stuntsbyjon Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 Hi guys and girls. Ok, I am currently looking for work within the journalism fields of the trials industry, or other genre of MTB riding. I am nearing completion of my university degree and want to get into writing about the sport I love so much! :"> I have E-mailed people at MBUK, BTM and am now looking for other publications to try to get work from. At first I simply want to promote my own work, and that of my photographer; well, not mine, but you know what I mean. :o I will do a few articles / features for free to get the jist of things, and then I hope to stay within the field and generate employment following my degree. If anyone is interested in my style or approach and the kinda subjects I hope to post, I am now about to create a website simply to promote the riding and writing times. :P Anyone wanna name the site? Jon... Thanx for reading all this btw. (Y) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the666ers Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 Not being a cock or anything, but purely the fact that your entire post isn't spaced by a single paragraph, and doesn't read too well, will probably put any potential employers off. Just think about it. Your making an impression in everything you do, and that post is an example to people. This means if your general english doesn't appear to be special people just won't bother. As for looking for work I suggest you put together a decent portfolio of everything you have done, any appearances it has made in media, any work at all that is media related. Get it all really well presented with pictures etc etc... and send a portfolio to every bike related media productions group out there, along with a cv and all the usual gcse/qualifications stuff..... Think about it and the companies are endless. Buy as many bike magazines as you can and send them to each one, then look through and note down any of the companies who are advertising something media related, video's etc...also remember that distributors need people to manage their advetising so send it to them aswell. Then send it all out to them and hope for a response. A website would be immensely useful, as you said. Just do absolutely anything you can to promote your work in the industry, hand out work to people at the bike shows, any events, anything. Word gets round... Do as many reports on bike events as possible, trials or not. Finally good luck (Y) James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuntsbyjon Posted January 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 (edited) Thanks for the input dude. I haven't spaced it out, or even grammatically sorted the post due to it being just that; a post on a forum. I am generally asking if anyone here is employed within the industry and if so, could they point me in the right direction. Trust me when I say that I know the way to write articles etc... English is my study course here at university. I have also had work published although it is not journalistic, so I am starting to get known, just needing a few names now. It's not what you know, it's who you know half the time. (Y) Edited January 16, 2005 by stuntsbyjon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Nichols Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 James there are two major styles of writing - Formal and Informal. The above post made by jon is Informal. As is yours, even though you have tried hard to hide it's informality... I mean for a start you shouldn't have used a blank line after each paragraph and you should have indented - now that would be acceptable if writing a business letter, but your not (Y) Jon - I wish you all the luck in the world mate, from the research i've done it seems to be a tough world out there. When i finish higher education I hope to go into the same field as you... I do however fear that there are more potential employees than there are jobs available! Sorry i can't offer any advice but it would be nice if you posted your progress on TF as I'd love to see what paths you took etc. Whens the site going to be up and running then? sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuntsbyjon Posted January 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 Cool, thanks for supporting my idea of this being a forum and not an official document. (Y)" I have so far applied to future publishing; wrote articles for mates and my own website, (That is crap) the articles are cool; and spoken with many future possible employers. I am getting my face known within the industry too; I have spoken personally to Ashton, Leech, Giles Woolf at the MAD team (with whom I have a good friendship) as well as a few staff writers at MBUK. Also I have E-mailed BTM for thier responce towards my writing talents etc. As I posted, I don't wish to be paid to start out, I just want to get my name noticed on a few articles in order that I can overcome the initial shock of finding employment. I will keep you posted guys. Thanks Sam. Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the666ers Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 The only reason I space out things with a line as it makes things easier to read! (space) I wasn't trying to hide it's informality, just make it easier to read and in good english. James p.s sorry if I offended you jon I'm just tired from work so was a bit of venting there. Hope the rest of my post was some use (Y) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuntsbyjon Posted January 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 Quote "The only reason I space out things with a line as it makes things easier to read!" Hhhmm, enough said about English then. :- Nah, it's all cool dude. Your points are valid, and I have noted them. (Spaced) (Y) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the666ers Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 Haha. we all make mistakes :"> James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Nick Riviera Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 mike deere has no worries of becoming a freelance photographer , jon have you thought about rather than searching for the job , why not create one by starting something like a magazine or a website. just need to keep ontop of happenings in the trials world (Y) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikeTrial Federation Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 You could make a start by donating appropriate articles to the BikeTrial UK website - it could be good to have an "articles" page, reports on events etc. Email any submissions to info@biketrialuk.co.uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spunkey_monkey_boy Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 and if you wanted to add things to section 7 i'm sure whoever runs that would be grateful seeing as no-ones put anything new on there for ages and subsiquently everyone's stopped using it (sorry danny and tom, i'm not trying to get people to leave TF and use section7 but its a good site that could do with some new input) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 In computer terms, the way to phrase a paragraph is to drop down a line and not indent. If you're writing by hand, it's the indent. I don't make the rules - that's what they are though. Either way, if people try and check up on you and find your posts on here, if you post in non-standard English or whatever they're going to be a bit skeptical. And, as you say, it's not what you know but who you know - if your potential employer asks someone from the trials world who's on here to scope out what you're like, if he sees posts like the ones above he's going to be thinking it's a bit sketchy too? Plus it's just way better posting in a decent way... Anyhoo, try submitting reviews to websites or something. I've had some published on www.trialsride.com a coupla years ago, and I've done written stuff for a local newspaper, and I've done other reviews on different items, etc. Had to write reports about the frames I've been testing for Onza too and so on, so every little helps... Either way, it's a tiny market with little scope (journalism in the trials sector, anyway), so why not try and broaden your horizons? Try getting a job with a local newspaper just to gain experience or something? Mark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spunkey_monkey_boy Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 also if you get a job with your local paper you can highlight trials as a sport to those who don't ride and help the sport to spread... i wish i had a trials riding journo at my local paper, i keep dragging them out to do shoots and stuff and then it doesn't bloody appear in the paper!!! (saying that they've been good about advertising the indoor event) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 If you ride street locally though, it's a good thing they don't cover it? otherwise, you're basically saying "Hi, my name's Spunkey_Munkey_boy. This is a picture of me riding my stunt bike, in your town. Chances are that if you think about it, most of the damage in town to benches, walls and so on could be caused by me"? People simply don't understand trials riding, and for the small percentage you could convert to a positive aspect over trials you'd have a lot more thinking "that bitch messes up our town" or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spunkey_monkey_boy Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 yeah but i've run countless trials, jump, bmx and skate events over the last 5 years, we had a demo team and ran properly organised events that they didn't bother covering even though we told them about it. things have changed recently and they're getting better but i doubt we'll have a photographer and reporter at the inodoor event like we asked for... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunja Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 Last semester my design lecturer was encouraging us to make 'zines - mini-magazines to show off your abilities, style, contacts etc. Might be an idea... All you'd have to do is learn some basic typesetting and layout design, print on to A5 or whatever takes your fancy (bike-shaped paper? (Y) ) and away you go! Would definately make your portfolio more interesting... Also look at demonstrating how your abilities transfer into other media - such as radio or television scriptwriting/researching; you could even package a DVD presentation together to give to potential employers with your 'zine... Just update your 'zine every couple of months, send it out to people over again, and before you know it you'll be a millionaire! :P PS. Next year if you need professional standard graphic design or DV/HD editing, I'll be offering my services... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuntsbyjon Posted January 19, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 Cool, cheers guys, I shall post again soon, but my network has gone down at home, hence I am having to use the university network. :S Laterz. Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulSection7 Posted January 20, 2005 Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 OK, as an ex-biketrials "journalist", I might have some pointers. If you're serious about becoming a professional journalist in the field of biketrials then there's a few things you ought to consider. Firstly, the field is extremely narrow - as far as I know, there's only one place in the world that pays for biketrials reporting, and that's MBUK in their hiphop section. In my opinion, there's only ever been one proper trials journalist, and that's Chris Ratcliff, who's been at it for over ten years now. As far as I know, there's a reasonable amount of competition for getting stuff published in Hiphop, not only with people from the trials world, but from full time MBUK staffers. Not only that, but the going rate for magazine work isn't going to be enough to support you. So, if you're a good enough writer and have adequate trade journalism skills (eg, can phone up a company and get good info out of them without pissing them off, and have the brain power to do proper product reviews, and own a little black book full of every useful contact in the entire sport) and you're lucky enough to be applying when they need someone, then you might get the hiphop gig as a source of some part time income. If you want to be able to live off it, you've got to expand your horizons to cover other aspects of cycling - XC, DH, road, etc. If you're a general cycling journo then the range of jobs goes up from 1 to hundreds. The big websites pay for material, and there are plenty of magazines to publish stuff. You'd be looking at becoming a full staff member to get a regular salary (rather than a freelance). Unfortunately, there's massive competition for not many jobs, so unless you're a pretty damn good writer (or pretty damn lucky) you could find yourself stuck as a part time freelance writer for years, working very hard on stuff that only gets published some % of the time, and not getting very much money even when it is published. Even full time bike journalists do it out of love rather than for the money; it's certainly not a well paid profession. So, chances are, it'll be very hard work for little reward. On the other hand, if you just want to write stuff about biketrials, the best way is to put it up on a website. Section7 could sure do with some new blood, but there are many more out there. Or you could start your own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuntsbyjon Posted January 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 Thanks for that dude. I think In will have to lookinto it more seriously.... Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_anderer Posted January 22, 2005 Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 The above post made by jon is Informal. As is yours, even though you have tried hard to hide it's informality... I mean for a start you shouldn't have used a blank line after each paragraph and you should have indented - now that would be acceptable if writing a business letter, but your not Jon - I wish you all the luck in the world mate, from the research i've done it seems to be a tough world out there. When i finish higher education I hope to go into the same field as you. Mmm, you talk the talk when it comes to English, but maybe a backup career would be useful if the difference between 'you're' and 'your' are not second nature. (N) If you try and indent on this forum, the board automatically removes the indent, it respects the single line space convention. Joel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuntsbyjon Posted January 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 It seems that the topic of this post has been lost amongst people trying to prove who has the best grammatical English and those who may have made a mistake with the grammar... Lets not forget that this post is simply asking for peoples veiws or ideas about journalistic writing as a career, NOT a post about the Queen's English. >_< Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_anderer Posted January 23, 2005 Report Share Posted January 23, 2005 It seems that the topic of this post has been lost amongst people trying to prove who has the best grammatical English and those who may have made a mistake with the grammar... Lets not forget that this post is simply asking for peoples veiws or ideas about journalistic writing as a career, NOT a post about the Queen's English :"> Yes, yes it has, sorry for hijacking your thread. I just get shirty when I see people artificially elevating themselves then making schoolboy errors. Getting back onto your topic, I would probably find an interest in something more mainstream, and then go write about that. >_< Something which is a little bit less of a niche market, like topless mammoth wrestling, or underwater fire fighting. But journalism as a career is great, I thought about going into it, before making the choices I did. I didn't choose that career path because I didn't like the scene. I would find it heart breakingly tedious working for some lame local paper or magazine like 'Bus Buyer Weekly,' and not having any ostensible use at all. BUT, then if I did have the luck to get onto a big publication or paper, it is a different world - not a nice world at that. So much treachery and one-upmanship, especially on the big papers. Another thing that really annoys me about journalism is poncey over-writing and wanky over use of cliches. Gossip magazines and Music magazines are always very guilty parties when it comes to these two sins - and I wouldn't want to fall into that trap, writing formulaic nonsense that will be forgot in the time it takes for someone to drink their cup of tea. If I write at a later date, I would like it to be something a bit more substantial. Joel PS. Did anyone read 'The Independent' yesterday? On the same page in the 'comment' section were two articles. One was a very thoughtful piece on the importance of remembering Auschwitz, but this was juxtaposed with some bint writing about how dreadful it was for the people on the Aurora, and how it could ruin some people's lives!?!?!?! Not very good editing in my books. Meh, maybe it was some vicious social comment about the shallow materialistic nature of capitalist society that went right over my head? *Shrugs.* Joel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Nichols Posted January 23, 2005 Report Share Posted January 23, 2005 Mmm, you talk the talk when it comes to English, but maybe a backup career would be useful if the difference between 'you're' and 'your' are not second nature. B) If you try and indent on this forum, the board automatically removes the indent, it respects the single line space convention. Joel ← Woah! Lets not get all shitty about this! Firstly, if I'm not mistaken I DID use 'your' in the right situation... 'your' refers to a possession WHEREAS 'you're' is just a condensed version of 'you are'. Secondly (Y) I know you cant indent on the forum, I was imply making a point about the informality of posts. Also if you'd taken the time to look through my post you would have noticed MANY missing inverted commas and the like. I believe they call them typos... Anyway sorry jon we really are caning your thread a bit now (Y) I just don't like people ridiculing me for making a mistake that isn't there! :) >_< Back to the thread B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_anderer Posted January 23, 2005 Report Share Posted January 23, 2005 mean for a start you shouldn't have used a blank line after each paragraph and you should have indented - now that would be acceptable if writing a business letter, but your not Woah! Lets not get all shitty about this! Firstly, if I'm not mistaken I DID use 'your' in the right situation... 'your' refers to a possession WHEREAS 'you're' is just a condensed version of 'you are'. I know that! No need for an English lesson for me! I'm afraid you ARE mistaken. If you cannot see the mistake now, never darken the door of a publishing house. Sorry chaps, feel free to get back on topic. :"> Joel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrashZen Posted January 23, 2005 Report Share Posted January 23, 2005 Buy as many bike magazines as you can and send them to each one, then look through and note down any of the companies who are advertising something media related, video's etc... ← Adapt to the style of writing of the magazine you target... (Y) I agree there is a lot of writing and Press Relations (PR) jobs that can be involved at any major bike manufacturer (the advertisers in any mag). So it's not just bike mags...advertising and marketing can be a devious path for a start... :D I am editor for a non-bike related magazine, and I can see lot of people writing on behalf of other companies that sell products, and then address their articles to relevant magazines. (Y) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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