Cultivating a strong personal brand provides security in a very unstable business. Jobs may come and go, but the readers and collaborators who have come to know your particular personality and way of approaching stories will follow you wherever you’re published. Of course, telling the truth has to be a part of that brand if you want to keep calling yourself a journalist. As John McQuaid wrote in the wake of the Jonah Lehrer plagiarism scandal, “Lehrer is more than just a journalist or even a bestselling author. He is a brand unto himself. And his fall shows what can happen when the personal brand supersedes everything else, including the drab scutwork of journalism.” Just don’t get too crazy-egotistical about it and you’ll be fine.
#Realtalk
11:14 AM - October 4, 2012
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Your advice is solid gold. I guess this is why I love checking your Tumblr several times a week. I am just getting started as an arts writer and will take all of this to heart. Thanks Ann!
#1 Posted by Ellen, CJR on Thu 4 Oct 2012 at 07:53 PM