Only built for Week 1 Links

A collection of some of the links we've discussed during the first week of class.

Pitches that Landed–Scott Carney, an investigative journalist with bylines at prominent magazines, shares some of his successful pitches.

Talking Pitches with George Quarashi–George Quarashi, the editor of Howler magazine, talks about his experience dealing with young writers who pitch him stories for a soccer magazine.

The Science of Pitching–Most journalists dream of being published in a major national magazine, but the idea of pitching a story to one of these iconic behemoths can be pretty overwhelming. To Jennifer Kahn, freelance feature writer and journalism professor at U.C. Berkeley, crafting the perfect pitch is more science than art. Wired, Sports Illustrated, the New York Times Magazine and - the holy grail of feature magazines - The New Yorker have all accepted her pitches. According to Kahn, a successful magazine article should draw the reader in and unravel the story little by little.

Short and Sweet Guide to Pitching in the Digital Age–As digital and social media intertwine, and there’s a lot of potential for confusion and miscommunication, I figured, as the current managing editor for a digital music magazine, it might be helpful to freelance writers both of the older generations (it me, old dude) and the younger to provide a general guide for pitching etiquette. Please note: every publication has its individual processes, bureaucracy, and quirks! But these are general guidelines that my team, and many of the editors we know, find useful.

Glossary of Publishing Terms–We’re always getting questions about what certain obscure—or sometimes not-so-obscure—publishing terms mean.  To help, we’re rolling out Mediabistro’s media glossary. So, freelancers and media-job–seekers: Bookmark this bad boy and hit it up whenever you’re asking yourself, “What the heck is a nut graf?!”

Studio 20 at NYU–The digital-first collaborative publishing graduate program in journalism at NYU.

Journalism Students Don’t Need to be Unicorns, Just Superheroes–

...when asked directly, employers paint a much more realistic picture of the journalism skills they hire for. From more than three dozen media executives interviewed by Mark Stencel and Kim Perry for a recent survey, you can pull out this winning trifecta:

• Traditional journalism skills (Reporting and writing or video equivalent)
• Expertise in one digital skill
• People skills