Being on Facebook or Twitter is a good start, Denise Graveline writes, but if you're not careful, you might watch your words float away on the wind: "That's because you haven't taken the time to learn the art of timing your posts to social media sites. ... Often, the underlying reason is that no one behind your feed has researched timing — that is, the times of day and days of the week that yield the best levels of engagement for your business, brand or organization."
Science writing news
Science has triumphed recently by forecasting Hurricane Sandy's path and predicting President Obama's re-election, Larry Pryor writes at Online Journalism Review. Now, Pryor says, science writers need to educate the public on climate change models: "Effort is now being spent on making scientists into better communicators, but more might be accomplished if mainstream journalists ... made themselves better acquainted with satellite technology and its impact on science."
If you want to learn who is behind a web site, use Whois, Meranda Watling writes on 10,000 Words. Her tech tip on the web tool says: "If nothing else, it’s another place to look for potential sources and data. It’s also something I’ve seen mentioned a few times in news stories of late about memes taking off from political flubs. How long did it take for someone to register 'BindersFullOfWomen.com' for instance (and while you’re looking it up, who registered it)?"
Paul Raeburn: Two years ago, I felt lucky to announce that I had been lured to the Sunshine State by Florida Atlantic University, which offered me a free hand to develop a new master’s program in science writing. Sadly, all has come tumbling down.
The Open Notebook has collected the thoughts of a half-dozen editors who took queries during the popular Pitch Slam at ScienceWriters2012. The six — Laura Helmuth, Amanda Moon, David Corcoran, Beth Quill, Susannah Locke, and Tasha Eichenseher — discuss what they look for (one word: "voice") and whether they prefer short or long queries: "Finally, remember that the best way to figure out what editors are looking for is to read the publication."
Social media may be gaining respect as a book-promotion tool, but authors shouldn't forget that old-style speaking gigs still work, Joel Friedlander writes on The Book Designer: "The X-factor is what you don’t expect: meeting someone in your audience who might order hundreds or thousands of books from you; getting asked to write for the top magazine in your field on the topic of your talk; establishing a peer-to-peer relationship with a top influencer in your field."
Sara Morrison writes in Columbia Journalism Review about the inaugural offering of Kickstarter-funded Matter, a pay-per-view (at 99 cents) site dedicated to longform science journalism. Its first story, by Anil Ananthaswamy, is about a man with Body Integrity Identity Disorder, a condition that causes people to want to amputate otherwise healthy limbs. More from Poynter, and Michael Meyer in CJR on the longform market.
Two posts on Elsevier Connect discuss the Oransky/Marcus blog that digs out details on scientific paper retractions. First, Tom Reller advises editors on handling an RW inquiry. Then NASW's David Levine collects thoughts from four science writers, including former USA Today reporter Doug Levy, who says RW is "bringing the scientific community itself more directly into the discussion. That’s a good thing for everyone."
Spyfall: Finding a way to bring science to the David Petraeus-Paula Broadwell-Jill Kelley-John Allen-Frederick Humphries II-CIA-FBI-Pentagon-Gmail scandal. Lessons for digital privacy: There isn't any. If only Petraeus had known about oxytocin and the evolutionary trend toward monogamy. An oxytocin variant in C. elegans. A vegetative patient speaks, in a manner of speaking. The people speak too, and vote for legal marijuana. The result: more research and more work for science writers.