book – Science Journalists Association of Australia

Science writers aren’t stenographers; an important part of their job in reporting science is also to scrutinise it. To advance that, US science journalist Liza Gross has published The Science Writing Investigative Reporting Handbook: A Beginner’s Guide To Investigations, aided by a grant from the National Association of Science Writers.

I haven’t got to reading this yet, but as the third in a series of handbooks put out by the awesome bunch of science writers known collectively as SciLance, I have very high hopes for it. Their previous book The Science Writers’ Handbook is absolutely the best book on science writing and freelancing I have read, so I have no doubt this new publication will be of the same high quality.

Here’s what Gross has to say in her blog post on the book’s release: “I wanted to demystify investigative reporting for my fellow science writers and give them both the tools and confidence to launch their own investigations. I wanted to share the knowledge I’d picked up on the fly as a greenhorn, and later gleaned from workshops, tutorials, my own accumulated experience and sage advice from veteran investigators.”

You can buy the book via Amazon or Amazon Australia.

Whether you’re an aspiring science writer or somebody already established in the field, The Science Writers’ Handbook has something for everyone. The book was put together by a group of US-based freelance science writers and editors, with support from the National Association of Science Writers.

It features articles from 35 leading science writers covering everything from finding story ideas, pitching, statistics, interviewing, crafting stories, ‘multi-lancing’ across different media, dealing with rejection, and the nitty gritty of freelancing. Each chapter is littered with a wealth of useful, illuminating and often funny anecdotes from the frontline of science freelancing. It’s a fantastic and inspiring book, and one I know I’ll be dipping back into on a regular basis.