I decided to have a go. If I did well, my story could appear in the 'Most Popular Newser by User' list, or even be picked by one of Newser's editors to go on the site's front page, alongside pieces written by the pros in the Newser office.
Having taken the measure of Newser's front page (e.g. '9 Celebs in Serious Debt'), I picked a story by the BBC health reporter Emma Wilkinson, and gave it the Newser treatment.
On the BBC website it was headlined "Women Freeze Eggs to Wait for 'Mr Right'." I changed that to "Women are postponing kids by freezing eggs."
Then I wrote my summary of the piece, starting "Women are freezing their eggs to give themselves more time to start a family." (Emma Wilkinson had opened with "Women in their late 30s are freezing eggs because they are still hunting for 'Mr Right', research suggests.")
After a few more sentences, I was ready to publish. Seconds later, my story was up there on Newser (below, far right):
It was soon shunted along by "WV Senator Robert C. Byrd, 92 died this morning" and other, more recent uploads, many from someone called Disillusioned - who should really have been called Super-Keen or perhaps Time on My Hands.
I clicked on Most Popular, but, sadly, no sign of my piece. I suppose I never really had a chance against the top-rating "Boys Found Starved, Beaten; Calif. Woman Arrested".
My downfall may have been the lack of a picture. When you upload your story, you are invited to search for possible images. I tried 'baby', 'mother', 'family' and 'birth', but the Newser selection was sadly lacking in anything suitably generic. I had to go for the standard Newser background, which looks like nothing much, and certainly nothing interesting.
For my next effort, I think I'll start with a good picture and then use Google News to search for a story that it could illustrate.
I'm determined not to let Disillusioned beat me, even though he or she is spending far too much time adding to the profits of Newser, and, frankly, I'm rather disillusioned at my own story-picking skills.
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE ...
As I was writing the above, I took another look at Newser and, guess what? My story has been catapulted to prominence - given a proper photograph and promoted to the lead spot on the front page (left).
My summary has been subbed, with some new information from the original article added, but my credit (CoJo) is still there.
Hey, I've made it as an unpaid drone in the cut-throat world of US online journalism! Eat your heart out, Disillusioned!
If you fancy trying your luck on Newser, here are some of its tips for aspiring writers:
- Be concise and snappy
- Don't try to summarise the whole lengthy article; cut to what happened or what's most compelling about the story
- Include details that matter or that provide colour, but don't sweat over including every interesting argument or point of view that appears in the story
- Make sure every sentence tells readers something new and moves the story forward
- Write active, readable sentences
- Don't be formal. Loosen up
- Try not to lead with the name of the source; it's stuffy and formal and not Newser. Examples: 'According to the New York Times,' or 'The New York Times reports.' Zzzzzz.
For a BBC College of Journalism interview with Michael Wolff, the founder of Newser, click here.
