Product Description

A professional journalist shows students how to write hard-hitting news stories and attention-getting feature articles for newspapers and magazines.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #157414 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780768910797
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

A Wonderful Handbook For Amateurs or Professionals
How to Write Articles for Newspapers and Magazines, is an excellent book for any writer who is beginning a career in journalism, or for a writer who just wants to hone his/her skills. It goes over virtually everything that is needed to know when writing articles for newspapers and magazines. From getting ideas, to improving your interviewing, writing query letters, and learning to write leads, it also explains the differences between hard news, and soft news, and how to write leads for them. If you are searching for a book that will ameliorate your writing, background researching, and much more, look no further. It is truly a good book for improving your journalistic writing skills.

A little powerhouse full of great instruction for writers!
I picked this little (113 page book) up at the library and thought it might be of passing interest. I never thought such a little book could be packed with so much great information! I started out reading this book with a little post-it note pad next to me, figuring I would put a couple little notes on a few interesting pages, make some notes, then be done with the book. Well, now the book has a million little post-it notes in it and I think it's time to buy my own copy! Here are few chapter headings: Getting started (generating ideas & focusing on the subject), gathering information (fact vs. opinion, observation, interview, etc.), writing the effective article lead ...there are 10 useful chapters in all. They are written clearly and to the point -- no fluff here to fill in pages. One truly useful item in the book is a sample query letter (for an article). This is a great little book! Now I think I'll buy my own copy -- maybe you should too!

Another book with inflated amazon.com reviews
This book isn't terrible, but it's hardly authoritative. It's a straight rehashing of the basics of newswriting, no doubt taken mostly from journalism textbooks. The advice isn't bad, but it's given with little flair, and the writing examples (from the author's own clips) are dull and uninspiring.

It's like an extended high school report -- the author is obviously not an expert on the subject, and she pieced together information from better books to make this one. But even on those terms, the book doesn't succeed, because the advice is spotty and unconvincing.