We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cathy Scott a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Cathy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
I left a secretarial job to break into journalism. i took an editing class at the University of California-San Diego, and went to the used bookstore at San Diego State University looking for a book on how to write a news story. I picked up the 1st edition of News Writing & Reporting and taught myself how to write a newspaper article. I freelanced articles for small local publications and then used the clips to apply for a full-time job. I landed one about a year later, which was part-time. I won an award, which was publicized in the daily newspaper, and an editor at a weekly newspaper called and invited me to apply for a business editing job. I got it, and swore I’d never cover business again. From there, I got a full-time job as a police reporter at a daily community newspaper, and after a year my paper sent me on assignment for 16 days to Somalia to cover Operation Restore Hope about the 1st Marines from Camp Pendleton deployed there. I won a journalism award because of that, but several more along the way. After 1-1/2 years, I applied for police beat reporting positions outside of California and received two job offers after interviewing. I accepted the position as a police beat reporter at the Las Vegas Sun. Three years later, Rapper Tupac Shakur was murdered on my watch, and because I was at the hospital when he died and broke the story of his death, plus I was at the scene of the crime when a sourced called me in the middle of the night to go down to the Las Vegas Strip near where the shooting occurred, and that morphed into my first crime book. After 5 years, I left the Sun to freelance and wrote books, plus I taught journalism at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and, ironically, the textbook I taught from was the 7th edition of the used book I’d studied myself several years earlier to learn how to write a news story. I’ve been writing books ever since, but I still dabble in journalism.
Cathy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
As I wrote earlier, I taught myself how to write a news story and then quit a secretarial job to break into journalism. It was difficult, but I never gave up. I still freelance articles. But some of them come to me from editors who have seen my work and pitch me a story. I did that years ago for George magazine, whose founder was John F. Kennedy Jr. It paid a lot, and helped put me on the international map, along with the two books I had already written by then. My books The Killing of Tupac Shakur were published in the U.S., but also in the U.K. and in Poland. Over the years, editors and literary agents have reached out to me for books and articles. I also am invited to speak at writing festivals across the country. Mostly, though, I still have to pitch my books by writing a 30-page book proposal that includes two sample chapters, a synopsis, chapter outline, a bio, marketing data, etc. I’m dedicated and set aside time to write each day so I meet my deadlines. I’m most proud of the stories I broke while working as a reporter, plus several of my books, including Murder of a Mafia Daughter, which I did a third edition of when real estate tycoon Robert Durst was convicted for the murder of his best friend, Susan Berman, whose father was a member of the Las Vegas mob. It’s a tough business, both journalism and writing books, so I like to help new authors and journalists just breaking into the business to give them tips and support. Perseverance is the key. I’ve never given up, despite setbacks, which everyone has along their paths. I coach writers who want to write books on how to layout a book, how to write a proposal and how to write the narrative with an interesting, compelling storyline. My motto is never give up. Keep working at it and eventually it will happen for you too.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
At one newspaper, the managing editor was known for going after reporters in the newsroom. At one point, I was in her radar. I was a hard worker who regularly wrote breaking-news articles. But that didn’t seem to matter to her. She had fired five women reporters before me over a period of a few years. When I saw the writing on the wall, I reached out to an alternative weekly newspaper and was hired to write a weekly column titled Crime & Justice. Then I went to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and applied for a job as an adjunct journalism instructor. Instead of giving me one class to teach, the department head gave me two classes that started the next semester. After that first semester, he gave me two more classes, which meant I was teaching three news-writing courses and one advanced magazine writing class four days a week – one at night and three classes during the day. I had landed on my feet. I taught journalism for five years before I stopped to go to New Orleans to for a magazine and website the rescue of animals left behind during Hurricane Katrina. While there, a literary agent had heard I was covering the storm and stranded pets. She landed me a book contract with a photographer who worked with me down there titled Pawprints of Katrina. I stayed 4-1/2 months. Upon returning, I continued writing part-time for the rescue group’s national magazine while still freelancing and writing books. My motto is to take risks, go with your hear, and never give up. Keep trying to get your articles published and you too will persevere..
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
When I left my secretarial job to break into journalism, I had some extra money because I had taken a buyout (early retirement after 13 years)., and that allowed me to buy what I needed to get started. I was 38 years old and embarking on a completely new career. I had taken creative writing in college, but I knew nothing about the business of journalism. All I knew was I wanted to be a news reporter. I bought a used fax machine at a business office, so I could send out my freelance articles to editors, Next, I bought the first Apple Macintosh desktop computer that used a floppy disk., plus a printer so I could print and fax my articles to news editors. And I bought a newspaper phone book that listed all the newspapers and magazines in the country,. This was before the internet. I also bought Reporters Notebooks for taking notes. Plus, I looked up in the local phone book all the newspapers located in San Diego County. I reached out to the smallest ones, plus the San Diego Business Journal. An editor there began assigning me business features. I continued referencing the college news-writing book I’d also picked up, and used it as my guide, and I actually wrote salable articles. I also wrote for the Beach & Bay Press, a local weekly on the coast that was a startup then but today has three weekly newspapers. That is where I covered my first crime story, of a drug bust. I decided then that I wanted to be a police reporter. At one point, the Associated Press bureau chief in San Diego took me under her wing as one of her stringers and began assigning me stories, which paid $150 each, and the San Diego Union-Tribune used me as a stringer too. I gave myself a quota. I needed to make $400 a week to pay rent, the electric bill and other expenses. So I pitched enough stories a week to do that. I freelanced for a year and a half before I landed a full-time job as business editor at the La Jolla Light, a weekly newspaper that paid a salary. Today, I am writing my 13th nonfiction book. My first book, The Killing of Tupac Shakur, was released in 1997 – this after breaking into journalism around 1988. My books have received awards, plus I am a Los Angeles Times and New York Times bestselling author. It takes hard work and perseverance. My advice is if you get knocked down, as the saying goes, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get on with it and go after your dream job. Be professional, persistent but not pushy, and keep your head up.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.cathyscott.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cathyscott10/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CathyScott10
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathyscott/
- Twitter: https://x.com/cathyscott?lang=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CathyScott3
- Other: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathy_Scott
Image Credits
Book-signing photo: By Barbara Fletcher