I’m the new NPC SCOOP editor, and while I know some of you, I certainly don’t know all of you, and that’s one of the things I’d like to accomplish – getting to know each other.
Most of us have come from somewhere other than Florida – and I know we have such varied and exciting backgrounds. Thus I’m asking everyone to tell me a little about themselves (or a lot) and we will run it in every SCOOP issue.
Who are you, where did you come from, what are you doing now, and what your plans for the future.
It’s always exciting to find out who your colleagues are. And don’t be shy; this is the time to blow your horn.
OK now that I’ve said that, who am I to even ask? Briefly, I was one of the original editors of the National Enquirer, had a best-selling book, became a literary agent, and spent most of my life living in New York. But I will give you more when my time comes.
To start off with, we are going to profile the Board of Governors at NPC (you do the big shots first you know). Then each and every member (if you want to). We are a small group, but from what I can see, we are a fairly close-knit group.
I’ve coauthored six books, and most of them were with major publishers. I know there are many members who’ve done more, and many who would be thrilled if they could just get one published.
There will be tips from me in forthcoming issues on to how to do this. As a member of the Authors Guild, I will give you the inside SCOOP on who they are suing now – and why. They have done many good things for authors in general.
For those who want to self-publish eBooks, these books now account for 12 percent of the digital-publishing market. In the popular genres of crime, science fiction, fantasy and romance, the figure rises to 20 percent.
Imagine that – one out of five eBooks now is self-published.
You won’t exactly become rich in self-publishing.
The average book costs 99 cents, a fact that propels the market. Amazing though, e-book bestseller lists are regularly dominated by self-published titles.
Want to self publish eBooks? More about this in other issues.
Do you think location doesn’t matter in your book? Think again.
According to some people, the military situation in Afghanistan helped wave a flag to sell an unbelievable 38 million copies of Khaled Hosseini’s two novels, The Kite Runner & A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Next month’s SCOOP will feature a surprise interview from NPC Board member Gina Edwards and her exciting Watchdog City News. She’s a newbie, but what a dynamo. Good luck Gina!
This is a hard time for journalists. Years ago, we didn’t have to compete with the tell all and give all Internet. And while people may be reading more, they aren’t that interested in reading newspapers as they use to be.
Besides the Internet (which keeps us glued to it at times) you have the Kindle, the Nook, the iPad, the iPhone, along with social media, and the list could continue.
It’s tough enough for papers to stay alive, and even tougher for new journalism students to get a job. That’s one of the reasons the NPC encourages students in this field. Look elsewhere in this issue for a piece about our latest scholarship recipients.
I was a tabloid journalist, and I had limited space to tell the story. Here are some terms that some of us used that you might be familiar with and what they really meant to us:
Exclusive (Meaning no one else returned the publicist’s calls)
Knowledgeable observer (The reporter)
Highly placed source (Reads our newspaper)
Source who spoke on condition of anonymity (Publicist)
Never (no clips in our file)
Outspoken (Rude Man)
Mogul (Has made it and we’re doing a hatchet job)
Innocent bystander (Too slow to run away)
Good Samaritan: (Too stupid to run away)
According to published reports (We got scooped)