Writing the Book

Concept to Content

Compelling Story, Unflappable Belief, and Digital Teamwork

By Gayle Tzemach Lemmon• Journalist’s Trade• December 14, 2011

How does a journalist make the journey to author? A variety of paths and potential pitfalls are here for you to learn from. Authors of memoirs, novels and nonfiction narratives write frankly about the ups and downs. These days the topic of books can’t be discussed without mentioning online platforms and self-publishing so you’ll also hear from the individuals behind The Atavist and Byliner as well as an author who brought his book back from the dead via print-on-demand. If you have a publishing (horror or success) story you’d like to share, please drop us a line at nreditor@harvard.edu. —Jan Gardner, Assistant Editor Read more

Feeling It’s a Book, Then Pausing to Wonder If It Is

By Mitchell Zuckoff• Journalist’s Trade• December 15, 2011

‘Does the fact that this story hasn’t been told mean that there’s not enough to tell it?’ Read more

On the Road to Writing Books: Blazing New Trails

By William Wheeler• Journalist’s Trade• December 8, 2011

‘What transforms journalists into nonfiction authors is the heft of their voice, the narrative arc of their idea, and its marketability. These aren’t lessons that tend to be reinforced on the way up the newspaper ladder.’ Read more

Brief Story, Book Proposal, a Longer Feature, Then a Book

By Amy Ellis Nutt• Journalist’s Trade• December 8, 2011

‘… it would be a while before people would say, “Hey, this is a book.” ’ Read more

Writing a Life, Living a Writer’s Life

By Gaiutra Bahadur• Journalist’s Trade• December 6, 2011

‘At one point, my mother, a woman who is anything but acid, told me: “Get a job, and get a life.” She said this out of love and concern because all I ever did—all I ever do—is work, seven days a week, practically every waking hour.’ Read more

A Year of Reinvention

By Alfredo Corchado• Journalist’s Trade• December 8, 2011

Ours was a year of uncertainty, especially after reverberations from September’s economic crash worked their way through the global economy. It was the fall of 2008, and my Nieman year was beginning. As our class came together, we sensed that … Read more

Starting as a Journalist, Ending as a Memoirist

By Lucette Lagnado• Journalist’s Trade• December 7, 2011

‘I have come to realize that my obsessive precision—a great virtue in a reporter—wasn’t necessarily the greatest quality in a would-be memoirist.’ Read more

Journalists and Memoir: Reporting + Memory

By Michele Weldon• Journalist’s Trade• December 8, 2011

‘The story must move beyond a verbal regurgitation of hastily recalled anecdotes. You need to report live from your life, researching with interviews, data and documents that support your recollections.’ Read more

Tips for Journalists Writing Memoirs

By Michele Weldon• Journalist’s Trade• December 8, 2011

Several journalists have participated in Michele Weldon’s Writing to Save Your Life memoir writing workshops during the past decade. While she finds that journalists are at an advantage because of their writing and reporting skills, there are still some caveats … Read more

Newsroom to Classroom: Books as a Thread of Connection

By Brooke Kroeger• Journalist’s Trade• December 6, 2011

With a forthcoming book about undercover reporting—along with a reporter-friendly database of historic examples—a j-school professor keeps her focus on familiar topics. Read more

Narrative Writing: Craft to Ethics, Theme to Characters

By Beth Macy• Journalist’s Trade• December 8, 2011

In ‘Storycraft’ Jack Hart ‘reveals the story behind the stories.’ Read more

A Literary Exploration of How Power Corrupts

By Thrity Umrigar• Journalist’s Trade• December 8, 2011

This story is ‘about how the worlds of journalism and fiction writing are not as unimaginably different as one might think.’ Read more

Novels Win Out Over Journalism

By William Dietrich• Journalist’s Trade• December 6, 2011

‘The biggest shift in going from journalism to books is not from scribe to artist, but employee to entrepreneur—suddenly self-employed, with no benefits, no expense account, and no security.’ Read more

Will I Ever Write the Book? Why Not?

By Bret Schulte• Journalist’s Trade• December 6, 2011

‘I teach nonfiction books. I study them, praise them, and pick them apart, and as I do so, I often wonder what’s holding me back from writing one.’ Read more

Leapfrogging the Book: A Newspaper Story Jumps to Film

By Paul Lieberman• Journalist’s Trade• December 8, 2011

‘The desire to have the best—or most salable—story must never undermine our responsibility to challenge even our most compelling material.’ Read more

Dealing with Hollywood

By Paul Lieberman• Journalist’s Trade• December 8, 2011

Paul Lieberman, whose newspaper series is being adapted into the film “Gangster Squad,” offers tips—and cautions—for journalists when film or TV folks are interested in a story you have reported. RELATED ARTICLE “Leapfrogging the Book: A … Read more

Platform to Audience

Journalism: Done The Atavist Way

By David Wolman• Books• December 8, 2011

‘… I liked the idea of being part of something new and something that attempts to reinvigorate the field of long-form journalism by re-engineering the business model that pays for it.’ Read more

It’s a Long Article. It’s a Short Book. No, It’s a Byliner E-Book.

By John Tayman• Books• December 8, 2011

‘Our idea was to create a new way for writers to be able to tell stories at what had always been considered a financially awkward length.’ Read more

The Writing Life: Examined in a Digital Minibook

By Ann Patchett• Books• December 8, 2011

Earlier this year novelist Ann Patchett published on Byliner what it described as “a practical memoir about the agony, ecstasy, and occasional lunacy of the writing life.” What follows is an excerpt from “The Getaway Car,” the minibook … Read more

Transformation in Publishing and Optimism About Books

By Peter Osnos• Books• December 8, 2011

‘An enduring challenge for journalists is to take their experiences, background and skills as a writer and turn them into a fully developed narrative.’ Read more

Sooner Sounds Better

By Philip Meyer• Books• December 7, 2011

Recently I wrote a memoir with the working title "Paper Route: Finding My Way to Precision Journalism" and then I started looking for a publisher. One of my first stops was the website of Algonquin Books, a boutique publisher in … Read more

Telling Political Stories in Closer to Real-Time Books

By John F. Harris• Books• December 7, 2011

‘The digital book project is a way of ensuring that these tips and anecdotes and character insights don’t get pushed aside, and instead are developed and given to readers in a format that puts them in the best light.’ Read more

E-Books as a Business Strategy

By Federica Cocco• Books• December 8, 2011

Owni ‘doesn’t carry advertisements and publishes all of its content under a Creative Commons license. Selling products—including e-books—is its big bet.’ Read more

Visual Intensity of Words

By Len Edgerly• Books• December 7, 2011

‘Does the Kindle allow the visual even more dominance over the other senses in the act of reading?’ Read more

Out of Print, a Book Reappears—And Earns Its Author Money

By Dan Kennedy• Books• December 8, 2011

‘Because of the Internet and some very slick printing technology, “Little People” remains visible and available. It’s even making me money for the first time since 2002 …’ Read more

Journalist to Marketer—With a Book In-Between

By Rochelle Lefkowitz• Books• December 8, 2011

‘... being a great reporter is no guarantee that you can successfully sell your book, even when you’ve done cool stories about books.’ Read more

Making a Book—Digital and Print—From Scratch

By Elizabeth Castro• Books• December 8, 2011

‘By building a book in modules—rather than constructing it as a complete “bible”—I can gain flexibility, respond easily to the rapid pace of changes, and be happier than if I have to rewrite my entire book.’ Read more

Learning the Inner Workings of an E-Book File

By Elizabeth Castro• Books• December 8, 2011

RELATED ARTICLE “Making a Book—Digital and Print—From Scratch” – Elizabeth Castro“EPUB Straight to the Point—Creating Ebooks for the Apple iPad and Other Ereaders” explains how to make an e-book … Read more

Voice to Visual

Powerful People and a Book They Almost Stopped

By Marites Dañguilan Vitug• Features• December 7, 2011

When a Philippine investigative journalist revealed the inner workings of her nation’s Supreme Court, the country’s largest book publisher and leading distributor walked away. Read more

Books Take Over Where Daily Journalism Can’t Go

By Andrew Meldrum• Books• December 7, 2011

‘It is difficult to do justice to the complexities of Zimbabwe’s story while still grabbing and sustaining readers’ interest when so much of what reporters hear is depressing.’ Read more

Transit: An Assignment and an Idea—Now a Book, Exhibit and Website

By Espen Rasmussen• Visual Journalism• December 15, 2011

An Essay in Words and Photographs Read more

A Photography Book—Absorbed in Print and On the iPad

By Boris Muñoz• Visual Journalism• December 8, 2011

‘In “Capitolio,” a book and an iPad app, Magnum photographer Christopher Anderson connects circumstances of Caracas’s common folk with the failure of urban modernization.’ Read more