English alum Stephen Long writes with news that he is enjoying his diverse responsibilities as a writer with a company specializing in motorcycle magazines. It’s a tough time in the industry, he reports, but there are still opportunities out there for talented writers like Stephen. As he tell us:
I’m working for a company called TAM Communications, which publishes three different motorcycle magazines: American Iron Magazine, which is all Harleys; Motorcycle Rides & Culture, a blend of eclectic pieces involving motorcycles, and more technical/review pieces about all sorts of bikes (Euro, Japanese, American, etc.); American Iron Garage, a DIY/All-Tech mag that shows how to install essentially anything on Harleys/Indians. It’s an exciting experience, one that took a while to get a handle on working within three separate publications at once. It seems, however, to have come at an extremely tumultuous time for the publishing industry. We actually had a company meeting yesterday, and the owner of the company painted the bleak picture that is reality in the industry today. It’s not like it was a surprise, but the sheer magnitude of money lost in the last year certainly opened my eyes. Nevertheless, I’m thankful to have a job in which I’m learning every day, I’m interested in the material, and I can apply myself in ways that being a doorman never offered, ha.
We offer our congratulations to Stephen and look forward to hearing what comes next. (He also tells us he has continued his work as a creative writer…)
Glad to hear your doing well Stephen. I worked as a copywriter for a year, and although the market is changing, it is not necessarily shrinking. It’s moving towards digital advertisement, and unfortunately, the name of the game there is quantity not quality.