WWW: Beyond the Basics

7. Web Related Careers

7.3. Popular Career Titles

7.3.2 Author/Journalist

Description

Journalists and Book writers are well known for the information they provide to the world in written form. These persons gather data, form it into meaningful information, and present it to their readers. With the move to provide material via the Internet, authors of books and journal articles have to keep up by providing their information as well. Therefore, in addition to having excellent writing skills, these writers will have to learn additional skills. They need to know how to set up a web site, be familiar with HTML in order to present the information they desire, have graphics design experience, or hire someone to do these tasks. They must do all of these things and still meet deadlines.

Education Requirement

An author is usually someone who has a creative mind for putting thoughts, and ideas on paper. The person may or may not have a formal education, but if so he or she usually has a degree in English, Literature, or some other liberal arts field. A journalist usually has a formal education with a major in History, Journalism, English, or Communication. Both types of writers may work freelance. Otherwise, journalists usually answer to a magazine or newspaper, and authors to an editor. To provide their material on the WWW, authors also have to be trained in graphics design, HTML, and a navigation tool.

Salary

The pay can range from $35-$100 per article for a free lance journalist ( Thompson, 1996 .) This pay scale also depends on the type of article written. For a free lance book author, the pay depends on the interest of the audience. Authors and journalist that work for a company or magazine could expect a salary range of $20K-$60. This depends on the firm for which they work and the number of years of experience they have in the field. The lower range is for beginning writers and the upper range is for editors.

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Copyright © 1996 Felicia Doswell, All Rights Reserved

Felicia Doswell <doswell@csgrad.cs.vt.edu>