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How did an 18-year-old college student in Maryland gain the trust of and get access to TV executives and anchors in New York? “By posting 10 or 15 posts a day meant that the industry knew it was a reliable consistent source,” says Brian Stelter, creator of our sister site TVNewser and now a media reporter for the New York Times and author of the just released book “Top of the Morning.”
As he neared graduation, Stelter had to make a choice: work in TV news, or cover it.
Brian Stelter, who launched TVNewser almost 10 years ago, is now a published author. “Top of the Morning,” out today, lays bare a tumultuous year for network morning news shows which saw one anchor pack her bags, another face a serious health issue, a ratings leader fall — and lose a quarter of its audience — and an entirely new show launch.
In his first interview for the book, Stelter tells us about the secrecy behind “Top of the Morning,” the access he got, and what he thinks about being called Matt Lauer‘s nemesis.
Part II, tomorrow: What happens when Brian Stelter Tweets something he shouldn’t?
In his new book, Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness?, noted journalist and author Toure says he wanted to explore “what it means to be Black now.” And, no, “post-Blackness” is not the same as “post-racial.”
“Post-racial suggests a world where race does not exist and racism does not exist, and it’s a completely ridiculous term… With post-Blackness, what I’m talking about is a conception of Blackness where the identity options are infinite. So, we’re not saying THIS is what it is to be Black,” he explained in the second installment of our Media Beat interview.
“There seems to be this conception that Blackness must stay in the hood as if Blackness is milk, and the hood is the refrigerator. And the further away you get from the refrigerator, it will spoil. And you go to Yale for four years, somehow you have lost your Blackness, as opposed to if you go to jail for 10 years, your Blackness is hardened?”
In the book, he even asks noted Black academics, celebrities, and activists the best question ever (yes, I said it) about a huge stereotype: “Would you eat watermelon in a room full of white people?”
Watch the full video to find out how ?uestlove of The Roots and Rev. Jesse Jackson answered.
Before they were mainstays on countless bestseller lists, Maya Angelou, Terry McMillan and Alice Walkerwere all once featured in Essence. And, says editor-in-chief Constance C.R. White, the magazine is always looking to give the next big talent a shot at a byline as well.
“The first thing you think about is what are Black women thinking about. What’s important to Black women?” White explains in our latest Media Beat interview. “And that is really the crux of what we do at Essence and, therefore if you’re pitching us, that’s what you should be focused on too as a writer.”
It’s Devon Franklin‘s job as VP of production for Columbia/Sony Pictures to buy film scripts and see them through the development and production process. So, how can aspiring scribes keep their work out of the slush pile? Take a screenwriting class, enter film competitions, and polish your drafts until they’re perfect.
“Do everything you can to work on these ideas,” Franklin, the man behind Jumping The Broom, explained in our @mediabeat interview. “And I promise you — people think this is crazy — we need good scripts in Hollywood. So, if you write a good script, even if you’re in Nebraska, Ohio — you could be in the most remote part of the world — if you write a good script, I promise you somehow we’ll find it.”
“The book is a metaphor for your life as a movie, and every movie starts with a big idea,” the author and motivational speaker explained. “My whole big idea for my life is to inspire and encourage, and God has called me to use film as part of a way to do that.”
In the overwhelming world of social networks, it’s easy for a publisher, author, or article to get lost in the crowd. The discovery engine StumbleUpon helps millions of readers sort through the mess–generating some impressive traffic in the process.
This week we interviewed StumbleUpon CEO Garrett Camp for mediabistro.com’s Media Beat video show. In the video embedded above, Camp offered some surprising statistics about StumbleUpon’s traffic.
Here’s an excerpt: “We have just under 15 million registered users doing 800 to 850 million Stumbles a month. In terms of traffic, we refer almost as much traffic as Facebook. Which means–if you think about the number of people that click on an external link in a Facebook feed and the amount of people who click on a link in StumbleUpon is about the same in North America.”
Akashic Books publisher Johnny Temple joined us for a Media Beat interview this week, talking about how he transitioned from rock star to literary publisher over the last ten years.
Here’s an excerpt from today’s installment (embedded above): “I had no publishing background, but looking back, I think it gave me a boost … I was unburdened by this morose attitude in book publishing, [thinking] ‘Nobody reads books anymore, our business is in decline’–all these doom and gloom attitudes. Unfortunately, I’ve never had that.”
Visit Akashic Books to explore the publisher’s long and varied list. More interview excerpts follow below.
Novelist James Ellroy joined us for a Media Beat interview this week, talking about his recent memoir (The Hillicker Curse) and outlining his upcoming six-part television series.
Here’s an excerpt from today’s installment (embedded above): “I had a blast as a kid writer … Nobody told me I couldn’t write a novel first crack. Nobody discouraged or encouraged me. I had no family. I had good, clean outdoor work. I caddied at country clubs … I got sober proceeding this. So I was clearheaded, healthy, and very, very ambitious. It took me six published novels to tenuously earn a living as a writer. But I don’t view it as a struggle.”
James Ellroy’s LA: City of Demons premieres on Wednesday, January 19th at 10 p.m. on Investigation Discovery. Follow these links to watch the rest of the Media Beat interview:
Jonathan Ames has written short stories, newspaper columns, and novels in his over twenty years as a writer and author.
In our Media Beat interview, he revealed how he added another title to his resume: screenwriter and executive producer of HBO’s Bored to Death, a series based on his own short story about a writer turned private investigator.
“I read a number of scripts and I just quickly gleaned that you want to make the descriptions short and to the point and the dialogue lively,” Ames told mediabistro.com founder Laurel Touby. “I did learn as I went along to begin scenes late and end early. You don’t want people walking across the room a lot and ringing doorbells. You know, all that’s gonna chew up screen time and get thrown out anyway. It was just sort of adapting to a form, like adapting to a poetic form like a sonnet. What’s another one? A siesta. No, that’s a nap.”
Watch the full video for more tips (and humor) about Ames’ writing process and to find out why, despite his success, he’s still not ready to settle down.
Back in the early 90s, Terry McMillan was just another author trying to make it. Then, came a little book called Waiting to Exhale. McMillan's novel about four single women and their trials in love and relationships helped birth a new genre of African-American fiction and was later made into a hit film.
Now, over 15 years after its release, McMillan has released the sequel, Getting to Happy. But she said she never intended to revisit Savannah, Bernie, Gloria, or Robin -- in fact, she wasn't that in love with them in the first place.
"After Waiting to Exhale, I think that book never even crossed my mind when I was telling new stories. And, even with [Getting to Happy], I thought about them a lot differently," McMillan said in our Media Beat interview. "I thought [the characters] were somewhat... They got on my nerves. I thought that they were a little desperate."
Watch the full video to hear more of McMillan's inspiration for Getting to Happy and to find out which segment of Black fiction she is not a fan of.
Part 2: On Tuesday, McMillan dishes about using her own island romance as the inspiration for How Stella Got Her Groove Back.
Part 3: Wednesday, McMillan dishes about the book-to-movie process and gives tips to other aspiring authors.
It goes without saying that your colleagues may not be too pleased to find out you're writing a book about the inner dealings of the company. And when that company is as esteemed as the Wall Street Journal and said tome is an insider account of its sale to Rupert Murdoch, well, let's just say you should probably start looking for another gig just in case.
"I mean, a lot of people I talked to did [like the book] and some didn't," said Sarah Ellison, author of War at the Wall Street Journal. "I feel like at the very top level of Dow Jones, I don't think that the people who read it liked it."
Ellison also told mediabistro.com founder Laurel Touby in the final segment of Media Beat how she was able to include so much detail about the main characters, including Rupert Murdoch.
"The day that Murdoch essentially fired Marcus Brauchli, I was traveling with him that day. And so that was a literal fly on the wall kind of thing. And I heard conversations. That was a level of detail where it was just a reporter's dream."
What does Sloane Crosley think of the term "chick-lit?" We talk about the term and some publishing industry trends -- such as whether publishers should hold back the release of e-books to spur hard copy sales -- in the final installment of this Media Beat interview.
Crosley just released her second book, How Did You Get This Number. Her first release, I Was Told There'd Be Cake, was a New York Times best seller.
Media Beat is mediabistro.com's interview series with the movers and shakers of the media world. View all past episodes at MediaBeat.com and follow Media Beat on Twitter.
Earlier this month, novelist Scott Turow became the new president of the Authors Guild--taking charge of the group during a tumultuous time for the publishing industry.
In today's installment of Media Beat, the bestselling novelist and attorney advised writers about the biggest problems facing the publishing industry. In previous segments, Turow talked about his new novel, Innocent and offered advice for aspiring writers.
Here's an excerpt: "Right now frankly royalty rates for eBooks are too low. The don't represent the same kind of division of profits that traditional hardcover royalties have represented. So that will be a meat and potatoes issue for us. But the larger problems for us is the pirating of books. It has killed large parts of the music industry. Musicians make up for the copies of their songs that get pirated by performing live. I don't think there will be as many people showing up to hear me read as to hear Beyonce sing. We need to make sure piracy is dealt with effectively."
Twenty years ago, one bestselling novelist turned the publishing world upside-down with Presumed Innocent--a legal thriller success story that helped create a whole new legal fiction bookshelf.
In today's installment of Media Beat, bestselling novelist and attorney Scott Turow explored the evolution of the legal thriller since he published Presumed Innocent in 1989. He has returned to the characters in his newest novel, Innocent.
Here's an except about a popular television show: "I actually think quite a bit of Law & Order. The characters [in my novel] are using it as a measuring point for their real-life jobs in the law. I think Law & Order (and a lot of narrative about the law) has influenced juries in particular who come to court. They'll be sitting as jurors on a routine robbery case and they'll ask, 'Where's the DNA?!?' The answer of course is that there is no genetic evidence. There's an expectation that science will zoom in and provide an exact answer when very often, that's not the case. "
After documenting the lives of iconic figures like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the Bushes, and Britain's royal family, author Kitty Kelley says she doesn't see much of a future for the genre of biographies and her style of in-depth writing.
"Well, I just think it's a huge investment of a writer's time and a publisher's commitment. This represents four years of my life. This was college," she says of her latest release, Oprah: A Biography. "You know, we're in a 24/7 information era...I don't think you'll be able to write this kind of book 10 years from now."
Watch the final installment of our Media Beat interview to find out what Kelley says has been the biggest piece of feedback she's gotten on the book, plus the answer to the million dollar question: How would she feel if there was a bio about her?
Few remember that Oprah Winfrey wasn't always the beacon of "best life" she is today. Once upon a time, the rising talk show host covered topics like KKK members, Mexican satanic cult murderers, and women who were allergic to their husbands (true story). Unfortunately for the now media mogul, educator, and activist, all of her not so enlightened moments are back in the spotlight thanks to infamous biographer Kitty Kelley.
For Oprah: A Biography, Kelley says she combed through a mountain of information on the icon and spoke to 850 people who either worked with or knew her. "Oprah turns out to be the biggest source of information in this book -- THE biggest source. Because I got all the interviews that she's given over a period of 25 years to radio and television, to newspapers, and to magazines."
Sidebar: How happy are you that Twitter and Facebook didn't exist back then?
Unless you're just getting back from a vacation on Neptune, you should know by now that Kitty Kelley (best known previously for upsetting Frank Sinatra's number one fan) has a new biography out about Oprah Winfrey.
But, at just 196 pages in, I felt like Kelley was editorializing a bit too much. So, I called her on it. Without interviewing Oprah herself, how do you know that your sources aren't fudging the facts out of jealousy?
"Everybody has a motive. Everybody does. You have to give it to the reader honestly. You have to put it in context, and that's really what I've tried to do," said Kelley during our Media Beat interview. "This book is not a takedown of Oprah by any means. There are many, many people on the record talking about her in a most admirable fashion."
Watch the video to find out what Kelley says she uncovered about Oprah's now distant relationships with her family and several co-workers from The Color Purple, including Steven Spielberg, Alice Walker, and Whoopi Goldberg.
Part 2: On Tuesday, Kelley clears the record on that Larry King and CNN blackballing.
Part 3: Wednesday, Kelley tells us how she'd feel if someone wrote a bio about her.
RELATED: Attend Mediabistro Circus to hear from visionary women in media and tech.
Kate White's books have topped The New York Times bestsellers list and Amazon. She's written career guides and novels, recently released her first thriller Hush, and even had her popular Bailey Weggins mystery series optioned for films. Oh, and did we mention that her day job is running Cosmopolitan?
"I started writing mysteries and thrillers, and I love it. It's just been something that has really been fulfilling," White said in our Media Beat interview. "Like a lot of women, I wanted to do more than one thing. But it did take a few tricks to learn how to balance and do both of them."
