Archives: May 2006

Here’s what mb folks are hollering about on the boards today:
Our feature topic of the week, moderated by Mia Amato–”Pay for Performance Journalism: Who has had experience with this? I see more and more web sites offering to pay writers per page views, per number of postings, or by revenue percentages based on traffic or Google ad returns. Aside from “networked” Gawker-wannabees, here are two coast-to-coast examples: cribstown.com, sbs-world.com. For emerging writers wishing to specialize in a topic area, is this a good way to gain a fan base, experience, or clips? Or is yet another generation getting suckered into being literary lettuce-pickers — just like back in the ol’ pay-per-column-inch days?”
“I just signed away $60,000 with my decision in going to Columbia and I feel a little sick. I feel like that’s waaay too much for a master’s in journalism. I would appreciate if any Columbia alumni could tell me if they regretted their experience.”
“Recently I was presented with the ultimate dream job opportunity. I have been offered the chance to become the editor for a regional start-up publication with significant financial backing and a strong niche market. They are hoping to have their first issue come out this October. My question is, am I going to be in over my head? First, is that enough time to put a first issue together or is four months too soon? Also, for the position, my experience is minimal. I’ve edited my college magazine, held several internships worked for the Associated Press and I’ve been freelancing regularly for several local publications for the past few years. However, I think I have the drive and the skills to get it done, even if it is by the seat of my pants. Am I being unrealistic, or can it be done? Has anyone else ever found themselves in a similar situation?”
“With all that I seem to be doing right, what is it that I’m doing wrong? Why can’t I get a call-back? Why can’t a get a job, or an interview, or at least a BS HR response saying they received my resume and will keep it on file?”
Finally, ladies, Shape magazine is looking for a weight loss columnist…

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion's Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook's Morin Oluwole, and bitly's Tim Devane. Register now.

What actually goes on in media sales? For this recurring feature, mediabistro’s gotten ahold of an insider, someone who does it all-from kissing the right asses, to laughing at clients’ stupidest jokes-ready to spill the beans on his pursuit of that all-consuming commission and quarterly bonus. The sick thing? He’ll tell you himself: He loves it…

Nice Sale
I just hung up the phone with Big Imaging Company and negotiated a deal that still has me grinning well into the fourth Excel tab of our company’s absurd boilerplate insertion order. Jim has some ambitious plans for 3Q, and as #1 Industry Mag, we have a lot to sell. As part of a multinational publishing company, we are obligated to “straddle media” and “deliver the gateway.” What that means is that nobody’s buying print advertising anymore, so you have to work three times as hard selling banner ads, custom publications, Webcasts, and face-to-face marketing opportunities just to make the same amount of money you’d otherwise be raking in with print.
Jim, my contact, has just agreed to spend a dollar amount equivalent to 20 percent of our annual display advertising budget to push a special marketing initiative. And even though our rates are just a premium-positioning charge compared to the national consumer press, I shudder with glee as I tab in an extra zero on the order’s net sales field. Naturally, my first instinct is to compose a self-congratulatory “send all” email outlining my monster sale.
I decide against it. The sale I just made will serve to double the work of the heinously underpaid custom media department which, unlike me, will never see a nickel of the sale I just closed. Instead, I write a 1,200-word “we-mail” outlining all the work they need to do for the program, and close my door to call Jan.

More dirt here.

I know there are a lot of problems with Hotmail and that far and away it is not one of the favorite email systems out there. But I stick with it, even when I’m being told it’s ‘temporarily unavailable.’ Why? Because for the small amount of money I pay per year for the extra space, I’m allowed to access my Hotmail via Outlook Express.
I like Outlook Express because it saves me time from logging into the Hotmail site. Plus, I think it keeps me more on the ball in regards to answering email. If it’s unanswered, it is there, loud and clear, in my inbox. If I’ve replied to it, then bye-bye.
Furthermore, working with the folders in Outlook Express is very convenient for me. I’ve got ones for each of my freelance clients (including mediabistro), and whenever an email comes in related to any of those subjects, I can just drag it over and drop it.
Also, what’s better about Outlook Express than regular Hotmail is that all your sent messages are automatically saved, which has saved my own butt many times when I couldn’t remember if I’d sent the right draft to an editor, or what day I told a source I was available to talk.
My main complaint though is that I can’t indicate when a sender is to be blocked, and I’ve gotten so lazy about logging into the Hotmail site that I’d just rather delete the spam and unrequested podcasts and newsletters than try to prevent them. But just doing that is quicker than logging into hotmail anyway, since I don’t have to wait for a page to refresh.
Again, I am aware there are much better email systems out there that everybody loves to death that are way more dependable (but don’t tell me about how great Gmail is. I tried it, and I didn’t like it.) For now, though, Outlook Express is speedy and I like it.
If you’ve got an email system that works well for you as a freelancer/writer/editor, let me know what it is and why it’s so great. Actually if you’ve got anything–software, a system, a product, a tool–that’s sped up or improved your professional life, let me know what it is.

Interested in becoming a travel writer? This article by Kayleen Reusser covers some of the basics: it is probably for those of you looking for your first clip, or those of you looking to add a few more to your repertoire. (scroll down about halfway)

Angela Hoy at Writers Weekly came up with the idea of selling one of her eBooks on Ebay. How did it eWork? Read about it here.

What say should writers have in product placement? Something for you to ponder via reader Susan Kirkland:

When I first read this, it made the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up. WHY in God’s name, should a writer have anything to say about product placement? When I got to the second paragraph, the reporter described scripts that insert words into the character’s mouth about the product. Then I understood. I quoted John Malkovich about how people are being more casual about the liberties they take with other people’s work, and this is a prime example.
“Even John Malkovich, starring in his new film, Art School Confidential and an accomplished creative, must battle to maintain his artistic integrity as he introduces his new fashion line, Mrs. Mudd. From his interview in New York Magazine (05/05/06), he says, ‘I’m still having quite a battle, frankly. I want it done the way I want it done, and until that happens I won’t be happy. As I’ve said to my partner, if this was a play, you’d be in jail. You can’t take a play someone has directed and do whatever you want with it. I don’t know where they get that idea. I’d never do it to anybody.’”
It seems like it’s: let’s do whatever we can to eradicate the individual from the creative process–then they won’t demand a cut of the profits because their contribution will no longer be recognized as their contribution. It will become the gray soup of CONSENSUS. Yuk. Or is it easier to make changes to someone else’s work than it is to create your own? There are more cowards than creators in the world.

I received the following anonymous tip:
“Entire MIT undergrad and graduate writing courses are available through their Open Course Ware site”
If you’re a stickler for grammar and typesetting or just want to learn how to create better HTML, read “The Trouble With EM ‘n EN (and Other Shady Characters)” by Peter K. Sheerin at A List Apart.
For our friends up north: Places for writers: “Resources for Canadian (and international) writers, updated daily with contests, calls for submission, and other writerly tidbits.”
Also from Canada, at the U of Toronto: The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It.
Advice on sexing it up from Mr. Writing Person: “Q. I want to get published by Harlequin, but all of my attempts at writing a romance novel fall flat. I keep getting rejection letters that say, ‘Not steamy enough.’ How do I steam them up?”

Or so sez my colleague on the West Coast. He also defines what exactly a “Savvy Miss” is.

Age: Over the Hedge
Location: Chicago
What are you working on now? Acting as Chicago editor for Uptown, a glossy quarterly that highlights the coolest, sexiest bits the Windy City has to offer. The book is published in New York (thus, the Uptown), and they publish regional editions: D.C., Atlanta, Chicago and New York. So, that, nurturing the relationships I have with some really great editors at Chicago and Satisfaction magazines, and a transitional screenplay for TV actress Raven Symone…she can’t stay in high school forever!
What’s the most helpful thing you’ve learned about writing? To keep doing it. Everyday, not just when you feel like it. Otherwise, you won’t eat, and you won’t create — the two things you need to stay alive.
What’s the worst career advice you ever received? To not try and advance myself into an editorial position. There’s a special place in my heart for human resources.
Based on your experience, how can a writer new at writing celebrity profiles make them come alive and seem unique? Ask questions that are alive and unique! This wasn’t an interview, but one of the best conversations I’ve ever had was with Jeffrey Katzenberg (Dreamworks Animation) who was in town promoting a movie. I did some research and found an obscure little story about the government of Madagascar trying to convince him to include some educational stuff about lemurs in his movie of the same title. Instead, he gave them a generous donation which they used to hire a PR firm to advance the plight of lemurs in Madagascar. He was truly surprised that I knew anything about it, so he let his guard down, we had a great exchange and it resulted in some very nice feedback from his development people.
If you ask the same questions as every other interviewer, you’re going to get the same dead answers.

Sharon Glassman been awarded the American Women in Television and Radio’s “Gracie Award” for Outstanding Comic Radio Series for her radio essays for WFUV. Gracie-winner “The Laggy Award” (about a creative way to get those freelance invoices paid) and more can be heard on her new site.
Ricardo Cortes, creative director of Magic Propaganda Mill Books tells us that the company has a new children’s book about marijuana, “It’sJust a Plant,” coming out this summer.
Michele Wucker‘s LOCKOUT: Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong When Our Prosperity Depends on Getting It Right, was published May 8 by PublicAffairs Press. “The book takes on those culture-war dinosaurs Huntington and Buchanan and argues that both extreme sides of the immigration debate are wrong. We absolutely should not give in to pressures to build walls and close the doors –but we can’t ignore that we’re in such a pickle now because of laws that neglected to keep track of who comes here even as they intensified demographic and social pressures.”