Not Slim Shady – obviously – but Matthew Caines.

It seems strangely apt that we – The Wannabe Hacks – and I – The Freelancer - are alluded to in such a way. It seems that we embody some kind of superhero squad or Journo Justice League that needs to keep watch over this dark Journalistic City.

It’s a city that is in a desperate need of hope: unemployment, over-competition, lax standards, poor graduate prospects and plummeting advertising funds are all plaguing an industry that should otherwise be bustling and booming.

That is why my masked alter-ego has taken it upon himself to run this city freelance.

Not necessarily older than my companions (but certainly more developed in my unemployment!) I graduated in the summer of 2009 and have not held down a REAL job in the publishing industry since.

Instead, I have begged, borrowed and stole my way into consumer publishing and magazines in particular. I am currently a freelance Style Editor and features writer for Sartorial Male while I also try my hand at other freelance ventures. I was previously an assistant editor at AREA Magazine and features editor at Redbrick Newspaper.

What I hope I can offer through this portal is the insight and advice that I would have craved when I had just graduated. Instead of a mind empty in ambition and full with fear I can perhaps help fellow freelancers into the world of writing and editing that they – like me – were born to be in.