The Pubcast - Interviews With Online Publishing Professionals

Christine Theophel interviews Sara Benincasa — Emerson graduate, comedian, popular Internet personality, and author of the young adult novel Great and the memoir Agorafabulous!: Dispatches From My Bedroom. Benincasa talks about online writing, the inspiration for her books, traditional publishing versus self-publishing, managing multiple platforms, and dealing with critics and trolls. Check out her Kickstarter, This Tour Is So Gay! This interview was recorded on April 10, 2014.

Claire Paschal interviews Breanna Locke, a books editorial intern at Wiley-Blackwell and editorial consultant at Vegan Publishers. Working with both big and small publishers, Locke gives her perspective on the unique environments for each, how they can use crowdfunding, where she'd like to end up, and how her Emerson College education prepared her for these roles. This interview was recorded on April 23, 2014.

Brady Detwiler interviews music journalist and editor Nina Corcoran of DigBoston and WERS on the intersection between music journalism and Web publishing. This interview was recorded on April 21, 2014.

Hannah Brown of Simmer Magazine interviews Dave Tytell, formerly of America's Test Kitchen. With so many recipes online for free, why should consumers pay for ATK's premium services — and how effective is this strategy? Tytell reflects on these matters, as well as successful and failed ventures, during his time at America's Test Kitchen (2008–2012). This interview was recorded on April 22, 2014.

Miriam Avila chats with Anjali Prasertong, contributing editor at The Kitchn and founder of Eat Your Greens, about creating a personal blog, bringing humor to food blogging, and the online tools necessary to build an online community. This interview was recorded on April 21, 2014.

Briana Loewen interviews Chris Brock, manager of digital vendor operations at Constellation Digital Services. E-books are soaring in popularity and sales, yet the process for creating them and the platforms that support their more advanced features stand room for improvement. Brock discusses where the medium can go from here and the skills and resources necessary to get us there. This interview was recorded on April 18, 2014.

Ashleigh Heaton interviews Sarah Rodriguez, director of network development at Geek and Sundry as well as creator and editor-in-chief of Nerdy But Flirty. As these two geek empires expand, it's important that they remain connected with their audience and not lose focus of their founding mission. Rodriguez discusses the approaches and tools she uses and the future of media platforms such as YouTube. This interview was recorded on April 17, 2014.

Ken Gagné and the class of PB403 interviews Lon Seidman, co-founder of the Independent Media Network and LocalOnlineNews.TV and host of CT News Junkie. The democratization of publishing heralded by the Internet has disrupted the traditional model of editor and publisher, giving independent content creators unprecedented opportunity to build their own brands. Seidman discusses how to leverage one's personality, monetize content, and create unique channels of news and YouTube videos. This interview was recorded before a live studio audience on March 13, 2014, and is available in both audio and video.

Sev Gorucu interviews Nisreen Galloway, editor-in-chief Simmer Magazine. A student at Emerson College, Galloway has already launched an online magazine with a full staff of writers beneath her. Here, she discusses the resources needed to get a new publication off the ground and how it feels to be in an editorial/management role while still an undergraduate. This interview was recorded on November 14, 2013.

Anna Caron interviews Catherine Laudone, editorial assistant for Simon & Schuster specializing in books for young readers. Laudone discusses the tension between print and e-book editions, the persistent value of a traditional blog, the role of publishers in a world of self-publishing, and the distinct responsibilities of the marketing and publicity teams. This interview was recorded on November 21, 2013.

Ali Antonucci interviews Nick Cox, calendar editor for Scout Magazines, which "blends the depth and vibrancy of a national magazine with the immediacy of hyperlocal journalism". In this podcast, Cox discusses how to tell what events are worth promoting; what features he uses in The Events Calendar for WordPress; and what additional skills he's taught himself in Codecademy. This interview was recorded on November 19, 2013.

Heather Mulhern interviews Christa Seid-Graham, web publishing specialist for JSH Online, a publication of Boston's Christian Science Publishing Society. Seid-Graham discusses how online publishing has become accessible editors without requiring extraordinary IT specialization, the value of offering content in a variety of formats to make it more accessible, and the role analytics plays in identifying one's audience. This interview was recorded on November 17, 2013.

Bridget Hess-Mahan interviews Christine Allen, co-founder of digital literary journal the catharsis. Allen discusses how online underground publishing has exploded in the last five years, thanks in part to how social media has made it easier to get the word out about new ventures. By day, Allen is also a creative associate and project manager at Providence Word & Thought Company, a two-person ghostwriting, editing, creative writing, and consulting firm.

Tanya Wlodarczyk interviews Arjan de Raaf, CEO, CTO, and founder of Totally.Me, a news aggregator for your social network profiles. In this discussion, de Raaf outlines the problems of big data, the challenges of founding a social media company, and how judicious prioritization can make a small company nimble enough to go up against corporate juggernauts. This interview was recorded on November 20, 2013.

Talia Rochmann interviews Chris Lackey, director of user interface and user experience at Apptopia, a marketplace for the buying and selling of mobile apps. Chris discusses the value of UI & UX, the difference between frontend and backend coding, the role freelancers play in the industry, and how to get one's foot in the door. This interview was recorded on December 11, 2013.

Becca Pollock interviews Chad Redden, managing editor of online poetry and literary publication NAP. Redden discusses why he uses Tumblr instead of WordPress; how social media is used to promote new posts and authors; why NAP currently exists as an online-only publication and what it would take to change that; and the limitations of e-books: "The Kindle is really good for prose and fiction, but for poetry, it messes up the line breaks. PDF lets me lock [the text] into a form." This interview was recorded on November 18, 2013.

Michelle Paniagua interviews Lyssa Goldberg, online managing editor for DigBoston, a guide to Boston's nightlife, opinion, and events. In providing the community with a social outlet, it's important to be engaged with that audience. Goldberg discusses how the website serves as that community hub, the roles social media and mobile play, and the need for the current site to be designed, possibly moving away from WordPress. This interview was recorded on November 19, 2013.

Maria Murray chats with Michael James Murray, co-founder of Out of Town Films, a film collective based in Philadelphia. He discusses publishing music and videos online and bringing innovation to music journalism. This interview was recorded on April 20, 2013.

Nicole Kempster interviews Joshua Hamel, video game section editor for Hypable.com and intern at Avant Strategies. Hamel launched Hypable's video game section and saw it through a redesign of the WordPress site and how tagging and search engine optimization (SEO) have changed the creation and packaging of online content; for PR firm Avant, he is a content curator and social media inbound marketer. In this interview, Hamel discusses how to be an online freelance writer and the future of video games and video game journalism. This interview was recorded on April 6, 2013. Since then, Hamel has left Hypable to focus on his internship at Avant Strategies.

Samantha DiMauro interviews Gillia Olson, assistant editorial director Capstone. ePub v3.0 was approved in October 2011, yet its adoption by major e-book publishers remains slow. Olson discusses the potential and challenges of the format, especially in education; what genres of book are best-suited to e-readers; how to balance investment with the potential for return; projects Capstone has coming down the pipeline; and what the future of publishing holds. This interview was recorded on April 16, 2013.