5 takeaways:
➀ Stories that are worth turning into books happen six times in your career, if you’re alert. Author Charles Fishman started his career at the Washington Post. By 2004, he was reporting for Fast Company magazine when a new editor issued what Fishman called a “stupid” assignment. “You shouldn’t be able to read the magazine and never read about Walmart,” the editor said. “There’s got to be something at Walmart worth writing about in Fast Company.” Fishman struggled. After the story was published, he never wanted to think about Walmart again until a former Post colleague called to insist he write a book. Fishman started taking notes. By the end of the next day, he had written a book proposal for what became “The Walmart Effect.”
➁ Fishman learned that seemingly boring topics may merit a second look. Resourceful reporters unearth lots of great story angles on their own, which makes them chafe at ideas from anybody else. “I could not, in terms of my own career standing, simply ignore (the Walmart story),” Fishman said. “I then managed to figure out how to turn it into a really good story, which was a huge hit…. There was no social media at that time, but when that Walmart story hit in Fast Company, I was on CNBC, I was on three NPR shows, I was on 10 regional NPR local shows.”
➂ There’s almost always a new take on an “old” story. Fishman believes you can still find a way to turn a well-worn angle into your very own idea. “You can still write something fresh. A lot of you cover the Hill and the White House. You should always be looking for something that other people are overlooking. The fact that they’re overlooking it doesn’t mean it’s not important.”
➃ Writing a book can be just like your work as a daily reporter, if you bring the same intensity to the process. Good journalists dig up enough detail and context to make even their daily stories resonate with audiences. Fishman advised journalists to think of each chapter of a potential book that way. “The only way to write compelling chapters is for each section of the chapters to be a story, beginning, middle, end. Just like on your best days, what you get to do with your journalism. Now, I appreciate that when you’re writing spot news out of the White House, you’re not worried about the beginning, middle end, stories, tension. The tension comes from, are they going to pull it off or not? Right. But, if you get the chance to write a book, don’t write a boring book, write a good book.”
➄ If you’re offered a mentor, just say yes. Having someone to talk through ideas with is invaluable, Fishman said. “Even if you only meet with that person once for lunch. It’s both a big world and a small world, journalism, Washington. You want to be one phone call away from advice, guidance, pitching a piece.”
Speaker:
Charles Fishman, author of “The Wal-Mart Effect,” “The Big Thirst” and “One Giant Leap,” former Washington Post and Fast Company reporter
This program, part of the Paul Miller Fellowship, was funded by the Walter and Karla Goldschmidt Foundation, Johnson & Johnson and its employees, in honor of the late Wanda Moebius, and other donations to the National Press Foundation, which is solely responsible for its content.
