Living Above the Fold

Okay, say that you’ve written the Great American Novel. And maybe you don’t want to go through the hassle and expense of finding a publisher — so you decide to publish it yourself.  What’s the best self-publish service for you?  I took a look at several options in this Mediashift piece.

5 Great Services for Self-Publishing Your Book (PBS Mediashift, March 2, 2009)

When I used to work as a copy editor for the Fairfield Daily Republic, we must have gotten at least a letter a week complaining about what was happening in the funny pages.  Sorry, people, but just because I work the copy desk at the local paper doesn’t mean that I have a direct line to Cathy Guisewite. I can’t pass along how upset you are about Cathy marrying Irving.  I recommend that you contact King Features or whoever is in charge of that.

In this article, I took a look at how newspaper cartoonists, like editorial cartoonist Daryl Cagle and “Sally Forth” scribe Francesco Marciuliano, are dealing with the brave new world of the Internet.  This article was also fun because I had a chance to speak with one of my favorite bloggers, Josh Frulinger of The Comics Curmudgeon.

Newspaper Cartoonists Engage Audience (Even Haters) Online (PBS Mediashift, March 30, 2009)

In retrospect, I don’t think that title really captures the essence of the article, but oh well. Hindsight, eh?

This is one of my favorite articles.  There are blogs dedicated to everything these days, but this is one blog subculture that I didn’t know much about going in.  I have a sneaking suspicion that some of you may find it interesting to learn about the thriving world of zombie blogging…

Zombie Bloggers Create Communal Horror Stories (PBS Mediashift, June 29, 2009)

If anyone reading this hasn’t yet seen it, go watch “Sita Sings the Blues.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfS2p1vFics) Nina Paley’s comic retelling of the Ramayana — spliced with episodes from her own life — is by turns hilarious and heart-breaking and always utterly charming. Paley spent six years and $200,000 creating “Sita Sings the Blues,” and it almost never saw the light of day due to copyright constraints. Paley took the unusual step of distributing her feature for free online. In my latest Mediashift article, I had a chance to talk to Paley about a new distribution plan that seems to be paying off:

Animated Film Takes Donations, DVD Sales to Pay Music Costs (PBS Mediashift, August 5, 2009 )

Every year, 5,000 California foster kids turn 18 — and age out of the state foster care system. Many suddenly find themselves forced to navigate the world all on their own without any adult help. In a country where most youth still rely on their parents for financial and moral support well into their late 20s, former foster youth face an uphill battle to find jobs, education and even homes.

For this article in the East bay Monthly, I had a chance to speak with some former foster youth about the challenges of dealing with the adult world on their own for the first time — and what’s out there to help them. This was a great opportunity for me to really learn about a pressing issue that I really didn’t know much about to start, and I hope it will interest you as well.

Fostering the Future (The East Bay Monthly, August 2009)