Earning a Living in Entrepreneurial Journalism

Entrepreneurial journalism is an ideal career path, but how realistic is it?

When reading Mel Snyder’s summary of the field, I realized that it is definitely possible, just in a different way than I had envisioned it.

He predicts the best fields to enter are healthcare and high-tech. I, personally, chose the journalism path to pursue a career writing what I am passionate about, which falls under the fashion, beauty and lifestyle categories. However, it is most realistic to work on several freelance projects at a time to make a living, so perhaps I can pursue both routes. One as a hobby and one as a main source of income.

One tip that stood out to me was to team up with students who have skillsets in other fields such as website design, multimedia and marketing. I am a journalism major with minors in marketing and graphic design, who also has experience with website design and coding, so this tip made me feel very well-rounded and capable of taking on a project. However, his advice to collaborate with others is very important.

I co-founded The Fit Magazine with five other women at Lehigh and we all brought our own skillsets to the table. Even if one person understands all aspects of a project, I’ve learned that it can be too difficult and time consuming to do everything on your own. Also, if you are working on a team more creative ideas can be shared.

Snyder pointed out interesting statistics when discussing the types of content millenials subscribe to. News apps being the highest at 19%, followed by newspapers, magazines and lastly email newsletters, all tied at 15%. Percentages are significantly higher for movie, music and cable streaming services. This shows me that millenials tend to prefer video content, as well as entertainment over news sources.

Snyder shared an interesting outlook on how to succeed in entrepreneurial journalism, which is “selling your communications skills to prospects who can see how what they pay you is an investment in generating more income for them, and/or protecting their current income stream.”

Advice that will help me if I choose to freelance in healthcare or high-tech is to establish my credentials, or build my own experience, in these fields. Snyder suggested to start by exploring regional client possibilities.

After reading his summary, I have the following questions.

• How many freelance projects do you suggest working on at a time to make a living?
• Are healthcare and high-tech fields that you were always passionate about? If not, what were you passionate about and did you continue to do work in those fields?
• You shared an estimate of an 11% decline in overall employment of reporters, correspondents, and broadcast news analysts from 2019 to 2029. Do you have any insights or predictions on the magazine industry specifically?