Friday, July 17, 2009
Roger Ebert on Being a Critic
This particular post caught my eye last week, in which he discusses the viewpoints of commenters who disagreed with his negative review of Transformers 2. Roger uses the opportunity to talk about what goes into being a critic, but also answers his hecklers: "We should respect differing opinions up to a point, and then it's time for the wise to blow the whistle."
What is fascinating here is to read his thought process in judging films. To those who say he is an elitist and a brainiac, they might be right. But that's why I love him so. Let others get their movie news from tabloid T.V.; I like being able to compare my own opinions to those of another snarky smartypants--albeit one with decades more life experience (did you know that he and Paul McCartney were born on the very same day?).
Several years ago I had the good fortune to meet Roger at BookExpo in Chicago. I waited in line for his autograph on a free copy of the preceding year's edition of his movie yearbook. I was tickled at the opportunity to meet a like-minded soul and tell him how much I've appreciated him all these years. But when I stepped up to him, all I could muster was "I love reading your reviews!" The look he gave me was sheer "you gotta be kidding me."
So, Roger, if you ever stumble upon this, what I meant to say was thank you for being the voice of art, literature, and intelligence in an industry that's based on flash and cash and big explosions. You've got the world's most awesome job (except, of course, when you're forced to go see movies like Transformers 2), and nobody does it as well as you do.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Hey, Unemployed Journalists: Join the Dark Side
But along comes David Meerman Scott, writing for EconentMag.com, with an idea of how to use your journalism skills at private corporations, nonprofits, educational institutions, and government agencies (see the article here). Although media relations has always been a good tangential option, that's not what he's talking about. He's talking about using your storytelling skills to create internal and web content that educates and informs various audiences. And he says your skills are badly needed now.
Scott admits that many journalists will see working for a corporation as selling out, but argues that it doesn't have to be like that if you adjust your thinking and align things correctly.
He doesn't go into great detail about how to get these types of jobs, however. But for now, maybe it's enough just to open the door a crack and get people thinking in that direction. Work your extensive networks and try to set up meetings with people in charge of corporate communications and web content at companies you admire in your area. Be open to the idea of working as a contractor for more than one company. Open your mind and explore your options.
Meanwhile, if you're feeling cynical about journalism, enjoy this modest proposal, from Richard Sine in the Huffington Post, who says we need to close the journalism schools and stop cranking out more gullible media hopefuls into a dying industry.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Pearson Now Tops List of World's Biggest Publishers
Last year, Pearson was #2 on the list, behind Thomson. According to this article on Bookseller.com, Pearson has taken over the top spot, with more than 7.4B in annual revenue. Here are the world's new top 10 publishers. (I've taken Bookseller's list and converted the euros to dollars.)
- Pearson (UK): $7.4B
- Reed Elsevier (UK/NL/US): $6.7B
- ThomsonReuters (Canada): $5.1B
- Wolters Kluwer (NL): $4.96B
- Bertelsmann (Germany): $4.38B
- Hachette Livre (France): $3.17B
- McGraw-Hill Education (U.S.): $2.6B
- Grupo Planeta (Spain): $2.59B
- De Agostini Editore (Italy): not available
- Scholastic (U.S.): $2.2B
You can see the whole list of the world's top 50 publishers here.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Gannett Delivers on Promise of Layoffs
For the very latest, check the comments at the unofficial Gannett Blog. Tomorrow that blog shuts down, though, and you'll need to visit the layoff tracker at Gannettoid.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Spellr.us Shames Me
Professional resume writer Teena Rose's blog on becoming a resume writer recently featured Spellr.us, a site that will spell-check entire websites for typos. You pay for various levels of access, but can check 100 pages for free. This is useful because once you have content on a site, it's tough to go back and spell-check each document on it.
I decided to give it a try with this blog. Yikes, people. You didn't tell me I used "everytime" 27 times, as well as a couple dozen other howlers. It also looks like I have a particular penchant for "youself."
I've said before that bloggers should get a little slack because of the nature of the medium. But come on: I'm supposed to be the eagle-eyed editor, here. The problem is that I have been working without a net by composing all my posts directly in Blogger. No more, folks. From now on, I'll be typing things in Word first before publishing them into the blog. (I also just discovered, the hard way, that the new version of Word won't let you copy and paste into Blogger; instead, you compose posts in Word and then hit the Publish button.)
Monday, July 6, 2009
Responses to the Freelancing Question
But others wrote in with various opinions on the situation and advice for those seeking work:
- Greg Albers of Hol Art Books agreed that things might be slacking up now because of the recession, but that in the long term freelancing will become a way of life for many more people. He also turned me on to his cool publishing concept, in which editors and others volunteer to work on book projects in exchange for royalties down the road. It's a gamble, of course, but one that could pay off if you choose your projects well.
- Katharine O'Moore-Klopf said that in her specialized field of medical editing, things are hopping. She's still having to turn away the occasional project.
- Susan Hobbs said that she learned not to put all of her editorial eggs in one basket, so she keeps a diversified client list. She's stayed consistently busy over the last several months but has noted that some publishers that used to pay in 30 days are now taking 60 and even 90 days to get a check out.
- Tim Huddleston is always busy and attributes that to his flexibility and being able to do many different kinds of editing work.
- Susan Cox, a lady I played in bands with back in the early '80s, recommends the Writer's Market as a good source of leads on publishers. (Tim and I concur.)
- John, a freelancer in Columbus, Ohio, has seen work dry up from a major client. If anyone has leads for him, let us know in the comments.
- Marc, a local writer, says the work is fairly cyclical: It gets heavy after layoffs and then gets "dodgy" again later.
Any other observations or tips?
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Bad Vibes: Longstanding Hip-Hop Magazine Shut Down
Up to 50 people are losing their jobs. The magazine's original founder, Quincy Jones (who was already having a bad week), is making noises about buying it back and putting it exclusively online.
If I hear anything more, I'll update you in the comments section.