Newspapers & Magazines

The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law

Whether you're a student struggling through Composition 101 or a professional writer on a quest for perfection, The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law is always ready to fill the role of trusted advisor to your creative genius. Revised and updated in 2000, this version contains a 40-page section on media law, guides for punctuation and bibliographies, and specialized glossaries for business and sports writing, all in addition to its 280-page generalized stylebook.

Within each section, entries are alphabetized, and searching for an answer is a fairly simple process. Tricky words--those that can be hyphenated (know-how) or not (jukebox), homonyms, nonstandard spellings (mo-ped)--are given their own short entries. Larger categories, such as religions, military titles, the Internet, and datelines, have multiple pages devoted to their explanations, but detail and clarity are brought nicely together in each listing. Many entries concern brand names and trademarks--never again will you question whetherpingpong or Ping-Pong should be used in the flier for your table-tennis tournament.

While a few sections of this book--the ones concerning media law, photo captions, filing the wire, and proofreading marks--will most likely be used by professional and student journalists and editors, the majority of this book is an excellent tool for anyone who ever has to write for the public. Whether it's a newsletter for your badminton league, a training manual for your employees, or a press release detailing your company's quarterly earnings, this stylebook will help you turn out well-written copy that gains the approval of every English teacher you've ever had. --Jill Lightner

Writer's Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing

This highly anticipated update of the Writer's Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing builds off the excellent reputation the first edition enjoys with more of the great information readers have come to expect.

With original material as well as articles taken from the pages of Writer's Digest, the leading authority in the field, this book is the only resource readers need for all of their questions on how to:

* Brainstorm creative article ideas magazine editors will find irresistible

* Find the right magazine for their work

* Compose a professional, sophisticated query letter that catches the editor's eye

* Keep editors coming back for more (get repeat assignments from magazines)

This book is the writer's treasure map to the lucrative field of magazine writing!

Associated Press Guide to News Writing: The Resource for Professional Journalists

This practical handbook is the ideal writing style guide for all reporters, writers, editors, and English and journalism students. It covers all the essentials of good news writing, according to the styles and guidelines set forth by the Associated Press -- with lively examples from today's newspapers. This authoritative guide includes:

Professional advice about crafting a good feature story

In-depth reviews of important principles in news writing

Expert guidance on writing concise, informative copy, source citations, and more.

Clear and instructive discussions of specialized styles.

The Art and Craft of Feature Writing: Based on The Wall Street Journal Guide

How to Write Articles for Newspapers & Magazines, 2/e (Step By Step (Thomson Learning (Firm)).)

A professional journalist shows students how to write hard-hitting news stories and attention-getting feature articles for newspapers and magazines.

Creating Short Fiction: The Classic Guide to Writing Short Fiction

The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage : The Official Style Guide Used by the Writers and Editors of the World's Most Authoritative Newspaper

"A foolish consistency," Emerson insisted, "is the hobgoblin of little minds." That may well be, but editors have enough reasons to reject your work; don't let sloppy inconsistencies be one of them. The New York Times Manual of Style & Usage was written for the paper's editors and writers, but it is a fine, up-to-date resource for anyone's use. Our language is ever-mutating, and a guide such as this will ensure that you understand the impact your words might have before they reach print. Should you use Native Americans or American Indians? Debark or disembark? Did you know that thermos is no longer a trademark, but that Popsicle and Dumpster are? Writing, when you get down to it, is nothing more than the careful choosing of words. This style book will ensure that you don't choose carat when you mean karat, jury-rigged when you want jerry-built, chow chow when chowchow is called for, or V-8 when you could have had a V8. A naysayer may bridle against the strictures of such a rule book, but the authors believe "the rules should encourage thinking, not discourage it." Plus, "a rule," they say, "can shield against untidiness in detail that might make readers doubt large facts." We'd call the book "user-friendly," but that, we've learned, can be downright "reader-tiresome." --Jane Steinberg

Is the deejay a wannabe?
Or does the D.J. just want to be?
When is heaven capitalized?
Do you stand in line or on line?

For anyone who writes—short stories or business plans, book reports or news articles—knotty choices of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and meaning lurk in every line: Lay or lie? Who or whom? None is or none are? Is Touch-Tone a trademark? How about Day-Glo? It’s enough to send you in search of a Martini. (Or is that a martini?) Now everyone can find answers to these and thousands of other questions in the handy alphabetical guide used by the writers and editors of the world’s most authoritative newspaper.

The guidelines to hyphenation, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling are crisp and compact, created for instant reference in the rush of daily deadlines. This revised and expanded edition is updated with solutions to the tantalizing problems that plague writers in the new century:

* How to express the equality of the sexes without using self-conscious devices like “he or she.”
* How to choose thoughtfully between African-American and black; Hispanic and Latino; American Indian and Native American.
* How to translate the vocabulary of e-mail and cyberspace and cope with the eccentricities of Internet company names and website addresses.

With wry wit, the authors, who have more than seventy-five years of combined newsroom experience at the New York Times, have created an essential and entertaining reference tool.

For anyone who writes -- a short story or a business plan, a book report or a news report -- knotty choices of spelling, grammar, punctuation and word meaning lurk in every line: Lay or lie? Who or whom? None is or none are? Is touch-tone a trademark? Is Day-Glo? It's enough to send you for a Martini. (Or is that a martini?)

Now everyone can find answers in the handy alphabetical guide used by the thousand journalists of the world's most authoritative newspaper. The guidelines to correct hyphenation, punctuation, capitalization and foreign and English spelling are crisp and compact, created for instant reference in the rush of deadlines. Rewritten for the first time in twenty-three years and greatly expanded since the last edition, the manual tackles issues that will follow writers into the new century:

• How to respect the equality of the sexes without self-conscious devices such as "he or she"
• How to choose thoughtfully between terms like African-American and black; Hispanic and Latino; American Indian and Native American
• How to translate the vocabulary of e-mail and cyberspace for everyday readers, and how to cope with the eccentric capitalization and punctuation of Internet company names and Web site addresses

The authors have more than seventy years of combined newsroom experience, most of it at The Times. They recognize that our language is changing, but they tailor their responses to the paper's impression of its readership: "educated and sophisticated... traditional but not tradition-bound."

They counsel a fluid style, easygoing but not slangy, the unpretentious language of a letter to a literate friend. They invite readers of the manual to be precise while casting off the stodgy (among dozens of examples, writing before instead of the pompous prior to, and carry out instead of implement).

The authors also offer a thumbnail guide to newsroom ethics and standards in their entries on anonymous sources, attribution, fairness and obscenity. And they seed the rules with wry humor. (On vogue words: "Wannabe is the faddish slang of adults who, well, want to be teenagers." And about the late: "Do not fall into this error: Only the late Senator Miel opposed the bill. He was almost certainly alive at the time.")

For writers, editors, students, researchers and all who love language, The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage is an entertaining tool as well as an essential reference.

Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles

"Freelance writing is not easy, but it is doable," say the authors of this primer. There will be times, they add, when there is no work. When there is no money. When no one returns your calls. Hardly sounds alluring. But if you've got the bug, or suspect you do, this is as fine a place as any to get a feel for the freelance life. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles features interviews with freelancers and editors, and chapters on generating ideas, querying, writing, interviewing ("there's no such thing as a stupid question"), and developing a niche. Other sections give the inside skinny on the industry: who the big players are, who the top editors are, what firsthand accounts are worth reading. And there is even advice for dealing with taxes and contracts. Breathe easy: "The new media world still needs the old-fashioned writer." In fact, writing for the Web, the authors say, can be quite lucrative. Just be sure, for writing online as well as in print, to avoid committing any of the authors' "Ten ways to turn off an editor" (including: be a stalker, misspell the editor's name, balk at changes). And remember: "Persistent people make it as writers." --Jane Steinberg

Take the mystery out of selling your ideas to magazine, newspapers, and web sites by reading this book. It explains who hires writers, what editors want from freelancers, how much you can expect to be paid, how you can write effective query and pitch letters, and how the Internet can help your writing career take off.

Take the mystery out of selling your ideas to magazine, newspapers, and web sites by reading this book. It explains who hires writers, what editors want from freelancers, how much you can expect to be paid, how you can write effective query and pitch letters, and how the Internet can help your writing career take off.

The Powers That Be

The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success (The Renegade Writer's Freelance Writing series)