If you own a publication (or several), a constant flow of fresh, quality content from reliable writers that don't charge as high as most staff writers do and don't have the dreaded writing diva attitude of payroll employees sure helps to keep readers and advertisers happy! This article focuses on the key characteristics a smart publisher should look for when hiring a freelance journalist.
The 6 tips given below are aimed at new publishers looking for freelance journalists for writing articles.
They are based on professional skills, experience levels and other qualities an experienced reporter must possess for ensuring sparkling copy for the magazine.

1. Sure, writing credentials like a communications degree, journalism diploma and creative writing courses count towards establishing a good freelance journalist's worth.
   But, more than this foundational knowledge, your chosen freelance journalist must exhibit a high degree of comfort if required to hunt down stories, have a willingness to travel on assignment and be competent in thorough research, fact checking, proofing and editing to ensure the final copy can be sent straight to print!
2. A good freelance journalist will be able to write out features of 1000 to 2500 words under short deadlines and possess loads of personal creativity that can be adapted for a variety of articles required for the diverse segments of a magazine, without any hand-holding.
   
3. Freelance writers can be divided into two major types: magazine journalists and newspaper journalists.
   Depending on the nature of your publication, you can type in the applicable title in the top search engines, like Google, Yahoo and Bing with the region you are looking to hire writers from.
   Also remember that when looking for newspaper journalists for writing articles on a contract basis, such as stringers paid per assignment, it is prudent to narrow down finalists based on their most recent portfolio of clips related to your broader section.
   Since most follow the inverted pyramid style of reporting already, you can go over the finer details after assigning a paid sample article to the writers and hire the best one! Now, coming to choosing a good freelance journalist for a magazine - perusing the most recently published clips of the writers prior to giving them the in-house style guide or a couple of sample issues of the magazine usually helps in determining whether the professionals will be a good match for your publication - or not!
4. Other qualities to look for in a good freelance writer are whether the writer is resourceful, well-informed and disciplined about reportage.
   For example, if an editor assigns a special feature to the journalist and requests a short deadline for it to be delivered, a good freelance writer will begin working on the it within 2 hours of receiving the article topic, including making any phone calls to concerned parties, persons connected to the topic, any experts who can give succinct quotes etc...
   A pro writer will also conduct a follow up, if required, for ensuring quality content that is first-hand!
5. The best freelance journalists and writers pay as much attention to gathering information as they do to fact-checking.
   So, there is minimal scope for rewrites or long edits, saving time for self, the editor and the publication.
   This approach also wins good journalists more freelance writing projects, as early and timely submissions are an editor's delight and validates the writer's reliability, helping them bag fresh assignments should a filler or two be required!
6. If your publication has special segments that only appear on certain days of the week or as part of a bumper issue, it makes sense to outsource these to good freelance journalists by giving them a little more leeway for timelines and a kill-fee, if not a slightly higher payrate compared to typical stringer rates.
   This will enable the staff writers to focus on bringing out the regular features with minimal stress over the exclusive or even a special series.
   It will also give the editor a chance to test the ability of writers in the freelance pool for delivering a well-rounded article requiring different research methods or a tangentially different segment from what they've handled so far, allowing editors to determine the range of the writer!