The first step in becoming a public writer is to recognize that "public" is an extremely broad term that encompasses so many genres and platforms for your writing. Pitching an article to CNN on your latest research is not the same as publishing your short story draft on Substack, but both might fall into the broad category of “public.”
You may want to read the previous post on Academic vs. Public Writing, which discusses why we write for the public in the first place and what is politically at stake in doing so, before reading today’s post.
Academic vs. Public Writing
Academic writing often gets a bad rap outside of the ivory tower for being difficult to understand, dense, and lacking the flair of more popular forms of writing. Some academics even take pride in writing in this style and are unconcerned with audiences outside of their field. Other academics value writing that can …
Today’s post will broadly consider the what, when, who, how, and where of publicly engaged writing!
What Do You Write About?
Scholars can pursue a variety of public writing genres, and the direction you take will largely depend on what you want to write about and for whom.
Some people translate their research projects into a language and length suitable for non-specialists and general readers. Let’s say you make a nuanced nutritional discovery and want to ensure that the average person has access to this information, so you translate your highly specialized journal article into digestible nuggets for the rest of us.
Others, for example, use their expertise—say, lesbian identities in the media—to write weekly in-depth analyses of specific TV shows or films, as well as a roundup of celebrity lesbian news, such as the fantastic Paging Dr. Lesbian.
Still others use their expertise to comment on recent political events through traditional media outlets, even if it is not directly related to current research. These individuals leverage their knowledge and research to provide valuable perspectives on current events that bubble up in public discourse. For example, I used my expertise in sports, branding, and consumer culture to co-write this critique of Nike’s advertising for the National Center for Institutional Diversity’s Spark Magazine.
When Do You Write?
Do you write when you have a polished research study published in an academic journal? Do you write when you are still mulling over ideas that could be published in academic journals or books? Again, there is a lot of variation here, and it all depends on your goals for public writing.
Substack Writers recently published a piece about academics writing on the platform. Several people use Substack as a place to work through ideas and get feedback from the online community they have built, while others use it as a primary place to publish their polished ideas.
I’ve toyed with the idea of developing a second Substack newsletter that specifically allows me to work through ideas I have for my second book because I appreciate the accountability to an audience. There are loads of other scholars on the platform sharing ideas in progress as well as more polished pieces. Some I follow are Jess Maddox, jordie davies, and Brian Moritz, who write about internet culture, Black feminism, and sports journalism, respectively.
Who is Your Audience?
It is obvious that categorizing audiences as "academic" or "public" is an oversimplification. Just because I am an academic does not mean I can pick up the latest issue of Nature and understand 25% of what is written in it. And just because someone lacks a PhD does not preclude them from understanding Nietzsche. The truth is that we could be writing for a variety of audiences, both inside and outside the academy.
As a result, the accessibility of your work is relative, and you must determine what your target audience reads and what writing mechanics they are used to. You must also consider their level of familiarity with your topic and adjust your language and tone accordingly.
Because I write Publish Not Perish for academics from a variety of disciplines, the tone, style, and voice are all geared toward a non-specialized audience of mostly scholars (though I appreciate all of my readers from outside academia as well). I like that I am not writing for an 8th grade reading level because I can use more complex sentences, longer paragraphs, and even longer posts than I would if I were writing for a newspaper.
The reality is that publicly engaged writing reaches a wide range of audiences, and understanding them is critical to communicating with any of them.
How Do You Write?
When deciding on the appropriate style and voice for your writing, keep your audience's preferences and expectations in mind. A journalistic article, for example, typically requires concise sentences and paragraphs to deliver information quickly. When writing a "crossover" book (i.e., academic meets trade book), you have more leeway to explore ideas in depth and engage readers with a more elaborate writing style. Ultimately, adapting your style and voice to your intended readership will help you effectively communicate your message.
Here are a few specific tips, but because writing a book is not the same as writing a 500-word think-piece for a news outlet, how these tips look in practice varies greatly.
Tell a Story
One of my favorite aspects of writing a book and this newsletter is that it allows me to tell stories in ways that journal articles do not. People are hardwired to connect with stories, and I believe I am hardwired to tell them. Make complex concepts more relatable and engaging by incorporating storytelling elements into your writing. Personal anecdotes, real-life examples, and case studies can help demonstrate the relevance and impact of your work to a wider audience. In many ways, I see a connection between storytelling in writing and storytelling in teaching. Stories make big ideas vivid and luminous.
Use Simple Sentences and an Active Voice
Consider the following two examples generated by ChatGPT for me:
The influence of Shakespeare's plays on the development of English literature during the Renaissance period, particularly in terms of the exploration of human emotions and the portrayal of complex characters, has been widely acknowledged by scholars and is considered to have significantly contributed to the shaping of literary conventions and artistic expression.
vs.
Scholars widely recognize Shakespeare's plays as a significant influence on the development of English literature during the Renaissance period. His works explored human emotions and portrayed complex characters, shaping literary conventions and artistic expression.
The second example is broken up into a few sentences, uses the active voice, and is more direct overall. Using an active voice, varying sentence structures, and avoiding overuse of complex sentence constructions greatly improve readability. So, make sure you break down complex concepts into digestible chunks and support them with relevant examples or analogies that resonate with the reader's experiences.
Use Plain Language
As I have already mentioned, it is critical to use language that your intended audience can understand. Depending on who you write for, that could be second grade or first-year college student level. For the majority of audiences, this means avoiding the use of technical terms and academic jargon. Instead, opt for the language that is more familiar to them. I sometimes use the AI copyediting program Quillbot to adjust my sentence structure. (You can see a demo of this in this post). This allows me to quickly shorten my sentences and make them more direct.
Where Do You Publish?
Your overall objectives and the target audience you want to reach will determine where you publish your work.
Mass Audiences
Let’s say you have just published a big study that you think will resonate with a mass audience. You can reach out to an editor at a traditional news outlet directly with a pitch and see if you get any interest. Many scholars have done this successfully, but the key is to stick to the pitch format and show that you can write like a journalist.
If it’s your first time writing something like this, you might also consider pitching to The Conversation, which is a non-profit, independent news organization that aims for “academic rigor” and “journalistic flair.” Their authors must hold a PhD and work at a research institution, and scholars frequently use the platform to disseminate accessible versions of their research findings. (PhD students can also collaborate with their advisors to publish.) The editors at The Conversation review pitches and assist you in writing in a journalistic style to a greater extent than an editor at a traditional news outlet, so it is a good strategy for getting your feet wet with journalistic writing. I wrote a piece for The Conversation about some of the insights from my book around the time of its publication.
Building a Niche Audience
If you want to regularly work through your own ideas and share them with a growing audience, using a blog platform like Medium or a newsletter platform like Substack could be a good strategy. You get to choose when and how you write, but you must put in the effort to grow your audience. Plenty of scholars build fairly large audiences, but that often depends on a large level of effort invested, a sexy topic, and a knack for engaging writing.
I’m also a fan of writing on Substack, in particular, because of the various social features that connect me with writers and readers I wouldn’t have if I were simply on a stand-alone blog site. PNP has grown faster as a result of these features than if I had built it on Wordpress, for example.
In Sum
What you want to write about and for whom determines the direction you take, whether you choose to translate your research into accessible language, engage in in-depth analyses, or comment on current events. Understanding your audience is crucial, as is acknowledging that the accessibility of your work is relative and adjusting your language and tone accordingly for the specific audience you wish to reach.
Thanks for this, Jenn! I am not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I would love to hear your thoughts (or the thoughts of the wider PNP community!) about how to use Substack for teaching. I know some folks have used Twitter as a part of teaching and I wonder if there is an opportunity to use Substack similarly. E.g., having students rotate writing duties across the semester...
I've been contemplating the idea of public writing for a while but I wasn't sure where to start. The Conversation might be a good place. Thanks for sharing it!