Before Pretty Little Liars was an award-winning hit on ABC with its own spin-off,  it was the brainchild of YA writer Sara Shepard. The prolific scribe managed to publish over 20 books in eight years and get two of her series optioned as TV shows. In the latest installment of Mediabistro’s So What Do You Do?, Shepard tells how her series ended up on the screen and what she thinks of the TV incarnations of Pretty Little Liars and Lying Game. 

“Pretty Little Liars I’m really satisfied with. Pretty Little Liars more sticks to what the books are,” she said. “[The TV writers] take their own liberties, and sometimes their ideas are just great. Sometimes I’m like, “Oh, why didn’t I think of that?” So that’s always really fun. But, I mean, it’s just pretty amazing to see it on TV at all. Even if it wouldn’t have lasted a season, it still would have been this pretty incredible thing.”

For more, read So What Do You Do, Sara Shepard, Author of Pretty Little Liars?

In the same year that music mags Blender and Giant folded, Vibe shuttered, as well. But, luckily for the iconic mag, it was snapped up by a private equity firm, and editor-in-chief Jermaine Hall was brought on to resurrect the pub. And resurrect it, he did.

In the latest installment of Mediabistro’s So What Do You Do?, Hall explains how the mag is winning again and gives advice to aspiring EICs.

“A lot of things that come with being editor-in-chief aren’t necessarily drilled down into the day-to-day tasks,” he said. “It’s a lot of schmoozing; it’s a lot of fixing relationships; it’s a lot of bartering; it’s a lot of people skills, I would say. It’s really going out there to be the ambassador of the brand on all levels.”

For more, read So What Do You Do, Jermaine Hall, Editor-in-Chief of Vibe?

Just in time for the upcoming premier of Vikings on the History Channel, Michael Hirst, the show’s writer and producer, talks about his writing process in the latest installment of Mediabistro’s So What Do You Do? series.

“The key for me with historical characters is they’re interesting because they’re human beings,” he said. ”A little bit of Hemingway goes a long way here, but journalists and writers should honestly look at their material and have a real interest, a real passion in what they want to write, and they should also have a lot of knowledge, as well.”

“You don’t write police procedural stuff unless you really know that beat, but it’s ultimately not the procedure that makes the show work — it’s the people. The more real they are, the better.”

Read more in:
“So What Do You Do, Michael Hirst, Creator of The Tudors and Vikings?“

Way back in 1995, Ryan Schreiber was a high school graduate working as a record store clerk. Finding little on the Internet about indie music, he decided to start his own Web page and launched Pitchfork. With no publishing experience, the site eventually became the online authority on indie music, and nowadays a review there can make or break a career.

In the latest installment of Mediabistro’s So What Do You Do? series, Schreiber says that aspiring entrepreneurs should “be willing to put in the work for a long period of time for just the love of it.”

“Today, more so than any other time, it seems really difficult to make a living in the media, especially in the music media,” he explained. “It’s just so crowded, and at this point the publications that are really able to establish themselves are the ones that are the most passionate and the most relatable. I find that the publications I tend to connect with most are ones that are, in many cases, written by a single voice, somebody who has a really interesting viewpoint or perspective.”

Read the full interview in So What Do You Do, Ryan Schreiber, Founder and CEO of Pitchfork?

If you happened to flip past TMZ sometime last fall, you probably noticed a familiar face was missing.

Nina Parker, who started off at the entertainment website as a runner in 2007 before she was promoted to producer, left last September for a position with The Insider as an on-air correspondent.

“Before I got there [TMZ], I had never worked that hard in my life,” Parker told Mediabistro. “I was literally at times sleeping in my car and then just going to work.”

For Parker, TMZ was the opportunity she needed to break into the business. After studying broadcast and electronic communication arts at San Francisco State University, the Sacramento native was working a regular 9-5 job back home.

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Nationally syndicated sex columnist Dan Savage is known for discussing all things X-rated, but I recently had the chance to interview him for “So What Do You Do?” to discuss the future of alternative weeklies, how he branched out into other media outlets and his new MTV show, Savage U.

On if alternative weeklies will fare any better in the digital era:

DS: I don’t! The print media is in trouble everywhere and is having to transition and transition fast to the new economic models.

If his other media ventures were deliberate moves or did other outlets approach him:

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