Samantha Dilday Feb. 12, 2013 s.dilday618@knights.ucf.edu Style Analysis Word Count: 3732 I. Who am I as a writer?

I grew up loving books. My grandma introduced me to Little House on the Prairie and it was all over from there. I was one of those kids who would stay up past bedtime just to shine a flashlight on a book under my covers. I loved the creativity and life that books contained, and that led me to start writing short stories. Looking back on them now they were pretty miserable excuses for writing, but those stories were the foundation for a lifetime of writing. Once I was in high school, surrounded by college-talk, I transitioned from short stories into something I thought would be more practical magazine journalism. I enjoyed reading Teen Vogue and Seventeen magazine, and I had big dreams to become a writer for one of them. But after a few years of college, I ran into a whole new kind of writing--advertising and public relations. With the murky future of the magazine industry and the unique creative possibilities advertising could offer, I made a switch. My goal after I graduate this semester is to become an advertising copywriter, writing advertisements for billboards, online ads, radio and tv spots, and you name it. I have, however, taken a special interest in an emerging segment of advertising. Search engine optimization, social media, and online advertising are all new players in the advertising world, but their applications and capabilities are growing at exponential rates. Content creation is the thing that makes all of these new online players work, and with content you need writers. It's my goal to learn as much as I can about this

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section of the advertising industry so that my writing will be more powerful. Also, since this is such a new area, many print and online publications that focus on this segment of the advertising industry are emerging and need content. Even many established business magazines are starting to write about the subject. I hope that, with my knowledge of the field, I will be able to fill the needs of these publications. Outside of these more career-focused writing goals, I have a wide variety of interests. Some are new and some that date back to my childhood. These interests include fiction writing, fashion, selfimprovement and interior design. I haven't done creative writing in years, so I'm very interested in pursuing it again. I think that if I work on that skill, I could produce great fiction and create memorable experiences for readers. I like to fill my spare time with fashion and interior design, which I could also see myself writing about. I think writer's should have a love of learning and a broad set of interests, so I would be prepared to learn more about and write about any and all of these subjects. The magazines I outline below represent each of these interests and would be suitable publications for submitting my writing.

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II. Market Analysis Publication #1: Writer's Digest Editor's Name: Acquisitions Editor, wdsubmissions@fwmedia.com Submission Guidelines: Writers can send completed work or queries to wdsubmissions@fwmedia.com. Queries must be accompanied by an outline that introduces the proposal and highlights each point the writer intends to make. The query should tell Writer's Digest how the article will be beneficial and important to its readers. All submissions must be sent by email and should include a list of publishing credentials. However, they don't want to be sent attachments, only links. Publication #2: Redbook Editor's Name: Jill Herzig, Editor-in-Chief Submission Guidelines: Send a detailed query listing ideas for sources and experts whom you'll interview, along with two or more writing samples. Mail to: Articles Department REDBOOK, 300 West 57th Street, 22nd Floor New York, NY 10019. Publication #3: The New Yorker Editor's Name: Deborah Treisman, Fiction Editor Submission Guidelines: Submit one story at a time by attaching a pdf to the email. fiction@newyorker.com Publication #4: House Beautiful Editor's Name: Aaron Krach, Features Editor Submission Guidelines: Submit articles to the Features Department, 1700 Broadway, 29th Floor, New York, NY 10019 Publication #5: Better Homes and Gardens Editor's Name: Oma Blaise Ford, Senior Deputy Editor of Home Design Submission Guidelines: Send a query letter to the department it's best for, addressed to Better Homes Dilday 3

and Gardens, 1716 Locust St., Des Moines, IA 50309 Publication #6: Advertising Age Editor's Name: Ken Wheaton, Managing Editor Submission Guidelines: To be considered, send an exclusive pitch detailing why your article should be chosen, what it's about, how long it will be and what section your'e pitching it for. Submissions can be emailed or snail-mailed to Advertising Age 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 or kwheaton@adage.com Publication #7: American Bungalow Magazine Editor's Name: Kathleen Donohue, Editor-in-Chief Submission Guidelines: Send a proposal summary with samples of previously published work to editors@ambungalow.com. Publication #8: Mashable.com Editor's Name: Amy-Mae Elliot, Senior Features Editor Submission Guidelines: Pitch a two or three sentence overview with a suggested title to amy@mashable.com Publication #9: Fast Company Editor's Name: Robert Safian, Editor Submission Guidelines: They offer no formal submission guidelines, but simply say you should look over the magazine thoroughly then email your pitch to pr@fastcompany.com Publication #10: Cosmopolitan Editor's Name: Joanna Coles, Editor-in-Chief Submission Guidelines: Though they have no formal guidelines, they say that stories that will fit with the magazine can be pitched to youtellcosmo@hearst.com, with Story Pitch in the subject line.

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III. Introduction As advertising is my chosen career path and an interest of mine, I decided on two publications that frequently discuss branding, social media, search engine optimization, and other similar new and innovative methods in the advertising field. For my print publication, I wanted to look for a magazine I'd never read before so that I could expand my options should I ever want to submit articles for publication on this topic. After researching my options at Books a Million, I liked Fast Company the most. It was the second magazine I came to and it caught my eye right away. The cover was clean, modern and bold. It was mostly black and white but pops of red made it stand out. The photography on the front was also bold but had a goofy welcoming quality. It showed a man and a woman using a tin can telephone and had titles like Speak Up! How creative dialogue can reinvent your company, brand and career, which made it seem fun, informative and also reflected some aspects of advertising. One of the reasons I picked it up was because it related creativity and business to each other, which I felt could be applied to the advertising industry and was also a concept that interested me. The magazine's purpose is to highlight new businesses practices with a focus on innovation, technology, leadership and design. I've also chosen Mashable.com as my online publication for similar reasons. They too focus on business, innovation and technologywith a special focus on social media. Since this is an online publication, the new practices and innovations in business, technology and social media which they discuss are even newer because they're able to publish the information instantly. This makes it one of the online publications that I frequently turn to for updates in the advertising and social media world, and one that I know my coworkers turn to as well. Since it's a publication I already read, love and respect, I'd like to be an active contributor to that conversation as well.

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IV. Subjects Covered in Publications While multiple publications that focus on new practices in advertising, Fast Company pays special attention to business practices that are innovative, or deal with new technology, leadership or design. Because of this special focus, they put their own unique spin on the business world and that spin is reflected in the articles they choose to write about and how they write them. They break the magazine up into two sections, Now and Next so that they highlight what's being done well currently, and what innovative business practices the future will bring. For me, the business world can get boring, but this magazine injects life into it. One of the articles in their February issue that really interested me was CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? This article discusses how to brand a product or company through social media, which is a topic of advertising I really want to learn more about as a possible career path. They also have an article titled The Art of Dialogue. Rather than print your typical interview-style article, the magazine printed four conversations between visionary entrepreneurs who refuse to do business in the standard way. In one conversation, the CEO of Twitter talks about how startups succeed and fail. It also features an article called From Idea to Innovation which rounds up ways to find and use the best thoughts and ideas that you and your team come up with. I found this article relatable to this new trend in advertising because, with everything being so new, there is still so much space for more innovations. Being able to leverage the creativity that surrounds you is how innovations are made. Also, a big part of advertising is working on creative teams and spitting out a creative and cohesive plan of attack. So while this article targets the broader business area, it can be applied to many subsets. Mashable covers a variety of topics, but their main focus is on social media, technology and business. These topic areas all center around advertising, making them perfect topics for my personal reading and topics I would enjoy writing for. For example, one of their articles is called Twitter Being Used to Cast a Movie. The story goes on to talk about how this tactic is providing advertising for the Dilday 6

movie, and is also an example of using social media to draw attention to a product. This article is the perfect example of something I'd like to write. It applies advertising tactics to social media, which is an important subject to this emerging area of the advertising field. Articles like these are what make me return to the site as a major source of advertising industry news. They also include a variety of articles focused on keeping people in the advertising industry informed on new events and updates, like 50+ Events in Social Media, Big Data, PR and More, and Google Upgrades Adwords for Better Mobile Targeting. Whenever important events or updates happen in this industry, advertisers need to know so that they can adjust any campaigns they're currently running and improve them. Having this type of information can also inspire innovating approaches in the emerging field of online advertising. V. Audience of Publications- Fast Company After analyzing Fast Company's visual layout, Table of Contents, advertisements and articles, I determined that their target audience is successful business professionals, both men and women, with a college degree or higher. As for a target age range, I would say the audience is between 18 and 32. I think the fact that this magazine is so focused on innovation supports the idea that they're probably appealing to a younger demographic that is more moldable and less attached to dated business practices. I got this sense from them after reading CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? which starts by saying People love bacon. Sooo much. Every time I post something about bacon it usually gets really good engagement, (38). While tactics like this certainly grab attention, they're not effective for many audiences. You can tell the article doesn't take itself too seriously, so that shows the magazine is trying to come off as lighthearted, comical and intriguingqualities that will be admired by this target audience but maybe not as appreciated by hardened business professionals. Also, the subject of the article itself is on a new area of the advertising industrycreating human-like brands for a company or product on social media that will interact with customers and build relationships and social power with them. These ideas, much like this segment of advertising, are new so they are more suited to younger Dilday 7

advertising and business professionals. For example, suggestions like the payoff [] comes if a brand transcends its role of mortal seller to become a God of unconditional relationships, might not fly with advertisers, sellers, and business people who take the sell, sell, sell approach that many oldergeneration professionals do. The layout is also appealing to a busy, working audience. Many of their articles are broken up into sections using bolded headings, infographics and lots of visually interesting photography and art. This leads me to believe that their audience is probably busy and they're breaking things up so people can find what they're looking for quickly (like on a lunch break). However, they mix this style with a few lengthy features, which leads me to believe that they expect their audience to want to learn a lot from the magazine, so when they audience has time, they will take time out of their busy schedules to read these informative pieces. The design of their cover was also very unique. The cover has few words, naming only the lengthier feature articles. It's also dual-sided with different images on each side. This tells me that this is a magazine designed to be kept, displayed and picked up for reference over time. It's also an example of how the magazine continually tries to be innovative and creative. The Table of Contents and letter from the editor further reinforced my analysis of the magazine's target audience. The editor explains his decision to have a two-sided cover because this month's issue is for people who like seeing things from fresh eyes. He also gives quick summaries of each feature article and ties them all together with a main purpose, which adds credibility to the articles and to the magazine. On the go business people who read this letter can get a quick overview of the take-aways for the issue and can take a mental note of which article sounds the most interesting. The Table of Contents provides a short, one sentence summary of each featured article as well, along with being clean and to the point. I also noticed the Table of Contents isn't buried under billions of ads, like some magazine's do. Instead, it's on page 5. The location and design of the Table of Contents make it easy to find and easy to navigatetwo features that busy professionals appreciate. They also feature a CEO on Dilday 8

the Table of Contents page as their only image, further supporting my conclusion that this magazine is suited for successful professionals. Their advertisements are a mix of luxury items. Lexus takes up two full pages, Lincoln takes up four, and they have multiple innovative business products, including the new Surface by Microsoft. Clearly, all of these items are expensive, which leads me to believe that readers probably have a high earning power and is probably concentrated in urban areas, like New York City. The advertisements also feature a mix of both men and women. Though it's not typical to have a target audience that includes both sexes, I think that the magazine's other determining factors of a target audience narrow things down enough for them to appeal to both. For example, young business professionals who are successful are hard to come by, since years of experience usually determines earning power and position in a company. VI. Audience of Publications- Mashable After analyzing Mashable's home page, visual layout/design, about page, and an article, I determined that their target audience is made up of men and women between the ages of 18 and 30, who are working toward or already have a college degree. This target audience probably doesn't have anything higher than a Bachelor's degree. Their home page is a collage of images with titles. For more newsworthy articles, a summary is sometimes given. The home page is also split into three columns, The New Stuff, The Next Big Thing, and What's Hot. These columns include a mix of entertainment, business, advertising and social media. Since the home page is so heavily influenced by images, with light copy, I expect it's designed for mostly browsing and hoping around from one news story to the next (sometimes the headlines give you the gist of the story). This browse-encouraging layout leads me to believe that the audience has a lot of time on their hands and is just looking for fun and interesting information to take away. While readers probably spend a lot of time browsing through different news topics on the site, Dilday 9

they don't spend quite as much time reading the actual articles themselves. This site is more of a graband-go for industry news. If readers only use the homepage, it can seem slightly overwhelming. There are a lot of images to take in all at once and it's easy to lose your place since it's one of those internet pages that scrolls forever. This also tells me that it's a site readers will spend a lot of time on. At the same time, they do separate site topics into tabs, so if a user wants to find topics more related to their interests in an easier way, they're able to. This aspect of the site's organization would be more appealing to the older end of their target audience who doesn't have hours to scroll at leisure. From browsing through some of their articles, I noticed that many of them are very on the surface, focusing more on digital culture rather than educational information. This brought me to the conclusion that the demographic is on the young side and and probably doesn't have higher than a fouryear degree. However, in Twitter Being Used to Cast a Movie, the focus is on this innovate topic, while maintaining the entertaining integrity the site tries to maintain. This article is also one of the few that have some educational take-aways for new business professionals, like Using Bluefin data, Twitter will also be able to offer real-time performance data on new ads. It's statements like these that allow the audience to get interesting and helpful information for their shaping careers. Their about page positions them as a leading source for news, information, and resources for the Connected Generation. This gave me more clues as to who their target demographic consists of, since the younger generation, who grew up with the internet as it exists today, is the Connected Generation. They also label themselves as being innovative and brag about how many visitors and followers they have on their about page. Since innovation is a popular term with this generation and and the number of followers is often linked to credibility, these references give Mashable authority with college students and new business professionals. VII. Purpose of Publications As a reader, I found Fast Company to be entertaining while offering useful information and Dilday 10

advice. I believe the purpose of the magazine is to let people in the advertising and business industries in on the next big thing before anyone else knows so they'll be ahead of the game. I believe readers would want to pick up this magazine so they can become industry leaders. One article in the magazine called Can You Hear Me Now? The article discusses a shift in how brands interact with consumers. The article says they should start acting more like humans and engaging in conversations with their followers. The topic is interesting as is, but the story has interviews of people in the advertising business who are actually a part of this new conversation role. When a magazine offers real life examples of the topics they're discussing, readers want to pay attention. The purpose of Mashable is to share innovative information, digital culture, news and resources with the Connected Generation. Mashable is more of a news source compared to Fast Company. Readers would be interested in reading this online publication because it gets this information out quickly and in a way that's entertaining while still offering useful and helpful industry news to those who seek it. It's a lighter way to read about these topics, rather than a publication like Fast Company that readers have to spend more time reading and digesting. Readers will admire this site for its ease of use and conversational tone. VIII. Writing Style of Publications: Overall Fast Company has a feel that is very young, quirky and hip, but also intelligent. The voice is casual, cool, smart and daring, which I believe plays off its demographic as well. As a writer, I noticed many of the articles in Fast Company used industry jargon such as Twitterverse and also interviews and writes articles on industry leaders, this speaks to the magazine's intelligence. They also begin many of their stories with goofy attention getters, like People love bacon, which add some comic relief to what can sometimes become a dry subject. If I were to write an article to submit to this magazine, I would make it sassy, in-depth, comical and informative. It goes without saying that any idea for submission would need to be innovative or creative. For a magazine like this one, I might try Dilday 11

pitching an article that addressed the growing trend of search engine optimization and it's implications on brand awareness. Another topic I could pitch could focus on the growing need for creative content for a product or business's website. I would have a quirky, fun attention grabber, and fill out the article with information about which company's are utilizing these tactics and how they're performing, as well as what the outlook for these trends includes. Mashable has a similar voice, but it is less detailed. It's much more to the point since it's an online publication. The voice is newsy, conversational, professional and brief, with lines like There are two secretes to Tumblr's runaway success: design and community engagement. It also has moments of comic relief and is casual with lines like Prepare your eyes for global sexiness. If I were to write an article for Mashable, I would write about some sort of advertising news, like an interview with an industry insider about the usefulness of the new Google Adwords upgrades for mobile targeting. I would make the article brief and conversational, touching on the important topics first so readers would be able to grab information and go.

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