Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

Those THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Opinion-Editorials - Killed off by YouTube Advocacy Videos?

Will we ghostwriters be penning fewer opinion-editorials (op-eds) for brandname media like THE WALL STREET JOURNAL?  Instead we could be putting together scripts for online videos in which the speaker argues a point and a social-media expert helps those go viral on YouTube.  Sure seems like that's the direction advocacy is moving in.

Today in THE NEW YORK TIMES, Frank Bruni published the piece titled "Who Needs Reporters?" He explains how instead of giving press conferences or an exclusive to a member of the media, Michele Bachmann and Anthony Weiner said what they had to say via online video.  Of course, one channel of distribution was YouTube.  Hillary Clinton used the same public relations tactic when she endorsed same-sex marriage - late in the game.

With this direct outreach through online video, influentials would no longer be at the mercy of editors.  If they are clever about both how they frame their message and how they distribute it digitally, they become their very own THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, Inc.  That means that we ghostwriters have to beef up our scripting credentials.  Then we have to let the influentials know we know how to have their message resonate on the web and mobile.

It's a new day in executive communications.

 

Video, Not Photography, Is What Readers Want - Sun-Times Media layoffs

Those in the visual arts might have figured they were sitting pretty, at least relatively.  After all, both the web and mobile have become the platform for photos and video.  Well, for Sun-Times Media, only the video is creating value.  AP reports that this media property is laying off all photographers, saying readers prefer video content.

Will this become a trend, putting photographers out on the street, along with journalists? Working in media is sexy. But it's becoming increasingly uncertain.  

Watergate 2.0: Take it from survivor of Watergate 1.0, there will be tremendous loss of productivity

It's not Watergate 2.0 yet, Bob Woodward tells POLITICO.  For example, there's no clear line to the White House on the IRS' providing extra scrutiny on the tax-exempt status of conservative organizations. 

However, take it from a Baby Boomer who survived Watergate 1.0: Productivity will take a hit.  The hit will be bigger than when the Watergate 1.0 hearings were broadcasted on television.  That's because there are so many more venues for presenting the news and opining.  Name one person who will not be caught up in this?  I will be hitting all my three syndicated blogs, tweeting, and commenting on Facebook.

Back during Watergate 1.0, everyone took the time to express thoughts about government, human nature, power, the GOP, Richard Nixon, all the president's men, and Everyman.  In addition everyone caught snippets of the hearings. Sometimes in university towns like Ann Arbor, Michigan, where folks have flexible schedules, we had Watergate-hearing parties. 

Watergate 2.0 will bring the nation a nice pause after so much tragedy.  If there is no Watergate 2.0, there will probably be great disappointment throughout the land. 

Executive Communications: Running of the bulls, again

It's sure like old times.  Again we ghostwriters and speechwriters are struggling to frame the concept of "leadership" in new ways.  And that is very very important to our clients or, if we are Millennials and have full time jobs, our employers. 

For this we are compensated on par with mid-level professionals in public relations. No, there is none of that $1,000 an hour which goes to those PR folks laboring in the reputation-restoration niche.  But we again are earning what's referred to as "good money."

Also, we are being treated with deference.  Those who pay us understand that only a relatively few people can be up on the news as we are, understand so many fields, and simulate the voice of the speaker or author.  No one is going to make us unhappy. 

Not too long ago, though, we were a distressed industry.  Post-Enron executives ducked for cover.  Post-9/11 there was no money to employ us or, at least, organizations wanted it to seem like they weren't spending money on "mouthpieces."  Because we are such a small bunch and because we are supposed to be the "invisible profession," not much attention was paid to us as we were starving. 

The one professional who did notice and try to help was Jack O'Dwyer founder of Odwyerpr.com.  St. Jack has always been in the streets rescuing communications professionals who had suffered setbacks. Now he is in the corridors of academia guiding Millennials to the nuts and bolts of getting work.  He stresses that might come packaged as contract jobs, not a fancy title in BigPR.

Likely not much attention will be paid to us now that we are back.  And none of us who had weathered such lean times will balk, including about the all-nighters.  It's too wonderful to be doing what we do best and making "good money." 

TechCrunch, Young Women, Leaning In - We Baby Boomers fit right in

In this online video, young women employed at TechCrunch share their guilt that often goes with Leaning In.  They are Millennials.  The concept of Leaning In, of course, comes from Sheryl Sandberg's book guiding women to go for it.  Sandberg is a Generation Xer.

So, it might seem that there is no place in the current conversation or in a work world of start-ups for us Baby Boomers.  Wrong.  Weekly I parachute into organizations which need both my ideas and experience in framing and wording messages for public relations, marketing, and executive communications. Instead of generational conflict, we rely on each other to get parts of the job done.

The change for most of us Baby Boomers is that we are no longer on the front lines.  Twenty-centry online video culture and the Metro-based offices in the communications industry prefer to showcase youth.  At first that might have been disconcerting to us Baby Boomers who had been on the front lines of the cultural, political, and fashion upheaval of the late 1960s and early 1970s.  But, hey, we who were determined to remain a force in public relations accepted that we would be supporting the front lines, not be on them.

The challenge is for us Baby Boomers to no longer crave the attention of being the generation of disruption.  Once we embrace that reality (as brutal as it it is initially) we have access to amazing assignments and excellent compensation.

The Cowardly Lion: James Comisar could fundraise for Museum of Television by mass producing this meme

In this era of economic turbulence and sustained uncertainty, who isn't afraid?  Therefore, the market for inspirational lessons based on the tale of the Cowardly Lion from "The Wizard of Oz" could be strong. 

Currently, reports the LA TIMES, archivist James Comisar has put on sale the lion costume worn in that film by Bert Lahr.  He is attempting to raise money for the Museum of Television in Phoenix.  However, he could broaden his fundraising if he extended this symbol of embracing courage to other formats.

Those could include online videos of reflections on courage, Cowardly Lion good luck pieces which could be carried in one's pocket to job interviews and presentations to the board, and lion-themed fashions for next winter's coats and sweaters.  On Monday I start a new job in lower Manhattan.  Although it's primarily telecommuting, I still have to be in the office about once a week.  I could use a Cowardly Lion miniature to put in my attache case to reinforce the courage I need to speedread and comply with the organizational culture.

Adele: Her huge talent allowed her to be her own woman

The new book "Adele" by Sarah-Louise James provides inspiration to talented folks who don't quite fit in - or perhaps are downright misfits.

Adele's huge voice and ability to dig into her hurt to create iconic lyrics allowed her to bypass the norms of society.  As long as she chose to (she has since slimmed down some) she remained full-figured.  She never turned her back on her working-class roots.  And she wears her celebrity as a loose garment, rather than compulsively pumping it up as some handlers might encourage her to do.

Although Adele's middle name is "Blue," that was originally because her parents were fans of the blues as well as other kinds of music.  Her soulfulness and raw vulnerability likely started when her parents' marriage ended and she became estranged from her father.  That might have been the platform for the disappointing love affairs she captures in her songs.

Adele's story of trimuph over petty conventional people can be one all talented people can replicate - if they believe in themselves the way Adele has.  Insecurity invites in the torment. 

Jay Leno et al. - We are guilty of the unspeakable crime in America of aging

In America, birthdays soon mutate from happy events shared by family, friends, co-workers, and superiors to evidence of an unspeakable crime.  That crime is becoming older.

Many years ago genius in music Louie Armstrong sang that his sin was in his skin.  Our sin is that we have had too many birthdays to remain a premier brand in the labor market. 

The latest instance of that might be the exiting of comic Jay Leno from his network show after the 2013 - 2014 season.  HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that Leno could be on short time, replaced by Jimmy Fallon.

Of course, there are aging players seemingly unaffected by the American preference for youth on its labor front lines.  Those range from Rupert Murdoch to Betty White.  Good for them.  Then there are the rest of us who have been forced out or not let in. 

Our mission, like those African-Americans, women, and gays embraced, is to transform the perception and work policies about aging.  Few will help us.  This is our fight.  We can show up for it if we get over the shame inflicted on us about "not looking young."  Sixty may be the new 30 but it doesn't look like 30.

"Copywriting" New Term for "Ghostwriting" - Yes, executive communications pros, respond to those help-wanted

Ghostwriters may be missing out on a lot of new opportunities, both full time and contract, because they are not responding to help-wanted about "copywriting."  Increasingly, our executive communications experience, skills, and insight are in demand closer and closer to the point of sale.  There has been shrinking need for us in that glamorous lucrative niche of planning and penning content for opinion-editorials published in brandname media such as THE WALL STREET JOURNAL and THE NEW YORK TIMES. 

I feel myself blessed to have in portfolio recent clips from what I ghostwrote for THE WASHINGTON POST, FORBES, FOX BUSINESS, AMERICAN BANKER, MOTLEY FOOL, BANKRUPTCY STRATEGIST, SEEKING ALPHA, and PR NEWS.  It's reassuring that I still have the whatever to produce copy that is picked up by those establishment powers-that-be.  And the compensation is above average.

However, I see the future and it is called "copywriting."  Instinct told me to reply to a help-wanted for a "copywriter" for a new kind of service targeted at the investment industry.  I nailed down the assignment which involves, to begin, ghostwriting the material for the new website, scripts for the online video, direct mail, LinkedIn profile, and correspondence with other vendors seeking bids. 

I have a hunch I won out over the 100 other content providers who applied and the two I was directly competing with because my pitch was a totally focused this-is-how-we-can-get-results.  Yes, it was built on a sales-oriented platform, not the gentility of old-line editorial. In addition, I embedded hustle.  For instance, I researched and then sent links to competitive websites that had to be factored in for everything from SEO to mode of presentation.  I pushed to meet the prospect in person, despite the cost of gas.

The good news is that the closer the work is to the point of sale, the more of it there will be.  As we gain more insight into what coverts into action we can branch out into other forms of marketing communications.  Those of us who are aging have to surrender to the reality that BigBusiness is unlikely to hire us full-time for those plum executive communications jobs.  Therefore, we have to learn how to exist by our talent, wits, and flexibility out here in the world of free agents.

Marketing, PR in 2013: Creating tragedy-free zones (Return to the Eisenhower era)

Everything changes.  The meme for 2013 is growth, a whopper of a shift from the economic and human tragedies of the past few years.  We want to be focused on growth in the GDP, opportunities to enjoy our children, respect we are given in the  workplace, and our feeling of being at peace with ourselves and the world.  In short, we demand a tragedy-free zone, without references to hurricane Sandy, Sandy Hook, Connecticut massacre, housing foreclosures, credit card debt, and jobless lawyers, architects, and Millennials.

That means that we in the communications sector have to create convincing Happy Talk.  Here we Baby Boomers have the advantage.  We recall growing up in post-World War II when America wanted to distance itself from that horror and create a kind of social uptopia, with the possibility of a booming economy.  On the relatively new media of television were programs like "Lassie," about the unique bonds between a boy and his dog, "Father Knows Best" focused on males who weren't consumed by work and children who felt safe," and "I Love Lucy" based on the ability of a minority to get a piece of the American Dream.

It will be a challenge to reinvent ourselves for optimism.  At first, we might giggle that we are capable of putting forth a world view which is the antithesis of what we have been feeling since 9/11. Then, we will become as self-assured as were the communications leaders who were in charge until John F. Kennedy passed the torch to a new generation.  That means we have about 15 years to thrive amidst the meme of growth.