Founder and Editor in Chief of State of Digital Publishing. My vision is to provide digital publishing and media professionals a platform to collaborate and...Read more
Cybersecurity journalist for CSO, editor, and publisher of Hypergrid Business.
WHAT LED YOU TO START WORKING IN DIGITAL/MEDIA PUBLISHING?
This is kind of a broad question. I’ve been a technology journalist for more than 20 years, and my stories have appeared online since the early days of the Internet through the publications I worked for, and through my own personal websites.
I launched my own publication, Hypergrid Business, in 2009. It has since been indexed by Google News and has about 200 contributing writers and industry experts providing content.
As of the end of 2016, it had reached a high of nearly 350,000 monthly page views and more than 175,000 unique monthly readers.
WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
I check my email, answer urgent queries, file the rest into to-do folders, conduct interviews, schedule interviews for upcoming stories, edit and post articles that come in, write original articles. And, if there’s time, I work on volunteer commitments – judging industry awards, communicating with WiVR members (that’s Women in Virtual Reality, a networking group), updating the WiVR website, working on presentations that I’ll give at conferences.
I also read industry news, respond to story pitches and queries from would-be writers, pitch stories to other publications I write for, send out invoices and payments to freelancers, and answer other random emails that come in.
WHAT’S YOUR WORK SETUP LIKE?
I use Google Apps, WordPress, and Filemaker for my core workflow processes.
I’m the process of moving as much of my workload as I can to online environments, to reduce reliance on my desktop.
WHAT DO YOU DO OR GO TO GET INSPIRED?
Coffee.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF WRITING OR QUOTE?
My favorite book right now is “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined” by Steven Pinker. I’ve also heard him speak in Boston.
WHAT’S THE PASSIONATE PROBLEM YOU ARE TACKLING AT THE MOMENT?
My biggest problem right now is the lack of good online relational database software.
IS THERE A PRODUCT, SOLUTION, OR TOOL THAT YOU THINK IS A GOOD MATCH FOR YOUR DIGITAL PUBLISHING EFFORTS?
I like Filemaker a lot, but the product is more than 20 years old and doesn’t have a good cloud-based service. And there are no decent alternatives. I test out dozens of different platforms each year and so far, there is nothing that matches it out there. I’m extremely disappointed.
ANY ADVICE FOR AMBITIOUS DIGITAL PUBLISHING AND MEDIA PROFESSIONALS JUST STARTING OUT?
A comprehensive and efficient workflow management system can make a huge difference. Right now, I’m recommending Google docs and spreadsheets as the best low-cost option out there.
