Looking through Google Photos, I came upon the Featured Image (Chromebook Pixel), which was posted on the defunct Google+ seeking response from other folks on the social network. At the time, sometime in late 2013 or early 2014, I conceived an ebook concept tentatively titled Be a Better Blogger that would eventually become Responsible Reporting: Field Guide for Bloggers, Journalists, and Other Online News Gatherers (published March 2014).
I initially sought to raise $10,000 crowdfunding, generating really nothing. I was satisfied with the eventual ebook, which concepts and writing guidance hit the bullseye. My concerns about news reporting exploded in importance during, and following, the 2016 election cycle. My advice about branding, reporting, and sourcing all proved to be spot-on accurate.
In 2015, I released Responsible Reporting into the public domain and serialized here; Foreward; Section 1, Chapters I and II, III and IV, V and VI; Section 2, Chapters I, II, III, IV, and V; Section 3, Chapters I and II, III, IV,V, VI, VII, VIII, and IX. For 2024, I am seriously considering writing a revised edition.
With that introduction, what follows is the original advice-pitch from 10 years ago.
I need your advice.
If you follow my rants here, I’m highly critical of the current state of news reporting. There is too much unsourced rumormongering and too many posts referring back to some blog that is tenuously sourced. That’s a two-fold problem: The original post’s sourcing and other bloggers or journalists using the first as only source.
The Google “free” economy is major catalyst, but by no means the only factor. News sites scramble for shrinking advertising revenue they cannot satisfy. There simply is too much content. That means available ad space greatly exceeds available advertising—as example of one problem (and I will identify others).
Someone needs to write a definitive writing guide for digital reporting. It’s a book I’m raring to start, but being a full-time project up-front funding is necessary. So I’d like to crowdfund the book, Be a Better Blogger. The question: Where? Which of the crowdfunding sites would be best for this kind of creative project? What would you recommend?
While the title is about blogging, the book is meant for anyone who wants to write well and responsibly. Expect some surprising advice, such as debunking “ethics statements” as licenses some writers use to justify their conflicts of interest or laying waste to the long-held belief about unbiased, objective reporting. There is no such thing. Not now. Not ever.
The point: Be a Better Blogger is a practical, realistic guide. You won’t find any advice on Search Engine Obsession. Forget keywords! Write headlines that catch people’s attention, not Google’s. There, old-school tabloids can teach much.
Among other things, I will explain how to write:
- Captivating, affirmative headlines
- Compelling, original content
- Provocative, active stories
- Responsibly
In this day and age, reporting is a process—and the story is much bigger than the topic. Commenters are part of the process and in many instances the most interesting part of the story.
In the age of newspapers, a story needed to be fairly complete before printing. Online reporting is more like television news, where information changes as the breaking story unfolds. Your responsibility as a blogger, journalist or whomever is to write what you know to be true at the moment. That can change as stories unfold.
Initially, I will seek $10,000 funding for the book, which for now is planned as digital only. An ebook. Exceeding the funding goal would allow me more time for research and writing.
I’m putting together my crowdfunding proposal now. Again, I seek advice about which service and also what you would want to gain from such a tome.
Parting tip. The first question bloggers or reporters should ask about anything: Who benefits? I’ll explain more about why, with some valuable real-world examples, in Be a Better Blogger.
[circa late 2013, early 2014, Google+]
Photo vitals: f/2.4, ISO 500, 1/20 sec, 4.6mm; 11:25 a.m. PST, Feb. 22, 2013; Nexus 4.