FAQs

Thank you for reading K-Culture with Jae-Ha Kim! Your support is instrumental in the work that I do here so, again, thank you. If you enjoy this newsletter, it would mean the world to me if you invited friends who may be interested in Korean culture to subscribe and read along with us.

Because I often get asked for tips on how to get into journalism, I’ve decided to answer the most commonly-asked questions here. I don’t have all the answers. But perhaps this can be a forum where other writers can offer their advice as well.

So without further ado, here we go:

Everyone has to start from somewhere, but it’s unrealistic to expect to interview someone famous if you have no press clippings to show off what you’re capable of writing. Start a blog and contribute to it regularly so you can hone your writing. But that alone isn’t going to get you an assignment from Vanity Fair or Rolling Stone.

If you’re still in school, your best bet is to write for your high school or college publications. You won’t get an interview with Taylor Swift or BTS, but you can get interviews with local acts who are looking for press — and also newer artists who are trying to drum up some buzz.

If you’re already out of school, pitch local newspapers, magazines, free weeklies etc. and offer them a succinct pitch as to why so-and-so should be covered and what you can offer as a journalist that others may not be able to. e.g. You speak the same language as a foreign artist you’d like to interview, so the publication won’t have to pay for an interpreter.

Perhaps you have an area of expertise that could add nuance to a potential piece. For instance, you’re an attorney who understands the legalese of a particular case you’d like to write about. Or you were pre-med and are knowledgeable about vaccines. Or you are a musician who can analyze why certain songs hit it big each summer. Include all of that and more in your pitch.

I give the same advice that an editor gave me many, many years ago when I told him I wanted to be an entertainment reporter. He said, “Read everything that you can and be knowledgeable about a variety of subjects.” Writing jobs come up, but not necessarily for the exact one that you want. But once you have the job, there are opportunities to write about subjects you want to at the publication you work at. And, if not, you can freelance for other outlets in your free time.

As of today, I don’t know of any major U.S. outlet that has a full-time position for a K-pop writer.

If you only want to write about K-pop, then you may want to consider getting a full-time job doing something else in order to support yourself and have health care covered. That’s not necessarily a bad thing either.

Your answer is more important than what I think. Would I encourage my child to become a journalist? No. Why? Because I’d like him to earn more money and work less hours than I do. Would I be upset if he chose to become a journalist? No, because that would be his choice and I want him to be happy with whatever career he pursues. And sometimes, you have to try something before you realize that’s not what you want to do for a good chunk of your adult life.

I get asked this many times and I generally can not. The exceptions are for people who I know in real life whose work I can vouch for. In the past, I have asked management companies, public relations specialists and editors if they would like me to forward these kinds of requests to them. Their replies were almost always, “No.” That said, you can find most contacts online and on social media. So formulate your ideas, and email them a well-thought out idea. Follow-up once or twice. But if you don’t hear back from them, that often means they’re not interested.

No. That’s an art unto itself and you should hire a professional who is skilled at this. That person is not me, I promise you.

After graduate school, I applied for jobs covering the news on air and in print, but I only received job offers in small markets that were offering very little pay. So instead, I took a corporate job in Chicago where I wrote for the company magazine. It was boring, but the pay was better than the journalism jobs. When I got home from work, I freelanced for music magazines. This led to a full-time job at a major Chicago newspaper, where I was later promoted to Pop Music Critic.

To be clear, I didn’t do any internships and didn’t even know they existed. I hadn’t intended on pursuing journalism. (I was going to be an attorney.) But I began writing professionally (i.e. paid assignments) in high school and ramped it up in college.

If you are still in school and have the opportunity to take a summer internship at a magazine, newspaper or TV station, I highly recommend it. Many of my colleagues who had interned were hired after they graduated from college, without the usual 5-years (or so of) experience outlets require.

As of now, I do not. I started this newsletter with specific content in mind. If that changes in the future, I will be sure to update this answer.

Unfortunately, I no longer do this. I used to spend quite a bit of time answering individual emails and requests for assistance (especially from students). Most of the requests were from lovely people who were passionate about writing, and I really did enjoy helping out however I could. However, I no longer have the spare hours or energy to provide this kind of time-consuming service. I work a lot and often am navigating time differences of up to 15 hours, which (honestly) is exhausting. Also, the state of journalism today is much different than when I was starting out. So how I got into journalism isn’t applicable to the current market today. Please understand that while I would like to help, spending my non-work hours with my family and friends is of utmost importance. Time is precious and all-too sparse.

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