I know my wife will probably choke when she reads this post, but I've started to get the urge to contact some people and get myself back into freelancing. I'm not talking full-time, or anything, just a part-time gig like I used to have when I was the Features Editor over at Siver Bullet Comicbooks - but maybe with pay, this time.
I don't know what I would focus on if I went through with it, but it's likely that I'd start with the comic journalism again, interviewing folks and writing articles and the like. A few years ago the interview was the big draw for an online magazine but that soon changed. Instead of 'who has the best interview' it shifted to 'who has the best celebrity columnist'. Then the fans were looking for the best rumour mill and then it came back to the columns, only this time it was the up and coming writers who caught everyone's attention (so far,though, I've yet to see any of the 'hot young things' that were all the rage a while ago make anything of themselves in the industry as a whole). Now, it looks like the interview is, once again, a prime focus on the sites, creating a possible haven for me and my favourite pasttime.
I've been sitting here at my computer for the last hour trolling sites I used to write for and sites I'd like to write for, debating on whether or not to contact the editors there to see if they'd be interested in giving me a crack at writing for their mags. Looking at all the material on their sites, I'm thinking there is genuinely something I can offer that they don't currently have in great quantities. You see, while I think that there are many, many creator interviews and 'glad they could take the time away from their busy schedule' chats on these sites, very few of them could be considered (at least in my opinion) any good beyond the absolute basics of disseminating information to the masses.
Now, before I really ruffle some feathers, I think the nature of publishing on the web has a lot to do with that. When you put up new information daily instead of weekly or monthly as the print mags do, you end up with a mass produced sort of feeling to your content. But unless you have a shitload of people writing the stuff, or a handful of extremely talented writers, it's not going to come off very well in the end no matter what you do. I've done the cookie cutter interviews before and, while they serve their purpose, they also steal a little bit of your writers soul every time you do one and not endeavour to change something about them.
And then there's the repetition.
I used to hate the magazine culture and publicists that enforced exclusives and absolute control of where and how much information was getting out at any given time. Now, not so much. When every website has an interview with a new artist and they all ask the same questions, of course the artist is going to repeat the same thing he said to the first guy and the guy before him (or gal - I'm not trying to be sexist, here). I just ran across this with some Steadman interviews that I found at their website (free streaming audio folks - the whole catalogue of their music as well as rarities, live tracks and videos). Everyone wants to ask about 'the Paul McCartney connection'. There's only one answer to that and it's the same one they give every time.
If you look over my body of work you'll notice that, in the past, I've gone to great lengths to try and make my interviews somewhat different from the next guys piece. Hours have been spent reading other people's Q&As, reading previously published works and even looking over my own past interviews to see if I've been asking the same questions too often (patterns breed cookie cutter pieces - not good). It's really very important to me to try and make each interview a little bit better than the last one, and if I can cater the questions to each individual subject then I'm half the way there.
Anyway, I'm starting to digress here, aren't I? If I don't stop ranting, I may start naming names and then I'll be dragging out the trebuchet. No point in burning the bridges before I've even begun the journey, is there?
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some editors to e-mail before the wife gets home.
mike
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