UPDATE 09/08/2012/ 9:00 pm
The project has reached it’s goal, ending with $8200 which is $1200 over! Thanks to everybody that supported this.
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Original Content:
A Kickstarter project for a how-to guide for freelance video game journalists, titled Up Up Down Down Left WRITE, is in danger of not meeting its goal. With just 47 hours remaining, the project is short just $2,140 of it’s $7,000 goal.
Nathan Meunier, the writer that is doing the Kickstarter project, personally requested oprainfall’s assistance, so we want to help him out. Nathan has been writing professionally for about a decade, and currently does freelance for most of the major video game magazines and websites, including Nintendo Power, IGN, GameSpot, GameSpy, Official Xbox Magazine, and a ton more. He has written for 25 different gaming publications in all.
Up Up Down Down Left WRITE, is a detailed how-to guide for aspiring writers seeking to break into game journalism. The book focuses specifically on the freelance side of things, which is one of the avenues for writers to break into these big publications.
So if you have ever wanted to learn how to make a living by writing about video games, support his project! There are also some great incentives.
More information can be found here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nmeunier/a-how-to-guide-for-freelance-video-game-journalist
What’s in the Book:
My goal is to make Up Up Down Down Left WRITE as comprehensive as possible and pack it full of info that’s useful both to newcomers looking to break into freelance game journalism and veterans who’ve already been at it for awhile. While there’s a lot of great how-to info and advice in here, I also sprinkle my own quirky humor throughout the book to make it a fun read too. Some of the chapters are re-written and expanded versions of my original blog posts, but quite a bit of the book is comprised of completely new material.
Here’s a rundown of the chapters I have blocked out already. (Note: this may change slightly and be expanded in the final book. Some of the Kickstarter rewards also give you the opportunity to help shape the book and contribute too!)
Part I: Underwear and Keyboards
1) Demystifying The Freelance Life
2) The Awesome (And Not So Awesome) Things About Being A Freelance Game Journalist
3) Do You Have What It Takes To Freelance?Part II: Battle Plans
4) Getting Started
5) On Writing For Free
6) Pay Rates
7) Setting and Meeting Goals
8) Chasing The Work
9) Getting Down To Business
10) Navigating Tax Hell
11) MoonlightingPart III: The Craft
12) What Do I Write?
13) Anatomy of a Pitch
14) Pitching Dos and Don’ts
15) Firing From The Hip (Don’t Shoot Yourself)
16) After The Pitch
17) Working With Editors
18) Improving Your work
19) Maximizing ProductivityPart IV: In The Trenches
20) Working with PR
21) Surviving the Busy Season and the Slow Spells
22) Covering Conventions
23) By The Power of Debug
24) More on Money Matters
25) Expanding Your Freelance BusinessPart V: Troubleshooting
26) Rowdy Readers and How To Deal With Them
27) On Eggs in Baskets
28) Beating The Freelance Doldrums
29) The Move (aka Relocating Hell)…And some other appendices, resources, and back-end extras.
