The things I rant on about on my blog, I also rant on about in real life. I’ve written here or maybe in the comments on another blog that I believe that academics should do a better job of bringing their work to mainstream audiences. Tim Burke often writes about the importance of academics as public intellectuals, and I’m with him on that. I’ve been meaning to practice what I preach and try to write things for mainstream press. Mostly political stuff, but it would also be fun to write stuff on television or parenting or the Yankees.
The problem is that academics have no clue how to get published in non-scholarly journals. The procedures for getting accepted are completely different. Writing styles are night and day. Each profession sets up their own barriers to success, and it’s difficult to just jump into something new.
Anyhow, my brother has heard me go about my writing plans quite a few times, and so, last week, he handed me the brochure for a writing and journalism conference being held in NYC. It was geared to helping freelancers become more successful. Sounded good. I signed up and picked up my badge at 8:00 on Saturday.
I quickly learned that this wasn’t the conference for me. The editors and writers worked for publications like Ladies Home Journal, Family Circle, More, Parade, Health — stuff that my Grandma used to read. Or even worse, they wrote for obscure trade journals aimed at the lumber or construction industry. No one interested in snappy copy on state politics or feminism.
The speakers at the first panel I attended, “How to Mine Your Life For Ideas,” discussed the inspirations that had led to articles on depression, natural birth, multiple births, ten minute exercise routines, “vagina stories,” art in airports, and osteoporosis.
At another panel, one panelist gave us some pointers on writing good cover titles: 1. Use numbers. For example, “Five Steps to Thinner Thighs”. 2. Alliteration is also good. “Lose your Lousy Lover, Lady” 3. Puns rule. “Get a Ho-Ho-Hold on Stress” (an article on laughter therapy).
What? Nothing about the beauty of the colon? I was truly out of my element.
After I got over the annoyance that I spent $240 for this thing, I began to relax. It was rather pleasant to be at a conference where I didn’t have to shake anybody’s hand or schmooze. It was also very interesting to see what other people do.
99% of the conference attendees were women. Most of them were women with kids. They all needed flexible jobs, so that they could get their children to swim lessons. They made very little money. Some only made .35 a word. They had no health insurance or benefits. But surprisingly, they liked what they did. They didn’t feel sorry for themselves because they were wasting their writing talents doing these throwaway articles in Cosmo. They were genuinely fond their article topics.
Now I know what goes into the magazines at the checkout lines. Next time I skim the latest piece on flat abs, I’ll make sure to read the byline.
Apt. 11d 
Which conference was it? Fascinating account of policy wonks are from Venus, women’s mag writers are from Mars. (I would say, who reads women’s mags anymore, but, indeed, they’re the only ones making any money, right?) So, for a better conference for a more generalist writer/journalist/academic, maybe try the Nieman narrative journo conference in Boston first week of December. It’s in no way a how-to, but probably a better fit.
LikeLike
Sounds like a lot of advice I remember hearing at the editorial conferences at my old dotcom. At least I was getting paid to attend those, however!
LikeLike
I second the vote for Nieman. It’s got an amazing lineup of speakers, and a pretty stellar array of attendees – in the past, I’ve chatted with folks from NPR, dailies across the country and Gerald Boyd, who at the time (pre-Jayson Blair) was managing ed of the Times. Even if you don’t make freelance connections, I guarantee you’ll hear some fascinating stories.
LikeLike
“They didn’t feel sorry for themselves because they were wasting their writing talents doing these throwaway articles in Cosmo.”
Well, given that most freelance work is “wasting” one’s writing talents writing service journalism pieces for places like Cosmo or Glamour, there is no reason for them to be embarrassed. This is the bread-and-butter of a freelancer’s life.
As someone who has made an o.k. living as a freelancer, I would tell you the editors are much more demanding and it is much tougher writing “Five Ways to Sculpt your Abs” than it is writing “A feminist Critique of Naval Gazing” for American Prospect. And the pay is better at Glamour than it is for any of the policy wonk magazines. (you think 35 cents is cheap, wait until you have to trim a 2,000 word essay into 350 words, and still get paid $150 at The Nation).
LikeLike
Thanks for the recommendation for the Nieman conference, Laura and MC. I’ll check it out.
It was the American Society of Jouralists and Authors conference.
Dan. I knew that sentence was going to come out badly. Hey, I’m not judging those women. I actually thought they were really smart and funny. I stayed for the whole thing, even though I figured out pretty quickly that I come to the wrong place.
And I’m lucky enough to have the option to not use my writing talents writing copy for Cosmo. Because academia has its own low-wage track for parents. I can adjunct.
LikeLike