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Ways to make journalism pay
ARE YOU READY TO DIVE into the world of journalism and discover smart strategies for turning your passion into pounds? This in-person event is packed with tips, tricks, and real-world advice to help you make journalism pay. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, come connect, learn, and get inspired by colleagues of the standing of Sky News presenter Alex Crawford!
London Freelance Branch presents an all-day gathering on Saturday 10 October exploring how freelance journalists can build successful, sustainable careers.
The event, Ways to make journalism pay, will be at Westminster Quaker Meeting House, near Leicester Square. Experienced freelance professionals will lead four sessions, supported by specialist surgeries. Join us to strengthen your professional skills, secure better commissions and earn the income your work deserves.
Freelances rarely have a guaranteed income; supporting a family while maintaining a home can be challenging. Drawing on the practical knowledge of our expert panels, the LFB event will show you how to identify better-paid opportunities, negotiate effectively and retain more of your earnings.
Tickets cost £15 for members of the NUJ and other Broadcasting, Entertainment and Arts Unions (BEAU) and the SoA; £8 for NUJ student members; and £35 for non-members, and include a light lunch and refreshments. Places are strictly limited and advance booking is required: please do it here. We have reserved some free places for low-earning members: email events@londonfreelance.org to enquire.
Doors open at 9:30 am. There will be “clinics” starting at 12:15 and throughout the day alongside starting the panel sessions: see below and click here to refresh this page with updates.
10:00 to 10:15: Introduction by Pennie Quinton, chair of London Freelance Branch and instigator of the event.
10:15 to 11:45: Panel 1 - Making money & keeping (the right amount of) it
Participants include mentor, coach and travel writer Susan Grossman on securing assignments; accountant Eric Longley on managing income; editor Eleanor Mills on finding work and midlife pivots; and NUJ trainer Steve Mathieson on The Pitch & Deal and retaining clients. .
Susan Grossman spent 15 years as a BBC Radio 4 presenter and reporter and five years as a magazine editor. Eric Longley was accountant to legendary Factory Records as well as a skein of more stable stars. Eleanor Mills spent 23 years at Times Newspapers and served as editorial director of the Sunday Times and editor of the Sunday Times Magazine - more. Steve Mathieson is a highly experienced trainer for the NUJ, an associate lecturer at Oxford Brookes University and the NCTJ's chief examiner for data journalism. His journalism clients include Computer Weekly and The Register. More biographies...
Noon to 13:00: Panel 2 - Making money from books
The session will be chaired by editorial consultant Anna Hervé, with the Book Pitch Doctor James Spackman, Bloomsbury commissioning editor April Peake and Sarah Burton from the Society of Authors.
April Peake was previously chair of the Society of Young Publishers. Anna Hervé is an editorial consultant and was formerly at HarperCollins and Penguin. James Spackman offers services as the book pitch doctor. More biographies...
14:00 to 15:00: Panel 3 - Investigative journalism
John McEvoy of Declassified UK, Allan Harraden, called the “Q” of Investigative Journalism for his undercover work and Latin America specialist Grace Livingstone in conversation with award-winning freelance producer-director Giovanni Ulleri.
John McEvoy is an historian and filmmaker whose work focuses on British foreign policy and Latin America. Through his company Oztex Services Allan Harraden designs and builds discreet and tailored body-worn and concealed camera systems. Giovanni Ulleri has worked extensively for all major UK broadcasters, including BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Arabic, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5. Grace Livingstone specialises in Latin American affairs, she has reported for the BBC World Service, the Guardian, the Independent on Sunday and the Observer. More biographies...
15:15 to 16:30: Panel 4 - Broadcasting assignments
Participants include award-winning freelance producer-director Giovanni Ulleri and Sky News presenter Alex Crawford.
Alex Crawford is a five-time RTS Journalist of the Year, has won four BAFTAs, five international Emmys, the James Cameron Award for outstanding journalism and moral integrity, and the Charles Wheeler Award for contribution to broadcast journalism. More biographies...
Some of us will continue with a social event nearby afterwards.
This is a must-attend event for anyone seeking more paid work and a stronger financial future.
The event is in Westminster Quaker Meeting House, 52 St Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4EA. The nearest Underground stations are Leicester Square and Embankment: see OpenStreetMap
Specialist surgeries
There will be specialist surgeries from 12:15 to 17.00 in the library and the galery by the front door, featuring one-to-one consultation sessions with experts, including (probably):
- accountant and tax adviser Eric Longley;
- Anna Hervé from the NUJ Book Branch on book pitching (and self-publishing);
- Book pitch doctor James Spackman;
- YouTube influencer Adil Raja on the opportunities there;
- NUJ freelance organisers Dave Ayrton and Tim Dawson;
- LFB committee member Phil Sutcliffe on entrepreneurial journalism; and
- trainer Steve Mathieson on Pitch & Deal.
Please click here to refresh this page with updates.
Speaker biographies
Sarah Burton is Deputy Chief Executive at the Society of Authors and leads the advisory service, which provides members with unlimited professional advice.
Working closely with the team, Sarah supports authors by offering expert guidance on all aspects of the business of writing.
Alex Crawford is a five-time RTS Journalist of the Year, has won four BAFTAs, five international Emmys, the James Cameron Award for outstanding journalism and moral integrity, and the Charles Wheeler Award for contribution to broadcast journalism. She has been awarded an OBE for services to broadcast journalism. See Alex at IMDb.
Susan Grossman Susan Grossman is a former BBC broadcaster, magazine editor and travel writer. She is a visiting lecturer in journalism and is certified as a career coach by the Institute of Leadership and Management. Her website is www.susangrossman.co.uk and her taraveland food writing courses at City St George's are here. Susan spoke at the October Branch meeting. She will offer participants in the day a package of three one-hour sessions taken no more than three works apart for £240 or three 90-minute sessions for £300 - we'll give the booking code on the day.
Allan Harraden is a specialist in covert filming and bespoke camera design, with 30 years’ experience supporting undercover operators and investigative teams worldwide. Through his company Oztex Services Allan designs and builds discreet body-worn and concealed camera systems tailored to the practical demands of each investigation. His work combines technical design with operator training and field support, placing particular emphasis on preparation, confidentiality and ethical practice. Between 1996 and 2026 Allan and his team have worked on thousands of projects, ranging from single-day equipment hires to investigations lasting two years. His work has taken him across Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia and the USA. Clients include ITN, Channel 4, Channel 4 News, ITV, the BBC, Al Jazeera and the UK’s major broadsheet newspapers. Allan brings a practical, hands-on perspective to covert filming, helping teams choose and use equipment confidently in challenging investigations.
Anna Hervé is an editorial consultant and was formerly at HarperCollins and Penguin.
Anna sits on the NUJ's Magazines, Journals & Books Council as a representative of the National Executive.
Grace Livingstone is a journalist and academic, specialising in Latin American affairs.
She regularly reports for the BBC and The Guardian from Latin America, covering environmental, social and human rights issues, writing features and making radio programmes and digital videos. She has also reported for the Observer, The Independent on Sunday and her writing has appeared in the New Statesman, the Times Literary Supplement and London Review of Books.
She is also an affiliated lecturer at the Centre of Latin American Studies, University of Cambridge.
Eric Longley is a former accountant to the stars - (no, really: McCartney, Clapton) - and in parallel, at rather less rarefied income levels, many LFB freelances for several decades. In his 50s did an MA on the lyrics of Morrissey. He used to style himself “the only Stalinist accountant in captivity”. He retired a couple of months ago from whatever that was, but his knowledge of fiscal onions is unexcelled.
John McEvoy works with Declassified UK. He is an historian and filmmaker whose work focuses on British foreign policy and Latin America. His PhD was on Britain’s Secret Wars in Colombia between 1948 and 2009, and he is currently working on a documentary about Britain’s role in the rise of Augusto Pinochet.
Steve Mathieson is a highly experienced trainer for the NUJ, an associate lecturer at Oxford Brookes University and the NCTJ's chief examiner for data journalism. His journalism clients include Computer Weekly and The Register. He says “I always wear a suit and tie, including when working from home.”
Eleanor Mills spent 23 years at Times Newspapers and served as editorial director of the Sunday Times and editor of the Sunday Times Magazine. After leaving in March 2020 she founded Noon.org.uk, an online media platform and community for women in midlife and coined the term “Queenager” to describe women aged 45 to 70. In 2024 she published Much More to Come, a Times bestseller about midlife, with HarperCollins. She served as chair of Women in Journalism from 2014 to 2021.
April Peake is a senior commissioning editor at Bloomsbury, acquiring books on world history and global history. She was previously chair of the Society of Young Publishers.
April gave a presentation to the May Branch meeting on how to pitch a book.
James Spackman is a publisher and consultant. His cycling imprint, Pursuit, is part of Profile Books. He also freelance in marketing, presentation and strategy. He regularly speaks at publishing conferences, on trade marketing, cover copy and Reader Experience among other topics. He is an alumnus of the Bloomsbury Publishing Graduate Scheme, which meant starting out in the postroom, then became their London rep, before moving on to John Murray, Hodder and Osprey Group, in sales, marketing, editorial and management roles. He has used the same bag throughout. In 2016 he founded the Spare Room Project to help non-Londoners make a start in publishing. He is a cycling obsessive and amateur lino printer. He is the author of How to Pitch a Book: The Insider’s Guide to Publishing Persuasion. See www.bookpitchdoctor.com
Giovanni Ulleri is an award-winning investigative journalist, producer and director whose work spans print, radio, television and international documentary. He began his career as a reporter at Inside Housing magazine before joining BBC Radio 4’s Face the Facts as a researcher and producer. At Granada’s World in Action he worked on around 35 films, while his Channel 4 undercover investigation The Pits won a Royal Television Society Award. He has produced and directed films for Tonight with Trevor McDonald, Channel Four Dispatches, BBC Panorama and Channel 4 News, where a film he wrote and produced for reporter Jamal Osman on Somalia’s Olympic athletes won a Royal Television Society Award and was shortlisted for a Foreign Press Award. His documentary on femicide in Ciudad Juárez Mexico was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Journalism in Spanish. He later worked internationally in New York for A&E’s Investigative series Investigative Reports with Bill Kurtis and in Doha Qatar for Al Jazeera English on the series Rewind and People & Power and he continues to campaign for the rights of people with autism and learning disabilities. See www.giovanniulleri.com
Register here eventbrite.com