ona austin june 2012: tolly moseley and omar l. gallaga share secrets to online writing

15 years as a Statesman tech, business and entertainment writer / editor. Founding editor of ¡ahora sí!

Former on-air contributor and blogger, NPR‟s „All Tech Considered‟

Omar L. GallagaNews and social media

Tolly MoseleyBlogger + freelance writer

Creator of AustinEavesdropper.com

Co-creator of AETV, a local webisode series

Winner, Austin American-Statesman Texas Social Media Award (2010)

Winner, Austin Chronicle‟s Best Local Blog (2011)

Co-host on YouTube.com/Hungry

What do you write?

Omar L. GallagaFreelance

• My own site, Terribly-Happy.com

• A few magazines, mostly online publications

• Kirkus Reviews, online comics

Television / Trailers

Without Pity

Statesman / Austin360.com

Tolly MoseleyFreelance

Local + regional:

• Sactown Magazine

• Rare Magazine

• Austin Monthly

• Austin Insider Mag

• Austinist

• CultureMap

• Texas Parks &Wildlife

• KUTNews.org

National:

• Salon.com

• PlanetGreen.com

• TreeHugger.com

• FreePeople.com

Local = National(Writing online for videos)

What’s my “platform?”

BE YOUR OWN PLATFORM(Note: Your platform should be nicer than this)

STANDING OUT

• Having a special skillset or freakishly complete recall of arcane knowledge in areas others don‟t

• Developing a unique voice

• Being reliable and earning a reputation for good work

• Saying “Yes” to scary, sink-or-swim opportunities

Competition is stiff. Be the stiffiest.

SERIOUSLY, START A BLOGIt won’t be good at first. That’s ok.

• Starting a blog shows YOU what you’re interested in. Your city? Tech? Food? Mad Men?

• Just like Omar said – you’ll slowly begin to develop your voice.

• Networking: Austin is a hugely blog-friendly town

• Best advice I ever heard: Don’t focus on being a perfect blogger, focus on being interesting & original.

• Weird, random, utterly wonderful blogs: My Milk Toof, The Fabulous Geezersisters, Res Obscura

What’s my brand?

EW, “BRAND”How to embrace your calling card

• Being a specialist > being a generalist

• Go offline to strengthen your online relationships

• Read A LOT. Especially writing that you’d like to emulate (for me, it’s The Fabulous Geezersisters)

• Pitch yourself for writing ops

SELF-BRANDING GONE WRONG‘And THAT’S why you got fired.’

• Be up-front with your employers about freelancing / outside work (The tale of Señor Sex)

• Apply the same standards to social media / blogging as you would in print or at work

• Set personal/professional boundaries

Tolly and Omar‟s Online 15 writing Commandments

1. Thou shalt write every day, whether

thou wants to or not.

2. Thou shaltnever, ever, ever, EVE

R plagiarize. Instead, be generous

when linking and citing information from

another source. Yes, even on Twitter.

3. Goest where other online writers go not.

Stand out from the flock.

4. When in doubt, consulteth

Strunk & White or the AP Stylebook.

5. Thou shalt not write for free unless

ownership of the writing is thine.

6. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor‟s blog-to-

book deal.

7. Honor thy editor.

8. Thou shalt meet deadlines, develop

good work habits and keep thine‟s shit

together.

9. Thou shalt comment on thy neighbor‟s blog.

10. Thou shalt spend copious time OFFline.

11. Thou shalt read

every day. (Doesn‟t have to be the Bible.)

12. Go forth and multiply: Pitch thyself to several different writing

homes.

13. Now I say verily unto you: writeth pieces not meant for

immediate public consumption.

14. DO writeth for free, selectively and strategically!

15. Seek not to make thy writing / blog popular. Seek instead to make it special.

Further reading and how to reach me

Where you can find me:@omarg on Twitter

ogallaga@statesman.com

Facebook, Linked In,Pinterest, G+

And me!

Where you can find me:@tollym on Twitter

austineavesdropper@gmail.com

Facebook.com/austineavesdropper

Linked In,Pinterest, YouTube.com/Hungry