{"id":16038,"date":"2025-09-05T13:06:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T13:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/?p=16038"},"modified":"2025-09-05T13:25:53","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T13:25:53","slug":"life-of-an-author-on-camera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2025\/09\/05\/life-of-an-author-on-camera\/","title":{"rendered":"The life of an author, on camera"},"content":{"rendered":" \n
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Sign up for the Nieman Storyboard newsletter,<\/em><\/a> delivered every Friday in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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***<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Dear Storyboard community, <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Understanding the craft of storytelling involves confronting the reality of what it takes to get a story seen and read. And sometimes that means filming a selfie video from the front seat of the family minivan. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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If you’ve perused the Nieman Foundation Instagram<\/a>, you may have seen me on camera<\/a>, discussing some of the same topics you’ve read about in this newsletter or heard on the Storyboard podcast<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Part of this experiment was a challenge to myself \u2014 to learn about short-form video and practice our most modern form of public speaking \u2014 and part of it was accepting the reality of the digital world. Not everyone reads or consumes traditional news, so rather than shake my fist at evaporating attention spans, I wanted to examine how we can tell stories that reach different audiences. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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That said, we’re now several years into the TikTok era, and we\u2019re still confronting the same problems that always plagued social media. Algorithms reward sensationalism over substance, while nuance and facts often disappear into the digital vortex. We may show our faces onscreen more often, but there’s still no guarantee we can see each other’s humanity.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Our latest Storyboard interview gets into these issues \u2014 as well as what happens when authors are expected to use TikTok to promote their books. Contributor Tricia Romano sits down with Jason Pargin<\/a>, the bestselling author who built an entirely new career \u2014 and a second full-time job on top of writing \u2014 telling stories to hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok and Facebook:  <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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I have no staff at all helping me with any of the 11 various platforms I have to maintain to keep my life going as an author; it’s all me. Now, the only reason I don’t write out a script for my videos is because I’m not good at reading a script for my videos. You’d be able to tell I was reading. So I have notes that are like the points I’m going to hit, or the facts that I’ve got to put in there. If I’m going to cite statistics or whatever, I’ve got to have those written down to make sure I’m not saying it wrong. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n \n

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You can film and edit in the app. It takes me about two hours start to finish to get a video done. And you can spend two hours filming, after having spent multiple hours researching it, and then within 15 minutes, you’ll see if TikTok has decided to kill it because they don’t like the subject matter or something, and instantly that effort will all be wasted.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Pargin is candid about the pros and cons of content creation from the time investment required, to the built-in biases of the algorithms \u2014 and the hoops women authors are expected to jump through compared with men. His story is also a great case study in following your curiosity, wherever it takes you. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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The craft (and business) of TikTok storytelling, according to author Jason Pargin<\/a><\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\"Author<\/a>
Author Jason Pargin on TikTok<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> \n
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How the writer and former Cracked editor found his voice with short-form video.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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[ Read the story<\/a> ]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Links of note<\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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