Other Communications ProjectsProfessional books, popular science writing, news releases and outreach to legislators1Textbook writing•Produce a TOC and 2-3 sample chapters. •Compose a cover letter that explains your vision and describes the audience(s) in a way that lets the publisher figure out how many people are in the audience(s). •Choose a press that carries similar titles and charges reasonable prices (typically a university press). •Submit materials to the appropriate editor in the format that the press requests. •Only 100-200-level texts make money.2Popular writing•Meredith, D. 2010. Explaining Research: How to Reach Key Audiences to Advance Your Work. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford. •Don’t “talk” to scientists. •Don’t “talk” like a scientist.3Understand your audience•Choose appropriate language; dump the jargon. •Use metaphors and know your audience well enough to hit the right level. •Spend more time on the motivation and the big-picture context than you would in standard IMRAD format.4In pop. sci. or news, open with a grabber (hook)•Tell a story about someone involved. •Tell your personal story. •Describe your field of science. •Describe your exotic lab or field environment. •Describe the “Aha!” moment. •Describe a vignette of field work. •Describe an experimental treatment or other research process.5http://explainingresearch.com/chapter-16-write-popular-articles-opeds-and-essays_331.htmlExamples posted at:News releases•Hard news release justified by a “news peg”, i.e., an event like a formal talk or publication •Feature release of work in progress •Backgrounder (often part of a media package) •Personal profile •Q&A •News tip •Media alert •Grant/gift/award announcements6Structure of a release•An informative header (contact information; embargo information; links to publishable visuals) •A clear, compelling headline •A grabber lede (what the article is about) •Follow with a nut graf (nutshell paragraph about why you should care) •Place the news peg high •Details come low; news stories can be cut anywhere below the news peg.7Beware•Ingelfinger rule, followed by medical journals, Nature, PNAS and Science: won’t consider for review work that has been reported on in the media •Embargoes: gag rule after acceptance until a specific date and time8Communicating with legislators•Talk to the people who are on the right committees. •Have a short message; don’t lecture; tell a story; don’t whine. Most appointments are 15 min. •Have a one-page leave-behind (and two business cards). •Create publicity opportunities for the legislator. •If you don’t ask for something verifiable, you may be written off. Most visits comprise a story and an ask. •Develop a relationship, especially with staffers; do ask when you want something, but don’t always ask; send news of