Author Topic: I just got my first magazine article published!  (Read 2063 times)

Syonyk

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I just got my first magazine article published!
« on: September 06, 2017, 09:51:13 PM »
I've been blogging for the past 2.5 years or so (easy to keep track of - age of my daughter), have built my own solar powered off grid office, and just got my first magazine article in print in Make Magazine. :)  And I got paid for it ($150, which... mutter mumble blogging pennies an hour something something long term investment).

So, if you happen to have Issue 59 of Make Magazine laying around, check out pages 40 and 41! :D

It's not exactly replacing my day job, but "doing interesting things and blogging about them" has certainly opened some interesting doors to me!

joonifloofeefloo

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Re: I just got my first magazine article published!
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2017, 09:58:22 PM »
Hey, CONGRATS, Syonyk!!!!!!!!! Well done :))))

Syonyk

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Re: I just got my first magazine article published!
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2017, 10:26:23 PM »
Thanks, pretty excited!  They hunted me down to write an article as well, so obviously I'm doing something right!

Dollar Slice

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Re: I just got my first magazine article published!
« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2017, 10:36:33 PM »
Congrats! I work in the publishing industry, and I've noticed that people are way more impressed by being published in print vs online, even if the website you're on gets 100x more readers than the magazine or newspaper you're in. So it's pretty exciting to make the leap from a blog to magazine :-)

I've had bad luck in print. The second magazine article I ever had published, whoever did the magazine layout did something stupid and overwrote my name in the byline with gibberish (like they just mashed their hand on the keyboard randomly). And the idiot proofreader didn't catch it, so it printed that way. Then one time I was interviewed (via e-mail) by a New York daily newspaper and the author took a lot of liberties with my words (I think trying to dumb it down for their readers to a ridiculous degree) and made me sound an absolute moron. With a nice big color photo of me to make sure everyone knows who the idiot is. ;-)

Syonyk

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Re: I just got my first magazine article published!
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2017, 10:43:53 PM »
Congrats! I work in the publishing industry, and I've noticed that people are way more impressed by being published in print vs online, even if the website you're on gets 100x more readers than the magazine or newspaper you're in. So it's pretty exciting to make the leap from a blog to magazine :-)

Yup!  I'm a lot more impressed with a print magazine than with the few hackaday and Make Magazine blog articles I've had written about me.  Plus, I got to actually, you know, write this one, instead of having someone else sort of handwave at blog posts and then link to it.  It's still fun getting a huge surge in traffic from another site covering my projects, but I'm a lot happier with the print article.

I've been working on writing as both an excuse to learn to write better, and as a possible path to not needing a dayjob (my blog current pays for beer - $20-$40/mo most months, but I intend to continue it for a while and see what happens).  I'm also working on turning some of my posts into ebooks.  Slowly, but... I'll try.  As I have time.

And that's ignoring the significant cash and product flow I get from my blog serving as my free advertising (battery pack analysis and rebuilds). :)

TartanTallulah

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Re: I just got my first magazine article published!
« Reply #5 on: September 07, 2017, 09:51:11 AM »
Congratulations :-) That's quite an achievement.

FiveSigmas

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Re: I just got my first magazine article published!
« Reply #6 on: September 07, 2017, 10:37:29 AM »
Rock. Congrats, Syonyk.

I've always appreciated your comments on e-bikes and the like. Glad more people are getting the same benefit.

Syonyk

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Re: I just got my first magazine article published!
« Reply #7 on: September 07, 2017, 10:42:12 AM »
Rock. Congrats, Syonyk.

I've always appreciated your comments on e-bikes and the like. Glad more people are getting the same benefit.

Yeah, I should... uh.  Get one of my ebikes running again.  I haven't actually been on an ebike all summer - they're all either in pieces or in R&D rigs.  I just ride the Ural around.  I've got a nice frame to build a high speed cargo runner (since I live about 10 miles from town, range and speed are important to me), but haven't had time this year.  Jobs interfere with hobby projects!

JoJo

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Re: I just got my first magazine article published!
« Reply #8 on: September 07, 2017, 12:13:55 PM »
Awesome!   

any blogging advice you have to fellow bloggers?

How did they find you?

Syonyk

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Re: I just got my first magazine article published!
« Reply #9 on: September 07, 2017, 12:27:04 PM »
any blogging advice you have to fellow bloggers?

It's a ton of work, the hourly pay sucks, but if you do it right, your content is your SEO.  I don't blog about "normal" things - I blog about really weird things, and tend to go deep into whatever I'm pulling apart.  Battery packs, electronics out of China, etc.  In many cases, I'm the only non-sales reference for a device on the internet, or one of maybe two.  I do a lot of teardowns and the analysis (I'll put oscilloscopes on things for fun).

My goal is for it to be a long term investment with passive income, which it's starting to do (beer money), but it's opened a lot of very interesting doors.  And it's made me a better writer, and has provided an excuse for a lot of lab upgrades. :)

Quote
How did they find you?

Reddit, I think.

arebelspy

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Re: I just got my first magazine article published!
« Reply #10 on: September 12, 2017, 11:06:23 PM »
Congrats! That's awesome!
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.