T&T: magazine articles (was Diesel fuel)

[Arild Jensen]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: John - Truelove39@aol.com

> No, Steve D'Antonio isn't an idiot, but too often  these
> "experts," who style themselves thus, fluff up their  articles with their
own nonsensical
> perceptions. >>>>>>>>>>> snip<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
> but when he is done, he will have earned his wages for  several months.

> More importantly of course, he will have contributed to the  publication
of fatter
> magazines filled with ads claiming to fix the problems he  brings to the
fore.

> John



REPLY
John is correct about magazine articles.  However writers as such are not
paid well.
Steve D'Antonio works in the industry and supposedly the articles give him a
higher profile and thus more customers. His day job gives him greater
credibility on any topic he writes on.

I once aspired to be a "marine writer" for boating magazines and was doing
pretty good until the magazine was taken over by a larger conglomerated and
they started to "suggest"  article content and information level.
They also told me that my pay from the previous owner was too much and
wanted to cut that pay. In exchange I would get more publicity and a web
page of my own etc etc.  That was supposed to attract more business to my
day job.

The bottom line was, the article content would be driven by their
advertising department sales and my articles would be the advertorial meat
to entice the reader to take a closer look at the ads which just by
coincidene were placed in close proximity to the article.

Well I stopped writing because I found the whoel process rather dishonest.

Incidentally haven't you noticed the congruence of topics discussed here on
the list and then a few months later - surprise! - Passagemaker has an
article on that very topic. Well guess where Passagemeker does their market
research on what hot buttons to press with article content.

cheers

Arild