Why The Book?

It all started as a joke.  A pessimistic friend says something about how hard the TV news industry is to work in, and I respond in turn by creating a one-word book.

The title?  So You Want To Be A TV Star...  Written by Aaron Shaffer.

The one word?  Don't.

As I was creating that one-word book it dawned on me that despite the negative side of TV, it can be a fun adventure that keeps you on your toes.  There is rarely a dull moment, and you get to explore the country.  I started to realize that despite the fact that the original title was a joke, this book could actually be used to do some good for people looking to get into the industry. 

Here are the first few lines as they are written now:

Don’t.

Those were the first words (or the first word) of this informational book as I initially envisioned it. Why do it? Why put yourself through the torture of finding a good school, spending incredibly large (and rising) sums of money to go there? Then, after all of that, putting yourself through the torture of finding a job! That list doesn’t even include the things you endure once you are finally lucky enough to *get* a job!

 I finally relented, though, while thinking about the fact that there are some pretty incredible things that likely made you decide to be a television personality - and made many others of us choose that path as well. It likely wasn’t any of those difficulties listed above – but an entirely different list of things. Maybe you are interested in fame and fortune – or perhaps you are interested in the fact that your new-found celebrity while working at a TV station will help you in your quest to start a network of volunteers. Maybe you just really like asking questions and working on a tight schedule or deadline.

You can see that I've changed my tune quite significantly (thank you, pessimistic friend) since the beginning.  Right now the state of the television industry is quite pessimistic, but there *are* jobs to be found.  Using some of the tips in this book you can set yourself apart from, as the post below states, the "job hunting hoards."

If you are interested in seeing more of this book, visit http://tvbook.aaronshaffer.net where you can see the table of contents, additional sample pages, and are able to purchase it through the publisher.

~Aaron Shaffer