Shortly after I left GamePro in 2003, I freaked out. I had just finished up a seven-year run as a cartoon character with the nom de plume of Dan Elektro, and I found myself in uncharted territory: an editor in “custom publishing,” which was a fancy name for “advertorial.” It felt wrong; it wasn’t me. I wanted a project that would use the skills I’d built up since 1993 and finally answer the question I’d been asked for a decade: “How do I get your job?” So I started furiously writing a book on the topic, because I felt it deserved an answer — a thorough answer that leveraged my experiences both as a writer looking for work and an editor looking for writers.
My stint in custom publishing didn’t last long. A year later I was an editor at a regular media outlet again, helping launch GamesRadar.com in the US, and shortly thereafter I spent three great years at Official Xbox Magazine. Book? What book? I had real deadlines again. (World of Warcraft didn’t help, either.)
I chipped away at the book in fits and spurts over the next eight years. The industry changed a lot, and the book changed with it, through many revisions. I am exceedingly proud of Critical Path and I hope it holds up as both a valuable how-to manual as well as an entertaining read in its own right. It’s the ultimate answer I can offer for “How do I get your job?”
It won’t be long now until the book is released and I find myself in a strange position: A reviewer who gets reviewed. Game on.