Julia Shanker is an MFA candidate in the Literary Reportage Program. She is also an editorial assistant at Elephant Magazine
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Q: This summer, you
published a piece in Grubstreet about how New Yorkers are getting their raw milk fix. Can you tell us how this idea came about?
A: This piece was part of a longer story I wrote in Jen Percy’s Ethnography for Journalists class, where we practiced immersive journalism by spending over 20 hours with our subjects. Mine ended up being the Milk Guy, but the idea didn’t start with him. I was first drawn to raw-milk drinkers in New York City and the controversy surrounding them. Most I found through social media, and after many conversations and interviews, I eventually learned that many were having their milk illegally delivered from Amish farms in Pennsylvania. That’s when I realized there was a missing piece in this underground operation: how was the milk getting from PA to NYC? The answer was, of course, the Milk Guy. But he wasn’t easy to find either. I had to order the milk myself just to get the introduction. But once I met him, I knew he was the real story.
Q: Do you have a pitch formula that works best for you? How did the pitching process go for you?
A: I don’t have an exact formula, and every story is different, but I think one of the reasons this pitch was quickly picked up was because it was such a New York story. I leaned into the magazine’s voicey sensibility, kept the tone light, and focused on the reporting only I had done rather than bogging it down with raw-milk science or the politics surrounding it. I also had a lot of help from my professors (and from Whitney!) and spent a long time fine-tuning it. And I wrote the entire story beforehand, which I know is a luxury, but it definitely helped me nail the pitch.
Q: What did you learn during the editing process?
A: This piece had a fairly quick turnaround and underwent only one editing round before publication. The fact-checking process was tougher. Luckily, Jen taught us to do this in class, but I’m glad I kept a very detailed reporter’s notebook and recommend doing this from the start!
Q: What did you learn during the pitching and publishing process that you think would be helpful to other writers looking to get their work published?
A: As a new writer, I’ve found it’s the reporting that really makes you stand out. Don’t write off an idea just because it’s been “done.” The key is telling it in a way only you could. For me, I could’ve pitched a story about raw-milk customers, or its supposed health benefits, or whatever, but what made my pitch stand out was access to the Milk Guy. No one else had written about him. And because I’d already done the reporting and interviews before pitching, it landed that much stronger.
