Mark Stenberg of Business Insider writes about the initiative at Forbes to expand its newsletter business.
Stemberg writes, “Third, the publication will be hiring 20 to 30 journalists as staff writers. These ‘Journalist Entrepreneurs’ will write newsletters about subjects they have expertise in, as well as articles for the Forbes website, which makes them eligible to receive pay incentives based on the views and engagement that their articles generate. The writers will split the subscription revenue generated by their newsletters 50-50 with Forbes.
“Despite their name, the Journalist Entrepreneurs will not own the intellectual property of their newsletters, a representative of the publication confirmed, since they are considered staff writers. Forbes contributors, however, will own the IP of their newsletters. If a Journalist Entrepreneur leaves the program and wants to keep the email addresses they collected, an arrangement would be made in which the writer would ‘fairly’ compensate Forbes to keep the list, a rep said.
“According to Lane, the Journalist Entrepreneurs concept stemmed from a growing awareness that journalists can be part of the creator economy. By building personal brands based on credible reporting and writing, journalists can turn themselves into one-person businesses, a reality that Forbes’ new program hopes to complement.”
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