I am a foodie, travel junkie, SEO expert, social networking mommy and former cops - government - investigative - biz - CAR print journalist turned web publisher - writer - mommy blogger. Here are my musings on all of the topics above.
My StumbleUpon PageWhy I Ditched Print for Web Writing
Deb Ng of Freelance Writing Gigs recently had a great post, “
Print vs. Web: Why the Two Will Never Be the Same.” It’s still interesting to me, even in this era of Web Content as King, how many people still think a writer only goes for web to get a career started (or as a last resort).
People are usually pretty surprised when they hear my print experience (yeah, I’ve written for pretty much every print medium). I did 15 years hard time as a newspaper reporter, and I have written for national magazines and even did a book (only to be told after I was done that there’s not a big enough market for the corner of France and Spain I wrote about).
I finally cut the cord entirely with print a couple years ago, and I’ve never looked back. I still to this day talk with journalists and freelance writers who still see print as The Ultimate, particularly a sweet spread in a major national mag. Or they think a book is The End All, Be All. Usually, they say it’s just because they “like to see their name in print.” Um, OK. Print that web page then.
Personally, I have been doing the nasty, naughty web writing thing on the side for a long time. Instead of it just being a dirty little habit, it’s finally grown to the point where you can make a buck and focus on web writing.
I don’t have to cover night meetings about which chair the local goverment should buy, or churn out daily junk 8-inchers for well over 40 hours, just on the off chance they might actually let me have a spare 10 minutes a week to work on a real investigative piece on something that matters.
I don’t have to waste 90 percent of my time begging magazine editors to think about thinking about letting me write for them. Oh, and hey it would be really cool if you pay me for that piece sometime this decade.
Now when I want to write, like now, I just write. Instant gratification. And if I want to see my name in print, I click “print.” Done.
Photo © Rodolfo Clix on stock.xchng.
Tags: journalism, new media, print vs. webRelated posts
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