ThePublishingSpot: September 2006 Archives

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Sep29	How Does This Affect Subject X?: Building Niche Content Readership Jason Boog September 29, 2006 Know More: Five Easy Questions, Steve Bryant, Video Storytelling, Writing Resources 2.0, Five Easy Questions "The genius of the Internet -- beyond porn, free videogames, and porn -- is that everything can be measured. If you don't believe me, just ask NBC CEO Jeff Zucker, who said at the Mixx Conference: 'The genius of the Internet is that everything can be measured.' See? Told you so." That's how Steve Bryant groks our new web economy. Steve is the editor-in-chief of the insanely popular news site, GoogleWatch, and the brand new web video site, Reel Pop, so he has a little bitty bit of insight into the future of web interaction. Today, he pokes fun and dishes advice about building a readership for your web writing. Welcome to the conclusion of my interview with Steve Bryant, part of my deceptively simple feature: Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a serialized set of weekly interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing. Jason Boog: You just put a blog together from scratch. What's your advice for somebody doing the same thing--how do you find readers, how do you find the best topics? Continue Reading Posted at 10:57 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep29	Stop Writing and Party, Gosh Darn It Jason Boog September 29, 2006 Remember how I told you that the writing game hinges on friendship? I wasn't kidding, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. Still, if you need a visual aid (and you live near New York), I recommend you... Continue Reading Posted at 8:05 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Chicken Soup for the Skinny Writer Guy with Glasses Jason Boog September 29, 2006 Writing anthologies are booming right now--from The Best American Short Stories to Chicken Soup for the Skinny Writer Guy with Glasses--and our old buddy Erika Dreifus just wrote a fact-filled, link-heavy essay about the genre. You can check it out... Continue Reading Posted at 7:42 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep28	"I didn't even know Massachusetts had foothills": The Murky Future of Online Journalism Jason Boog September 28, 2006 "When I posted that bit about Comcast and Google yesterday, I swear I didn't think many folks would care. But all of a sudden I started getting these quacky e-mails about how Comcast was intentionally blocking Google, or how Google... Continue Reading Posted at 7:52 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep27	How Instapundit Can Save Your Book Jason Boog September 27, 2006 Earlier this week I wondered "is the web making me write bad-like?" on this blog, responding to the Boston Herald's sober look at blogger book deals. While I worried about how web writing affects your writing style, a couple bloggers... Continue Reading Posted at 9:16 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Who's Got Your Back? Jason Boog September 27, 2006 It hurts to admit it, but you can follow every piece of advice I have to offer and still not be happy with your writing career. You know why? There's one crucial thing that I can't do for you: find... Continue Reading Posted at 8:30 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	I Just Know What I Like: How To Build a Better Site with Video Jason Boog September 27, 2006 Over the last three years, Steve Bryant has climbed the ranks of tech journalists in New York. His resume criss-crosses old and new media, a model that all fledgling writers should follow:"He writes about online media and technology for the... Continue Reading Posted at 7:11 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep26	Being Carried By Men In Black Leotards: What You Should Be Watching On YouTube Jason Boog September 26, 2006 There's one part of web writing I can't help you with: making friends.Without friends to help you find work, blog about your writing, or help edit your stuff, you will never make it. I met Steve Bryant, editor of... Continue Reading Posted at 8:10 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	How To Build a Better Book Trailer Jason Boog September 26, 2006 I'm always wishing I had more conversations around here, and writers like Bookseller Chick make me jealous. I love how she generates sprawling discussions with her readers.Case in point, she's analyzing book trailers this week--looking at the flashy, short, and... Continue Reading Posted at 7:28 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep25	Is the Web Making Me Write Bad-Like? Jason Boog September 25, 2006 A couple weeks ago I wrote a 4,000 word piece for a magazine, and I felt a couch potato wheezing through a marathon. Even though I spend most of my time cheering on web writers, I constantly worry that the... Continue Reading Posted at 1:21 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	You've Got To Get Your Name All Over the Place: How To Break Into Tech Journalism Jason Boog September 25, 2006 "Every now and then I rouse the Reel Pop staff from their drool-puddling torpor and send them a-mucking in the back alleys of video-sharing sites, places where the glorious light of 'most viewed today' doesn't reach. And then dutifully, like... Continue Reading Posted at 8:21 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Stranger Than a Gwar Concert and the 2004 RNC Put Together Jason Boog September 25, 2006 In one of the strangest media events I have ever witnessed--and I've endured Gwar concerts and the 2004 Republican National Convention--I just watched this video of much-mocked horror director Uwe Boll pounding a movie critic. Anybody interested in going a... Continue Reading Posted at 7:04 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep24	A Hundred Million New Media Web Video Jason Boog September 24, 2006 As we begin to contemplate another week of workday madness, let us pause to reflect on the amazing things we saw last week...New media reporter lands old media job!Old media company pays good money to new media upstarts!My posts got... Continue Reading Posted at 9:01 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep22	Voltron-Inspired Movies by Novelists! Jason Boog September 22, 2006 Our old friend and genre-hopping novelist Jim Munroe announced a film project last month. We've had a web video overload this week, and it's the perfect example of how a writer can take chances in this digital age.Plus, he discusses... Continue Reading Posted at 8:31 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	"I think I just messed myself": Writing the Zoom-Zoom Posts Jason Boog September 22, 2006 Steve Bryant reads more tech journalism than you and me put together. When it comes to snappy analysis and zoom-zoom posts, nobody can beat him. Next week we have a Very Special Interview lined up with Steve, talking about his... Continue Reading Posted at 7:21 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep21	My Readers Get Good Jobs, Baby Jason Boog September 21, 2006 Do you remember way back when we had an interview with a talented young blogger named Corynne Steindler? Well, the editor of Jossip.com just landed a new job. But don't take my word for it...Check it out:"Steindler said: 'Jossip's been... Continue Reading Posted at 7:46 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Free Cupcakes and Firings Jason Boog September 21, 2006 Last night I managed to stumble in late to the cheery WYSIWYG Talent Show. The monthly blogger reading poked fun at the darkest theme of all--getting fired. I enjoyed free cupcakes, Drub's meandering tales of getting fired by a rotating... Continue Reading Posted at 6:53 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep20	Marriage of the Unlike Minds Jason Boog September 20, 2006 In the surprise marriage of the year, a big time newswire just hooked up with a band of citizen journalism upstarts.While digging around the essential journalism blog Romenesko, I read how Reuters donated $100,000 to Jay Rosen's striking experiment, NewAssignment.net.... Continue Reading Posted at 8:11 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	A Hundred Million Percent Better Jason Boog September 20, 2006 I literally fell out of my chair when I read my first Copyblogger post. Can you see me, laying there on the floor, stunned by his wisdom? I'm no statistical genius, but I estimate that I followed Copyblogger's advice a... Continue Reading Posted at 7:51 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep19	More Video Storytelling Than You Can Shake a Stick At Jason Boog September 19, 2006 While eating my breakfast, I wrote about how Chartreuse is using video to tell new stories with his New Orleans project. You should still check it out...A little later our good reader Jecklin wrote in, "We're doing it, babe! Not... Continue Reading Posted at 8:42 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	10 Jobs for Every 10 Million People Who Want To Be a Writer Jason Boog September 19, 2006 The eagle-eyed blogger Jeffrey Yamaguchi just steered me towards Tod Goldberg's blog where a novelist and journalist cranks out writing wisdom and throws wicked jabs at the writing world. Case in point: "Letter From A Writer's Conference." We can laugh,... Continue Reading Posted at 7:37 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	How To Use Video To Tell Your Story Jason Boog September 19, 2006 Earlier this summer, Chartreuse put together Team New Orleans, a group of site-sponsored citizen journalists reporting on the Gulf Coast reconstruction. Travis Campbell, Loren Feldman, and Candice Quates worked together on the reporting trip, and an army of bloggers spread... Continue Reading Posted at 6:36 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep18	"Ed Champion Is Not Insane..." Jason Boog September 18, 2006 ...in case you were worried.Old media wrestles with new media over at Time magazine, when book critic Lev Grossman called for a truce with podcasting reviewer Edward Champion. It's a funny piece, lots of superhero imagery mixed with a grudging... Continue Reading Posted at 8:19 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Toughest Writing Career of Them All Jason Boog September 18, 2006 Tom Kealey, our creative writing MFA guru, is on a roll. Last week he dished out some frank advice about how much people generally earn as student assistants in writing MFA programs, followed up with some lively discussion. It's always... Continue Reading Posted at 8:11 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	More Love and Obsessiveness Jason Boog September 18, 2006 Lately I've been receiving more and more emails from fan fiction writers. I love these little handmade, obsessive communities that spring up around popular stories, and I'm always happy to print the best mail. Yesterday I got an email from... Continue Reading Posted at 7:59 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	High Fidelity: How To Build a Better Podcast Jason Boog September 18, 2006 Edward Champion has a great mini-essay today about the art of podcasting. Analyzing Unbridled Books' brand-new author podcasts, Champion gives us a couple ideas about how to design a better web interview.Check it out:"It makes the catastrophic mistake of having... Continue Reading Posted at 7:48 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep16	From Geezer Noir to Chatting Up Agents: The Week in Review Jason Boog September 16, 2006 As September sneaks past us, let's take a moment to review all the wonderful things we learned this week. Tune in next week for some web video storytelling action...We discussed geezer noir with a crime novelist/blogger/journalist.A couple of our fan... Continue Reading Posted at 4:03 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep15	The Adventures of Duane: How To Be a Journalist in a Difficult Time for Journalism Jason Boog September 15, 2006 "I didn't catch the entire exchange, but I think my kids were pretty much carjacked with a high-powered Nerf gun...Now if this were a novel, the fictional me would have trained my fictional son to field-strip that plastic deathdealer in... Continue Reading Posted at 6:58 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	My Readers Get Published, Baby Jason Boog September 15, 2006 Not to brag or anything, but one of our webby friends, Nick Mamatas, just got published in what promises to be the best fiction journal of the year. And he applied because of our post...Pow!"As part of my quest to... Continue Reading Posted at 5:53 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	How To Talk with an Agent (According To a Real Live Agent!) Jason Boog September 15, 2006 To be honest, I can count the publishing agents I've spoken with on one hand. A few of my friends have agents. I've met some nice agents too. But, despite my semi-keen observations about the publishing blogosphere, I'll be the... Continue Reading Posted at 5:50 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Calling My Psychiatrist, Again Jason Boog September 15, 2006 Last summer, Copyblogger blew my mind with this post, "Do You Make These Mistakes With Your Blog?" After that, Claire Zulkey did a great post riffing off his essay. Read her for some giggles.Anyway, I've made every single one of... Continue Reading Posted at 5:25 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep14	A Dozen Drink Books: An Accidental Non-Fiction Career Jason Boog September 14, 2006 "Truth is, getting old is the most hardboiled thing you can do. Make it past 65 and your hair starts to go. Your body fails you at inopportune times. You begin to suspect you’re surrounded by idiots. You have values... Continue Reading Posted at 7:11 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep13	Bea Arthur Scares Me: How To Wrestle a Book Deal Jason Boog September 13, 2006 "Stephen King once described this perfectly. He imagines novels as castles, and believes that there is often only one right way into the castle. You might sneak in a side window, only to fall on a bed of nails. You... Continue Reading Posted at 8:05 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	How To Publish as a Fan Fiction Writer: From the Mailbag Jason Boog September 13, 2006 Last night one of U.K. readers wrote in with some happy news. I clipped her comment, added some links for the unititiated, and I'm posting her whole story right here.Why, you may ask? It's good news when any fledgling writer... Continue Reading Posted at 7:59 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Watching the Future Happen Jason Boog September 13, 2006 Chartreuse's team of citizen journalists just wrapped up a reporting trip to New Orleans. If you need a refresher, here's a post about why they took the New Orleans trip.Over the last week, Loren Feldman has been posting the first... Continue Reading Posted at 7:43 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep12	How To Cut 140,000 Words From Your Book Jason Boog September 12, 2006 "Kids, if you're writing a book, don't tell yourself blithely that 'all this can be trimmed down later...'"That's some understated editing advice from Alex Ross. Besides being one of my favorite music critics and a New Yorker writer, he runs... Continue Reading Posted at 8:10 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Best Imaginations on the Planet: How To Put Together a Mystery Anthology Jason Boog September 12, 2006 "After the meth lab exploded, Karla decided she’d walk to the truck stop. It wasn’t her fault that some moron had fired a shotgun and blown the place up. Karla had been lucky, having jumped out a window before the... Continue Reading Posted at 7:43 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep11	"PW got tired of smackin' me around": Building an Online Community Jason Boog September 11, 2006 "For the longest time, Publishers Weekly treated me bad. Called my 'disorganized' and 'choppy.' Took one look at Big Book O' BeerSecret Dead Men and said it was 'muddled.' Said my little ol' Wheelman was "confusing." Dang. But now, with... Continue Reading Posted at 7:44 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Our Incorrigible Friend Steve Jason Boog September 11, 2006 Our incorrigible friend Steve Bryant just took on another project, running a classy new site called Reel Pop Blog. He'll report exclusively on the rise of web video, the perfect mingling of Hollywood Reporter's old media resources with new media... Continue Reading Posted at 7:22 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep10	A Whole Week of Geezer Noir! Jason Boog September 10, 2006 As we quietly dread Monday morning, I wanted to take a quick look back at the fun we had last week. Tune in this week for an action-packed interview with crime novelist and journalist Duane Swierczynski who just edited Damn... Continue Reading Posted at 5:19 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep 8	Please God Give Us A Weekend Now Jason Boog September 8, 2006 This week I just published a long article about judicial elections in New York City over at Judicial Reports, my journalistic day job. I don't usually mix business with pleasure over here at The Publishing Spot, but I'm pretty proud... Continue Reading Posted at 1:26 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	"Real with a Capital R" Jason Boog September 8, 2006 The Internet is buzzing (I found this via BoingBoing) with news that the famous YouTuber LonelyGirl15 is probably an art project or an advertising scheme, rather than some bored, homeschooled teenager. Comments on her incredibly popular YouTube video Poor Pluto... Continue Reading Posted at 8:07 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep 7	How To Write About Happiness Jason Boog September 7, 2006 Over at M.J. Rose's brilliant author essay site, Backstory, I just found this meditation on writing about happiness. Writers around the world scoff at happiness. I usually get suspicious when too many characters are happy. Nevertheless, novelist Rachel Kadish discovered... Continue Reading Posted at 7:33 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep 6	Who's Writing the Next "Piece of Dreck?" Jason Boog September 6, 2006 Over five years ago, Mark Z. Danielewski wrote the sprawling novel, House of Leaves. His work will stand as the model for anybody that wants to write using footnotes, fonts, and all the digital do-dads we can plug into books... Continue Reading Posted at 8:04 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Who Are the Best Wartime Journalists of our Generation? Jason Boog September 6, 2006 Our friend Erica Dreifus (who runs this fantastic site for practicing writers) just published an essay about Albert Camus in the newly revamped journal, The Chattahoochee Review. She takes a scholarly look at this great writer's journalism during World War... Continue Reading Posted at 7:59 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Tell Me the STORY! Jason Boog September 6, 2006 At least once a week, Brian Clark over at Copyblogger writes something I think everybody should read. Today, he's talking about headlines, a crucial part of web writing. Nowadays, your headline is competing with 10,000 other headline about the same... Continue Reading Posted at 7:28 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep 5	My Brain Is an Empty Swimming Pool But I Get By with a Little Help from Chartreuse's Friends Jason Boog September 5, 2006 Nobody does a link-heavy post quite like Chartreuse. I daresay he built half of his bloggy following through healthy doses of link love and sexy pictures. Interestingly enough, I found his blog for the first time when he sandwiched my... Continue Reading Posted at 8:29 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	How To Turn Nerdy Interests into Comedy Gold Jason Boog September 5, 2006 Thanks to BoingBoing, I just spent the morning giggling about Kevin Church's most recent mash-up comic book project. Church wondered what would happen if cheesy comic book pioneer Stan Lee had written the bleak Watchmen series.My writing is inspired by... Continue Reading Posted at 8:21 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep 4	Looking for Some Far Out Stories? Jason Boog September 4, 2006 Thanks to the excellent SF Signal site, I just found an amazing archive of public domain science fiction movies. I don't know about you, but a B-movie space story always gives me new writing ideas. I heartily encourage you to... Continue Reading Posted at 12:20 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	What To Do When the Henry Miller Memorial Library Is Closed: Week In Review Jason Boog September 4, 2006 You may or may not have noticed, but we've had a quiet holiday weekend over here at The Publishing Spot. It reminds me of the time I visited the Henry Miller Memorial Library and it was closed all day.Regularly scheduled... Continue Reading Posted at 12:00 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep 1	Some Good News and Some Bad News Jason Boog September 1, 2006 Two things to read before you scamper off on your weekend. First, the good news. As usual, Jeffrey Yamaguchi has a great new project to show us. It reminded me of the most important thing a writer can do: WRITE... Continue Reading Posted at 8:09 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	"Not likely to go to the prom" Jason Boog September 1, 2006 Back in college in Michigan, I used to read the Village Voice like an artsy-craftsy Bible. They charmed me with New York City: showing me books, movies, music, and a lifestyle that you can't find anywhere else. Last night, the... Continue Reading Posted at 7:51 AM \| Permalink \| Comments

« August 2006 | Main | October 2006 »

Sep29	How Does This Affect Subject X?: Building Niche Content Readership Jason Boog September 29, 2006 Know More: Five Easy Questions, Steve Bryant, Video Storytelling, Writing Resources 2.0, Five Easy Questions "The genius of the Internet -- beyond porn, free videogames, and porn -- is that everything can be measured. If you don't believe me, just ask NBC CEO Jeff Zucker, who said at the Mixx Conference: 'The genius of the Internet is that everything can be measured.' See? Told you so." That's how Steve Bryant groks our new web economy. Steve is the editor-in-chief of the insanely popular news site, GoogleWatch, and the brand new web video site, Reel Pop, so he has a little bitty bit of insight into the future of web interaction. Today, he pokes fun and dishes advice about building a readership for your web writing. Welcome to the conclusion of my interview with Steve Bryant, part of my deceptively simple feature: Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a serialized set of weekly interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing. Jason Boog: You just put a blog together from scratch. What's your advice for somebody doing the same thing--how do you find readers, how do you find the best topics? Continue Reading Posted at 10:57 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep29	Stop Writing and Party, Gosh Darn It Jason Boog September 29, 2006 Remember how I told you that the writing game hinges on friendship? I wasn't kidding, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. Still, if you need a visual aid (and you live near New York), I recommend you... Continue Reading Posted at 8:05 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Chicken Soup for the Skinny Writer Guy with Glasses Jason Boog September 29, 2006 Writing anthologies are booming right now--from The Best American Short Stories to Chicken Soup for the Skinny Writer Guy with Glasses--and our old buddy Erika Dreifus just wrote a fact-filled, link-heavy essay about the genre. You can check it out... Continue Reading Posted at 7:42 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep28	"I didn't even know Massachusetts had foothills": The Murky Future of Online Journalism Jason Boog September 28, 2006 "When I posted that bit about Comcast and Google yesterday, I swear I didn't think many folks would care. But all of a sudden I started getting these quacky e-mails about how Comcast was intentionally blocking Google, or how Google... Continue Reading Posted at 7:52 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep27	How Instapundit Can Save Your Book Jason Boog September 27, 2006 Earlier this week I wondered "is the web making me write bad-like?" on this blog, responding to the Boston Herald's sober look at blogger book deals. While I worried about how web writing affects your writing style, a couple bloggers... Continue Reading Posted at 9:16 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Who's Got Your Back? Jason Boog September 27, 2006 It hurts to admit it, but you can follow every piece of advice I have to offer and still not be happy with your writing career. You know why? There's one crucial thing that I can't do for you: find... Continue Reading Posted at 8:30 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	I Just Know What I Like: How To Build a Better Site with Video Jason Boog September 27, 2006 Over the last three years, Steve Bryant has climbed the ranks of tech journalists in New York. His resume criss-crosses old and new media, a model that all fledgling writers should follow:"He writes about online media and technology for the... Continue Reading Posted at 7:11 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep26	Being Carried By Men In Black Leotards: What You Should Be Watching On YouTube Jason Boog September 26, 2006 There's one part of web writing I can't help you with: making friends.Without friends to help you find work, blog about your writing, or help edit your stuff, you will never make it. I met Steve Bryant, editor of... Continue Reading Posted at 8:10 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	How To Build a Better Book Trailer Jason Boog September 26, 2006 I'm always wishing I had more conversations around here, and writers like Bookseller Chick make me jealous. I love how she generates sprawling discussions with her readers.Case in point, she's analyzing book trailers this week--looking at the flashy, short, and... Continue Reading Posted at 7:28 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep25	Is the Web Making Me Write Bad-Like? Jason Boog September 25, 2006 A couple weeks ago I wrote a 4,000 word piece for a magazine, and I felt a couch potato wheezing through a marathon. Even though I spend most of my time cheering on web writers, I constantly worry that the... Continue Reading Posted at 1:21 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	You've Got To Get Your Name All Over the Place: How To Break Into Tech Journalism Jason Boog September 25, 2006 "Every now and then I rouse the Reel Pop staff from their drool-puddling torpor and send them a-mucking in the back alleys of video-sharing sites, places where the glorious light of 'most viewed today' doesn't reach. And then dutifully, like... Continue Reading Posted at 8:21 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Stranger Than a Gwar Concert and the 2004 RNC Put Together Jason Boog September 25, 2006 In one of the strangest media events I have ever witnessed--and I've endured Gwar concerts and the 2004 Republican National Convention--I just watched this video of much-mocked horror director Uwe Boll pounding a movie critic. Anybody interested in going a... Continue Reading Posted at 7:04 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep24	A Hundred Million New Media Web Video Jason Boog September 24, 2006 As we begin to contemplate another week of workday madness, let us pause to reflect on the amazing things we saw last week...New media reporter lands old media job!Old media company pays good money to new media upstarts!My posts got... Continue Reading Posted at 9:01 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep22	Voltron-Inspired Movies by Novelists! Jason Boog September 22, 2006 Our old friend and genre-hopping novelist Jim Munroe announced a film project last month. We've had a web video overload this week, and it's the perfect example of how a writer can take chances in this digital age.Plus, he discusses... Continue Reading Posted at 8:31 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	"I think I just messed myself": Writing the Zoom-Zoom Posts Jason Boog September 22, 2006 Steve Bryant reads more tech journalism than you and me put together. When it comes to snappy analysis and zoom-zoom posts, nobody can beat him. Next week we have a Very Special Interview lined up with Steve, talking about his... Continue Reading Posted at 7:21 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep21	My Readers Get Good Jobs, Baby Jason Boog September 21, 2006 Do you remember way back when we had an interview with a talented young blogger named Corynne Steindler? Well, the editor of Jossip.com just landed a new job. But don't take my word for it...Check it out:"Steindler said: 'Jossip's been... Continue Reading Posted at 7:46 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Free Cupcakes and Firings Jason Boog September 21, 2006 Last night I managed to stumble in late to the cheery WYSIWYG Talent Show. The monthly blogger reading poked fun at the darkest theme of all--getting fired. I enjoyed free cupcakes, Drub's meandering tales of getting fired by a rotating... Continue Reading Posted at 6:53 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep20	Marriage of the Unlike Minds Jason Boog September 20, 2006 In the surprise marriage of the year, a big time newswire just hooked up with a band of citizen journalism upstarts.While digging around the essential journalism blog Romenesko, I read how Reuters donated $100,000 to Jay Rosen's striking experiment, NewAssignment.net.... Continue Reading Posted at 8:11 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	A Hundred Million Percent Better Jason Boog September 20, 2006 I literally fell out of my chair when I read my first Copyblogger post. Can you see me, laying there on the floor, stunned by his wisdom? I'm no statistical genius, but I estimate that I followed Copyblogger's advice a... Continue Reading Posted at 7:51 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep19	More Video Storytelling Than You Can Shake a Stick At Jason Boog September 19, 2006 While eating my breakfast, I wrote about how Chartreuse is using video to tell new stories with his New Orleans project. You should still check it out...A little later our good reader Jecklin wrote in, "We're doing it, babe! Not... Continue Reading Posted at 8:42 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	10 Jobs for Every 10 Million People Who Want To Be a Writer Jason Boog September 19, 2006 The eagle-eyed blogger Jeffrey Yamaguchi just steered me towards Tod Goldberg's blog where a novelist and journalist cranks out writing wisdom and throws wicked jabs at the writing world. Case in point: "Letter From A Writer's Conference." We can laugh,... Continue Reading Posted at 7:37 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	How To Use Video To Tell Your Story Jason Boog September 19, 2006 Earlier this summer, Chartreuse put together Team New Orleans, a group of site-sponsored citizen journalists reporting on the Gulf Coast reconstruction. Travis Campbell, Loren Feldman, and Candice Quates worked together on the reporting trip, and an army of bloggers spread... Continue Reading Posted at 6:36 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep18	"Ed Champion Is Not Insane..." Jason Boog September 18, 2006 ...in case you were worried.Old media wrestles with new media over at Time magazine, when book critic Lev Grossman called for a truce with podcasting reviewer Edward Champion. It's a funny piece, lots of superhero imagery mixed with a grudging... Continue Reading Posted at 8:19 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Toughest Writing Career of Them All Jason Boog September 18, 2006 Tom Kealey, our creative writing MFA guru, is on a roll. Last week he dished out some frank advice about how much people generally earn as student assistants in writing MFA programs, followed up with some lively discussion. It's always... Continue Reading Posted at 8:11 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	More Love and Obsessiveness Jason Boog September 18, 2006 Lately I've been receiving more and more emails from fan fiction writers. I love these little handmade, obsessive communities that spring up around popular stories, and I'm always happy to print the best mail. Yesterday I got an email from... Continue Reading Posted at 7:59 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	High Fidelity: How To Build a Better Podcast Jason Boog September 18, 2006 Edward Champion has a great mini-essay today about the art of podcasting. Analyzing Unbridled Books' brand-new author podcasts, Champion gives us a couple ideas about how to design a better web interview.Check it out:"It makes the catastrophic mistake of having... Continue Reading Posted at 7:48 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep16	From Geezer Noir to Chatting Up Agents: The Week in Review Jason Boog September 16, 2006 As September sneaks past us, let's take a moment to review all the wonderful things we learned this week. Tune in next week for some web video storytelling action...We discussed geezer noir with a crime novelist/blogger/journalist.A couple of our fan... Continue Reading Posted at 4:03 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep15	The Adventures of Duane: How To Be a Journalist in a Difficult Time for Journalism Jason Boog September 15, 2006 "I didn't catch the entire exchange, but I think my kids were pretty much carjacked with a high-powered Nerf gun...Now if this were a novel, the fictional me would have trained my fictional son to field-strip that plastic deathdealer in... Continue Reading Posted at 6:58 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	My Readers Get Published, Baby Jason Boog September 15, 2006 Not to brag or anything, but one of our webby friends, Nick Mamatas, just got published in what promises to be the best fiction journal of the year. And he applied because of our post...Pow!"As part of my quest to... Continue Reading Posted at 5:53 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	How To Talk with an Agent (According To a Real Live Agent!) Jason Boog September 15, 2006 To be honest, I can count the publishing agents I've spoken with on one hand. A few of my friends have agents. I've met some nice agents too. But, despite my semi-keen observations about the publishing blogosphere, I'll be the... Continue Reading Posted at 5:50 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Calling My Psychiatrist, Again Jason Boog September 15, 2006 Last summer, Copyblogger blew my mind with this post, "Do You Make These Mistakes With Your Blog?" After that, Claire Zulkey did a great post riffing off his essay. Read her for some giggles.Anyway, I've made every single one of... Continue Reading Posted at 5:25 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep14	A Dozen Drink Books: An Accidental Non-Fiction Career Jason Boog September 14, 2006 "Truth is, getting old is the most hardboiled thing you can do. Make it past 65 and your hair starts to go. Your body fails you at inopportune times. You begin to suspect you’re surrounded by idiots. You have values... Continue Reading Posted at 7:11 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep13	Bea Arthur Scares Me: How To Wrestle a Book Deal Jason Boog September 13, 2006 "Stephen King once described this perfectly. He imagines novels as castles, and believes that there is often only one right way into the castle. You might sneak in a side window, only to fall on a bed of nails. You... Continue Reading Posted at 8:05 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	How To Publish as a Fan Fiction Writer: From the Mailbag Jason Boog September 13, 2006 Last night one of U.K. readers wrote in with some happy news. I clipped her comment, added some links for the unititiated, and I'm posting her whole story right here.Why, you may ask? It's good news when any fledgling writer... Continue Reading Posted at 7:59 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Watching the Future Happen Jason Boog September 13, 2006 Chartreuse's team of citizen journalists just wrapped up a reporting trip to New Orleans. If you need a refresher, here's a post about why they took the New Orleans trip.Over the last week, Loren Feldman has been posting the first... Continue Reading Posted at 7:43 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep12	How To Cut 140,000 Words From Your Book Jason Boog September 12, 2006 "Kids, if you're writing a book, don't tell yourself blithely that 'all this can be trimmed down later...'"That's some understated editing advice from Alex Ross. Besides being one of my favorite music critics and a New Yorker writer, he runs... Continue Reading Posted at 8:10 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Best Imaginations on the Planet: How To Put Together a Mystery Anthology Jason Boog September 12, 2006 "After the meth lab exploded, Karla decided she’d walk to the truck stop. It wasn’t her fault that some moron had fired a shotgun and blown the place up. Karla had been lucky, having jumped out a window before the... Continue Reading Posted at 7:43 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep11	"PW got tired of smackin' me around": Building an Online Community Jason Boog September 11, 2006 "For the longest time, Publishers Weekly treated me bad. Called my 'disorganized' and 'choppy.' Took one look at Big Book O' BeerSecret Dead Men and said it was 'muddled.' Said my little ol' Wheelman was "confusing." Dang. But now, with... Continue Reading Posted at 7:44 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Our Incorrigible Friend Steve Jason Boog September 11, 2006 Our incorrigible friend Steve Bryant just took on another project, running a classy new site called Reel Pop Blog. He'll report exclusively on the rise of web video, the perfect mingling of Hollywood Reporter's old media resources with new media... Continue Reading Posted at 7:22 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep10	A Whole Week of Geezer Noir! Jason Boog September 10, 2006 As we quietly dread Monday morning, I wanted to take a quick look back at the fun we had last week. Tune in this week for an action-packed interview with crime novelist and journalist Duane Swierczynski who just edited Damn... Continue Reading Posted at 5:19 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep 8	Please God Give Us A Weekend Now Jason Boog September 8, 2006 This week I just published a long article about judicial elections in New York City over at Judicial Reports, my journalistic day job. I don't usually mix business with pleasure over here at The Publishing Spot, but I'm pretty proud... Continue Reading Posted at 1:26 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	"Real with a Capital R" Jason Boog September 8, 2006 The Internet is buzzing (I found this via BoingBoing) with news that the famous YouTuber LonelyGirl15 is probably an art project or an advertising scheme, rather than some bored, homeschooled teenager. Comments on her incredibly popular YouTube video Poor Pluto... Continue Reading Posted at 8:07 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep 7	How To Write About Happiness Jason Boog September 7, 2006 Over at M.J. Rose's brilliant author essay site, Backstory, I just found this meditation on writing about happiness. Writers around the world scoff at happiness. I usually get suspicious when too many characters are happy. Nevertheless, novelist Rachel Kadish discovered... Continue Reading Posted at 7:33 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep 6	Who's Writing the Next "Piece of Dreck?" Jason Boog September 6, 2006 Over five years ago, Mark Z. Danielewski wrote the sprawling novel, House of Leaves. His work will stand as the model for anybody that wants to write using footnotes, fonts, and all the digital do-dads we can plug into books... Continue Reading Posted at 8:04 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Who Are the Best Wartime Journalists of our Generation? Jason Boog September 6, 2006 Our friend Erica Dreifus (who runs this fantastic site for practicing writers) just published an essay about Albert Camus in the newly revamped journal, The Chattahoochee Review. She takes a scholarly look at this great writer's journalism during World War... Continue Reading Posted at 7:59 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Tell Me the STORY! Jason Boog September 6, 2006 At least once a week, Brian Clark over at Copyblogger writes something I think everybody should read. Today, he's talking about headlines, a crucial part of web writing. Nowadays, your headline is competing with 10,000 other headline about the same... Continue Reading Posted at 7:28 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep 5	My Brain Is an Empty Swimming Pool But I Get By with a Little Help from Chartreuse's Friends Jason Boog September 5, 2006 Nobody does a link-heavy post quite like Chartreuse. I daresay he built half of his bloggy following through healthy doses of link love and sexy pictures. Interestingly enough, I found his blog for the first time when he sandwiched my... Continue Reading Posted at 8:29 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	How To Turn Nerdy Interests into Comedy Gold Jason Boog September 5, 2006 Thanks to BoingBoing, I just spent the morning giggling about Kevin Church's most recent mash-up comic book project. Church wondered what would happen if cheesy comic book pioneer Stan Lee had written the bleak Watchmen series.My writing is inspired by... Continue Reading Posted at 8:21 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep 4	Looking for Some Far Out Stories? Jason Boog September 4, 2006 Thanks to the excellent SF Signal site, I just found an amazing archive of public domain science fiction movies. I don't know about you, but a B-movie space story always gives me new writing ideas. I heartily encourage you to... Continue Reading Posted at 12:20 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	What To Do When the Henry Miller Memorial Library Is Closed: Week In Review Jason Boog September 4, 2006 You may or may not have noticed, but we've had a quiet holiday weekend over here at The Publishing Spot. It reminds me of the time I visited the Henry Miller Memorial Library and it was closed all day.Regularly scheduled... Continue Reading Posted at 12:00 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Sep 1	Some Good News and Some Bad News Jason Boog September 1, 2006 Two things to read before you scamper off on your weekend. First, the good news. As usual, Jeffrey Yamaguchi has a great new project to show us. It reminded me of the most important thing a writer can do: WRITE... Continue Reading Posted at 8:09 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	"Not likely to go to the prom" Jason Boog September 1, 2006 Back in college in Michigan, I used to read the Village Voice like an artsy-craftsy Bible. They charmed me with New York City: showing me books, movies, music, and a lifestyle that you can't find anywhere else. Last night, the... Continue Reading Posted at 7:51 AM \| Permalink \| Comments

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