Not According to Keikaku

Careers

Today is my birthday so I’m feeling self-indulgent enough to finally update my blog. I’m doing about as well as anybody could be in this terrible year. Each day I wake up with a primary goal: keep my daughter alive and mostly in one piece. Everything else is secondary. 

This is all very much Not According To Keikaku, as the saying goes. I never planned to leave my career behind in order to be a stay-at-home-mom, but I never planned for a global pandemic either. Back in February, I wrote about learning to balance being a mom with client work. As the pandemic has dragged on, most of those clients have let me go or even closed up shop. Instead of doubling down on the work that I was still lucky enough to have, I instead did the bare minimum. I will be lucky to break $15k in income this year, which is much less than a year’s worth of childcare costs in my area. Combined with /gestures at everything/, John and I decided that it made more sense for me to parent Eva full time until the pandemic is over. 

It’s staggering how quickly I’ve forgotten who I used to be. I mentioned to a parent friend that I used to write books while our toddlers played on the playground, and I almost couldn’t get the words out, felt like I was having delusions of grandeur. Did I write books? Did I ever write anything longer or more in-depth than a grocery list? It feels like that was someone else’s life. 

Isn’t it amazing how quickly we become what we practice? After a few months of being primarily a parent, I feel like that’s all there is to me. But in reality, this year I did lots of self-actualizing stuff while Eva was sleeping. Things like:

It’s a shorter list than usual, but getting anything done this year is a win. This was a year in which I only knew what day it was by which of my weekly anime episodes or webtoon updates went live. This was a year full of misfortune both public and personal, one in which I have experienced levels of world-weary, bone-deep fatigue like never before. I’m just glad to have made it to age 34, even if I can’t celebrate it like I usually would. 

If you’ve made it this far, I just wanted to let you know that I priced down my workbook and books to $0.99 or less. (I’m working to make my books cost $0 on Amazon, but Kindle doesn’t make it easy so I need to jump through a few more hoops first.) It’s not much but I’d like to increase their accessibility at a time when so many things feel more difficult than they should be. Thanks for reading and for supporting me, whether you’ve been reading for one post or all 912 (yes, really). And hang in there. My birthday is the darkest day of the year, and I’ve always gleaned hope from the unchanging fact that after today, the days will get lighter. They really will. 

Lead photo by Nikhita Singhal

5 Tips For Breaking Into Niche Writing In 2020

Careers, Writing

how-to-break-into-niche-writing-2020

It’s been difficult to find the motivation to blog. As quarantine wears on, my role as a primary caregiver has continued on as the most important and time-consuming part of my life. The traditional gender roles I conveyed in my May post have only become more stark as John’s career gets demanding while I continue to drop work I no longer have time or energy to do. 

“It’s awful,” I said to my sister about my quarantine life with an increasingly mobile toddler. “All we do is eat, nap, and play with blocks all day. I’m losing my mind.” 

“That sounds like fun actually,” she pointed out. Maybe complaining about all-day playtime to a very busy and in-demand employment lawyer wasn’t my smartest move. 

Since that conversation, I’ve tried to embrace my new life as a storybook reader, block stacker, and nursery rhyme singer. Like everything else about this quarantine, it feels like it’s gone on forever. So when, every now and then, I get a request for advice, it jolts me back into who I used to be—a niche journalist with ten years of experience reporting on anime, tech, and fandom. 

Like I say on my about page, “my favorite part of [this blog] is getting to connect with students and give them the advice I wish I had received.” That’s truer now than it has ever been. As somebody who launched my own career against the gloomy backdrop of the 2009 recession, my heart goes out to anyone getting their start during such a bleak time. 

I ought to permanently affix “Sorry for the late reply” as a heading to all of my quarantine correspondence, but I have slowly been offering advice to students and young professionals who ask. With their permission, I’ve included some of it here:

1) Get Gigs By Giving Editors Ideas

Not only is it a tough time to break into the field, it’s a tough time to be in the field. Though online ad revenue is down, more people are stuck at home and reading news outlets than ever, so clicks are way up and editors need stories for people to read. Just from hanging out on Twitter, I’ve seen requests from places like Crunchyroll News, Funimation, and Anime News Network that are putting out calls for story pitches because they need new content. 

If I were looking for gigs, I’d be reaching out to these places with story ideas I’d be ready to write for them ASAP. In a cold email, I don’t even think a portfolio of samples is as important as a well-written email with an interesting pitch and the intent to back it up with quick, solid work. It’s less about researching what makes a good story pitch in general, and more about studying previous stories at those outlets and suggesting a story you can write for them that’s both in their wheelhouse and not something they’ve covered in the past. 

2) Pitch The Stories You Want To Read

Is there anything in your preferred beat that you think isn’t getting good coverage? Do you think you have an interesting idea for an in-depth piece that’s not about immediate breaking news? Better yet, can you make a case for an article that only you could write, involving a personal angle or anecdotal experience? Best of all, can you tie an article idea to what’s going on in the world right now? These are all ways you could get your idea to pique an editor’s interest. 

I would write to a couple of your favorite niche outlets with one or two ideas (I’d go for quality over quantity, you really only need a single good idea) and see if anyone responds. And if nobody does, I would try smaller organizations next. In the videogame sphere, a good example would be that you’d pitch to, instead of Polygon, someplace like Rock Paper Shotgun. They’re actually a great place for this because their contributor guidelines (always read those first) say that you don’t need to have published work to pitch to them, just an example of prior writing.

3) Find Experts To Guide Your Niche Reporting

If you look at my career over the last ten years, it looks like I’ve covered a huge variety of topics. But actually, those topics all occurred in clumps. I’d be assigned a beat and I’d immerse myself in it. For example, when I was at ReadWrite, my editor came to me and said, “Lauren, I want you to become our Pinterest expert.” So I did. I signed up for an account when they went live, I went to their headquarters, I followed a lot of Pinterest influencers and kept tabs on them. This also happened with robots and smart homes at different times. 

These days, my beats are informed by my own interests. I write about anime and Magic: The Gathering for Forbes because I like that stuff and already know a lot of background. But any time I’m entering into something I know nothing about, I do a lot of research. For example, when I wrote about quantum computing, I first found and interviewed a quantum physicist. Look for guides in a new beat: people who know the topic way better than you do and can keep you from looking stupid. I don’t want to make insiders roll their eyes at something I write the same way I roll my eyes whenever a reporter writes “Sailor Moon: The Anime Nobody Has Heard Of.”

4) You Can Skip The Unpaid Work Step

Let’s talk about privilege for a moment. My parents paid for me to go to college, and my grandmother paid for me to go to grad school. (I also had scholarships for both but they would not have paid for all of my tuition, my books, etc.) This gave me more choices than the average student. So when I wanted to intern at Kotaku for no money, that was an option. When I wanted to intern at the Newseum for no money, I could do that. Kotaku, in particular, was huge for helping me build contacts in the games/pop culture writing space. But the world has changed. The Newseum closed and Kotaku now pays their interns. It used to be that you would “pay your dues” by working for free, but now that’s just called “being taken advantage of.”

Today, I suggest jumping right into freelance work instead of interning. Even though freelance gigs are frequently one-time, you can turn that into recurring work if you deliver good, consistent writing. And even if not, you can get big publication names in your portfolio. 

5) Never Stop Learning

I’ve always been interested in web design since middle school, though it started as a hobby. Then, when I got my Master’s in Journalism, technical training was a required part of the coursework. Even back then there was an understanding that journalism alone wasn’t going to pay the bills in the future, and journalists needed to be well-rounded. Of course you don’t need to go to grad school for this. You can use Lynda.com (I have a free membership with my library card and you might, too). One suggestion for honing your skills might be to set a productive goal: you could build your own website and use YouTube videos to help you along the way.

Over the years, I’ve worked on improving my skills whenever my justification for doing something a certain way was “This is how I’ve always done it.” That’s a bad reason. That’s when it’s time to start with a Google search and see how people are, for example, doing web security audits these days, and see if I need to get with the times. 

Photo by Amador Loureiro on Unsplash

Remembering Zac Bertschy

Careers, Journalism

By now you have seen the news that Zac Bertschy has passed away. To me, Zac will always be the human embodiment of Anime News Network: the guiding voice of the publication. His work as managing editor on the predominant English language anime news site has been one of my biggest influences here on Otaku Journalist—and on my career at large. 

I’ve been working for Zac as a reviewer and occasional features writer for six years, but I actually started writing to him looking for work as early as 2012. I was one of hundreds of young fans vying for a position writing about anime, so he could afford to have very high standards for the caliber of people he hired. He finally agreed to hire me on a trial basis as a reviewer in 2014, according to my email correspondence with him. 

The tenuous nature of my trial status, paired with Zac’s legendary bluntness, made me particularly nervous around him at first. Zac wasn’t afraid to tell me if I wasn’t up to par. As I wrote in this blog post about my first season reviewing anime for ANN, “Did you know I had to rewrite my initial Free! Eternal Summer review THREE TIMES before it was ready to be published? Nobody likes a writer with an ego, so instead of balking I listened carefully to Zac and Jake’s suggestions and I haven’t made the same mistake twice.” As I improved, Zac would give me the occasional compliment which I would carry around with me like a gem. “Did you know Zac said I had a ‘talent for brevity?’” I told John at least three times. 

I’m not sure when our relationship shifted to that of equals, but when you email somebody multiple times a week for six years, you eventually get closer. Zac invited me on ANNCast twice, first to talk about sexism in anime, and later to talk about Gundam Wing, a show we disagreed about a lot! I always looked forward to spending time with him at cons. I remember chatting with him at Otabrew (an Otakon party purportedly about sampling new beers, where noted teetotaler Zac had water and Diet Coke instead) about becoming one of the old fans, while Zac, who is around five years older than me, told me about back when he was the youngest in his fandom set. It was incredible to imagine this man, who has entertained, inspired, and hired so many younger anime fans, as the brazen new otaku among the graybeards. 

I once asked Zac what advice he had for Otaku Journalist’s audience of aspiring anime career entrants and he said, “You need to be easy to work with.” Zac fit this to a T. He maintained a rarely-updated blog about his struggles with self-loathing. I’m sure he was dealing with a lot behind the scenes but he was always professional to his colleagues. Once when I was having difficulty keeping up with my review schedule, he and Jake set up a plan to let me scale back my output for a while because, he said to my shock, they’d rather have me on staff and working less than quit the site. His kindness extended beyond work, too. I’ll never forget how, when a close friend died unexpectedly in 2017, Zac sent me a condolence card in the mail. I was so touched that he’d take the time. 

During a time when writing for ANN was one of my wildest dreams, Zac gave me a chance. Zac, I wish I could go back in time and tell you again how thankful I am for the opportunity to write for the site you’ve shaped so thoughtfully. Rest easy, you’ve built an incredible legacy here. 

Lead photo by Mike Labrum on Unsplash

How I’m balancing life and work during quarantine

Careers, Writing

At the beginning of the global pandemic and resulting quarantine, some of my friends recommended that I post some tips for those who are newly working from home. I started a few drafts before scrapping the effort: in no way does quarantine resemble my old work-from-home routine. All of my old tips, like getting out of the house once a day, or making time to socialize during the evenings to make up for solitary work days, do not apply!

I never could have guessed my 2020 would look this way even a year ago. Not only am I adjusting to balancing my work with taking care of a tiny human, but now I’m doing it in isolation, too. I don’t have any tips because this is a brand new experience for me. But what I can do is share how it’s going. Spoiler alert: this work/life balance doesn’t have a lot of work in the equation. 

Here’s my daily schedule. Feel free to take a glimpse into my life in order to relate or feel better about how you’re handling quarantine or both.

Morning

Our wakeup call is fully dependent on Eva. When she gets up, either John or I get up with her, usually whoever had the better night. I eat while she plays with her toys, and then I put her in the high chair where theoretically she eats, but mostly she just plays with her food.

During Eva’s morning nap, I have to act fast. I can get either one article written or a couple of emails answered. If she wakes up in the middle of a task and John isn’t too busy, he gets her while I wrap up. Having John home is an enormous privilege. Because of him, I can take a Japanese class over Zoom every Monday while he parents Eva. The silver lining is that he’s getting to see more of her growth than he did previously. While he was at the office, I was the only one who was there for her first smile, her first roll. Now he’s home for every new milestone. 

Afternoon

I cook lunch and prepare baby food for Eva. Afterward, we play or FaceTime her grandparents, which is the closest I get to having childcare. She and I usually go for a walk around then to get out of the house, and then I put her down for her afternoon nap. 

This is when I try to get household tasks done. Every day, I do the dishes (because we’re eating at home every meal), and almost every day, I do a load of laundry (because baby). I may also clean, order groceries, prep for dinner, or puree more baby food. At this point, I might be asking, “what does your husband do?” and the answer is, “what he can.” He has to work minimum eight-hour days and manage a team. I know this is upsettingly consistent with reports of how quarantine tasks have broken down by gender. But for our family it’s a financially-based decision, especially considering I was working part-time to begin with. 

Since it’s so heavy on housework, my afternoons least resemble my old life. Even before the pandemic, with a younger baby, I didn’t do this many chores: I’d be able to visit my parents, or my mother-in-law would come to visit, or I’d go out to events like storytime and swim class and hang out with other parents so it didn’t feel like such a slog. I agree with this article about how weirdly, parenthood has made quarantine better, not worse, because it gives structure and purpose to my day. But it’s still a lot of work with no end in sight. 

Evening

After dinner, John and I put Eva to bed, an elaborate routine that involves video-chatting her other grandparents, taking a bath, and reading at least two books. It’s all finished by 7:30. 

Then it’s time for work!… if I’m not entirely burned out. Then I just pour myself a drink and play Animal Crossing. But let’s say it’s a good evening and I crack open my laptop. I’ll usually work for around two or three hours on articles for Forbes, Anime News Network, and Gunpla 101. The structure of my career has changed—like many freelancers, I’ve lost some income sources during the pandemic as some previous employers have tightened their belts. On the other hand, my affiliate marketing blog revenue has skyrocketed; as more people stay home and shop online, I’m making an ever-larger cut. Another bonus: many of my prior web design clients are rehiring me for feature requests and security updates since a WFH world means their portfolio websites are more important than ever. In a three-hour workday, it’s made me reevaluate the most practical ways to spend my work hours. But once again, this is on a good day. I have stressed-baked many batches of cookies in the evenings, too. 

What’s not on this schedule: thinking about the big picture. Instead, I’m even more task-oriented than usual, using the normally ill-advised strategy of using my email inbox as a to-do list. That’s great for putting out fires as they come up, but terrible for planning ahead. I’m taking this quarantine one day at a time, because to think about what’s likely ahead of me is just too demoralizing. Of course, who really knows what the future holds—these are unprecedented times. So even if I don’t feel like the Otaku Journalist right now, it’s OK to just write what I can, even something simple like this post. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself. 

Top photo: One of the aforementioned stress-bakes. 

This is fandom reporting in 2020

Fandom, Journalism

Recently a brand I mentioned in an article praised my coverage and asked if they could send me some of their products as a thank you. I replied by asking if instead, I could have an opportunity to interview the founder, and attached some of my most burning questions about the company. They probably won’t reply, but it felt like progress.

For me, this was one small step toward a bigger goal. Lately, I’ve been itching to sink my teeth into long-form reporting again, to tell a true story about fandom that feels relatable to fans within the community and teaches those without it something new. In short, I’d like to get back to the kind of work I started writing for this blog ten years ago.

I’ve got some leads, but I’m not there yet. My current work/life balance scale is still tipped dramatically onto the mom side of things. But in the meantime, I’ve been making a renewed effort to read the kind of writers whose work I consider to be at the very top of this field.

Long after I carved my niche into “otaku journalism,” the oeuvre of fandom reporting has grown more creative and clever with each passing year. I used to have a list of around ten obscure publications to pitch about fandom topics. Now you can read about even the most obscure internet communities in the New York Times. 

To me, good fandom reporting is about empathy. It’s easy to be a goggle-eyed fandom tourist, posting tweets and nasty observations with zero interest in a deeper dive. I particularly like to read about fandom from self-identified fans: they’re better equipped to serve as tour guides into subculture communities that often have their own lexicons. 

This is by no means exhaustive, but here are some of the fandom reporters whose work I have read and admired lately. 

Lynzee Loveridge. I have previously interviewed Lynzee back when her name was Lynzee Lamb. Since then she has moved up to Managing Editor at Anime News Network and has differentiated herself by not giving a fuck. She covers difficult, messy stories in anime fandom that other people are afraid to touch. Her explosive investigations on Vic Mignogna and Eric Torgersen brought to light abuses of power that had previously lived only in whisper networks. Her nuanced, careful research helps to bring justice to their victims. 

EJ Dickson. EJ is not only a fellow Daily Dot alumnus but a fellow mom, so her current prolific coverage for Rolling Stone gives me hope that I, too, can get back in the game. As the recent founder of a podcast about Cats, a movie I’ve heard is endearingly awful, she knows what it’s like to be way too into a niche interest. She brings this empathy to her fandom reporting, particularly this kind, tolerant treatise on furries that I genuinely wish I had written.

Gita Jackson. Gita recently left Kotaku, the site where I did my first internship, to move to Motherboard, where I am sure she will continue producing the searing hot video game takes she is known for. Her story about abuse claims at EA could be a tutorial on investigative reporting. Meanwhile, her recent personal essay reviewing Fire Emblem: Three Houses through the lens of abuse feels especially vulnerable and brave. 

Aja Romano. Like many Extremely Online people, Aja has gotten mixed up in their share of chaos, and I’ve always applauded the grace with which they acknowledge and grow from their past mistakes. Currently, they’re at Vox providing some of the most informative news you can use on fandom controversies, like the recent Romance Writers of America implosion that I’m not ashamed to admit, I couldn’t begin to understand before Aja’s explanation. 

Elizabeth Minkel. It’s so hard to write well about fanfiction, a secretive, Othered space that’s always evolving and evading a mainstream definition, but I’d consider Elizabeth an expert. Her coverage last summer of San Diego Comic-Con gave voice to the creeping commercialization of what it means to be a fan. I’m also a huge fan of Elizabeth’s Fansplaining podcast, co-hosted with Flourish Klink, and weekly newsletter The Rec Center, co-written with Gav. 

This is a really short list, and I’m sure I’m forgetting some very deserving writers who should be on it, probably including writers I know personally (sorry in advance). Please tell me about YOUR favorite subculture reporters in the comments so I can read their work, too. 

Lead photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash