The Student Operated Press has already gone out of its way to bring me on board and publish my writing. Because all contact with editors is made over the phone, email and AIM, I'm able to telecommute from Austria (our only office runs along the lines of an ethernet cable). I love the idea of the Student Operated Press on so many levels: how it began, how it works and what it aims to do.
The SOP is an online news publication modeled after print newspapers, with sections including Business, Art & Literature, International News and Travel & Tourism. It was created by Judyth Piazza, a writer and broadcast media personality with the College Press, who initially had trouble getting her own voice and writing out there and heard. The publication aims to mentor and publish beginning writers with something to say; its long-term goal is to place 20,000 students in media-related jobs nationwide.
I’ll intern with the Press this semester in the hopes of establishing new relationships with writers, the first of which was with Judy when I applied for the position. She has already proven to me how committed she is to her students and the press—she’s offered her personal phone number and AIM address as well as the emails and AIM’s of all mentoring editors that I can contact whenever I have a question. Thanks to her efficiency, it took only one week from the time I applied until my internship began and my first article was published on the press. (http://www.thesop.org/article.php?id=2045)
Among other things, I think this internship is a great opportunity to reach many people through my writing and to learn how web publishing works. For example, the SOP receives 3,000 hits daily. And the piece that I wrote was picked up by Google news, which means that it will circulate among that many more readers. The pick up by Google raised the question: how does a website’s story get picked up by Google news or other sites? Does the SOP market the articles out, or does Google have people whose job it is to scan the internet for content? Judy should be able to answer this for me. As I’ve grown interested in website creation and publication, the online aspect of this internship may be beneficial to me in the future in addition to the writing end.
The internship also provides an opportunity for me to build that platform which Anne has mentioned over the semesters. The SOP is posting a profile to include my biography, writing experience and email address, and all of my stories will appear under that profile. This will be a great link to include with article submissions and other writing ventures.
While I’ve chosen to contribute mainly to the travel section, I can write any type of article that I’d like for any of the 28 sections. And I have the flexibility to write those articles as features, personal experience or straight news stories. This will expand my writing experience and the types of published clips I can offer. The way that article submission works is this: I fill out an online form that includes the body of my article, a brief summary, title and any accompanying photos. Once submitted, it goes to one of the mentoring editors who contact me to discuss any changes or suggestions. The revised article gets approved and is then posted on the site by an editor.
The expectation for this internship is that I will sign on to the site daily, read through the articles and writing tips, and submit an article each week. I plan to get more involved than this, and the attitude of the SOP encourages it.
Because of the camaraderie among everyone involved and the positive intentions of the SOP, I believe it has the potential for many networking opportunities and future positions. I have already met and begun working with Judy Piazza, and she has suggested that as an SOP intern, I introduce myself to Del Marbrook, a novel writer and executive editor for a chair of four dailies in Northeast Ohio and executive editor for a merger of two dailies in northern New Jersey.
Taking full advantage of the opportunity would include talking with other contributors, resourcing the newspaper editors and book writers who contribute their time as mentors, like Marbrook, and submitting more articles and even audio feed to accompany stories (again, something I’m not sure how to do now, but that I can learn with Judy’s help).
As for my personal writing growth and goals, I see this as a great motivator. I'll be required to write and publish at least one article per week in addition to the other projects I’ve worked on, but haven’t seen go anywhere. I can branch out into writing styles that I’m less familiar with and get professional feedback. In addition, I can search for topics and write about situations that also pertain to the travel-themed fiction book I’m working on.
Much like our MFA program, I believe that this internship will give back as much as I put into it.
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