Archives: August 2006

The other day a friend of mine asked what advice I had for breaking into airline magazines. My experience with them unfortunately yields not-very-helpful advice: meet somebody who is an editor at an airline mag and hope that they offer you a few assignments.
For those seeking something a little more practical, I spoke to a handful of experienced travel writers for their advice on breaking into those airborne glossies.
“Pitching inflights is the same as pitching any other magazine, in that you should take the time to familiarize yourself with the magazine’s content before you just go randomly sending story ideas in,” says Jill Becker, who has contributed to American Way. “In fact, it’s probably even more important to hit the mark as close as possible your first time out when pitching inflights, because they generally have very small staffs and editors there typically don’t have time to “work with” and “forge relationships” with writers. They’re looking for writers who can get it right pretty much the first time.”
Also like other magazines, “Study the magazine and see what the smaller,shorter, FOB and other less feature-y sections look like,” says Ethan Gilsdorf, who teaches Breaking Into Travel Writing for mb. “It’s going to be harder to land a big assignment. In this regard, they are like other magazines — start small, go from there.” However, Joanne Bamberger, who has written for Go, AirTran’s inflight, has another way of looking at that: “I’ve always tried to aim for the features well and so far it’s worked for me. Why not aim high?”

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At AAA’s Western-states mag with a huge circulation, the freelance opportunities are as open as the road, writes Amelia McDonell-Parry in the update of this HTP. “On the Road” needs ideas for regular items such as “Trailblazer”, “Opening”, “Round Up”, and “How To.” “Traiblazer” (formerly known as “Smart Quotes”) is an interview with a travel-related personality. Other pitchable columns in this section include “Great Drives” (formerly “Boulevards”) which is a profile of a famous road or route, such as Lombard Street in San Francisco, or Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles. Make sure your pitches don’t cover destinations that have been recently featured, and make sure your pitches are well-honed. Pitch snail mail.

The television journalists who covered Katrina reflect on the storm – and how they covered it – in a series of exclusive interviews. Here are some of the highlights, courtesy of TVNewser‘s Brian Stelter:

Viewers didn’t know it at the time, but NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams – whose on-the-scene coverage of Hurricane Katrina helped earn NBC a Peabody Award – fell “terribly ill” in the days following the storm.
On Tuesday, August. 30, “we did a broadcast from the I-10 overpass,” Williams recalls. “I thought I could stand up, and I got very weak. They started pumping me with fluids and made me sit down on an equipment box for the broadcast.”
Williams was clearly uncomfortable discussing the illness.
“The only problem I have with it being public … is that I am the last person people should be thinking about,” he says. “I was surrounded by such depravity, watching people try to survive with such great quiet dignity, that I have a real problem with any attention [directed toward me].”
Williams never revealed his illness to viewers.

More here. Also, related, see the blog’s Year of Katrina series.

Robin Friedman at Absolute Write chats with Alexandra Cooper, Assistant Editor at Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers about what the publisher looks for from its authors, amongst other things:

What kinds of books do you like to work on?

Novels and pictures books represent different challenges. For novels, I love being in the trenches of writing– figuring out how to solve problems on the sentence and paragraph level. I am a stickler for le mot juste! That’s also essential in picture books, where the challenge is to find the right balance of text so that the illustrator can expand on the story. One of the most fun parts of the job is finding new illustrators! In both genres, I am interested in books with strong, spunky female protagonists with real voices that readers can relate to, even if the situations are foreign.

More here.

Via Sree’s tips, advice on buying a digital camera, especially good for you freelancers hoping to supplement your articles with great accompanying photos.

If it feels like writing and submitting spec scripts is almost as fruitful as Sisyphus rolling that big rock up the hill, screenwriter Jane Espenson has a few inspirational tales of writers who actually got gigs based on their specs.

Swat ‘em away, but they’ll still keep coming — those ‘pigeons’ of corporations that can’t stop flocking to consultants’ birdseed:

Instead of barging into some agency, breaking out your media kit, and telling your customer your circulation, readership, and what special issues you have coming up, why not sit down over a cup of coffee and ask him a bunch of questions. Like: How is your business? (a Situation question); Is the price of paper leading to an increase in your costs? (Problem); Why is it important to solve this problem (Implication); and, If I lowered your rate, would this help you reach more potential customers? (Need/ payoff).

More here.

Known for its “feminist perspective,” this magazine foremother now focuses on current affairs, leaving pop culture to the young’uns, writes Keith Hernandez in the update of this HTP. The FOB national news section, “Ms. News,” is open to pitches, as is the feature well, “Global News,” and, to some extent, the book reviews section. No rants of manifestos, please. Snail mail pitches are preferred.

Did you ever see the Seinfeld episode where Jerry writes down the funny idea he had while he was falling asleep, only later to realize he had no idea what he wrote or why it was funny? He should have checked out LifeDev’s ideas for managing one’s brainstorming and then he’d maybe have been in a better spot (although it would have been a very short episode.)

You might enjoy Michael Ian Black from “The State,” or “Stella,” or the “I Love the…” shows, or “Ed,” or “Wet Hot American Summer” or something else. But now you can love him in a whole new way: as the editor-at-large of Cracked:

mediabistro: How do you differentiate Cracked from Mad?
Black: The Cracked of old was very much like Mad: lots of dumb jokes aimed at 12-year-old boys. The new Cracked is a lot more grown-up. Dumb jokes aimed at 25-year-old boys.
mediabistro:What does an “editor-at-large” do?
Black: I’m a lot like the Queen of England. It’s basically a figurehead position. I get to go to all the Cracked polo matches and balls, but I have no actual power. I’m also like the Queen of England insofar as I wear a tiara and carry a scepter.

More here. Also, why is that picture so sexy?