My rule of thumb is you're as good a writer as your last clip.
So find an editor, any editor, and start pitching business stories. If you're really starting out, and don't have *any* clips at all, go after the Pennysavers and the like -- do some profiles of local businesses. The pay is pennies per word. But write the stories well and you've got yourself a clip. Then you try local weeklies, regional business pubs, suburban dailies, trades, big city dailies, then national business mags, in that order.
Get a frank assessment from somebody cruel as to where you are on that foodchain, based on your writing and reporting ability. Then call the editor you want to write for, and ask for a few minutes to come in and show him/her your resume and clips and chat about what you can do for them. (This of it as your standard sales call.)
If you're wrong about where you are on the food chain, and you've aimed too high, ask the editor to recommend other markets that might be more appropriate for you. Ask the editor to name names, then recommend people to talk to at those publications. Then follow up.
You need a niche. The more specialized, the easier it is to sell the first article. (Then, once you've made the first sale to the pub, you can branch out to other topics.) For example, I write about financial services technology. Once I pitch a tech story to someone, I often find that I'm asked to write about other topics, as well, that the publication is interested in.
Monday, September 12, 2005
Friday, May 6, 2005
Can you give your career a boost by going overseas?
Going overseas definitely gave my career a big jump start -- I went from covering local school board meetings in the Chicago
This was in
One friend came to
A year later he was working as a producer for Sky TV (Murdoch's answer to CNN, big in
Other acquaintances have gone on to NBC (after covering the
There's always a high turnover at the
As an American journalist abroad, you're on top of a journalism foodchain where the local press is concerned, and you're almost immune from reprisals. You can still get in trouble with the local government but whereas the locals might be killed or jailed the worst that usually happens is that your visa is revoked. Again, this shouldn't be taken as a license to act with impunity, but I was able to run stories that the local media often couldn't do -- our paper wasn't censored and rarely read by petty local bureaucrats.
However, it was read by the foreign media that parachuted in -- the big shots from
When Yeltsin sent tanks against the White House, and bullets were flying overhead, I was crouched behind a concrete barrier with a photographer from Time.
So, definitely I recommend going overseas to any young, ambitious, unattached reporter.
Sunday, September 12, 2004
Q&A: Jonathan Schwartz
Jonathan Schwartz is President and Chief Operating Officer of Sun Microsystems, Inc. He answered some questions for me for a story on blogging, but only a few words made it into the final article (due out in print next week).
Question: What value can an employee's blog offer to an enterprise?
Schwartz: Sun serves such a fantastically diverse set of constituents - from 12 year old girls downloading games on Vodafone Live!'s new gaming service, to Wall Street technologists, to CIO's at large retailers, to mobile developers in the medical community to journalists we try to keep apprised of our strategies and perspectives - that having one person, or one ad campaign, can't possibly serve our needs. Blogs, on the other hand, give us phenomenal reach, and a very efficient communications vehicle to engage in a dialogue with our ecosystem - targeting the two skills all our constituents share: they can read. And they all have internet access.
If you're not speaking about your products or business to the public, someone else is doing it for you. If your customers are reachable via the internet, you've now got a lot of competition for their time and attention - the internet is so clearly a vital part of establishing and maintaining relationships with customers and constituents.
Question: Does Sun encourage or support your blog?
Schwartz: Sun encourages all of its employees to blog, not just me. We want folks to be an active member in their communitities. Sun provides the software and support for any employee who wishes to enter the blogosphere. I'm an ardent believer that our own employees are our best ambassadors. For a sampling of the wide range of folks doing great things visit blogs.sun.com.
Question: Are there any corporate policies you have to abide by when it comes to content?
Schwartz: Mike Dillon (our General Counsel) and I have spent quite a bit of time talking about the implications of blogging. Our employees are literally the people creating technologies driving the Internet, they have had access to that network since the inception of Sun more than 20 years ago. Our view is first and foremost, organizations must have good, effective policies and practices surrounding disclosure and public communications, independent of blogging or network architecture. Ours are very rigorous, and every employee signs a policy statement that says they understand it - that's not to say you don't have to remind folks now and then, but that's not unique to blogging.
Finally, one of the most interesting things to keep an eye on in the coming years will be the intersection of folks protected by the 1st amendment with those under the scrutiny of fiduciary obligation. Something tells me it's going to be an interesting ride...
Question: What value can an employee's blog offer to an enterprise?
Schwartz: Sun serves such a fantastically diverse set of constituents - from 12 year old girls downloading games on Vodafone Live!'s new gaming service, to Wall Street technologists, to CIO's at large retailers, to mobile developers in the medical community to journalists we try to keep apprised of our strategies and perspectives - that having one person, or one ad campaign, can't possibly serve our needs. Blogs, on the other hand, give us phenomenal reach, and a very efficient communications vehicle to engage in a dialogue with our ecosystem - targeting the two skills all our constituents share: they can read. And they all have internet access.
If you're not speaking about your products or business to the public, someone else is doing it for you. If your customers are reachable via the internet, you've now got a lot of competition for their time and attention - the internet is so clearly a vital part of establishing and maintaining relationships with customers and constituents.
Question: Does Sun encourage or support your blog?
Schwartz: Sun encourages all of its employees to blog, not just me. We want folks to be an active member in their communitities. Sun provides the software and support for any employee who wishes to enter the blogosphere. I'm an ardent believer that our own employees are our best ambassadors. For a sampling of the wide range of folks doing great things visit blogs.sun.com.
Question: Are there any corporate policies you have to abide by when it comes to content?
Schwartz: Mike Dillon (our General Counsel) and I have spent quite a bit of time talking about the implications of blogging. Our employees are literally the people creating technologies driving the Internet, they have had access to that network since the inception of Sun more than 20 years ago. Our view is first and foremost, organizations must have good, effective policies and practices surrounding disclosure and public communications, independent of blogging or network architecture. Ours are very rigorous, and every employee signs a policy statement that says they understand it - that's not to say you don't have to remind folks now and then, but that's not unique to blogging.
Finally, one of the most interesting things to keep an eye on in the coming years will be the intersection of folks protected by the 1st amendment with those under the scrutiny of fiduciary obligation. Something tells me it's going to be an interesting ride...
Monday, July 5, 2004
Foreign Correspondents Club
The Foreign Correspondents' Club in Shanghai is an extremely active organization. It hosts talks with news makers as well as cultural and social events.
Several of its members have been very kind in showing me around the city. Bill Marcus, a Shanghai-based freelance business and political journalist, entered me a raffle that netted me a case of Veuve Clicquot Champage. I immediately threw a party.
Betta Plebani, who reports for BBC Brazil and other radio news programs, has introduced me to the city's "wet" produce markets and the fabric market, where you can buy silk and get it sewed into the outfits of your choice. It's a joy to watch her haggle in Italian-accented Chinese. The woman is a linguistic marvel -- she speaks fluent English, Russian, Spanish, Portueguese, Dutch and I don't know how many other languages.
Several of its members have been very kind in showing me around the city. Bill Marcus, a Shanghai-based freelance business and political journalist, entered me a raffle that netted me a case of Veuve Clicquot Champage. I immediately threw a party.
Betta Plebani, who reports for BBC Brazil and other radio news programs, has introduced me to the city's "wet" produce markets and the fabric market, where you can buy silk and get it sewed into the outfits of your choice. It's a joy to watch her haggle in Italian-accented Chinese. The woman is a linguistic marvel -- she speaks fluent English, Russian, Spanish, Portueguese, Dutch and I don't know how many other languages.
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Turtles, snakes and giant frogs
The oldest (Anastasia, or "Kiska," who's 9) has been enrolled in, and is going to, school. A local Chinese school -- five minute walk from our housing complex, and even on the same block! It looks a little dingy, a little Soviet, but you can't beat the commute and she'll definitely be learning a lot of Chinese.
We'll be back in the states in 3-4 years, so we're not worrying about them losing their English skills. However, if we were to stay longer, we'd probably enroll them in one of the area international schools.
Richard's working hard -- he's a copy editor at the Shanghai Daily and is learning Chinese. We also think that there's a bureau chief job waiting for him with the Asia Times as soon as they get their paperwork done and accredit him.
Meanwhile, I'm all set up. We've got the high-speed internet, the phones all set, and I'm all done with my jet lag. Now all I need is for my accreditation to come through and I can start working.
Shanghai is huge. We've decided not to get cars, so we're taking taxis everywhere - just like in NYC. Richard rides a bike to work (15 minutes). It's a ten-speed, and he wears a helmet, so he really stands out on these streets, where everyone rides Communist-era one-speeds with no helmets. The subway's pretty good, but crowded during rush hour, Rich says. I haven't been on it yet.
This weekend, I went to a department store where they had live turtles, snakes and giant frogs in the grocery department, alongside the seafood. The frogs were in open containers, and I was surprised they didn't hop out. They looked kind of fat -- maybe they were TOO fat.
We live in a complex of five 40-story buildings surrounding a gated courtyard with a garden, two playgrounds, a pond with goldfish, and a tennis court (and a morning tai chi exercise area). There's one other American family with kids here -- all the rest are Chinese. I spend my afternoons watching my youngest (Basil, 6) play on the playground and listening to language tapes. Then I go try out my Chinese on unsuspecting neighbors. It's coming along
well. I can pretty much make myself understood and hold basic conversations. Soon we'll put the youngest in preschool (as soon as we learn how to say it) -- school starts later here than in the States, and they don't have kindergarten here. So they start first grade at age 7 -- and he's only six.
We'll be back in the states in 3-4 years, so we're not worrying about them losing their English skills. However, if we were to stay longer, we'd probably enroll them in one of the area international schools.
Richard's working hard -- he's a copy editor at the Shanghai Daily and is learning Chinese. We also think that there's a bureau chief job waiting for him with the Asia Times as soon as they get their paperwork done and accredit him.
Meanwhile, I'm all set up. We've got the high-speed internet, the phones all set, and I'm all done with my jet lag. Now all I need is for my accreditation to come through and I can start working.
Shanghai is huge. We've decided not to get cars, so we're taking taxis everywhere - just like in NYC. Richard rides a bike to work (15 minutes). It's a ten-speed, and he wears a helmet, so he really stands out on these streets, where everyone rides Communist-era one-speeds with no helmets. The subway's pretty good, but crowded during rush hour, Rich says. I haven't been on it yet.
This weekend, I went to a department store where they had live turtles, snakes and giant frogs in the grocery department, alongside the seafood. The frogs were in open containers, and I was surprised they didn't hop out. They looked kind of fat -- maybe they were TOO fat.
We live in a complex of five 40-story buildings surrounding a gated courtyard with a garden, two playgrounds, a pond with goldfish, and a tennis court (and a morning tai chi exercise area). There's one other American family with kids here -- all the rest are Chinese. I spend my afternoons watching my youngest (Basil, 6) play on the playground and listening to language tapes. Then I go try out my Chinese on unsuspecting neighbors. It's coming along
well. I can pretty much make myself understood and hold basic conversations. Soon we'll put the youngest in preschool (as soon as we learn how to say it) -- school starts later here than in the States, and they don't have kindergarten here. So they start first grade at age 7 -- and he's only six.
Wednesday, April 7, 2004
Almost a foreign correspondent
The paperwork is reportedly moving along to make me an official foreign correspondent in China, and the business cards are on their way.
It's time to get started, laying the groundwork for my new career. Unfortunately, I've been too busy these last two weeks setting up my computers, moving my files, getting the Internet access, and finishing up projects from back home that I haven't had time to go out and get to know the people and institutions I'll be writing about in a very short time.
Meanwhile, my editor has agreed to spring for some travel expenses, and I hope to be visiting some neighboring countries in the next few weeks (while I'm waiting for that accreditation I keep talking about). I'm thinking of visiting Mongolia, which has a stock market, and Vladivostok in the Russian far east. I'm interested in those places because they aren't usually written about, and because I speak Russian (which is common not ony in Vladivostok, of course, but in Mongolia as well).
Meanwhile, on the home front -- spring has ended. We had one week of 60-degree weather (Farenheit) and now we're into the summer temperatures and are down to our T-shirts. Strangely, the locals are still wearing windbreakers. We're worried about how hot it's going to get, but the kids, at least, are going to spend their summers back in the states, and the apartment and Richard's workplace are both air conditioned.
It's time to get started, laying the groundwork for my new career. Unfortunately, I've been too busy these last two weeks setting up my computers, moving my files, getting the Internet access, and finishing up projects from back home that I haven't had time to go out and get to know the people and institutions I'll be writing about in a very short time.
Meanwhile, my editor has agreed to spring for some travel expenses, and I hope to be visiting some neighboring countries in the next few weeks (while I'm waiting for that accreditation I keep talking about). I'm thinking of visiting Mongolia, which has a stock market, and Vladivostok in the Russian far east. I'm interested in those places because they aren't usually written about, and because I speak Russian (which is common not ony in Vladivostok, of course, but in Mongolia as well).
Meanwhile, on the home front -- spring has ended. We had one week of 60-degree weather (Farenheit) and now we're into the summer temperatures and are down to our T-shirts. Strangely, the locals are still wearing windbreakers. We're worried about how hot it's going to get, but the kids, at least, are going to spend their summers back in the states, and the apartment and Richard's workplace are both air conditioned.
Friday, March 26, 2004
Chinese food and the Foreign Correspondents Club
Well, it's been two weeks for us here in Shanghai. Anastasia has settled into her new school and is making progress in learning Mandarin, as am I. Basil is still home with us during the day, but we're starting to think about finding a kindergarden or pre-school for him to go to.
Richard's work is going well at the Shanghai Daily. The kids and I have visited him there twice already and ate at the workers' cafeteria our second time there. They had Chinese food there, of course. But none of it was recognizeable as Chinese food! We still haven't gone to a Cantonese restaurant, which is apparently where American Chinese food comes from.
There are million little stores within a block's walk of our apartment complex and I'm still finding new ones. Yesterday, the kids and I went to the postoffice to mail a letter to Anastasia's class and we found a little bakery half a block away that had the most amazing croissants, big and flaky, and cakes and cookies and a beatiful, crusty, sesame-seeded bread loaf that we ate in one big gulp when we got home. We got two donuts (big, sweet and chewy) and a bag of cookies and a loaf of bread and two huge croissants for 12 yuan -- or $1.50.
Outside, there was a little old man with several bamboo bird cages with little birds. Chicadees? Anyway, cute little birds. He let them out of their cages and they would fly right back to him to take seeds out of his hands. He let my children hold the seeds and the birds would fly right into their hands. Then he put a coin down on a stool, and the bird would fly over, get the coin, and bring it back to him. The kids loved it, and a crowd of a dozen-plus people gathered to watch them and the birds. Richard said that he's seen the old man there regularly -- he's retired, Rich says, and the birds are his hobby. Rich says that there are a lot of retirees to go to the parks or other outdoor areas every day to give their birds some fresh air and a change of scenery.
Then we walked to the "supermarket" -- really, a mid-sized grocery store. There, I found tomato paste and tomato sauce -- a great discovery, because there's a kind of noodle that's a lot like spaghetti and now we can eat Italian food at Chinese prices. Otherwise, we have to buy spaghetti sauce in the pricey imported food shops.
I'm setting into my job. I don't do any reporting in China yet because my accreditation hasn't come through. It will take a couple of months or so. But I do have some miscellaneous stuff to coordinate with the office back home. This means I keep regular east coast business hours. When the kids go to bed at 8 p.m., I take a two hour nap. When I wake up, it's 10 p.m. in Shanghai and 9 a.m. in New York City. Then I go to work. I've been talking to people over the telephone from Shanghai. My location sometimes makes for some nice chit-chat before the official conversation starts. In the past, we'd have to talk about the weather.
Speaking of the weather, I'd been cloudy and cool here for the past few days. We go outside in sweaters or light jackets, though the kids take theirs off when they play actively on the playground.
Yesterday, I finally put on some grown-up clothes, panty hose, heels and lipstick and went to a meeting of the Foreign Correspondents Club (the first one I've ever been to, in any country). There were about a dozen of us around a table in a historic restaurant in downtown Shanghai that was located on the grounds of a sprawling, pre-revolutionary beautifully landscaped residence and villa complex. We discussed the state of foreign journalism with a visiting dignitary, an old foreign correspondent turned university lecturer. Our table had a revolving glass circle in the middle of it, and waitresses kept bringing out large platters of Chinese food to put on that revolving circle. Then we all helped ourselves to what we wanted. There was egg drop soup, and pork fried rice, and spicy noodles, and various kinds of pork dishes, a roasted duck, and several other dishes as well. And I came late because I had trouble getting the taxi driver to understand the address when I said it, so I missed the first round! It all cost 50 yuan per person -- or around $6.
The organizer of the event said that the restaurant was insistent that this wouldn't be enough food, and urged her to go for the 200 yuan a plate option, which would have included turtle soup. Since we didn't eat even half of the gigantic amount of what was served, she decided she made the right decision to go with the less expensive alternative.
I was immediately invited to join a newly-formed group composed of international correspondents and bloggers located around the world who are discussing the future of our profession, and I did. It's very nice to be back in the middle of things again.
I also volunteered to help organize things for the Foreign Correspondents Club if the needed any help, but it looks as though the group is *very* well run. I'm impressed with the number of events they hold. The day before yesterday, for example, they had a get-together with some ambassadors and tomorrow a writer is talking about a history book he's just completed.
I'm also interested in the local Chinese media organizations, but haven't gotten in touch with anyone yet. Richard's newspaper, the Shanghai Daily, has a corporate membership in the local journalists' union, and he was supposed to find out how to get in touch with folks there, but he hasn't yet.
So far, to my disappointment, everyone I know here speaks fluent English. I haven't made friends with any of my neighbors yet, but want to. I really want to learn Chinese. I have a reputation to maintain. :-) Meanwhile, I'm continuing to listen to my tapes.
In mid-April, Mathew Schwartz, a former colleague of mine from Computerworld, will come stay. He's coming to Beijing on a press visit sponsored by the wireless industry (I think) and will make a short detour to us for a weekend. By then, we're going to have a fold-out couch. We're not buying it *just* for him, since Richard has two friends who will stay over as well. If anybody else wants to come, just let us know! We have a very nice apartment, with gorgeous views of the city (think "Frasier"). The light show every night that some of the big towers put on is spectacular, and we're on the 18th floor facing downtown, so we get to see it all.
Richard's work is going well at the Shanghai Daily. The kids and I have visited him there twice already and ate at the workers' cafeteria our second time there. They had Chinese food there, of course. But none of it was recognizeable as Chinese food! We still haven't gone to a Cantonese restaurant, which is apparently where American Chinese food comes from.
There are million little stores within a block's walk of our apartment complex and I'm still finding new ones. Yesterday, the kids and I went to the postoffice to mail a letter to Anastasia's class and we found a little bakery half a block away that had the most amazing croissants, big and flaky, and cakes and cookies and a beatiful, crusty, sesame-seeded bread loaf that we ate in one big gulp when we got home. We got two donuts (big, sweet and chewy) and a bag of cookies and a loaf of bread and two huge croissants for 12 yuan -- or $1.50.
Outside, there was a little old man with several bamboo bird cages with little birds. Chicadees? Anyway, cute little birds. He let them out of their cages and they would fly right back to him to take seeds out of his hands. He let my children hold the seeds and the birds would fly right into their hands. Then he put a coin down on a stool, and the bird would fly over, get the coin, and bring it back to him. The kids loved it, and a crowd of a dozen-plus people gathered to watch them and the birds. Richard said that he's seen the old man there regularly -- he's retired, Rich says, and the birds are his hobby. Rich says that there are a lot of retirees to go to the parks or other outdoor areas every day to give their birds some fresh air and a change of scenery.
Then we walked to the "supermarket" -- really, a mid-sized grocery store. There, I found tomato paste and tomato sauce -- a great discovery, because there's a kind of noodle that's a lot like spaghetti and now we can eat Italian food at Chinese prices. Otherwise, we have to buy spaghetti sauce in the pricey imported food shops.
I'm setting into my job. I don't do any reporting in China yet because my accreditation hasn't come through. It will take a couple of months or so. But I do have some miscellaneous stuff to coordinate with the office back home. This means I keep regular east coast business hours. When the kids go to bed at 8 p.m., I take a two hour nap. When I wake up, it's 10 p.m. in Shanghai and 9 a.m. in New York City. Then I go to work. I've been talking to people over the telephone from Shanghai. My location sometimes makes for some nice chit-chat before the official conversation starts. In the past, we'd have to talk about the weather.
Speaking of the weather, I'd been cloudy and cool here for the past few days. We go outside in sweaters or light jackets, though the kids take theirs off when they play actively on the playground.
Yesterday, I finally put on some grown-up clothes, panty hose, heels and lipstick and went to a meeting of the Foreign Correspondents Club (the first one I've ever been to, in any country). There were about a dozen of us around a table in a historic restaurant in downtown Shanghai that was located on the grounds of a sprawling, pre-revolutionary beautifully landscaped residence and villa complex. We discussed the state of foreign journalism with a visiting dignitary, an old foreign correspondent turned university lecturer. Our table had a revolving glass circle in the middle of it, and waitresses kept bringing out large platters of Chinese food to put on that revolving circle. Then we all helped ourselves to what we wanted. There was egg drop soup, and pork fried rice, and spicy noodles, and various kinds of pork dishes, a roasted duck, and several other dishes as well. And I came late because I had trouble getting the taxi driver to understand the address when I said it, so I missed the first round! It all cost 50 yuan per person -- or around $6.
The organizer of the event said that the restaurant was insistent that this wouldn't be enough food, and urged her to go for the 200 yuan a plate option, which would have included turtle soup. Since we didn't eat even half of the gigantic amount of what was served, she decided she made the right decision to go with the less expensive alternative.
I was immediately invited to join a newly-formed group composed of international correspondents and bloggers located around the world who are discussing the future of our profession, and I did. It's very nice to be back in the middle of things again.
I also volunteered to help organize things for the Foreign Correspondents Club if the needed any help, but it looks as though the group is *very* well run. I'm impressed with the number of events they hold. The day before yesterday, for example, they had a get-together with some ambassadors and tomorrow a writer is talking about a history book he's just completed.
I'm also interested in the local Chinese media organizations, but haven't gotten in touch with anyone yet. Richard's newspaper, the Shanghai Daily, has a corporate membership in the local journalists' union, and he was supposed to find out how to get in touch with folks there, but he hasn't yet.
So far, to my disappointment, everyone I know here speaks fluent English. I haven't made friends with any of my neighbors yet, but want to. I really want to learn Chinese. I have a reputation to maintain. :-) Meanwhile, I'm continuing to listen to my tapes.
In mid-April, Mathew Schwartz, a former colleague of mine from Computerworld, will come stay. He's coming to Beijing on a press visit sponsored by the wireless industry (I think) and will make a short detour to us for a weekend. By then, we're going to have a fold-out couch. We're not buying it *just* for him, since Richard has two friends who will stay over as well. If anybody else wants to come, just let us know! We have a very nice apartment, with gorgeous views of the city (think "Frasier"). The light show every night that some of the big towers put on is spectacular, and we're on the 18th floor facing downtown, so we get to see it all.
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