To do good writing, read good writing. Here’s the good writing I’m reading this week.
This week, my recommended reading for writers is all over place: a bit of industry news, some good stuff on digital media entrepreneurship, and a little something from Malcolm Gladwell that should please those among us who got a late start on a writing career.
What’s Hiding in Demand Media’s Finances – Wired.com’s Epicenter blogger Peter Kirwan does the math on Demand Media’s initial public offering and doesn’t like what he sees. Despite founder Richard Rosenblatt’s pronouncements over the years that the company is profitable, under U.S. generally accepted accounting rules that publicly traded companies are required to follow by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Demand has lost money every year since launching in 2006, for a total accumulated deficit of $52 million, according to Kirwan.
Late Bloomers – This Malcolm Gladwell essay from the Oct. 20, 2008, issue of The New Yorker should hearten anyone who gets bummed out every time they read about some 20-something’s overnight success (raising my hand). Not all successes happen overnight, and some of the best come to late bloomers who plod away at their chosen craft, be it writing or something else, for years before making it big.
Nobody’s Making Money Online, Except the Folks Who Are – Yes, there are companies running profitable online news ventures, they’re just not the media enterprises you read or hear about all the time, argues Robert Niles in this Online Journalism Review piece. Privately held companies, small publishers and other digital media entrepreneurs who don’t have to answer to stockholders or venture capital investors can do well, Niles says, adding “Don’t let Wall Street’s gloomy talk keep you from jumping into (or staying in) the business.”
An Interview with CNBC.com’s John Carney – This BusinessInsider.com update on CNBC’s new NetNet blogger saves the best quote for last and should make freelance business writers happy (it did me):
The more we get people trained that this is how they will get the best kind of business news — online, in a blog format that’s frequently updated — I think that’s good for all of us. The audience for business news is growing, and particularly for financial news. People who didn’t care a few years ago about reading about Wall Street really care now.