The Diva of mediabistro.com

A Podcast with "Cyberhostess" and founder of the Web's most influential media hot spot,  Laurel Touby

Laurel Touby

Show Notes: Questions we asked Laurel Touby

Tell us about the current mediabistro.com what does your website provide?

Would you consider mediabisto.com to be a social networking site for media professionals? –

I’ve read you hate the word "networking" Why?

In the July 21st Wall Street Journal article titled "From Parties to Payoff" about the purchase of mediabisto.com, you were asked by WSJ Simona Covel if you went out looking for a potential buyer? I’d like to read your response:
Ms. Touby: "I don't just go knocking on doors. That's lame. But I'm always at conferences, always running into people. I was always friendly to potential buyers. I've been out and about -- speaking at conferences, on panel discussions. One reason you do that is to get your name and your company out there for a potential sale. I've always been strategic."
First that’s a great response. So do you consider JupiterMedia’s purchase of Mediabistro.com to be strategic? What will they be bringing to the mediabistro.com party?

Obviously, there’s been a lot of buzz on mediabistro.com about Rupert’s bagging the WSJ – what’s your take?

You have a membership side to your site called AvantGuild. What do members get for joining?

Can anyone make a living as a freelance journalist these days?

The jobs listed on mediabistro – are they exclusive to your site? Do you allow sites like indeed.com to index your job listings?

There are stories almost every day about the demise of professional journalism – especially print journalists as large metro newspapers continue to loose money, merge and consolidate operations. What’s your take? Is it worth getting a journalism degree?

You have a lot of articles giving advice on how to pitch to specific media organizations – what’s the best pitch you’ve ever received?


It’s kind of hard to believe we’re coming up on the 6th anniversary of 9-11. As you, I was working in New York City in the immediate aftermath of 911 – for weeks – and months Manhattan was a surreal place. You’ve written quite extensively about your personal challenges after 9-11, Laurel – can you share some of your experience with us?

How were you able to turn things around?

What’s your opinion of the job market for media professionals for the next 12 -18 months?

What didn’t I ask that you wish I had?

Laurel Touby Biography
Source: mediabistro.com
Laurel Touby, a journalist for 10 years prior to her entrepreneurial career, founded mediabistro.com in 1994 as a gathering place for professionals in journalism, publishing and other media-related industries in New York City.
As a Web-based business, the company now attracts such professionals from across the country and sponsors parties, classes and seminars in major U.S-based cities and abroad. Monthly traffic to the Web site has soared to more than 5.4 million page views and 600,000 unique visitors. Touby had started her journalism at Working Woman magazine, moved to Business Week as a staff editor, and in 1993 began writing a column on workplace issues for Glamour. As a freelance journalist, she has covered everything from travel to business to breast cancer for a variety of publications, among them New York, Travel & Leisure, Self, and Working Mother. She is a graduate of Smith College with a degree in economics.

About mediabistro.com
mediabistro.com is dedicated to anyone who creates or works with content, or who is a non-creative professional working in a content/creative industry. That includes editors, writers, producers, graphic designers, book publishers, and others in industries including magazines, television, film, radio, newspapers, book publishing, online media, advertising, PR, and design. Our mission is to provide opportunities to meet, share resources, become informed of job opportunities and interesting projects and news, improve career skills, and showcase your work.

Our greater goal: To revolutionize the way creative/content industry professionals relate. Call it the AvantGuild, a new guild for the new guard in media. Media professionals have so much in common, yet we work in our little cubicle worlds, rarely meeting, rarely sharing our collective experiences. We want to create a new version of the 14th-century guild system—so that talented professionals in related industries can meet informally, mentor each other, work on projects together, and more.

 

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