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The future of journalism?

27th March 2011 by Helena 7 Comments  

I think I might be in the wrong business.

Last week I was approached by a charming young lady from the Guardian, asking me to write an article about the Languedoc (the region where our house is in the south of France). “We can’t pay you,” she explained. “But we can plug your blog or book or whatever.”

This is not some student rag we’re talking about, or a charity magazine or even a little-known website. This is one of the UK’s leading daily newspapers. And a broadsheet at that. What is going on?And where does it end? What happens if you don’t happen to be a desperate novelist with a book to plug? Do you just write the article anyway for the thrill of seeing your name in print? And where does it end? Are we soon going to have to pay newspapers to print our stories? Are we going to have to pay publishers to publish our books? And reluctant readers to buy them?

Is this the future of journalism? Oh, well, if I can get my blog plugged I might at least stand a chance of making some money…..

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2011


Filed Under: Books, Journalism, blog --> Tagged With: future, journalism

7 thoughts on The future of journalism?

  • Caroline Legg says:
    27th March 2011 at 8:12 am

    I guess its like guaranteed pr, assuming they dont edit your article first but still sounds bloody cheeky! The problem is, anyone reading it is going to assume you were asked because you have a new book out, just like celebs suddenly being interviewed ahead of a film release… perhaps you should consider yourself a celeb and go with the flow?! x

  • helena says:
    27th March 2011 at 10:55 pm

    Good plan, I like the sound of that…x

  • Nina says:
    28th March 2011 at 2:19 am

    This is what you`ll tell her:
    “Listen young lady, don`you know who I am? Would YOU do YOUR work for free?”

    That`s it, how do they dare.. was it really The Guardian?
    And not a local newspaper from Northumberland?

    On the other hand, there might be lots on Love in a Warm Climate in Languedoc area going on.

  • Metagross says:
    29th March 2011 at 8:41 am

    Go for it, you can at least use the article as a cheap advertisement.

  • Laurie says:
    14th April 2011 at 8:16 am

    No, you are a gate jumper. You set your own rules. You can take your book straight to Kindle or any other e-readers, skip the publication process. You promote your blog and your books using social media. Do you have a Facebook? Twitter account to promote your blog? I just put your blog on my RSS stream and it is “untitled” – No Helena Frith Powell! So please go fix that for starters. Marketing is so rich these days, you don’t need a PR person or any ads… read “Trust Agents” by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. You have a lot of talent– go jump some gates! You can do it!

  • helena says:
    15th April 2011 at 12:10 am

    How do I fix it? What is an RSS stream….help! xx

  • Laurie says:
    19th April 2011 at 5:22 am

    Up at the top of your blog in the URL link box, there is an orange symbol that has a little white dot on the bottom left and a rainbow type stripes above the dot in the orange box. That is used to subscribe to your page. When you click on it, you can subscribe to your blog by using a Google Reader if you have a gmail account. That is what I did. Unfortunately when it comes up in my reader it is not named, and it just says “Untitled”. I think WordPress would be able to help you figure this out through their help desk perhaps?

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor in chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. Helena is also working on a thriller called Thin Ice that will be published in spring 2021 as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

Her latest non-fiction work Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles came out in hardback in 2016 and in paperback in April 2018.

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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