On Thursday, I went to my first official “networking event” for publishing and media professionals: MediaBistro.com‘s “Meet Laurel Party in Boston,” at the Good Life bar. My friend Jackie, an Emerson Publishing MA alum with far more industry street cred than I, sent me the invite and we agreed to meet at Downtown Crossing at 6:25. At 6:20, I left Emerson to meet her, and as I walked, my breath quickened. I was suddenly terrified.

Terrified by the prospect of networking? Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Read the Rest…

A brief digression on the origins of the event: Mediabistro.com is a pretty awesome industry website for anyone who’s ever wanted to work in publishing or write for a magazine, and they have articles on everything from pitching to magazines and agents to job listings, to news about the industry, to PR tips for just about anyone.

And Laurel Touby is the founder– a blond woman with a penchant for boas who began Media Bistro by having a party for her friends in a bar in the East Village. Tapping into an incredible opportunity to link professionals together in a mutually beneficial network, Touby created the website, which is now a central hub for many in the publishing world. Basically, Laurel Touby is my role model. AND, I might add unnecessarily, the queen of networking.

Back to the event: Jackie and I entered the bar– a well-lit but narrow room packed full of people, and not seeing anything particularly mediabistro-y, we went downstairs to the “Vodka Lounge,” a darkened cavern of dim-lighting, glass and ice cubes, and of course, vodka. We struggled through the crowd to the bar, struggled not to spill our drinks as we found the sign-in table, and struggled over to a perch in a dark corner, where we were swiftly approached by a cute freelance photographer and his lost-looking friend.

“Can you believe how busy it is here?” he asked.

“Yeah, seriously,” Jackie said.

“I’m a freelance photographer– what do you ladies do?”

“I just took a job at Stuff at Night– you know, connected to the Phoenix,” Jackie said. (She has just gotten a great job there, it’s awesome– network with her!!)

He turned to me. “And you?”

“Uh, I’m a freelance writer,” I said.

His face fell. Freelance writers are no help to freelance photographers professionally, and vice versa. Also, I realized that unless I followed that up with something sassy or self-deprecating, it sounded a bit hollow. I half-expected him to sneer, “According to whom?”

Awkward silence set in. His friend looked like he just wanted to get away from all of us. How crazy do publishing professionals have to be to pack themselves into a dark room and then talk business while getting bumped into and inadvertently groped?

“What kind of photography do you do?” I asked, struggling to salvage the thread of momentum.

About 20 seconds later, he gave us his postcard/business card, and moved on. Jackie and I looked at each other and shrugged.

While most industries depend on networking to a greater or lesser degree, in publishing, your network of contacts could be the difference between a promotion and a layoff. It’s such a small world that when I first began my literary education at Emerson, I feared that I just wouldn’t be witty enough, smart enough, or smooth enough to break into what I viewed as the elite worlds-within-worlds affiliated with Emerson’s WLP Dept: Redivider, Ploughshares, or Bookbuilders networks. But what I’m realizing more and more is that even the most exclusive of societies are not impenetrable. And that everyone loves to talk about themselves, if prompted. While I still don’t claim to be an expert at this flirtatious choreography of contact-making, I did relax quite a bit when I realized that networking is just being friendly.

Saying hello, asking some easy-to-answer questions, telling a funny story or two. Suavely slipping your business card into outstretched palms. No, just kidding– I’m not that good yet. (Also, my few attempts to imagine my future business card generally devolve into pathetic jokes about my occupation, or lack thereof: “Freelance Whiner”, “Will Write for Food”, or “Under Paid, Under Appreciated, Underrated.”)

Two drinks later, Jackie and I found ourselves in the midst of a conversation with an older British finance writer and another, very chatty freelance photographer (this one was a woman of indeterminate age, who claimed to have a college-aged daughter but wore her off-the-shoulder sweater with the swagger of someone much younger). So chatty, in fact, that I found myself ready to move on, before she sunk her hooks much further into us. (Although the melodious British accent of our fourth companion was hypnotizing me into a state of encouraging nods and affirmations. That and the vodka).

Jackie and I set about the tough task of extricating ourselves—Jackie raised her eyebrows at me, and I made noises about finding the bartender to refill my not-quite empty glass. Just then, in a sweeping rush of blond hair and a pink boa, Laurel Touby appeared at my left. Her plastic framed glasses fixed on my eyes for a brief moment. “We’re going upstairs,” she said to our group, “since there’s more space up there. Come on up!”

Before she swept off to the next group, fluttering like the graceful social butterfly I hope to someday become, I grinned at her and said, “I’m a big fan.”

Over the next hour or two, she would float between groups, and easily brush off the clutches of the chatty photographer. I suppose I could have clamored through the groups to try to get in a longer conversation with Touby—to hear about what it’s like to lead a networking empire. But then, there’s always next time.

*

I’m curious, to other fellow writers and publishing industry folks: what kinds of networking successes and misadventures have you had? What makes a good networking event? Weigh in with comments!

And for those who want to stretch their networking muscles, particularly in the Boston publishing scene, there will be a Bookbuilders event in February! Check it out:

tyle="font-weight:bold;color:rgb(0,0,153);">Bookbuilders of Boston: Casual Networking Event
http://bbboston.org/
Come in out of the cold this winter and warm up with other publishing professionals in a casual setting! Join us for the next Casual Networking event at Tavern in the Square, Porter Square, 1815 Mass. Ave., Cambridge from 6 to 8 pm on February 11.

Bookbuilders of Boston’s Casual Networking Events are informal get-togethers at area restaurants with no formal agenda or cover charge. It’s an opportunity to drop in, buy a drink, and meet with colleagues—just the way you want it.

Tags:   kim · Laurel Touby · mediabistro · networking · publishing industryNo Comments