Presentation Transcript

1. LNC05

   Looking for Developer & IT Heroes: Learn How to Share Your Experience in MSDN & TechNet Magazines

   Stephen Toub & Joshua Hoffman Technical Editors MSDN Magazine & TechNet Magazine
2. Agenda The opportunity The audience Where to start A few pointers A push in the right direction
3. The Opportunity Share your experience and expertise Contribute to a booming community Connect with other experts Reach a very broad audience Make some money 
4. MSDN Magazine Since March 2000 (MSJ since 1986) Monthly journal of developers working with Microsoft products and technologies Available in print (North America, and several international editions) and on the Web (in 11 languages!) Over 30 sessions at TechEd being given by MSDN Magazine authors www.msdnmagazine.com
5. TechNet Magazine Since November 2004 Monthly journal of IT Professionals working with Microsoft products and technologies Available in print (North America and UK editions) and on the Web (in 11 languages!) Over 30 sessions at TechEd being given by TechNet Magazine authors www.technetmagazine.com
6. Who am I talking to? Over 100,000 copies of each magazine printed per month MSDN Magazine: Over 2 million page views per month in 11 languages Readers specializing in every area of software development and architecture TechNet Magazine: Over 500,000 page views per month in 11 languages Readers specializing in every area of IT infrastructure and managementDiverse industry and geographical backgrounds 39% in orgs > 1,000 users 26% from small business
7. What do I talk about? What do you know?
8. Where do I start?Writing a good proposal Look through previously published content (all back issues available online) Present several ideas Have a specific topic(s) in mind Be clear and concise Be able to describe the focus of your article in just a few sentences Include your estimated length and completion date Proofread your proposal 
9. Bad Proposal #1 Hi, I am joe a student from university here i have attached a file which describes Architecture standards for .net. The basic idea behind this article is to ensure .Net standard according Para functional requirement.So pls review this and send me a feed back. regards, joe
10. Bad Proposal #2 To whom it may concern, I’m an expert in Windows, with 10 years of experience, and I’d like to write something for your publication. What do you need? Regards, Joe
11. Good Proposal Topic: Database management scripts Abstract: Database Administrators often find themselves writing and managing numerous custom SQL scripts to monitor system activity. Visual Basic .NET provides a platform for rapid development that allows Database Administrators to quickly and easily create custom forms based monitoring applications. Article Length: Approximately 3000 words along with screenshots and sample code. Expected Completion Date: Six weeks from the date of acceptance Audience: Database Administrators I have not granted rights to this article to another publisher. It has not been published previously in print or on the Web. The article is not adapted from another source (such as a book or blog post).
12. What kind of article are you writing? Know what kind of article you’re writing before you begin A primer? An API overview? A “How to” or code walkthrough? A top n tools/utilities piece? A technical guide/best practices piece? A post-mortem?
13. Getting started The two sentence description The slightly longer abstract What should the reader know by the end of reading your article? Writing a good introduction
14. Making it sound good Know your audience Be consistent Be clear and concise (it’s a sign of intelligence ) Be original Keep a thesaurus handy Be clever, but don’t try too hard Beware of tangents (though they may make good sidebars) … and we can help
15. Making it look good Use illustrations as a way to explain or expand upon a point Use screenshots to aide in explanation, but not to drive your article Processes are best depicted by diagrams, not necessarily screenshots Make sure your text correlates to your illustrations Do not capture real names/companies/data Believe it or not, a hand-drawn sketch can be better than a computerized diagram (we redraw everything anyway) Take screenshots in 32-bit color with ClearType disabled Use BMP or TIFF image format … and we can help there, too
16. What makes a good author? Know your subject Have a specific focus Read your own article - several times Ask for help! Have others read your article before submitting it Understand that everyone gets edited. Everyone.
17. Things to think about Do you need permission to publish? Offer your company info only in the bio line Articles need to be educational (no product pitches) Original material only It’s easier to cut than it is to fill How the edit cycle works The timeline Contracts and payment process
18. Q&A Proposals: mmsubmit@microsoft.com tnsubmit@microsoft.com Questions / Comments: mmeditor@microsoft.com tnmag@microsoft.com Web sites: www.msdnmagazine.com www.technetmagazine.com Blogs: blogs.msdn.com/msdnmagazine blogs.technet.com/tnmag
19. Resources Technical Communities, Webcasts, Blogs, Chats & User Groups http://www.microsoft.com/communities/default.mspx Microsoft Learning and Certification http://www.microsoft.com/learning/default.mspx Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) & TechNet http://microsoft.com/msdn http://microsoft.com/technet Trial Software and Virtual Labs http://www.microsoft.com/technet/downloads/trials/default.mspx
20. Complete an evaluation on CommNet and enter to win!