The difference between professional and amateur journalists

Professional journalists, I think you’re great. But you’re starting to sound like lawyers, doctors, and CPAs.

It’s just kind of tiring, all the whining, which goes something like this: “We’re extremely important, and no one else is qualified to do what we do. And we’re out of work, and no one will hire us, and I might have to take a job in PR, FFS!!!“ 

While I agree that “serious journalism” is important, I disagree that non-professional journalists can’t do what professionals do. I agree that not all amateurs DO do what professional journalists do, but I think there’s one major reason for that. But first, more whining from professional journalists….  

 This story in particular is pathetic: The Future of News

Will citizen journalists ever replace their traditional counterparts? “No,” said Howe, bluntly, since they lack “a deep network of sources,” editing staff, legal services, and the fine points of reporting know-how, such as filing information requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

But “some successes” are possible, he said, and there are signs of “a great process of professionalization going on.”

Sproul acknowledged that the future of the news “is an inclusive one,” with media organizations acting as final “curators” of reportage.

Baron said citizen journalists will never replace in-depth newsgathering, but they can be useful in supplementing the act of reporting. They might supply “one photo, one fact, one opinion,” he said, but “journalism is more than that.”

 Here’s the only thing different between a professional journalist and an amateur one: A salary.

And I don’t mean that in the tritest way. I mean it like this: If you’re getting paid a salary to interview, hunt down facts, file Freedom of Information Act requests, and do all the hard work it takes to put together a story worth a shit, then you don’t have to worry about doing something else to pay your bills. Amateur journalists don’t do all that because they don’t have the time… they have to go to work.

One reason I say this is because I have worked alongside many professional journalists who went to professional journalist schools and got their professional journalist degrees… and I would say less than half of them cared to meet all the professional journalist criteria, as defined by the aforementioned article.

And the more I do editing, writing, assigning, and – I’m just going to say it – journalism…. sometimes for great pay but most of the time for little-to-no pay, the more I see what it all comes down to, and that’s time. I would love to spend all day working on a single story… or better, like some magazines, a couple of months working on a single story. But like a lot of freelancers/amateur journalists… I have to produce content to get paid. And I don’t get paid unless I produce content.

And maybe that’s what drives me nuts about the whining. It’s the same whining we heard from pro journalists when we asked them to blog or at least create some content for the Web site. Boy, did they whine! Yet they had time to write a foot-long e-mail message about how they don’t have time to contribute to the blog. Interesting.

Here’s a business model that’s going to revolutionize journalism: From now on, professional journalists, you get paid for every piece of content you produce. Online, on Twitter, on a blog, on paper, as a speaker, in a video, in a podcast… you get paid by the piece. And probably not that well.

Professional journalists, you are all now freelancers.

Texas State employee charitable contributions graphic

In the latest issue of GivingCity we ran a story about the thousands of state employees who donate millions each year to Central Texas charities. We made this sample of different organization’s contributions from a random selection of agencies. I thought the contrast between the different agencies was shocking – even after you take into account the number of employees per agency. In the magazine I had to make this graphic fit to the spread, but I made this version so that I could show all the information unhindered by the page-size. After realizing I had all this empty space on the right, I also decide to place the actual pages from the story on the graphic – they remain readable. You can see the original after the jump, or download the whole issue here.

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GivingCity Austin magazine issue 4

Get the new issue here!

Inside this issue:

John Thornton launches the new Texas Tribune website, the $4 million nonprofit. Learn how you can help reduce the number of high school dropouts in Austin. Sara Hickman offers the merits of volunteering with your children. Thousands of state employees in Central Texas give millions to local charities every year – who knew? The Lance Armstrong Foundation is a global organization with a local commitment. Just because you’re unemployed doesn’t mean there’s not work you can do. Dozens of small churches are cropping up in Central Texas, ready to serve. Finally understand what all this Obama “call to action” business is about. Alissa Magrum starts a nonprofit with a jersey and a dream.

What’s wrong with most digital magazines

We’ve been working on digital magazines for about four years now, so they don’t seem like such a new format to us. But if you look across the Web, you’ll see a lot of bad examples of the format.

Not “bad” so much as wasted opportunities. What other digital magazines seem to forget about the format are two main things:

1. It’s on a screen
2. It’s still a magazine

I know these points are obvious and so don’t mean much on their own, but let me explain.

It’s on a screen. Why are you creating your magazine in the same way you make the print magazine and just uploading the PDF? First of all, the dimensions are all wrong – it’s a portrait image on a landscape screen. No one likes to scroll up and down on each page. Secondly, in order to read anything - because people still read magazines – you force people to zoom in and then out again to see where they are.

So we’ve got two really bad experiences going on in a single screen: scrolling up and down repeatedly and also zooming in and out. It’s no wonder people don’t like to read digital magazines.

It’s still a magazine: Then there are those that create the PDF for the screen (thank you) but then make this hideous, boring, flat, amateur-looking “magazine” with clip art, and try to compensate by running annoying Flash videos and audible page turns. The latter is a gimmick, the former attribute has yet to be proven as something that will attract and engage readers. We link to videos outside the magazine, but I’m not sure you want to watch it within the magazine.

Wait, scratch that. Watching it within the magazine would be great, but we have yet to see this function well. If it loads quickly, the video screen is usually very small. And if it’s big enough it takes forever to load.

The thing is, this digital mag thing has potential. Here’s a list of its top attributes:

1. Cheaper to print. Because you don’t print it.
2. Cheaper to distribute. Notice on these first two I didn’t say “free.” They still require a lot of work, but the cost is exponentially lower.
3. More… pass-along-able. Yes, you can hand your print magazine to a friend or float it in a doctor’s office for a month, but you can post a link to a digital magazine on Facebook, Tweet about it, email it, add it to a comment, add it to your LinkedIn page… think of the reach.
4. Linked up. Think of the potential of “link journalism.” And think of the power of an ad with a Web-specific call to action a reader can actually act on with a click.
5. Long-form content mixed with compelling design. You can’t get that on the Web the way you can in a magazine.

We’re obviously fans. If you think you’d like to explore the benefits of a digital magazine for your organization, please let us know.

How to get more freelance work, some ideas

I presented to the Freelance Austin group today. Good times. I never feel like I’ve prepared enough when I’ve been asked to speak, but then I remember that 15 years of freelancing and hiring freelancers might just be enough preparation.

The attendees seemed to tolerate me. It surprised me that most of them were already plugged into social media, especially blogs. This is good news for writers, especially, because I believe blogging can demonstrate your ability to write, your passion and knowledge for a subject, and your traction with readers.

The gist of my message can be boiled down to a few things.

1. Build your brand with social media. Don’t be scared to get a little personal but be sneaky strategic about it.

2. Pitch yourself, not your story idea. Chances are editors have lots of story ideas; what they need are professionals to write them.

3. Go beyond magazines you can get on a newsstand. There are millions of magazines out there for every niche you can think of. Seek out custom publishers, especially. They have clients with nice budgets and lots of content needs.

That’s just my two cents. I also had to bring up my pet peeves – call the editorial office with questions, don’t just wonder…. read the magazine to see what they usually write about…. don’t take rejections personally; editors are busy people. Hopefully this inspired some of the Freelance Austin members to go out there and get some new work.

There was a PowerPoint that went with the presentation. Not sure how useful it is but you’re welcome to download it here.

NOTE! We hope to be hiring soon, so if you’re an Austin freelance er/illustrator/photographer/designer, please make sure we know about you.

GivingCity Austin magazine issue 3

We finished issue three of GivingCity a few weeks ago, and have had a great response so far. We’re busy on the fourth issue, and a couple of other projects which we’ll write soon.

Here are some pages from GivingCity; click any image to download the full issue.

Inside this issue:
The New Philanthropists
We photograph the young, active, and engaged people making a difference in Austin now.
Are There Too Many Nonprofits in Austin?
“Yes, no… maybe. That depends.” We let the experts have their say.
Unscripted Collaboration
The We Are One video proves nonprofits can – and do – work together.
PLUS
Tom Spencer on Austin’s philanthropic culture.
An all-girls football game for charity.
What you don’t know about Goodwill.
The “social entrepreneur” poster child.
What’s so cool about Leadership Austin?
Teaching philanthropy in schools.
New Austin-born films about giving.
Mando Rayo’s argument for social media.
Katie Ford’s encounter with the convicted.
DJ Stout’s SIGNS for change.
…and photos from the fundraising event, Austin Under 40.

Follow October Custom Publishing on Twitter

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Just click the icon to follow us at @OctoberCuPub – thanks!

Homepage update

We’re working on a small self-promotional thing, and you can see the early stages on our homepage and above. Looking for different ways to explain the concept and value of digital magazines… will post more as we progress.

United Way Peace Bench Project

United Way and Hands On Central Texas asked us to create a map showing the locations of the benches around Austin in their Peace Bench Project. Find out more about the project and the 2009 MLK Dy of Service here.