Learning Journalism Where Writers Rise: Four Enlightening Years in Graduate School at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

"I wish I could say the original inspiration to write this book stemmed from an idealistic desire to teach what I learned about journalism and spark an interest in others to pursue the field, which has gone through turbulent times in recent years. And though the project did evolve into me having those lofty intentions, the reality is that it was initiated by my desire to … well … simply earn some extra cash.It all started with Rob Dial, host of the podcastThe Mindset Mentor. One day I was listening to one of Dial’s shows, “How to Make Money Online.” In his enthusiastic way, Dial began relating numerous money-making online endeavors, some of which, he said, raked in millions of dollars. Among other things, Dial said folks could earn good money online by posting YouTube videos, running Facebook ads for others, doing consulting work, selling supplements, setting up a Shopify store, establishing an online clothing brand, or selling other people’s products via affiliate marketing.Dial also talked about side jobs I had done in the past, tasks such as writing articles and doing freelance work for Upwork. Then he mentioned writing books for the Amazon Kindle, also something I had done before.Voila. I would write about the hottest topic around—journalism—thanks to the knowledge I had amassed in graduate school, and then sit back and congratulate myself as the Amazon royalties flooded into my bank account.I began writing, and what I found out immediately was that, while Dial’s advice to churn out a profitable fifty-page Kindle read on a particular topic had its appeal, there was no way I could write such a puny book.I simply had too much to say about journalism and those who taught it to me."—From the chapter "Afterword: The 'Why' of the Story"Read more