal with the balance between self-interest and duty that arises from the law of copyright and the associated issues of moral rights, attribution, the increasing problem of rights grab, and the special implications of copying in the digital age. If time and demand permit, it will also stray into simple law for journalists, and dream a bit about ways of improving the contract terms to which freelances have to submit.
15 May 2008. Angling and Wrangling
£10 (ABSW), £25 (join on night for £15 discount) Note - Sorry, no student discount
A high proportion of the words that appear in print or broadcast media have been generated by freelances. Self employed writers maintain offices, generate copy, send the invoice, collect the fee, police the use of their material and, often, carry the can. In every respect they are running micro-businesses. Their clients are mainly large corporations who are dependent on them for material to publish. To survive in this asymmetry, each side needs to understand the problems faced by the other. This briefing will look at issues of pitching and negotiating, how to couch a proposal, what editors look for, how to negotiate the detail, secure terms and follow through to payment.
The speaker, Mike Harrison
Mike Harrison regards himself as a fraudulent member of the ABSW. Sure, he does write, and has done it for a living, with roles ranging from staff producer/director in BBC television to lonely freelance churning out news and features for radio, magazines and newspapers. And he does have a bit of science, with a Physics BSc and a chunk of career developing new ways of teaching the stuff. But the skeleton in his cupboard is the long periods he has spent in management, both in large corporations and in developing small, high-tech businesses – even a stint working inside that most fearsome of business organisations, a management consultancy.
Special Admission Price for each event:£10.00 ABSW members;£25.00 Non-members
(Sorry, there will be no special student rate for these briefings and no series discount.)
Non-members will be offered the opportunity to join ABSW on the night. Those who arrive with their forms (available for download from http://www.absw.org.uk/ fully filled out will receive their £15.00 refund in the form of a reduced membership fee.
Attendance at both events is limited to 25. Spaces will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. To reserve a place email ted.nield@geolsoc.org.uk now. You will be told if you have secured a space, and asked to confirm it by either:
- sending a cheque in advance, or
- making an immediate PayPal payment to absw [at] absw.org.uk using your PayPal account.
Times: Tea and Coffee at 1800. Session 18.30 - 19.30
Venue: The Geological Society of London, Burlington House Piccadilly, where all future events in this series will also take place. The Geological Society is making its premises available free of charge.
