One of my all-time favorite podcasts is Longform, which features in-depth interviews with narrative nonfiction writers. Recently, the podcast featured Casey Cep, the author of the white-hot national bestseller about Harper Lee called The Furious Hours. In the interview, Cep mentioned that when she was a college student she got a fellowship that allowed her […]
Here are a few things my team and I have found lately that we think are worth your time. Struggling with a roundup? Roundup stories are a great way to profile a series of alumni or faculty in a similar field, but how do you make that story reader-friendly? Here are a few suggestions. Everyone […]
When you’re mapping out that big feature story, how many sources should you have? Check out the video below to learn the rule of thumb that we use to help every story feel robust and well-reported. Agree? Disagree? Let me know!
Let’s set the scene: you’re planning out the next issue of your magazine, and you have that story to do. And you don’t want to deal with it. That story looks different for everyone. Maybe it’s an annual update of the story you did last year. And the year before that. And the year before […]
What do you do if you have a mediocre cover? Check out this 82-second video to see the before and after images of the most recent Medicine at Michigan cover — including the exact process editor Katie Vloet took to transform the cover from so-so to spectacular. Send me an email to let me know […]
A few months ago, I was chatting with a young alum about a story I had been asked to write about her. She asked where the piece was going to appear, and I explained that it would be both online and in the print magazine. She got very excited. “Oh, I didn’t know it was […]
A good headline can mean the difference between a story’s success and failure. So how do you write one that works? Here’s a recent trend I’ve noticed — and loved — in headlines. This 90-second video shares plenty of examples that you can use as templates for your own work — and it’s ideal for […]
Before I share some of the most useful things our team has dug up for you, here’s some of our recent client work. We might all love a good legal drama — but how much of any given movie or television show is actually credible? We asked alumni from Fordham University School of Law to […]
If you’ve ever struggled to fill your letters page, you’re not alone. Over the past few months, I’ve talked to dozens of editors who tell me that their letters page could use a boost. Some say they’d be thrilled to get a handful of letters each issue. Others admit they’d be delighted to get even […]
Every once in awhile, you need to do a long profile — a new president, famous alums at the zenith of their careers, a big donor (gulp). If you’ve got a profile that’s 2,000 words long or longer, how do you keep people engaged? Watch the video to learn a simple approach that you can steal […]