How This Freelance Writer Manages Her Digital Paper Trail — Without Having to Do Much
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy had two priorities that many freelancers have: Keeping copies of her work, and having an easy, well-presented way to show her work to potential clients. With Authory, she’s found a solution for both at the same time.
Hi Jennifer, thanks for agreeing to share your experience with Authory so far. Please tell us a little bit about your background as a journalist.
I’ve been a journalist since my college days, starting my professional career on Fleet Street in 1999 with newspapers such as The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph. This was just as the newspapers were beginning to explore this strange new thing called the internet.
Name: Jennifer Pattison TuohyAuthory page: authory.com/JenniferPattisonTuohyNumber of articles: 680Number of publications: 35
I segued into magazines with an editorial role at The Telegraph Magazine and then moved to America in 2004, where I worked in local journalism as a writer and editor for a few years before going freelance full time in 2012.
Today, I regularly contribute to a number of publications — both online and print — including Dwell Magazine, The New York Times’ Wirecutter, BBC Science Focus Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, Wired UK, The Ambient, and Charleston Magazine. My work is primarily focused on smart home technology, architecture & home design, and lifestyle journalism.
You have been using Authory for a few months now. What did you look for initially?
For a few years I worked as a content writer for a marketing firm and I had bylined articles published on dozens of sites every month, it was very hard to keep up with them all and trying to maintain my personal website became a chore that fell to the bottom of my list.
“Publications would fold. I was losing access to my work.”
I also noticed that articles I’d written for publications would get archived or the site would fold and I would no longer have access to them. But, as most publications don’t want you to put the whole article on your personal site (for SEO reasons), I was losing access to my work.
When I discovered Authory and its option to save the whole article but only give the public access to a snippet that links to the publication’s website, it seemed like a perfect solution. Not to mention that I don’t have to spend time cutting and pasting and updating my website anymore.
I also love that Authory ’scours’ the web for me. Editor’s can be a bit slack on letting you know when things are published, and Google Alerts are terribly inaccurate — this way I get to know almost immediately when my work goes live.
And how has Authory worked for you? Have your expectations been fulfilled?
It’s been incredibly helpful for keeping track of my work and providing me with a digital paper trail. Most crucially without my having to do much at all.
“It’s crucial to keep copies of your work, and having an easy, well-presented way to show your work to potential clients is important, too.”
Anybody taking a look at your Authory page can easily see that you’ve written for an impressive number of different outlets. What’s your experience with keeping track of all your work been like?
Until I found Authory it was a constant cloud hanging over my head, an item on my To Do list that I could never cross off.
As a journalist it’s crucial to keep copies of your work, and having an easy, well-presented way to show your work to potential clients is important, too. But the two aren’t necessarily the same thing.
Authory lets you do both, easily — I especially love the Collections feature (although I haven’t actually used it yet… too busy!)
What would you say to your journalist colleagues about Authory?
If you write for multiple publications it’s a must have. I’d almost considered hiring someone to do this for me, now I’ve hired Authory — and I’m very happy I did.
“I’d almost considered hiring someone to do this for me, now I’ve hired Authory.”
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, authory.com/JenniferPattisonTuohy
Thanks, Jennifer!
Jennifer and thousands of other writers and journalist are using Authory to take control of their content and their audience. Join Jennifer with a free 14 day trial at authory.com.
