Dear Friends,
2018 has been The Open Notebook’s strongest year yet. So far this year:
- We’ve published dozens of feature-length stories, on a wide range of topics, such as how to read a scientific paper, how to make the most of a journalism internship, how to vet story ideas before pitching, how to write good transitions, how to write a killer fellowship proposal, how to negotiate for better pay on freelance assignments … and much more.
- We’ve interviewed some of the best journalists in the business, including Marshall Allen, Eric Boodman, Rebecca Boyle, Adriana Gallardo, Maggie Koerth-Baker, Maria Konnikova, Linda Nordling, Lizzie Presser, Nidhi Subbaraman, Nicola Twilley, and more.
- We’ve added dozens of news and feature pitches to our Pitch Database.
- We’ve begun a “Diverse Voices” project in collaboration with the National Association of Science Writers Diversity Committee.
- We’ve mentored two talented science journalists as part of our early-career fellowship program.
- We’ve launched a collection of about 50 stories that are of particular benefit to those who are just getting started in science journalism.
- We’ve raised our rates for freelancers, to $1,000 per feature story.
- (And that’s not all! We’re also preparing to host the World’s Finest Science-Themed Peeps Diorama Contest this winter)
Looking ahead to 2019, we have a lot more in store. We’re planning Spanish translations of some of our past stories. We’re also developing a platform to make it easier for instructors to use our archive of 350+ stories in developing their syllabi, and for individuals to use TON as a self-directed curriculum. And we hope to devote more attention to investigative science reporting, visual storytelling craft, and editing. We also want to provide more resources for journalists and editors who don’t consider science their main beat.
To make all this happen, we depend on donations from readers. About 10,000 people visit The Open Notebook every month. If just a fraction of those people each donated $50 or $100 to TON during our end-of-year campaign, we would exceed our fundraising goal.
Thanks to a pool of generous matching donors, from now through December 31, gifts to The Open Notebook will be doubled (up to a total of $5,000).
If TON is a meaningful resource for you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation or—even better—a recurring contribution.
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