For the past 15 years, Amy Goldwasser has written and edited at magazines from Seventeen to The New Yorker, Outside to Vogue, The New York Times Magazine to Metropolis. She’s also a longtime volunteer at the Lower Eastside Girls Club, where she was astounded by the quality of the girls’ work and inspired to bring teenage writing to a greater audience. Edited by Goldwasser, Red: The next generation of American writers — teenage girls — on what fires up their lives today collects 58 essays by teenage girls on topics ranging from gym class and global warming to suicide attempts. While the provocative content creates a new standard of writing for its teen genre, Red also serves as a valuable model for bringing underappreciated voices to a mainstream audience, across media. “The whole idea of Red is that the creativity at the root always comes from the girls,” says Goldwasser. “What we do is provide professionals, whether that’s an editor, a music supervisor, a fashion designer, whoever can make it happen.” Goldwasser sat down after a recent reading in Los Angeles to discuss the response to the book, the challenges of working with teen writers, and the importance of authenticity.

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You’ve expressed frustration about not being able to publish more teen voices. Did Red come out of your experience at magazines where you couldn’t accomplish this?

I tried to start teen-written columns at Seventeen and then at New York, a City Girl column. Both times the submissions I got were incredible, but things don’t happen at magazines for various reasons. So I’d end up leaving consulting jobs with these fat files of wonderful submissions from teen girls.

And no one would want them?

No, it wasn’t that at all, and people were really excited about them. It’s just that the work expires when you’re dealing with writers this young. So you can’t three years later say, that didn’t work for the redesign of New York but I want to do it here, because the girls have moved on. And I felt terrible I was wasting their essays. But the good news is that teenage girls write really quickly.

Yes, that’s something you say in your introduction. The culture of being a teenager now means you’re always writing: You have a MySpace page, you’re texting with your thumbs all day, you have a blog. Would you say, get me a few pages of work and they’d crank it out, no problem?

It was pretty amazing because I thought I’d get more pre-written essays — leftovers from school assignments or college applications. So they’d send me an email and say, “I heard about the book, what do you want me to write about?” And I’d say the whole idea is that I don’t tell you. You write about what you want to write about, but if you tell me what you’re into maybe I can pick out a few things. Someone would say, “I learned how to play the drums last year,” I’d email back, “that sounds cool.” Then an hour later I’d get a 12-page essay about learning to play the drums.

Something no professional writer could ever do!

Yes, it was an editor’s dream in two ways. One is the enthusiasm and output of these writers. They were constantly trying to update their essays. They’d say, “I’m a senior now, can you add this to the end?” And then send me 20 pages. Then second was the rare kind of editing I got to do. I didn’t rewrite a word in that book. The only words I wrote were in the introduction. I don’t believe in rewriting, and I don’t believe that it’s a given that as writer you turn in a story and your editor rewrites your lede. For this book, all I did as an editor was ask a million questions. The words always came from the girls. You just have to keep asking them why. The crazy thing about some of the essays is that if you could see them annotated, they’d be 50 emails cut-and-pasted.

Can you talk about how you found the girls?

I originally sent out an email to about three-dozen friends. It was a little pointed because I wanted to reach people who worked with schools or volunteered, who had contact with teens. It ended up on a lot of message boards, it was on a national English teachers’ association site, libraries loved it, regional groups, and then the girls spread the word. It turns out the kids like the Internet! The cool thing with them is they have friends they’ve never met, all over the country. It ended up on the Freakonomics blog, Stephen Dubner is a friend of mine, and I have to thank him for the majority of the essays I got, including a ton of international, India, Israel, all over Europe, Japan. One of my ultimate favorites was a Japanese girl writing about American rock bands.

And you got 800 essays in eight weeks?

I didn’t even set up a separate email address, my life was ruined! I had one of the first Earthlink accounts, in 1996, and I won’t give that up. I was like, “Oh my God I ruined my early-adopter address.” I’m a fool. I had no idea.

Do you think it was so successful because there’s no physical spaces or groups or communities for young writers where they can contribute and be heard?

On a local level there’s a lot of that but what’s missing is the prize of it. These girls are so over the concept of being published because they’re all “published,” there’s nothing special about that. Turns out they cared about the oldest medium because it was something different: They really cared about a big fat book. It was something their friends haven’t done, they’re the only ones who are in a hardcover, dead tree book. And that’s a nice kind of backlash. I hope it speaks well for future books. Though I realize that adding a level of competition is taking away the great democracy of the Internet, and I hate to be that person.

I did have a few calls to make sure I wasn’t a 65-year-old man.

Do any of these girls aspire to be professional writers?

One girl has a book deal, and a few are working on novels, which they’ll sometimes share with me. There are 58 girls in the book, and I bet about six or eight of them say, “I’m a writer or I’m going to be a writer.” I love the non-preciousness of that.

Do they talk about what they want to be?

It’s funny because a lot of people ask them that at readings and they think it’s a silly grown-up question. They say, “I’m a sophomore, I have no idea.” They actually use a lot of writers’ weapons and the things you learn in class but the best part is that they don’t think of it this way. That’s what Web writing has done. This generation’s writing experience isn’t based on a teacher saying you need to have a topic sentence here and use only this much stream of consciousness. I never knew what I was getting, and I loved the element of surprise when they’d say, “Here’s my essay, attached.” One would be a giant sentence going on for a page, with a sex scene, and another one would be all dialogue. Then Johnny Depp, then a suicide attempt.

And I can imagine you had to deal with clearing that kind of content with the parents?

Definitely some angry parents, but we worked it out. They all signed and notarized a document saying they’d read and approved the essays before publication. To me, the parents are heroes too. There’s the girl whose essay ends “what a bitch” about her parents’ breakup, but her mom’s been at the New York events. That’s a big deal because I imagine the wrath of her peers. I think about all the backhanded compliments. It’s pretty incredible about the parents. I did have a few calls to make sure I wasn’t a 65-year-old man.

I want to talk about the name of the book, which, as you say, is “Red, not pink.” And after seeing them today this is the perfect way to describe these girls. Britney Spears and Paris Hilton are not their heroes.

They’re not! And you know, grownups are so afraid of teenagers and they’re afraid of what they know, and they’re afraid of them talking about some of the things they talk about. I don’t know if you saw some of the responses to Eliza Appleton’s essay on Salon about grinding. These people got so upset, because she was essentially talking about sex, even thought the entire point of her essay was that grinding is a safe alternative to sex. Why do grownups get so freaked out? And people were calling her a slut and saying I feel sorry for her mother who has to rein her in. Young ladies aren’t supposed to swear or talk about sex, whereas I feel if it were boys the same age, I think people would be okay with it. It’s about getting adults to really listen to them.

You’ve created a Web site with a networking component and launched 58 blogs, one for each author. What else? You were just approached a few minutes ago by someone about wanting to turn this into a play!

I love the play idea, because you can really see what happens live. I love making up magazines, there’s nothing I like more. The idea is the book becomes an annual thing, where we’re publishing young people’s writing, they’re submitting it all year round via the Web site. The site and social network are really the heart of it, and the best of that will get edited by professional writers. My fantasy is to hire a staff so I’m not doing all this, and to pay all the people who did this out of the goodness of their heart. So it’s year-round, professionally-edited, with an annual book of essays, then international, boys, and possibly regional.

But the magazine idea I really like because I love them visually and really believe the girls do, too. They are so much about making video and taking photos. I think about a fashion shoot in a magazine that’s really teen-driven, and you could call in the same clothes that a professional could call in, and do it at a real event, like someone’s birthday party, and you give a camera to one of the girls, and then they’re also the reporters. And the rest of the staff are high-level professionals. So on a regular magazine staff, two or more of us get replaced by teenagers.

Do you think in literary world, you might be able to forge a new kind of respect for this genre?

That’s the idea. It was important we went to an adult publisher, Penguin, part of Hudson Street Press, and had a hard cover, and an adult international imprint. It’s tricky because this category of YA non-fiction is new. And bookstores are trying to figure out where to put it. Even shopping the book — I don’t have much experience in that — but I imagine it was unusual because we had such a range of interest from big houses and from these super YA marketing machines. It’s taken a lot of education, too. So we went to someone who doesn’t necessarily do YA. The fact that it’s hardcover for the holidays is really unusual, unheard of. But it’s all about legitimizing the girls, because I want them to be looked at as writers and these honest, true documentarians.

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Five tips for capturing teen attention across media
1) Remember your date of birth — and that it disqualifies you as the expert
No one is better at sniffing out a fraud, an old person pretending to be down with the kids, than a teenager. Always give them the final word on matters of their generation — they’re the authorities, they’re living it. If you play at being a teenager or use your newfound grownup powers to try to take back some wrong from your high school experience, they’ll sense it immediately. Plus, they’ll make you feel like much more of a dork than you ever feared you were in high school…
2) Resist labeling
This may seem really basic, but there’s not an adult out there who’s not prone to overgeneralizing about this age group — after all, if you can say teenagers are this or teenagers are that, they’re a lot less terrifying. They become knowable. I had to keep reminding myself that there are 58 independent people who wrote this book, with every nuance and variation of personality 58 adults would have.
3) Ask them what they think
For the most part, teenagers — like all of us, though moreso — just want to be heard. They want to know their opinions are valid. Solicit those opinions, and you’ll learn a lot. They tend to be the most honest ones you’ll hear.
4) Know that what they ultimately care most about is themselves — and each other
They’ve grown up with social networking and the opinions of their peers on everything. So you don’t want to dictate anything from above, from a place over-20. They endlessly generate ideas themselves and build on each other’s. They work in teams without thinking of it that way. Encourage interaction on all things creative. I’ve been amazed at what great editors, critics, fans they are of each other’s essays in the book, and how much one author’s comments enrich another writer’s next blog entry on the site.
5) Edit, don’t rewrite
This applies to editing writers of any age: If you’re patient and ask the right questions (sometimes relentlessly), you’ll get answers in their words. And their words, the writer’s, are always going to be better than yours.

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Alissa Walker is an editor of the mediabistro.com blog UnBeige.

On May 1, 2005, NBC launched its Nightly News‘ Daily Nightly blog, a site that anchor Brian Williams declared “a useful supplement to viewers of Nightly News, as both a narrative and as a window into our editorial process.” Since that time, the digital side of NBC’s long-running nightly newscast has grown by leaps and bounds. In October 2007, the channel named Mara Schiavocampo, a veteran of new media journalism, digital journalist for Nightly News, with the responsibility to produce original content exclusively for the Web.

The majority of Schiavocampo’s reporting experience comes overseas. She has reported on hate crimes in Russia, the bird flu in Indonesia, and Iraqi refugees in Jordan. Recently, she visited India for a series of reports. But she also found poignant digital stories domestically. During November 2007, her work during the Nightly News‘ weeklong focus on issues facing African American women was widely viewed and discussed across the Web. Today’s launch of the redesigned Nightly News Web site only add to her status as the digital arm of a well-renowned traditional medium.

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Name: Mara Schiavocampo
Position: Digital journalist, NBC Nightly News
Resume: Formerly a contributor/guest commentator for numerous outlets and online news sites including ABC News Now, ABCNews.com, NPR, Current TV, Yahoo!, Ebony, and Uptown; worked as anchor/reporter for CBS News on MTVU
Birthday: September 28, 1979
Hometown: Silver Spring, MD
Education: Undergrad at UCLA; masters at University of Maryland-College Park
Marital Status: Married
First section of Sunday Times: “‘A’ section, front section, no matter what day it is.”
Favorite TV Show: 60 Minutes
Last Book You Read: Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye
Guilty pleasure: “US Weekly for sure, which I buy every week and my husband says, ‘Why don’t you get a subscription,’ and I say, ‘Because that would be admitting that I read it every week.'”

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What does it mean to be a digital journalist for a network news organization, combining the old school and new school of journalism?

I think the two things, the two obvious things, are that I work with digital shooting and editing equipment and my work is intended for a digital medium. The one thing that does not change is the journalism and the storytelling. So the tools of the trade, the tricks of the trade, are a little different but the basics stay the same and the storytelling stays the same.

Brian Williams has a lot of influence on the Nightly blog, but other correspondents write as well. I’ve read some of your stuff there, too. It’s very widely read across the Web, maybe more than some other network news blogs. What do you think of NBC’s digital influence compared to the whole network news competition?

One thing that is really clear is that NBC is committed. They get it. They understand that the Web is not going to be a sibling, a step-child anymore. They want it to be an equal sibling to everything else that’s going on. So they are really committed to that, to making sure that it has its own life. It has its own identity. It has its own Web exclusives. They’re not just trying to take the scraps from the cutting room floor. We’re doing stuff just for our Web audience. So that’s really impressive that they get it, that they’re committed to that. I think that there’s the Daily Nightly and all these other elements that are just indicative of that. You know Brian gets it also, that people want to know him on more of an intimate level and that’s what the blog is about. So they really understand what’s happening, and are committed to being a part of the growth of Web viewership.

It seems there’s two angles to the Web, with the Nightly blog, like the more personal behind the scenes look at what it takes to do the newscast or what stories they’re working on and how its happening. But also, there’s the added element of Web exclusive material, which I know you’re very much a part of with the Digital Dispatch page. Can you talk a little about the Digital Dispatch page and what that means to the whole site?

It’s really cool that you have items that are Web exclusives that are intended for the Web that then the broadcast uses afterwards. I think that’s huge. That says a lot about what NBC thinks of the Web. Because its not just, “Let’s use the Web to repurpose stuff which is posted after it airs,” or it’s the stuff that wasn’t good enough for air. It really is to build its own thing there. And so that’s what the Digital Dispatch is all about. It’s creating exclusive material for the Web for that audience. It really is indicative of their commitment to moving into this new realm. You see it with the Digital Dispatch, all that stuff is exclusive material for the Web, not for broadcast. If stuff is aired for broadcast it comes after. It goes on the Web site first.

Think how great it is that you can go and have a discussion with Brian Williams [on the site].

The redesign of the site launches today. What changed?

The biggest thing is its moving from a text-based site, which we see all across the Web, what all the other networks have, to a video based site. So its huge. It looks fantastic — I can’t wait for the world to see it. You can see little snippets of it here and there with the video player. So really the focus is on the video and it allows the user to customize what they want to see, so you can decide how you want to see the Nightly News broadcast. You can go on, you can create your play list, you can decide, “I really care about health stories. Let me make a play list of health stories.” You are customizing your experience. I mean imagine if you could do that on the TV. If you can say, “No Brian, I want to see these stories in this order.” I mean its huge. So a lot of thought has been put into creating a great viewer experience and something the viewers can drive. It’s not a passive medium at all. You can go on and you can decide how you want your experience to be.

One of the stories that the Nightly News did that was also big on the Web was the weeklong focus on issues facing African American women.

Yeah, that was huge.

It got a very strong response from the public, especially through the Web. One of the major critiques of it was the length of time that was given to each story, which is something that you addressed in the blog you wrote. What can the digital platform do to solve some of those problems?

Well you know its unlimited real estate, like they say. You don’t have that consideration on the Web. So I did a piece on the Web, and also I had a roundtable with black women who had dated interracially. And I found that the little sound bites that went in the piece didn’t speak fully to what the discussion was about. So we put a six-minute cut of the discussion on the Web. So if you see the piece and you want to see more you can see that. I did a hip-hop roundtable, which was six minutes. So it’s just the advantage of making it as long or as short as it needs to be. Its not, “Let me make this 20 minutes because I can.” Its, “How long does it need to be?” And if someone is clicking on it then they’re interested. So you have viewers that are already invested in the topic. You’re not forcing them to watch and running the risk of them changing the channel. And also the comments — people were able to respond on the Daily Nightly, they were able to post a ton of comments. We’re really interested in creating a community that speaks to the relationship with Newsvine. Now people can create their profile in Newsvine and they can talk about what’s happening in the news and all of this builds community. We love how the Web gives us the opportunity to do all that.

It seems like your blog post addressed a lot of the comments either on the Nightly site or elsewhere on the Web. It adds a quick element, with fast responses.

It’s awesome. Think how great it is that you can go and have a discussion with Brian Williams. When I was growing up, if I was able to send a letter and get a signed picture from Tom Brokaw, it would have made my life. Now, to send an email or post a comment, to have fun on the Daily Nightly with Williams or myself or Rahema Ellis, that’s just so great. It says a lot about where the medium is going. It’s wonderful; it brings us to a new level of transparency.

Much of your work has taken place outside of the United States, recently with your work in India. Talk a little about how that can translate to the Web and what other factors you can do when you’re working specifically for digital.

I think the one thing that’s nice is you can send one person to India, and still maintain the integrity of the journalism and the storytelling. You can just do more with less and that’s not a bad thing because the equipment now enables one person to shoot and edit their work. It still maintains the things that are really important, but you’re able to do it in a different way. As a perfect example, when I was in India working on a story, Chris Rock from HBO was there too. Now they spent two days meeting with officials and they couldn’t dip under the radar. They had the officials really leaning on them hard. I got approval over the phone, and they didn’t see me at all when I was there. I was totally under the radar. One person can do that. Chris Rock and his crew from HBO can’t do that. And I’ve seen that time and time and time again. For me, I get a lot of access because one woman with a camera is easily ignored, easily missed. And then it’s the same thing with viewer interest. Maybe everyone doesn’t want to see the stories from India, but the fact is that people can go on the Web and find it, and the people who are clicking on the stories want to see it. So I can devote the time, the storytelling, the resources to it, because I know the people watching are interested in it.

And this will be airing with the launch?

Yes, the week of the 7th.

This year, you won the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Emerging Journalist of the Year. Previous winners have all been in the print field. What does that say about the emergence of digital reporting?

I think that says a lot about NABJ. I owe so much to them and am so grateful to the organization since they’ve been with me since my student days. Anyone who asks me for advice I say, “Join a professional organization.” So it says a lot about them, to the fact that they’re paying attention to where the field is going. They devoted that whole convention to next media type of things. So I think it says a lot about the fact that they’re paying attention to where things are going and how we can prepare our membership for the future. How we can recognize the work that is being done in this field. I think that speaks more to them and what they value and what their mindset is.

Also you’re a member of Lightstalkers.org. You’ve got a sleek personal Web site. What interests you about the Web and its impact on journalism?

Well Lighstalkers has been huge. I could not have done any of the things I’ve done without Lightstalkers, literally. Every trip that I ever went on, including this one, I have made contact with Lightstalkers. It’s a network that’s global, truly global, and these are people that are doing essentially the same work that I’m doing. They’re primarily photo-journalists, but they’re in the field and doing the same kind of stuff. They’re working with pictures. They’re trying to find their own accommodations. So it’s unbelievable that I can go on the Web site and say, “I’m going to the middle of nowhere and I need help,” and have all these responses come in. That is what I think the Web is really about. Connecting people, bringing people together, helping you find people offering a helping hand. It’s just the best example of the Web. It’s really a community of people, likeminded people, who are working towards common goals.

It’s interesting. I had never heard about it before. It’s a whole other community. It seems like there are places on the Web that could be huge resources as far as news gathering or journalism go that you might not know about.

I recommend them to everyone I ever talk to. It’s the way to go, even when you have to only get back-up options. I mean I got back-up names. NBC took great care of me, they gave me great people. But just to have some back-ups in case something goes wrong, it gives you who to call on for help.

Previously you worked for up-and-coming TV stations like MTVU and Current TV. How does the work there prepare you to be a digital journalist? I’m sure they had some sort of focus on digital there as well.

I’ll talk about Current because that’s the most relevant to the experience I have now. Again, I have nothing but good things to say about them. They really, really helped me in kind of breaking out of the traditional news mold and trying to think of telling stories in different ways, which now is great on the Web. You’re seeing that a lot more on the Web because it’s not tied to format. And they did understand that very well so it helped with a lot of the things I do now such as asking questions off camera and keeping it in the piece. It’s a little rough around the edges, but it adds another element to it, another layer of realness, like there’s a real person behind the camera shooting, and they can speak. A lot of those rough around the edges things I do now came from Current. And those are the kind of things where, when I was in school, in the traditional model of news, you had to be very polished, and you didn’t do those things. They really encouraged me, not only gave me the freedom but encouraged me, to do things a little more ragged because it does provide another element of reality to it. It’s phenomenal.

Although, I would imagine that the work you do for Nightly News would feel a little bit different stylistically.

Well I have to say NBC has been phenomenal. All they’ve ever said to me since I got here was, “Do what you do.” And they support me on that so they haven’t given me any restrictions on format, on style, on content, nothing. All they said was, “Do what you do and we will support you.” And again, that speaks to the fact that this is a news organization that has such a long history, but they’re not saying, “You have to do it X-Y-Z,” they’re saying, “We’re open.” And I think that’s huge, especially coming from NBC. You know its one thing for Current to say, “We’re open.” They’re new, so they’re going to be open, but for NBC to say, “You do what you do and we’ll kind of develop together,” I think that’s great.

With the Internet and 24-hour cable channels there’s been some discussion of the decline and influence of nightly news broadcasts. Do you think your work with NBC News and others like it can essentially save the medium, or help to lead it back to what it once was?

I don’t think it needs to be saved, and I don’t think it will ever be what it once was because the world is different now. I think that it’s great that NBC gets that. They’re not trying to hold on to sinking ship. They’re very aware of how the world is changing, how the Web is influencing things, and they’re moving and changing with that. The broadcast benefits from that, everything benefits from that. Someone who can go online and read Brian’s blog and feel a personal connection to him, and then want to watch him on the broadcast, I think that’s great. It all works together, and I think they’re very aware of that. No one is trying to go back to the heyday of TV networks because now it’s all changed, and they’re moving and changing with it so I think that’s a testament to the people who are making the decisions.

You previously taught a class at mediabistro.com in video journalism. Do you see any difference in the principles and practices when you go from video to print to digital? Any differences or are the principles the same?

No, and that’s what I tell people all the time. The basics are the same. The ethical rules, all the different standards of journalism, those do not change at all. And anybody that tells you they have, steer clear of. I think that’s a concern, because the great thing that we’re seeing right now is kind of the democratization of media. So everyone can do it — they can buy a camera, they can get editing equipment. The bad thing is that not everyone realizes there are rules to it. And so that’s something I address in my class I tell people that if you want to do this, that’s great. You know, it’s your first amendment right to do journalism. Go for it, but recognize that there are rules to it. You owe it to all of us to uphold what comes along with it. People can’t forget that, yes be a citizen journalist, but one half of journalism is that you have to be bound by those same rules that NBC News is bound by.

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Steve Krakauer is the associate editor of TVNewser. You can reach him at STEVE at MEDIABISTRO dot COM.

Andrew Morse was the editor-in-chief of his college newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, and at the time, he says, was “never all that interested in foreign affairs, or foreign policy.” Little did he know he would become ABC News’ Asia bureau chief; cover wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; and ensure that foreign news coverage gets fair play during Good Morning America Weekend broadcasts.

Morse describes GMA Weekend as “launched on a shoestring. And it’s always been dubbed ‘the little show that could.’ It gets by with a very small staff of very dedicated people.” Ratings for the Saturday show have it trailing NBC’s Weekend Today, and on Sunday, the program ranks behind both Weekend Today and CBS’ Sunday Morning. But the show’s fourth quarter ratings show growth; for both GMA Weekend Saturday and Sunday, ratings were the strongest (in terms of total viewer delivery) for any quarter since the program debuted in 2004.

Morse, at the helm of a young broadcast that demands of him pre-dawn wake-up calls, is also a husband and the father of a toddler daughter (with another child on the way). “It’s certainly a challenge,” he says of the work/life/early-morning-hours juggle. “I think the key is to just always have a sense of balance in your life and to remember at the end of the day what is truly important.”

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Name: Andrew Morse
Position: Executive producer, Good Morning America Weekend
Marital status: Married with a two-year-old daughter, expecting a second child in May
Birthdate: March 10, 1974
Hometown: Potomac, MD
Education: B.A. in government, Cornell
Resume: Morse has been with ABC News his entire career, starting in 1996 as a desk assistant at the network’s Washington bureau before being named an associate producer for ABCNews.com. In his next job, as an assignment editor and producer in the London bureau, Morse covered the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Promoted in 2002 to Asia bureau chief, Morse was based in Hong Kong and supervised coverage of the 2002 Bali bombing and the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. He returned stateside in 2004, becoming senior producer of World News Now and World News This Morning, later moving to Weekend World News Tonight as senior producer. Morse took his current job, as executive producer of Good Morning America Weekend, in July of last year.
Best part of the job: “Waking up at 3:30 in the morning. The best part of my job is having an opportunity — it’s going to sound somewhat cliché — but actually, truly having the opportunity to make a difference. I think we have an incredible responsibility as journalists to inform people and we sometimes lose sight of that amid all of our other goals, but truly for me the best part of the job is to wake up on any given weekend and put together a broadcast where I can walk out of the control room at the end of the day and know we left the audience better informed than when we started. It’s just incredibly rewarding to be able to do that.”
Favorite singer or band: “That’s a tough one because I’m a big, big music fan, but if I had to say one I’d say Bruce Springsteen.”
Favorite non-news TV show of all time: “I’m torn because I’m a big fan of M*A*S*H, but I’m also fairly obsessed with Lost.”

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When you produce your show, who on the weekend morning are you trying to reach? Do you have a type of viewer in mind you think of?

I purposely do not. It’s something you hear a lot about, and that executive producers of broadcasts spend a lot of time in dark audiences thinking about: “Who’s our key demographic? I actually purposely don’t produce with that in mind. I think my goal, and our goal for the broadcast, is to reach as many people as we can, and to do that, I think the key is to just tell great stories, and to make sure that in every broadcast we do, we have a little bit of something for everybody.

How do you give the program a familiar, Good Morning America-feel, but yet also keep it distinctive and fresh — how do you achieve that balance?
I think we’re able to achieve the balance, by and large, with our anchors, Kate Snow and Bill Weir, as well as Ron Claiborne and Marisol Castro, who are each very talented and who each bring to the table very unique, very exciting, very energetic, and very smart personalities. It’s very important for us that we maintain and strengthen and bolster the GMA identity and the GMA brand, which has been built up over so many years, but we do want to be different. And I think the way that we’re different is that we’re able to build on the strengths of our anchors. We’re also able to take more chances, because there are fewer eyeballs on our broadcasts. I think that gives us the ability to reach out, to be a little bit different, to be a little more off-the-wall, a little quirkier, to move beyond your typical, morning show formula.

Bill and Kate have been co-anchors of GMA Weekend since the program’s inception in 2004. Do you have a plan for when the time comes that one or both of them leave the show? Do you think about that?
I think about it every day. But I think that while it’s always good to plan, and it’s always good to be thinking about the future, it’s more important to be thinking about the present, and I think Bill and Kate are remarkable talents.

But that said, there will come a day, when Bill and Kate, I’m sure, will move on, and when they do, we’ll start thinking more seriously about what we do next. But I think for now, there’s too much to look forward to. And I think we’re really hitting our stride at the moment, so we’re trying not to look too far into the future.

What is your typical schedule, day-to-day?
I wake up Saturdays and Sundays at about 2:45 [a.m.] and get into the control room sometime around 3:15 or 3:30. I’m generally in the office Tuesday through Sunday, and I take off after the show on Sunday, and I take off Monday … and I hope at some point I’ll reach a point where I can take Tuesdays off and have a semi-normal weekend.

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are generally filled with meetings, and a lot of planning and a lot of show administration. And then when Fridays roll around it’s usually like going to battle. We have a very small staff, but a very talented staff, and everybody’s really firing on all cylinders Friday into Saturday. So Fridays are a very long day — where I’ll get into the office anywhere between 7 or 8 in the morning and stay until 8ish, 9ish at night. Which isn’t a horribly
long day, but then when you have to turn back around and be in at 3:30 in the morning on Saturday, it catches up to you. And then Saturday is the real marathon, where I’m waking up at 2:45 and, again, I’m in the office until 9 o’clock at night or, if there’s breaking news, even later, before turning around again and coming back in early Sunday morning. So it’s grueling. As I’ve said, it truly feels like going into battle every Friday-Sunday.

How do you prepare for the program with regard to your own personal newsgathering — what do you read and watch, and which Web sites do you check out before the show?
On any given day, I try to get through The New York Times, the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the New York tabloids, just as your basic diet that I have to get through every day. And usually I’ll check out Drudge and Politico.com, since it’s the political season as well. And it’s funny, because I’ve had to amend my diet a little bit since starting at GMA. Whereas I used to always make sure I read Time and Newsweek, and Economist, and Foreign Affairs, all of which I still read, and now I find myself grabbing People, and Entertainment Weekly, and InStyle, occasionally Vogue. You work a lot of muscles you don’t use on some of the other broadcasts.

You have risen through the ranks at ABC News rather quickly. To what do you attribute your success?
Luck. [Laughs] Certainly luck is a factor. But I don’t think there’s a substitute for hard work, and for experience. When I was 22 and just starting out in the business, I had been the editor-in-chief of my college newspaper, so I thought I knew everything there was to know about journalism. Never mind that I had never worked in television, I just thought I knew everything there was to know. And I couldn’t quite believe that I was answering phones and faxing [when starting at ABC News], although I did it with great gusto.

I’ve always had terrific mentors, every step of the way and every job I’ve had, who’ve helped guide me and teach me things. I’m a pretty good listener.

I also was in a very unique place, especially overseas, and I had a very unique opportunity to work with some real pros, some great veterans who’ve given decades to this business. Having the opportunity to watch and learn from some of the best in the business was invaluable experience.

In the television news industry, who has been a mentor? Who has inspired you?

It’s a pretty broad range. My very first job, as a desk assistant in Washington, Sam Donaldson had just returned to the White House beat. So to be just starting out, and seeing Sam back at the White House, and having the chance to chat with him and watch him report, that was a pretty unique experience.

“Our first date essentially happened under the auspices of talking about underage prostitutes.”

At the same time, David Brinkley was still anchoring This Week. So when I was a very young kid, being able to chat with David was a real honor, about that broadcast and about his great experience in journalism over the years.

My first job at ABCNews.com, I had the opportunity to work with Jeff Gralnick, who really put me on a path and honed my journalistic instincts and made me smarter and made me better. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some really unbelievable writers. From Jim Wooten, who recently retired from ABC News, about as poetic a journalist as there is, to Bill Blakemore, who’s a great ABC veteran who I spent many months in Afghanistan with, and Mark Litke, who was our longtime Asia correspond who recently retired. The three of them really taught me the importance of just great writing, and more importantly than anything else, reminded me that what this business is all about.

And also, again, as a young kid in the business, getting the opportunity as a desk assistance to watch from the sidelines how Nightline came together, with Ted Koppel … to be able to sit down and have real conversations with Ted was remarkable. In fact, the whole Nightline environment in particular, Ted Koppel and Tom Bettag and Leroy Sievers, taught me the importance of good leadership and good management and how important it is to stay true to the story and stay true to the people who are out there getting the stories.

How have your overseas experiences helped shape you as a journalist?
You learn the importance of being self-sufficient, and you learn to value the benefits of being part of a team. And it seems like a contradiction, but it’s not. You learn to be self-sufficient in that you’re a long way from the Mother Ship. So you don’t have access to all the resources that you have back here in New York, so you learn to do everything. You spend all this time with your team, and you learn how important everybody’s role is and how everybody needs to dig in and do a little bit of everything.

What do you think of the way U.S. networks handle foreign news coverage? Should there be more foreign news coverage, or is there sufficient coverage?
I think, unquestionably, there needs to be more … And I think if we give people more, I think that they’ll watch it.

A good example is several months ago, when the unrest in Burma was unfolding, the networks covered the story admirably, did a solid amount of coverage. And we made the decision to take nearly four minutes out of our second half-hour, which is the time that we usually reserve for consumer-friendly feature-y, laid-back segments, to do a very lengthy profile of Aung Sang Suu Kyi, simply asking the question, “Who is Aung Sang Suu Kyi?” and answering it for our viewers. And I generally don’t like to live and die by the ratings and the numbers we pull, but that was one story where I was pleased to see that the ratings seemed to show that people were genuinely interested.

I understand you met your wife while on overseas assignment?
Just before I moved to Asia, I produced a Nightline story with Bob Woodruff about the trafficking of women from the Balkans to Western Europe for prostitution. I was very interested in the topic of human trafficking and was looking into doing a story throughout Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. And a mutual friend introduced us and told me that I need to meet this woman named Ana to talk about human trafficking. So our first date essentially happened under the auspices of talking about underage prostitutes, which, even now, thinking about it, makes me laugh. Ana was living in Hong Kong, working for a publishing company and doing independent research into trafficking in Asia. When I moved to Hong Kong, I didn’t know a soul. The friend who introduced me to Ana was my first friend in Hong Kong, and Ana was my second. And three months later, I proposed to her over email from Baghdad.

Tell me about the ABC/Facebook partnership — you’re quite involved in that endeavor.
I spent a lot of time thinking about how we engage young people in the political process, how we get them watching, how we get them reading, how we get them to pay attention, when they, by and large, are getting their news in a different way, at different times of day, than people did in the past. Facebook is an incredibly powerful Web site. Powerful in the sense that it can galvanize opinion and vast numbers of people very, very quickly, and I was drawn to them one day by a story that I saw — a group on Facebook had popped up, and within 24 hours, 800,000 people subscribed to it, which I thought was just remarkable.

So originally, I came up with the idea that we would partner with them and try to, essentially, hold a series of town meetings on college campuses across the country, and engage the opinions of younger people in terms of which issues inspired them and which issues they were interested in. And the relationship evolved over time and we decided, together, to partner for this [Presidential] election. And Facebook has evolved into a Web site that has much broader appeal than just a younger audience, although they tend to skew younger, and we tend to skew, obviously, much older. And we thought it would be an incredibly powerful proposition if we could somehow take a younger audience and take an older audience and merge them together, if you will, somewhat, into focusing on this election.

What I thought at the time we started talking to Facebook, is that there will be a story, a big story of national importance, be it a terror attack, a major political event, be it a national tragedy, where people will turn to Facebook in much the same way that past generations turned instinctively to Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather. And while I still think in times of crisis, people turn to the networks as their primary source of information, I think millions and millions of people turn to Facebook at a time like that. We had a story like that, as we were still in our early discussions with Facebook, and that was Virginia Tech. The shooting was really the first story where people engaged on Facebook for news and for information and to exchange condolences and to support each other, and I think we’ve seen that in ensuing stories. But that gave a really important window into the power of what we’re trying to accomplish with Facebook.

Do you see yourself ever doing something other than journalism one day?
All I’ve ever wanted to be, for as long as I can remember, is a journalist. That said, throughout my career, being exposed to some of the places that I’ve been exposed to and some of the things I’ve had the remarkable fortune to see, has also opened my eyes to the broader world out there and to different and potential opportunities. So, while I find it hard to envision getting up every day and not being a journalist, the opportunity to explore different places, to work overseas again in some sort of a different capacity, is something that’s always very intriguing.

Do you have any kind of personal mission statement or personal philosophy?
There’s a quote from Teddy Roosevelt that I have taped to a small corner of my desk where virtually no one else can see it, but from time to time I do look at it. And if I do have a mission statement or a personal philosophy, that’s it. The short version of it is that, “There’s always a way.” The longer version, which Teddy Roosevelt said far more eloquently, is “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” I try not to let anybody else see it, but I think it’s a reminder that it’s always good to take a chance.

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Alissa Krinsky is a contributing editor to TVNewser.

Michael Calderone’s name is a familiar one to New York media watchers. The longtime New York Observer columnist spent three years at the salmon-colored newspaper — where, before handling real estate and media beats for the NYO, he started off as an intern. Most notably, Calderone scored an infamous interview with the Washington Post‘s Howard Kurtz and regularly covered a number of high-profile stories relating to the magazine and newspaper industries both for the print paper and their “The Media Mob” blog.

But Calderone made the move to DC. In October 2007, he announced that he was joining The Politico as a political media reporter. One of 2007’s most successful media launches, the DC-based newspaper was founded in time to cover the most exciting presidential race in thirty years. The Politico is one of the few sites we can think of that has been praised by both Bill Clinton and Bill O’Reilly. Founded by ex-Washington Posters John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei, the paper varies its issue release schedule as events warrant, with additional content posted daily to their Web site. We caught up with Calderone in a few conversations while he was on the road covering the caucuses and primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire to discuss New York vs. D.C., Politico.com vs. the Observer, and media reporting vs. political reporting.

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Name: Michael Calderone
Position: Media reporter; Politico.com
Resume: Started at Politico in November 2007 after three years at the New York Observer, most recently covering the media; previously a researcher at Artforum and Bookforum; freelance writer for several publications, including The Fader, Nylon, and ARTnews
Birthdate: October 27, 1979
Hometown: South Plainfield, NJ
Education: Rutgers University, B.A. in English; New York University, M.A in Journalism
Marital status: Single
First section of the Sunday Times: I always scan the A1 stories as soon as I pick it up. But the first section I get into is Week in Review, working backwards from the opinion pages. I won’t say how quickly after that I get to the wedding pages in Styles.
Favorite television show: Like every other person working in media in 2008, I’m obsessed with The Wire. Also excited for Lost, even if there are only eight episodes in the can due to the WGA strike.
Last book read: It was a Chekhov book called A Journey to the End of the Russian Empire. That might sound pretentious, but it was a very thin travel book, not one of the 19th-century Russian doorstops.

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What is a typical day like on the job?

I’m sure that it’s not too much different from many reporters and, sadly, it’s not as adventurous as reporting from Baghdad. But here goes: On the way to work, I usually pick up three or four daily papers to both get started with my day and to do my part in keeping the newspaper industry afloat (or at least to counteract reporting on dwindling circulation numbers). To cover the media, I still think it’s important to try and read the hard copies. But I keep up with media and political news online during the day, and make lots of phone calls — whether running through a publication’s masthead to confirm a short item or having longer talks with editors and producers to get more insight. There’s lunch and drinks with sources on occasion, and of course, writing. Shorter pieces are usually done in the office with the help of my iPod. For longer, more nuanced articles, I prefer to write from home.

What qualities do you think are most important for political and media reporters?

For media reporters, I suggest to block out of your mind that the people you’re writing about could be future employers or colleagues. It’s not relevant to the reporting task at hand, and if you are accurate and ethical, I believe that folks will understand that you have a job to do. And while it’s also important to be critical of the industry’s prospects, you have to try to avoid the all-too-familiar-pattern of seeing doom and gloom in everything these days. Of course the media industry’s not in the best shape, and it is sad to keep reporting on foreign bureaus shuttering down and chopping resources. But with the shift to the Web, it’s a transformative time as well.

Since I am not a political reporter — and can’t claim to have authority on the subject — I’ll just offer a couple suggestions from what I noticed on the campaign trail. While it’s easy to give better treatment to a candidate when there’s lots of access, political reporters need to remain skeptical at all times. I think that most still do, but that even includes the hour laughing with John McCain on the Straight Talk Express. Also, if New Hampshire taught anything, it’s to beware of the bubble!

“I don’t expect you’d keep talented journalists around if they were forced to report through a partisan filter.”

You were in Iowa and New Hampshire covering the caucuses and primaries. What was the experience of covering them like?

Before I left for Iowa, I was fishing for campaign press stories, and every reporter I had contacted just said to go out there and see for myself. And it was incredible to try and take in the fact that the entire media apparatus relocated out to Des Moines, and later Manchester. For someone who makes their living covering these personalities, it could be more than a little disorienting. Look, it’s Tim Russert! There’s David Brooks! Not to mention the fact that I had a few encounters with journalists I’d written about or emailed but never met in person. So that kept things interesting.

How are reporters keeping themselves busy during the downtime covering the caucuses and primaries? Was there a lot of downtime?

Well, there’s always drinking. But seriously, it’s not exactly Hunter Thompson-style fear and loathing on the campaign trail. Part of the reason, I think, is that reporters these days are filing so much copy throughout the day online, and the fact that they are also connected back home via BlackBerry. Sometimes you’re on a bus for 12 hours a day, which makes it harder to escape on the trail. In Des Moines, the New York and Washington crowds often filtered into the same handful of bars and restaurants at night. But even during downtime, reporters compare notes, and endlessly handicap the race — even at New Year’s parties.

For those unfamiliar with the Politico, how would you describe it?

Politico is a multi-platform, print and Web publication that covers politics, with exhaustive reporting on the 2008 Presidential race and the various levers of power and personalities in Washington D.C., whether in Congress, media, or lobbying. The print edition is generally published three times a week when Congress is in session, but it is distributed down here (in the Washington D.C. area). So even if New Yorkers are unable to get a paper copy, the Web site is constantly updated with breaking news stories, video, and blogs.

As a staff reporter, what does your beat cover?

I report on political media, with a focus on election coverage.

Some have accused the Politico as having a right-wing bias. Do you think there is any truth to that?

Definitely not. And I don’t expect you’d keep talented journalists around if they were forced to report through a partisan filter.

Before joining the Politico, you reported on media for the New York Observer. What have the biggest differences been in covering media in Washington vs. New York?

For one thing, I don’t have to worry about the stupid things I say at parties winding up on Gawker. But the main difference is that my focus here has narrowed to political media and examining the interplay of campaigns and the press. That’s definitely a change from covering the glitzy magazine industry in Manhattan — I haven’t been to a Radar party in ages! Not to mention that my Us Weekly comp subscription hasn’t made it down to D.C. as of yet.

A number of your stories deal with New York media pillars like The Wall Street Journal. What is it like covering New York while living in Washington?

At the Observer, I covered Dean Baquet leaving the Los Angeles Times, buyouts at the Boston Globe, and squabbles at The New Republic, all while writing from a bullpen in the Flatiron district. It is better to be closer to sources at times, but you can still break news remotely simply with a phone and computer.

What do you think of Jared Kushner’s work at the Observer?

Well, I know Jared works very hard because whenever I came into the office on Sunday afternoons, he was always there. Since arriving, a lot has changed: the broadsheet morphed into a tabloid and the Web site was redesigned. And unlike most owners, Jared has actually increased the paper’s editorial staff — which is a very good thing. But I’ve been away, so I will have to wait for Isaiah Wilner’s upcoming piece in New York piece to find out what is going on at the Observer now.

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Neal Ungerleider is co-editor of FishbowlNY.

Name:
Howard Polskin
Position:
Senior vice president, communications & events, Magazine Publishers of America
Resume:
Sr. VP MPA, 2004-present; vice president, corporate communications Sony Corp. of America, 2000-2003; vice president, public relations CNN: 1994-99; vice president communications Turner Entertainment Group, 1993-94; staff writer, NY bureau TV Guide, 1983-1992
Birthdate:
Ask my twin sister Emily in Boston. She never forgets a family member’s birthday.
Hometown:
Raised in North Plainfield, NJ. Live in Manhattan
Education:
“Graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications, where I am currently an active member of the Advisory Board.”
Marital status:
Married with two daughters
First section of the Sunday Times:
Book review
Favorite television show:
Mad Men
Guilty pleasures:
Watching MTV’s Real World. Drilling into YouTube to find videos of Wheaten Terriers. (“I’ve got a Wheatie…and don’t get me started about discussing him, because I’ve turned into one of those crazy dog people who can talk for hours about their pet). There are hundreds of videos and I’ve posted some of my dog.”
Last book read:
“Eagle Pond, by Donald Hall, the country’s 14th Poet Laureate. The book features evocative essays of his life on a pond in a remote corner of New Hampshire where I went to camp as a youngster. I remember the pond as rust-colored, lily-pad-choked, and full of awful blood-sucking leeches but he makes it seem like the most magnificent body of water in America. He can really put pen to paper and make it sing.”

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Describe the scope of your role at MPA.

I have three main functions. I oversee the communications team at MPA, which is responsible for all internal and external communications. We are vigilant about keeping our Web site chock full of new and original content including video. I oversee the events department, which produces several major events during the year including the upcoming American Magazine Conference (AMC) at the end of this month. That’s our biggie. But as I write this, I am getting emails about our Feb. 27 digital conference and our Lifetime Achievement Awards luncheon on Jan. 30. And my role also extends to the Information Service department, which oversees our Web site, handles member inquiries, and generally serves as a vast information-collection and distribution point for our industry.

What drew you to the more print-focused organization originally, since you’d previously worked at various organizations centered around broadcast (CNN, Turner, etc.)?

First of all, I am media neutral. The platform is irrelevant. I love content as well as companies and organizations that are involved with content. And I bought into Nina Link’s vision [president and CEO of MPA] of where the industry was headed and what MPA’s role would be in getting to that place. She helped stoke my digital fires.

How did you view MPA at the time of your hire, versus where it’s at now? What were your key goals and objectives when joining the organization?

The magazine industry — and indeed all of media — were in a much different place then even though it’s only been a little more than three years. I loved magazines and I loved the content they created. I wanted to get magazines the attention they deserved.

A major consideration for MPA has been how magazines are handling the extension of their brand across more media platforms than ever before — online, mobile, TV/radio, books, and more. What effect do you see this having on the industry as a whole?

I think the magazine industry is in the midst of a tremendous creative blossoming. Think of it. You have magazines hiring video producers. Editors are dashing off to sound booths to record podcasts. Writers are turning into video stars. The weekly or monthly relationship that magazines used to have with their communities is being enhanced with a 24/7 always-on connection. The future is being invented today. There are no boundaries. If you’ve got a great brand like most magazines, you’re already on third base.

I also don’t like to argue with [AMC conference chair/Men’s Health editor-in-chief Dave] Zinczenko because he’s very fit and he looks like he could bench-press a Cadillac.

You’ve got the AMC conference kicking off in Boca Raton this Sunday. Describe the theme this year, and how it was selected.

The theme is “The MagaBrand Revolution.” Our conference chairman [Men’s Health editor-in-chief] David Zinczenko coined the term, so he deserves all the credit. At first, I pushed back because I didn’t understand what he meant by MagaBrand. But he described it as “a magazine that’s found a way to extend the power of its brand beyond the printed periodical — into realms like “old” media (books, newsstand specials, television, radio); “new” media (podcasts, Webcasts, cellcasts, e-newsletters); even non-media (nightclubs, restaurants, tour operations, fashion lines, retail products, conventions, big-cause crusades, hotels, and casinos).”

And that won me over because it perfectly outlined the opportunities for magazines brands in 2007. I also don’t like to argue with [AMC conference chair/Men’s Health editor-in-chief Dave] Zinczenko because he’s very fit and he looks like he could bench-press a Cadillac.

What’s your take on what magazines should be doing more of to ensure they’re maximizing these opportunities?

Magazines have been expanding aggressively onto other platforms that David Zinczenko has mentioned: old media, new media, and non media. We’ll be spotlighting those initiatives at the conference. But the consumer should be at the center of whatever the MagaBrand does. That’s the way to maximize the opportunities.

How do this year’s sessions/keynotes articulate this ‘Magabrand’ idea? What were the criteria in selecting speakers and panelists tied to this theme?

Most of the speakers and panels address the MagaBrand theme in some way. The AMC planning committee felt it was important to bring together an eclectic assortment of thought leaders who could address the challenges and opportunities that magazines are facing.

How far ahead of the conference does planning begin?

Conference planning begins about a year in advance. At the AMC in Phoenix last year, 20 minutes after the conference ended, I walked into my office there, closed the door, and placed a call to the person who I wanted to keynote this year.

MPA puts together an AMC organizing committee and we meet formally beginning about nine months in advance. We focus on keynote speakers, themes, and panels. For this conference, it was apparent very early on that the committee wanted speakers and panels focusing on digital, measurement, editorial, and the 2008 presidential election.

How has the conference evolved since you’ve been at MPA, and how are you and your team shaping it to better meet the needs of MPA’s constituency?

We’ve noticed that attendees want more information packed into a shorter program. We’ve cut AMC from a three-night event to a two-night event. We’re starting earlier on Sunday. This year, we begin the conference Sunday with People‘s Larry Hackett interviewing former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow. We eliminated down-time and activities like golfing and tennis. Our attendees like to network so we created a networking dinner for our second night where they can graze amongst food stations featuring food prepared by three renowned chefs who are associated with three publishers.

Next year, we’re trying something different — AMC in a major American city. We’ll be in San Francisco. You can bet we’ll leverage our proximity to Silicon Valley to get great speakers who’ll add a ton of digital flavoring.

You’ve been blogging on MPA’s site, and have a series of Web pages devoted to the conference. How did this come to pass? It appears that you’re the only one posting there. How are you liking the blogging?

My staff pushed me. I think they’re trying to kill me. We have a mandate here to put as much content online as possible in whatever form. That’s part of Nina Link’s vision. That’s why we’ve had video from Coastal Living, a David Zinczenko welcome video, and a Zinio version of the Coastal Living Guide to Boca Raton.

I wish there were more postings on my blog. But then again…what blogger doesn’t wish for that? I love blogging. It’s so immediate and personal. But it’s like having a hungry farm animal. If you don’t feed it every day, it dies.

The session of last year’s event that was a runaway success, by most accounts, was the sit-down between Barack Obama and David Remnick. Did the response surprise you? Which of this year’s speakers or sessions will come closest to commanding that kind of attention?

Remnick+Obama=Magic. That’s as simple as 1+1=2. But it’s hard to predict what’s going to draw the biggest headlines. It’s a live show. You never know what’s going to fall out of someone’s mouth that will draw attention.

Last year’s meeting was in Arizona, this year it’s Florida. Does sticking to warm-weather locales improve attendance?

There are many factors that go into boosting attendance. We always try to have our conferences in an interesting location and we like to move them around. That’s why next year we’ll be in San Francisco.

What are you most looking forward to about this year’s event? What’s the first thing you’ll you do when it’s all over?

This year’s AMC has absolutely consumed my life for the last two months. At this point, I’m most looking forward to Oct. 31. But 20 minutes after this AMC ends, I’ll be placing a call to a magical keynote speaker who I think will be great for next year in San Francisco.

It never ends…

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Rebecca L. Fox is mediabistro.com managing editor, features.

The most matriculating students typically hope for is one job fresh out of school, but recent grad Amanda Nachman quickly wound up with two: a full-time consulting gig and her labor of love, newly-launched College magazine. Created to arm college students with essential info on topics from picking a major to selecting a spring break destination, Nachman created a business plan and shepherded College into existence. With herself at the helm as editor-in-chief, she and a cast of volunteer contributors and similarly dedicated staffers helped her vision reach the page. She spoke with mediabistro.com about how she toggles between her day job at an Arlington, VA, consulting firm and the magazine she hopes to expand into new markets with every issue. Since many of us have those pet projects we wish we had more time for, we got her to tell us what devoting all your spare time to your dream media project really entails, and got her tips on doing it yourself.

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When and how did you first come up with the idea for College Magazine?
The summer of my junior year in college I realized how much I loved working for magazines. I contributed to quite a few, including Terp, the University of Maryland’s Alumni publication. I remember thinking that it would be great if there were something like Terp but for undergrads. To my knowledge, there weren’t many magazines targeted specifically towards students. Being a college student myself, I knew everyone had tons of questions on their mind from choosing a major to choosing a spring break destination and so I thought of College Magazine, advice and shared experiences on college life issues written by students.

What else were you doing at the time, work-wise?
I was interning at Washington Spaces magazine, a luxury home design publication, and the University of Maryland Alumni Association. Both inspired me to join the magazine industry.

What was your work situation as you crafted plans and produced College Magazine‘s first issue?
I was finishing up my senior year of college and then, after graduation, I had a little over a month free to focus on the magazine before starting my full time job.

Describe the creation/ development of your business plan. What were its primary objectives, and if you received any assistance with it, who helped you and how exactly did they assist you in creating it?
I started the business plan as part of a class project for an entrepreneurial course at the University of Maryland. Two classmates helped to write the distribution and financial model sections. Overall, the business plan includes the goals for the magazine, advertising model, the media kit, plans for distribution and marketing, and our financial projections. We plan to grow the magazine’s circulation and distribution from a regional to a national level by expanding to more campuses. And as we increase the number of issues per year, we plan to increase the amount of content and advertising. The business plan also lists our ultimate goal, to provide scholarships to college students. As the magazine materialized, I further shaped the business plan with the help of on-campus advisors from the business school’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship.

What is your ‘day job,’ and what are its time constraints (i.e. how many hours/ days per week are you on the clock?)
I work full time for a large consulting firm in Arlington, Virginia.

Is your full-time employer aware of your work on College? If so, how do they feel about it? If not, why not, and how do you think they’d react? (Why exactly is it important to you that you keep your day job separate from the magazine? How does that separation aid you in both endeavors?)
I had a conversation with my employer and he was actually very impressed with the idea. I explained that I had started College Magazine and that I continue to work on it during non business hours. But overall, it’s important to me that I keep my day job and the magazine separate. The magazine and my day job fall into two different industries so it isn’t difficult to keep them apart from one another. Separating them allows me to organize my time and fully focus on the magazine after the workday ends.

How did you find time to produce College Magazine while working full time?
It’s difficult, I work evenings and weekends and practically every spare moment I have. On long drives I’ll make calls to advertisers, and before bed I’ll e-mail our media kit to businesses. Even on metro rides I take an article with me to edit. I’m passionate about the magazine so I make the time; it’s ultimately what I want to do with my life.

When did you work on it, and how did you get people to collaborate with you during those particular times?
On weekends I hold editorial meetings with our editors Matthew Castner and Maureen McHugh and other members of our editorial staff. During weeknights I meet with Janine Osif, our graphic designer, and every other week I meet with the ad sales team. We also have phone meetings and communicate through e-mail. And for organizing content we use our very own online workflow network, created by Chris Testa, our web coordinator. This network allows for uploading edited versions of articles and new photography. We are also able to assign articles to other team members to keep the flow of the editing process.

I work evenings and weekends and practically every spare moment I have… I’m passionate about the magazine so I make the time; it’s ultimately what I want to do with my life.

Your staff is volunteer-based. How were you able to get them to work for free? What incentives did you offer?
It’s actually not entirely volunteer-based. Some team members are compensated by a combination of equity shares in the business and commission on advertising sales. For writers and photographers, the incentive lies in exposure and the opportunity to gain clips for their portfolios.

Do you intend to compensate them at any point?
In the future, the plan is to compensate the core team and to keep with our business plan, content will continue to be generated by students on a volunteer basis.

What’s next for College Magazine? Are you at work on a second issue? Is it with all the same staffers you used first time around? How does producing this issue compare to producing the previous issue — are any aspects easier or more difficult?
We hope to launch our web site and newsletter in the very near future while working on increasing the number of issues per year. Currently, we’re creating our second issue due for distribution February 18th with the same staffers plus some additional members since we’ve grown from the first issue. We have learned a lot from the first issue, so the second time has been easier in some respects. But now more expectations and pressures exist from advertisers to provide a return on their advertising dollars. There is also the pressure to expand distribution and grow the magazine’s readership.

Ultimately, what is your top professional goal? Do you aim to remain on the career path your day job has you on, or do you intend to make College or other magazine work your full-time vocation?
Currently, I’m dedicated and committed to my full time job. My passion lies with the magazine as well as publishing; eventually, that’s where I see myself.

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Tips on balancing full-time work with an all-encompassing media project:
1) Don’t fly solo.
“Have a strong support team in place,” Nachman says. “Find talent in others that will compliment your talents and delegate work accordingly.”
2) Have a plan.
It’s important to set objectives and try to meet them. “Establish a business plan to fall back on with realistic deadlines that you’ll stick to,” says Nachman.
3) Open your mind.
“Be open to other’s ideas because you can’t always have all the answers,” Nachman says.
4) Know where you stand.
Nachman advises,”Have knowledge of and passion for the industry you are in so that your business becomes a positive experience in your life.”

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[Rebecca L. Fox is mediabistro.com’s managing editor.]

In her 20s, Michelle Goodman left her desk job and launched a freelance career with just one client. 15 years later, she’s built a successful business and authored a book on the topic, The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube, along the way. Below, she tells us how to become a homepreneur and offers advice for other women hoping to “flee the cube.”

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You offer up various scenarios for women who want to “flee the cube” in some capacity. Before we get to the “dos,” what are the major “don’t”s or biggest problems you see beginning freelancers make concerning money?

Tricking out their office with the latest gadgets and gizmos before they really need (or can afford) them. Neglecting to save up some sort of nest egg before they quit their day job. Failing to cultivate a fallback skill or secure a part-time job that isn’t necessarily their first choice of work but will keep food on the table while they get their name out there and build up their business. Assuming that they’ll be able to fill their schedule overnight. Not having an escape plan (i.e., “If this doesn’t work, I know I can get a temp job testing software or proofreading legal texts or walking dogs…”). Putting all their eggs in one basket and feeling hurt and surprised and anxious if/when that client dries up. Failing to market themselves or learn their way around running a business at the outset. Thinking they can get by without befriending other freelancers to bounce ideas off of, even ideas about how much to charge or what to do when your dream client suddenly morphs into Clientzilla.

You talk in the book about setting rates and “knowing your bottom line.” I was once offered a rate from a certain magazine, which sounded good to me, and I agreed, only to find that a friend had been offered the same rate, insisted that her usual fee was twice that, and got it on the spot. How early on in your freelance career should you start asking for more money and what’s the best approach to take?

That’s an interesting tale because it sounds like you never would have thought to ask for more had your friend not spilled the beans. I think you should start asking for more money as soon as you find yourself in the position of being offered a rate below what other editors or publications are paying you. Because if publication A is paying you $1/ word and publication B is paying you $.50/ word, you lose 50 percent of your potential earning power each time you write for publication B. That said, you should have an idea of what a publication pays before you do ask for more.

To ask for more money, couch your request in language like, “You know I love writing for you and think your publication rocks, but I’m in the tough position of being offered twice as much money to write for all my other editors [or clients]. Any chance you can come up in price? I’d like to keep working with you, but I have to wear my business hat, too.” Subtext: Eventually, dear editor, you’re going to lose me if you don’t show me the money.

How should a freelance writer go about setting their rates, and how much consideration should be given to the generally accepted going rate of a given publication?

Setting your rates doesn’t come into play quite as much when you’re publishing articles as it does when you’re writing and editing commercial copy. With the former, you start at the highest rung of publication that will have you and you work your way up from there. With the latter, you pore over a guide like The Writer’s Market and talk to other freelancers to see what price someone of your experience level and skill can command. A great book I like to recommend to commercial freelance writers is Laurie Lewis’ What to Charge: Pricing Strategies for Freelancers and Consultants.

Two of the most important skills a homepreneur can have are the ability to crack her own whip and the ability to sell herself.

If you’re new to freelancing and new to a particular publication, you’ll often need to honor that market’s going rate, unless of course it’s well below the rate you’re getting for all your other articles and publications. If you’ve done your time with that publication and it’s paying you well below what your other markets pay, I’d ask for more or move on. You can’t afford to sell yourself short forever. That said, there are times when it’s worthwhile to work at a lower rate than you normally command — for example, when the market or assignment is high profile despite not having quite the budget you’re used to. These gigs can often lead to plum assignments from other (bigger and better) publications, and sometimes, book deals, as has happened to a number of writers I know.

You offer “seven habits of highly effective homepreneurs,” including marking your territory, pimping your virtual office, and pressing the flesh.

Two of the most important skills a homepreneur or home-based freelancer can have are the ability to crack her own whip (stay disciplined and crank through her projects, despite the 879 distractions the home office affords) and the ability to sell herself. A lot of people tell me they “suck at marketing” or they “never have time for marketing.” To that I say marketing is just telling people what you can do and how you can make their life easier. An email introducing yourself to a new editor, a Web page that displays your recent clips so editors can find you online, a little face time at a quarterly networking event — all this falls under the heading of “marketing.” And to those who “don’t have the time” I say make it because marketing will boost your career. Just build researching new markets, pitching new editors, and meeting one new writer you admire every couple of months into your schedule, even if you only allot one hour a week for it. Otherwise, how else are you going to move on up the freelance food chain?

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Four Things To Know Before Embarking On A Freelance Life
1) Your finances will fluctuate
“It’s okay to not make the same amount of money every month, season, or even year,” Goodman says.
2) Split your time between well-paying corporate gigs and less lucrative projects.
“The longer I live this crazy freelance life, the more I become the person who works her ass off for three to six months to stockpile enough money to finance some ‘time off’ so I can then focus on less lucrative writing projects for a significant stretch of time.”
3) Early on, don’t shy away from temp work.

“It’s easier to make more money temping because you eliminate the need for all those unpaid hours spent marketing, invoicing, and generally wheeling and dealing,” says Goodman.
4) If work gets tight, return to past employers.
“I do have a big enough freelance contact base that I can usually scrounge up infinite work if I spend a couple weeks making calls and hustling.”

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Rachel Kramer Bussel is a writer, editor, and blogger.

To celebrate mediabistro.com’s 10th anniversary, we spoke with our Golden Boa honorees about their achievements in media. Check back throughout the week for Hey How’d You Do That features showcasing these media pros.

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As international business and economics correspondent for NPR, Adam Davidson’s work has taken him from southeast Asia to the Middle East. Though he didn’t originally intend to go into radio, he’s become an NPR staple: in addition to NPR’s newscasts, his stories can be heard on Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Day to Day (and he’s gotten to write for some magazines, too).

We got him to describe the behind-the-scenes challenges and rewards of chasing international stories for radio. Like print and television, Davidson says, “at the end of the day, a radio story is only as good as the story.”

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You’ve been an NPR correspondent since 2004 — what got you into radio?

An accident. I was planning to write for magazines in New York. I had a couple internships lined up. I liked listening to the radio, but had no thoughts of working in radio. And then, as a senior in college I met someone who was interning at the local public radio station, WBEZ. She told me the internship was fun. I applied, got it, and was hooked right away.

In what ways do the technical aspects of your job make your work different from what print journalists do?

When I work on a print story, I’m always amazed at how little I have to carry. Just a pen and a reporters’ notebook. For radio, I need a large digital recorder, a big mic, headphones, lots of extra cords and batteries. It’s certainly nothing like the stuff TV guys need, but it’s a lot to keep track of.

Also, I feel like you can fudge things a bit in print. I don’t mean make things up. But if you’re writing the story and you realize you forgot to ask some crucial question, you can call or email the person. But with radio, you pretty much have to have everything on tape that first time. Not always, but most of the time.

So, I find radio reporting requires more attention and focus than print reporting. But I find that actually writing a radio story is much easier than writing a print story. You listen to your tape, identify the cuts you might use, and then you just have to write [tracks] between the cuts. It’s easy — nowhere near as terrifying as staring at a blank screen and needing to structure a whole piece from your handwritten notes.

As international business and economics correspondent, you’ve reported on a wide range of international issues — how do you make far-reaching coverage accessible to a U.S. audience?

It is really hard to make some of the stuff I cover interesting — there are these big macroeconomic issues that can seem so opaque and abstract. Who cares about the current account deficit or the US-Yuan exchange rate? The first thing I try to do is the obvious reporter’s trick: try to find some person or group of people who are actually affected by whatever it is I’m covering. This is easy when traveling to another country, because I can go into the field and find the poor villager or the ambitious entrepreneur running his new factory or whatever. I can usually find someone who is funny or poignant or in some way engaging.

It’s harder when it’s a fast-breaking story. I often only have time for some quick phone interviews, usually with economists or policy analysts. These “talking heads” pieces are rough. It’s hard to get tape that is spontaneous and dramatic or even interesting. I try to solve this, in part, by building a list of experts who I know can be funny or interesting or, at the very least, clear. Also, lately I’ve been trying to do anything I can to surprise the talking head. I want to ask them something unexpected or challenge them aggressively or convince them to tell a funny story: basically to do anything so they don’t sound like a canned expert reciting some long-known piece of expertise. Radio is so boring when the person talking has said what they’re saying a million times before.

“It takes a particularly great print writer to convey an experience of destruction in a way that engages the reader. But the voice of a person, breaking with emotion, is so powerful… I don’t think anything can beat it.”

You’ve done a substantial amount of reporting from disaster zones, such as Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina and filing from Banda Aceh while living in a concrete bunker there after the 2004 tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia. How do you prepare — in both the short and long term — to cover disasters?

It is amazing to suddenly be somewhere without any of the support systems of modern life: no electricity, no medical care, no reliable water or food, nobody who can fix your car or laptop.

I’ve forced myself to learn how computers work, so I can fix problems when I’m far from any computer store. You can’t file without a working computer. I also have learned how to operate a lot of different types of satellite phone. I’ve learned how to power equipment off of car batteries — there are a lot of places where car batteries are the main source of electricity. I’ve learned to understand the basics of identifying clean water and filtering bad water. I’ve learned what to eat and what to avoid in post-disaster, developing countries, where disease is a real issue.

I’d like to learn some basic car repair. I’ve had some scary moments in the field — particularly in post-ground war Iraq — when the car I was driving wasn’t working and I was all alone in the middle of nowhere and had no idea how to fix it. I’d like to know basic first aid — I’ve been with friends when they’ve had minor injuries or illnesses, and I wish I knew better how to handle those things when medical care is nowhere around.

One great thing about covering disasters is you develop friendships with a bunch of other reporters who are likely to be around for the next one. When you get into trouble, you can call them. Whenever I am assigned to go somewhere, I’ll call my friends and see who is heading out and what they know. It’s helpful to find out about the visa situation — are they letting Americans in? Is it good or bad to say you’re a journalist at the border? Which roads are safer? Where can you find a good fixer? Is it just too dangerous to go at all? I can’t imagine going somewhere without that advanced knowledge.

People ask about preparing emotionally. I don’t find the emotion hits when you’re in the field, usually. I’m doing a job, covering a story, and I’m pretty focused. If it’s a really upsetting assignment — like the post-tsunami Banda Aceh, or Iraq — I find the emotions hit after I leave. There’s usually a week or so where I’m pretty out of it and kind of depressed. But it passes.

Since radio doesn’t give its audience visual images to accompany a story, how do you convey the direness of those events through your reportage?

Oh, I think radio is the best at conveying dire events. When you see TV images of some disaster, I think, you’re struck by the exotic, foreign, and remote nature of the image. It seems so far away and unlike your own experience. It’s impossible to feel connected to it. It takes a particularly great print writer to convey an experience of destruction in a way that engages the reader. But the voice of a person, breaking with emotion, is so powerful. It sneaks in under your defenses. You’re not distracted by what the person looks like or how other-worldly the surroundings are. You’re just hearing this human being’s emotions coming right at you. I don’t think anything can beat it.

In addition to the reporting practices shared between radio and print or TV correspondents (gathering information, sources, quotes, etc.) what else must you think about as you pursue stories, (e.g. collecting ambient noise to weave into your coverage later, keeping an eye on sound levels while interviewing, etc.)? How do you put it together (e.g. editing/using sound in a creative way to enhance your stories, etc.)?

At the end of the day, a radio story is only as good as the story. Just like print or TV or any other narrative form, you want a compelling narrative and some decent characters. So, some of the best radio does not use the most exciting sound. It’s just one voice or a few voices narrating something gripping. It can be on a lousy phone line and, if the story is good enough, it works.

But, of course, it’s ideal to have good audio. Not just for professional pride. Good audio engages the listener more and can make the narrative more complete. When I record an interview for radio, I’m paying attention in a very different way from a print interview. I’m listening not only to the content, but to the way the person says what they’re saying and to all the other sounds around: Is it lively tape? Do they sound like a real person or some automaton? Is there a loud bus driving by? Is there some better audio environment in which to conduct the interview? Sometimes people say really interesting things in a boring way that just won’t grab a listener’s attention; or they say something great, but there’s a loud and distracting air conditioner right next to them. You could use the quote in print, no matter how hostile the sound environment is, but you’d probably have to reject it for radio. Watching levels is an important skill — getting the sound not too loud or too soft. For some reason, it took me a really long time to learn how to do that well. Although with a lot of modern digital equipment you don’t have to worry about it too much.

The typical radio story has what we call “acts,” “trax” and an “ambi bed.” That means there are actualities — the cuts of tape of someone talking. Trax are the reporter reading the script. And an ambi bed is that natural sound stuff that most people notice on NPR stories — the background sound of chickens squawking or someone banging a hammer. Some highly produced shows — like This American Life or Radio Lab — use many other elements, including musical scoring. But most NPR stories have ax/trax/ambi or just ax/trax if it’s a breaking news story.

Is there anything about radio that makes it particularly well-suited to covering business/economics?

It is a real challenge covering economics on the radio. Radio is typically a lousy place to get across abstract ideas or to use a lot of numbers. It’s much easier for an audience to follow economic information if they can see something like a graph or if they can go back and review the concepts they had trouble with. I don’t know how many people can drive to work, pay attention to traffic, and truly grasp a radio story about how the Fed is concerned about growing inflation after they lowered the Fed Funds Rate by 50 basis points.

But it’s radio’s limitations that can help a reporter keep things straightforward and simple. I think radio demands directness. It’s not a great medium for dense information or obscurity or digression. I try — and don’t always succeed — to have one main point in any given story. Not two points, certainly not three. Just one main point, told as simply and clearly as possible. I try not to keep things too abstract. I try to come up with concrete examples that can give the listener something to hook on to, something to look at in their minds, to better grasp the concept. And, whenever possible, I try to tell a story, preferably a classic kind of tale of someone confronting a problem and needing a solution. So, instead of talking about the Feds Fund Rate in the abstract, I can tell the story of Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman, who has a problem: He needs to calm markets by lowering rates but he’s terrified that he’ll just spur out-of-control inflation. Admittedly, it’s not the most compelling story and won’t be getting me any movie deals. But at least there’s a person with motivation and stakes and all the things that make a narrative work.

You’ve written for The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, GQ, and Rolling Stone. How does the outlet where your work will appear affect how you report? Do you tend to write in a different style or emphasize different elements within your stories as a result of your radio experience?

I’d love to think that I have my own style that carries across mediums and different outlets. But, of course, a Harper’s story is very different from an NPR story which is different from GQ. Harper’s, generally, allows for a more writerly voice. I don’t have to worry as much about grabbing and holding on to every reader with super-dynamic prose. When I’ve written for more popular magazines, I’ve been more aware of writing shorter sentences with punchier language.

I often find that print editors — even at the more casual places — say my writing is too conversational. With radio, you really want to keep things informal and breezy. Short, simple ideas. You don’t even need full sentences. That’s gotten me into trouble at some places.

If someone’s interested in doing work like yours, what are the most important things for them to know/keep in mind?

Public radio is remarkably easy to enter. Just about every local public radio station has lots of openings for eager folks happy to work hard for little or no money. When I started, I spent two years working full-time before I made anything approaching a sad, little living wage. I just went more and more in debt. But it was a wonderful time, because at a young age I was able to do so much: fresh out of college and I was picking who and what would go out on the radio. It was thrilling.

So, step one is to just get in the door. It’s much easier to go to a local station than to NPR directly. When you get to a station, you see that there are lots of different jobs you might not have known about. There are audio engineers, show producers, hosts, newscasters, field reporters, and then all the folks in fundraising and audience outreach. Some people just want to be on air, others like making the shows run from behind the scenes.

Step two would be developing the right skills. If you want to report, you should learn how to handle the equipment and get good levels, how to edit audio on a computer. It’s a great idea to just force yourself to put together little radio stories. I recommend starting small: three-, four-minute pieces. They can be newsy or a profile of some weird person.

These days, there are so many great resources for aspiring radio people. Transom.org is great. There are a lot of resources at airmedia.org or prx.org. And, of course, mediabistro.com.

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Tips on Breaking Into Radio
1) Learn the technology.
“If you want to report, you should learn how to handle the equipment and get good levels, how to edit audio on a computer. It’s a great idea to just force yourself to put together little radio stories,” Davidson says.
2) Keep it simple.
“It’s not a great medium for dense information or obscurity or digression. I try — and don’t always succeed — to have one main point in any given story. Not two points, certainly not three. Just one main point, told as simply and clearly as possible.”
3) Get good ears.

“When I record an interview for radio, I’m paying attention in a very different way from a print interview. I’m listening not only to the content, but to the way the person says what they’re saying and to all the other sounds around: Is it lively tape? Do they sound like a real person or some automaton? Is there a loud bus driving by? Is there some better audio environment in which to conduct the interview? Sometimes people say really interesting things in a boring way that just won’t grab a listener’s attention; or they say something great, but there’s a loud and distracting air conditioner right next to them,” says Davidson.
4) Get your foot in the door.
“It’s much easier to go to a local station than to NPR directly. When you get to a station, you see that there are lots of different jobs you might not have known about.”

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Tracy Bratten is a graduate student in journalism at New York University and an intern at mediabistro.com. She has previously interned with the CBS Evening News and OK!. She lives in Manhattan and can be reached at tracy DOT bratten AT gmail.com.

To celebrate mediabistro.com’s 10th anniversary, we spoke with our Golden Boa honorees about their achievements in media. Check back throughout the week for Hey How’d You Do That features showcasing these media pros.

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In 1995 Craig Newmark began sending an email newsletter to his friends and acquaintances featuring technology events in the San Francisco area. After a few months, the newsletter expanded to include jobs and products. Soon, the list grew too large, and he moved the venture online. A dozen years later, Craigslist exists in almost 500 cities, receives billion of page views a month, and has been blamed for the decline of the newspaper classified business.

Newmark’s focus on customer service is at the center of Craigslist. He continues to help the network’s faithful “at least six hours per day, every day,” although he hopes to soon work in customer service on a part-time basis. We spoke with Newmark about his forays into the net, the success of Libertarian Internet entrepreneurs, and his role as “customer service representative.”

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How would you say you’ve gotten to where you are?

A happy accident.

What are the key elements of your success?

Useful social dysfunction, including following through with commitments.

Did you think about the community aspect of Craigslist when you began? Did you anticipate that a robust community of craigslisters would emerge?

I didn’t have a clue, just did what felt right.

It seems sometimes that everyone on the Web who’s achieved some success is a Libertarian. Is there something about that philosophy that is encouraged by Web business?

There are different flavors of libertarianism, but my take is that its
core values are “treat people like you want to be treated” and “live
and let live”, which works for most humans.

Craigslist seems like an ideal Libertarian community. Your thoughts?

I don’t think we’re an ideal anything, but we do a pretty good job regarding the values I just cited.

How much time do you devote to Craigslist on a daily basis?

I probably average at least six hours per day, every day. I’m trying to get below full time customer service.

What’s a typical day like for you?

Get up, customer service. Coffee at Reverie, maybe see friends. Customer service at the office. Customer service at home. Dinner, might go out, see friends, TV, read, music.

What do you do to relax? What excites your legendarily “dry” sense of humor?

What is “relax”? (I enjoy) smart comedy, like Stewart/Colbert, or shows like Simpsons, 30 Rock, and Dilbert. A little snark now and then is very good.

Tell our readers a little about the Craig Newmark memorial latrine in Jericho.

I figure that people of good will gotta give others a break. Microfinance and efforts like my own, that’s just a little bit, but helps. In this case, ANERA.org got the high school done, then Hamas won elections and funding was cut. We’ve all recently been encouraged by both Israeli and US governments to do this kind of stuff.

Newspaper print ads have been on decline for some time now. You’ve said that newspapers should focus on better Web sites, and not be publicly traded with Wall Street pressure of 10 or 20 percent profit margins. Any other advice you could give to print newspapers? They really need the help.

This needs a long essay, which I’m not qualified to give. In short: Speak truth to power, and hire more investigative reporters, and do better fact checking.

What was it like being on [The Daily Show with] Jon Stewart? Both of you, in a way, derive your success from the business and ethical failures of the mainstream media.

It was fun, since I admire his sense of humor and intelligence. My girlfriend and I watch every episode.

Speed is a big part of your success. Craigslist operates in real time, while newspapers — which, arguably, are the competition — lag behind. “Fast,” I’ve noticed, is a virtue to you. How important is speed to Craigslist, and to you?

Sometimes, you gotta be fast so you don’t waste the time of others.

You have said “My exit strategy for customer service is death.” How much serious customer service do you do at Craigslist?

Still doing customer service full-time, but I really, really want to
bring that down to half-time in the foreseeable future.

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Tips for creating a vibrant, trustworthy online community:
1) Be prepared to spend a lot of time dealing with customers
Newmark still spends at least six hours a day on craigslist-related customer service issues
2) Stay true to your roots
If it ran ads or charged for more than a few categories of postings, Craigslist could make millions of dollars a year. Newmark has chosen not to, ensuring independence and keeping with his site’s original philosophy of openness and community.
3) Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself
As Newmark says, “A little snark now and then is very good.”

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Ron Mwangaguhunga is a FishbowlNY blogger.

Welcome to our new series, “Hey, How’d You Do That?” walking you through how those in the media industry navigated key professional junctures, achieved career-making coups, tackled spur-of-the-moment scenarios and made the decisions that furthered their work. In this first installment, we asked novelist Lynn Harris: How did you self-publish a book, then use it to land a deal with a major publisher for your second title?

Miss Media, my first novel, was set in 1999 during the dot-com gold rush and all the concomitant millennial angst. In the book, our heroine (Lola Somerville) pursued her hunch that women’s media giant Ovum, Inc. (and Ovum.com, complete with 24-hour juice bar, free sushi, and co-ed Ally McBathrooms) was controlled by forces far more powerful than even incompetence. Here’s the thing: I (my devoted agent) tried to sell it in 2002, when the gold rush was over. So publishers didn’t want it — though they did say lots of nice things — because, they said, it felt “dated.” The dot-com frenzy was over, but not over enough to be nostalgic or “retro” as subject matter. So ironically, it was “dated” because it was too early. (A handful of books set at the same time have just come out.)

Sometimes the noble thing to do is to put a well-done, but done, project in a drawer and never look back. But sometimes the noble thing to do is to not give up, even if that involves moving to Plan B. Or Plan R. I really, REALLY believed in the book, and not just because, you know, I wrote it. I truly did think the book had commercial potential beyond any ax-grinding of my own; I’d worked hard to make sure of that in the writing process.

And so I turned to Plan R, which was self-publishing. I was impressed with iUniverse’s presentation on their Web site. It was very thorough and professional and respectable, not hokey or, like, “Writers-to-be! Publish poetry about your cat here and receive a free box of stationery with a typewriter graphic!” Totally the opposite. So I went with them, and — despite the fact that it was Plan R — felt very good about the experience in and of itself.

The book did fine. Of course, I had to do all and any PR myself. This was a LOT of work. They say that any author winds up doing most of her own PR, but this was really ALL my own; writing the press release, mailing review copies. And I did manage to get some good [press]. But I did not have one of those stories you hear about authors driving cross-country selling books out of their hatchback and finally hitting the big-time. I do not have a hatchback: I hit the medium-time. I also ran into snobbery about self-publishing, which made me feel pretty bad… but also redoubled my resolve to make the next [book publishing experience] different.

After Miss Media, I wanted to get a fresh start with a new agent. I basically asked all my friends, my friends with good book deals, if they’d mind referring me to theirs. This also gave me incentive to focus on finishing a partial manuscript for the book, because agents don’t necessarily take you on as, like, a person — they are more likely to take you on for a particular project.

So I was thisclose to working with Agent A when Agent B called out of the blue after seeing a piece I’d written [for] Nerve and asked if I was looking for representation. I met with her and felt we clicked. Plus, it was sort of the literary version of The Rules: I was impressed that she sought me out — obviously, she liked my writing, which is an important start — and, in the bigger picture, that she was the kind of agent who was aggressive and charge-taking and on the lookout. (Of course, she was also probably looking to expand her roster, but who isn’t? Point is, I liked the way she did it.) And, fortunately, I did have a partial manuscript to show her; double fortunately, she liked it. So we agreed to work together.

Then I set about finishing — as she suggested — half of my novel manuscript and outlining, chapter by chapter, the rest of it. When she sent it out to publishers, I did not realize my dream of inciting a bidding war. But Berkely/Penguin came through with an okay deal and a lot of enthusiasm, so there it was.

Lynn Harris is an author, essayist, commentator, and award-winning journalist. Her brand-new book is the satirical novel Death By Chick Lit, whose prequel, Miss Media, was hailed by New York magazine as a “sharp, smart satire.” She is also co-creator, with Chris Kalb, of award-winning Web site BreakupGirl.net.

Rebecca L. Fox is mediabistro.com’s managing features editor. She can be reached at: rebecca AT mediabistro DOT com