ABSW: Funding now available for regional groups

The ABSW Executive Committee is setting aside funds to help establish regional groups for members outside of London.

A recent survey asked ABSW members where you would like to see ABSW events hosted. Overwhelmingly, people wanted to meet in London. But there was a strong call for events in Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford and Brighton. Other individuals requested events in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester/Leeds, and Ipswich.

There has already been one event, an informal pub meet-up, in Brighton and two further events are planned in Bristol and the North (details below).

The ABSW Executive Committee has a small pot of money available for regional members who organise events outside of London. The scheme aims to provide a service for the many members who find it hard to get to events in London. It's essentially an opportunity to have a few drinks and some networking on the ABSW's tab. Organisers of events can also use the funding to pay to invite guests or speakers.

A subsidy of £5 per paid up ABSW member is available per person attending an ABSW regional event. For any event you must let us know in advance that you are organizing it, and a minimum of four members must attend to qualify.

Payment is made in arrears, with the organizer invoicing the ABSW afterwards via Paypal or electronic transfer. We also request a few lines about the event for publishing here in The Science Reporter to help encourage future activities, and that organizers provide a list of members who attended.

The funding for regional events is capped at £300. I would estimate that a third of this is already accounted for, so there is plenty left. If members find this a useful service, the Committee will seek to make similar funds available again next year.

A list of ABSW Regional Coordinators is below. If you live in an area where there is no regional coordinator and would like to start a group up in your area and be put in contact with local members please email.

Natasha Loder
ABSW Chair


ABSW Regional Coordinators

Bristol
Hayley Birch

Brighton
Michael Kenward

Cambridge
Ben Vasler

North
Paula Gould


Regional meetings

ABSW Southwest
The next meeting of the Southwest regional group will be in Bristol at the King Bill, 7pm. Wednesday 16th September 2009.

ABSW North
Helen Gavaghan and Paula Gould are meeting for coffee at The Media Centre in Huddersfield (close to the railway station), at 11am on Monday 7th September. All full and associate members are invited to join for the inaugural meeting of ABSW in the North. The Media Centre is at 7 Northumberland Street, Huddersfield and is only a few minutes walk from the railway station.

ABSW: Tell us what your rates are

A new online pay survey should help freelancers determine their worth.

It is hard to know how to price your freelance writing and editing services fairly. Am I underpricing myself, or losing jobs because the amount I’m asking is too steep? Pitching for large projects can sometimes feel like a shot in the dark.

For the sake of all freelancers, we need to make sure that we're neither routinely under- or over-charging clients. If ABSW members share the information we have on pay rates, we can all benefit.

So, following discussions at the World Conference of Science Journalists, the ABSW Executive Committee has established an online pay survey to make the most of the ABSW members’ shared knowledge and experience.

All contributions are anonymous. Freelancers can add information on what they’ve been offered, paid, or what they hear the pay is for a particular job for a particular publication or outlet. If you’re not a freelancer you can still contribute by providing information on the standard rates offered by the publication or organisation that you work for.

There’s been a brilliant response to the survey so far. Particularly interesting was the variation in reported offers of pay per 1000 words. For one month this ranged from £85 per 1000 words to £700 per 1000 words!

The results of the survey are being circulated as a spreadsheet every month or so on the ABSW-L, so sign up to receive the regular updates. If you prefer not to subscribe to the list, but would like to receive the spreadsheet, please email and I will send through a copy. Use the same email address if you have any suggestions or comments on the survey too.

Thanks to everyone one who’s contributed so far. Keep it coming!

Chrissie Giles
ABSW Online Pay Survey Coordinator