Nov 15, 2022
Allison B. Salerno’s award-winning writing and audio production has been featured on Southern Foodways Alliance’s Gravy podcast, America’s Test Kitchen podcast, Proof, on local NPR stations, and in The Washington Post, Ms. magazine, and Columbia Journalism Review, among others. Allison’s audio news features have earned her two Georgia AP awards and a Gabby from the Georgia Association of Broadcasters. A former daily newspaper editor and writer, she has more than two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics. Allison now focuses her work primarily on finding the human stories behind food systems, agriculture and environmental issues. An inveterate traveler, she currently lives in Athens, Georgia.
We cover a lot of freelance ground in this episode, including:
- Finding a new home for a killed story
- Shaping stories for audio and print
- Discovering a story while hiking on the Appalachian Trail
- Starting with a single data point to develop a feature
- Getting into the Talent Network at the WashPo
- Quarterly goals
- Overreporting
- What’s the minimum I need to write this pitch?
- Suspend the stories you tell yourself about freelancing
- “Everything I do matters”
- Don’t minimize
- Being successful in your writing life while managing everything else in your life
- Remote reporting that reads like you were on the ground
- “I’m going to figure this out”
- Taking care of an elderly parent as a freelancer
- Advantage of being outside media centers
- Pitching at odd times
🔗 Mentioned in this episode:
Allison B. Salerno’s website: www.allisonbsalerno.com
Alllison B. Salerno on Instagram @Allisonbsalerno
How one Georgia veteran found healing in farming
Culinary school enrollment drops even as need soars at restaurants
The country’s longest-running prison publication faces censorship
WCP 166 Archives, Vol. XI: Call for pitches
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📝 More info and complete show notes: www.rebeccalweber.com/podcast205