Last year, Steve Huff earned his investigative stripes writing about the secret web lives of Joseph Duncan, a murderer and child molester in Indiana. Along with an army of other obsessive, intelligent crime writers, Huff combed the Internet for alternative screen names, disguised photographs, and blogger sites that the escaped killer left behind. Since Duncan's arrest, Huff has written crime articles, cultivated his website and reader-base, appeared on as an expert on news programs, and begun work on his own fiction.
For playing a pioneering role in crime writing, I picked Huff to participate in my deceptively simple feature: Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing.
Disclaimer: While I can't imagine why children would read The Publishing Spot, this edition is not for children, as many of these links reference grim material...
Jason Boog:
Could you describe your favorite case that you worked on with your blog? How many hours of research did you spend? Who did you interact with? What happened?
Steve Huff:
Favorite is a hard word to use for crime-blogging. I would say that for engaging me consistently over a period of time was the murders of the Groene family in Coeur d'Alene, Indiana in 2005. I blogged about the story when no one knew what had happened. When Joseph Edward Duncan III was arrested in July of 2005, Shasta Groene rescued— that story became huge. I have, at this point, spent an uncounted number of hours researching that case, in part due to Duncan's extensive presence online, from his weblog to a site for gay cruising where he posed in transvestite get-ups. I can tell you that one night in July I was online for about 16 hours straight putting together a good deal of info about this potential serial killer. I developed a very collegial and friendly relationship with blogger Jules Hammer, who took over the weblog to track Duncan's crimes and trials.
The Duncan case was the first blogging I did that had producers from cable networks calling me. I was a guest on Geraldo Rivera's old Fox News version of his show. From that case I began to develop contacts with other bloggers who at the time had more traffic and more of a following than I did and also with authors and journalists, as well.
I can't go into detail, but I think I can safely tell you that I may be one of many people working on a book about Duncan and the Groene murders in the coming year.
Jason Boog:
Your prose is very compelling to read. What's your advice to the fledgling writer looking to create a compelling crime blog? In general, how can a writer build a dedicated web audience like yours?
Steve Huff:
To create a compelling crime blog, examine what it was that first had you feeling compelled to read about a crime. For me, a few elements will always be found -- mystery, for one. Even if the perpetrator is behind bars, there can still be that element of mystery. Another element, a subjective one, is if there is a certain surreal, or frankly, weird side to the crime. I don't mean paranormal weird, but bizarre. The person you least expected was the killer, that sort of thing.
Abnormal psychology is a lifelong fascination of mine. A complex victim and a complex criminal. Crimes happening to people whose lives seemed safe, perhaps idealized, will also interest me. I'll give an example of a case that always fascinated me—the Zodiac Killer—endlessly fascinating and mystifying story of a serial killer who haunted the San Francisco area in the late 1960s. Zodiac taunted the press, public and police with letters and ciphers -- one of the ciphers so impenetrable that it has yet to be convincingly broken.
The BTK killer, whom we now know is Dennis Rader, a former dog catcher from Park City, KS -- very similar to Zodiac, but BTK was eventually caught, in February of 2005. The murder of JonBenet Ramsey is an interesting case, in part because her death may have sparked true crime tracking across the Internet in a big way.
To build a dedicated web audience, be a dedicated writer. That's the hard part. This isn't for the lazy, writing-wise. And balance being careful with flying by the seat of your pants. I've speculated like crazy about some news stories I covered and been embarrassingly wrong -- but on balance, I've usually been right, or close to right -- those kept me going.
To really get a dedicated readership, kick your own research skills into gear -- I cannot emphasize that enough -- do NOT rely on the mainstream media for your sources entirely. Back-check them. Sounds like hubris, I know, but the Internet makes it surprisingly easy to do, sometimes. Back-check them, take the first sketchy details of a crime if it intrigues you at all, and start your own research, immediately.
Be vigilant, that way -- look for stories your personal knowledge or web research could possibly add to. Give the reader more than the journalists are able to give -- that is the advantage of blogging, in my mind. You have room to ruminate, to explore. That said, also take a few rules from the media's supposed playbook -- do your best to double-source, or even triple-source something you might find online. Don't always rely on a hunch.
A pet peeve I have about blogging is the regurgitating of mainstream media reports -- what's the point? Don't be a news digest, if you really want an involved readership -- bring the reader more. I broke enough stories about various crimes in the news that some people come to me first, or when they are frustrated by how little coverage they are seeing in the papers and on TV. Find where the gaps in the mainstream media's coverage of a crime are, and see if you can fill those gaps.
To build a dedicated audience, respect the audience. Do not let your first day of 3,000 visitors go to your head. Remember, it is the fact that they will come read what you wrote that keeps you doing it. Almost no one just starts a blog one day and suddenly has 200 readers an hour.
If a reader of yours has a good find, you've checked it out -- give credit to that reader. You'd be surprised at how many of them are happy just that you publish their screen-name. Don't act like you found something if you didn't. That said, don't bow down to your readership, either. If you have an opinion, evidence, you name it, that you know may not agree with what the majority of your readers think or believe, don't let that stop you.
And no matter what happens -- you get a book deal, you are interviewed on Dateline NBC, you are a semi-regular on Rita Cosby's show or Catherine Crier's show -- no matter what, just think to yourself each time: 'But I'm just a blogger, dude.' It helps keep things in perspective. Court TV's Crimelibrary.com now pays me a living wage to write for them, and I got the job because of my blogging -- but in my head, I sometimes just remind myself, 'I'm just a blogger, man.' Let your family and other bloggers keep you humble.
Want to find out how Huff interacts with mainstream journalists?
Have hopes of breaking the next big crime blogger story?
Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion to Five Easy Questions for Steve Huff...
» Five Easy Questions: Steve Huff, Part Two from ThePublishingSpot
Yesterday, Steve Huff explored how a recent murder evoked painful memories about his own family. In a few paragraphs, this crime writer delivered more insight into the murders than an army of salacious tabloid reporters. By questioning his ... [Read More]
Tracked on: February 28, 2006 8:26 AM | Permalink to Trackback