Beat to Books

Cynthia Barnett (@cynthiabarnett)

Charles Fishman (@cfishman)
National Press Foundation
Understanding the Environmental Stakes
Washington D.C.
June 21st 2017
 Why not to write a book:
You want to make a lot of money.
You have a ton of material left in your notebooks
that you werent able to put in your story.
Your original piece got so much reader response.
You want a bigger audience.
Your love for your subject has you convinced
others will love it too if you can just get it out
there despite signs to the contrary.
 Better reasons:
You see a story hidden in plain view.
You see an angle no one else noticed.
You understand the quilt of the story: Your
piece as part of a much larger theme. You see
how to tie pieces together with a strong
through-line not a series of magazine articles.
Youre completely obsessed.
You love your subject and youre getting all the
right signals that others love it too.
Writing books while on the beat.
And, that time a Twitter hashtag
led to a major book contract.
Oh, #Florida!
Writing a book on the Huge
News Event.
 Whats in a book proposal?
RAIN (10,000 words plus two sample chapters of around that
length. Pitched two days before Hurricane Sandy hit NE Oct
2012 with title: RAIN: A 4- billion year old love story. Ouch.)
About the book
About the author
About the competition
About the audience
About marketing
Chapter outline
Two sample chapters
 Can you take rejection?

RAIN is a fabulous idea, but Im afraid Ms.

Barnett is not the writer who could pull it off.

She is a compelling presence on the page, but

Im afraid we arent in love with her subject.

(These opposite thoughts arrived in the inbox on the

same afternoon! A good reminder of the capriciousness
of the publishing industry, )