Sunday, June 10, 2012

Written by Daniel Davis

This blog collects some of the writing I have done in my career. I think it shows my versatility, as over the years I've written in many styles for many audiences. Included are samples of my marketing copywriting, sports writing, humor pieces, music blogging, and descriptive writing for visually impaired audiences.

Shark Ninja Copy Writing
I joined industry-leading appliance maker SharkNinja in 2015 as a Technical Writer and Editor. I've written marketing copy for the web, packaging, and printed collateral.


Marketing copywriting for e-Dialog
As a Quality Assurance Editor at e-Dialog and eBay Marketing Solutions, I edit digital marketing communications for clients such as Golf Galaxy, the NHL, Avis, CVS, Dell Computer and many others. I've also done some copywriting as well, for clients such as Discover and Avis, but primarily for NFL.com, one of our most prestigious clients.

NFL.com emails are mostly images and links, so the subject line is very important. I've written many subject lines for the NFL.com mailings, and the client has been pleased with the creativity and the email open rates for the subject lines I've written for them.


Descriptive Writing for Blind and Visually Impaired Audiences
At WGBH Public Television in Boston, I worked for over a decade as a Writer/Editor for the Media Access Group. Our mission was to make television programs, films, websites, educational videos, museums and theme parks accessible for blind and visually impaired audiences. 

wrote and edited scripts for video description, weaving narration of the program's characters, events and settings into the show's soundtrack. This kind of writing demands accuracy, creativity and the ability to communicate clearly in a variety of styles to a very specific audience. 


Sports Journalism for SportsOfBoston.com
I wrote for the local sports site SportsOfBoston.com from 2009 until 2012. I contributed sports news articles, humor pieces, polls and live blogs, primarily covering the Red Sox and Bruins, and occasionally national or international sports stories. I usually offered a humorous, fun take on sports, rather than the standard serious tone of most sports coverage.

Music Writing for Examiner.com
 I covered the indie rock scene in Boston for the site Examiner.com from 2009 until 2012. I mostly wrote previews of upcoming concerts, with the occasional interview or review mixed in. 

While writing for Examiner.com, I tried to cover smaller club shows by lesser-known bands that deserved more attention, rather than focus on the big, expensive shows that every other site covers. My goal was to highlight shows that would interest my music-loving friends and other readers, and hopefully steer them to some good music that they otherwise might have missed.

Humor writing for online magazines
Over the years, I've contributed humor pieces to several sites, including Mcsweeneys.net and YankeePotRoast.org. 

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Copywriting for NFL.com: email subject lines.



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Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Articles for SportsOfBoston.com


I've written for the local sports site SportsOfBoston.com since 2009. I contribute sports news articles, humor pieces, polls and live blogs, primarily covering the Red Sox and Bruins, and occasionally national or international sports stories. I usually try to offer a humorous, fun take on sports, rather than the standard serious tone of most sports coverage.

The site uses Word Press as its content management system, and I've gained a lot of experience with it over the past few years, especially when posting to the site live while covering games as they happen.

I've written numerous real-time live blogs of games, updating the article every few minutes with description of the most recent plays. There's very little time for editing or revising, so you've got to get it right the first time, and keep up with the fast-moving action of the game.

The live blogs are challenging but fun, and the goal is to update the action as quickly as possible, while giving the reader the experience of being at the game, rooting on the local team with friends.

Here's a live blog I wrote of a Bruins hockey game from December 1, 2010. (There are a few typos in the blog, but not too many, and I've left them all in the article, so it will appear just as it did when it was written. There are going to be a few small errors when you're writing a live blog with real time updating, especially when you try to offer more than a brief sentence or two every few minutes, and try to capture the flavor of the game with your writing)

Here's a live blog of a Red Sox game from April 2011. To make things even more hectic, the NFL draft was going on at the same time as this game, so I had to weave in announcements of Patriots draft picks, along with describing the baseball action as it happened.



All articles by Dan Davis at Sports of Boston:
http://sportsofboston.com/author/davis/

Local music articles for Examiner.com

 I covered the indie rock scene in Boston for the site Examiner.com from 2009 until 2012. I mostly wrote previews of upcoming concerts, with the occasional interview or review mixed in. 

While writing for Examiner.com, I tried to cover smaller club shows by lesser-known bands that deserved more attention, rather than focus on the big, expensive shows that every other site covers. My goal was to highlight shows that would interest my music-loving friends and other readers, and hopefully steer them to some good music that they otherwise might have missed.



All articles by Dan Davis at Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/indie-rock-music-in-boston/dan-davis


Humor pieces

Humor writing published by McSweeneys.net:

Email to the guy who runs the football pool.

List: Archaic diseases or former football coaches?

A few pieces on YankeePotRoast.org:
http://www.yankeepotroast.org/archives/dan_davis/


Rock critic parody pieces written for Lollipop magazine:

Jean-Paul Bavard interviews J.D. Salinger.

Jean-Paul Bavard interviews Courtney Love.

Jean-Paul Bavard interviews Madonna.

Jean-Paul Bavard Reviews Everything That Matters.

Jean-Paul Bavard interviews Beck.

Hooray For Everything! by Jean-Paul Bavard.

Jean-Paul Bavard interviews Jeff Tweedy.

Jean-Paul Bavard interviews Thom Yorke.

Selections from Jon Bon Jovi's Journals.

Jean-Paul Bavard interviews Ozzy Osbourne.

Jean-Paul Bavard reviews new releases.

Jean-Paul Bavard: the album of the New Millennium.

Jean-Paul Bavard reviews more new releases.

Jean-Paul Bavard interviews Fred Durst.

Index and writer's bio.

Daniel Davis Lollipop magazine fiction/features

Jon Bon Jovi’s Journals (issue 61)
Sing, Tweedy-bird, Sing! (issue 60)
Ozz-Fête (issue 59)
le nouveau new thing...(issue 58)
Jean Paul Bavard’s Future of Criticism (issue 57)
The Unbearable Likeness of Michael Jackson (issue 57)
The Album of Le Nouveau Millennium (issue 56, Fall '01)
Jean-Paul Bavard's Tête a Radio-Tête (An "interview" with Radiohead's Thom Yorke) (issue 55, Summer '01)
Jean-Paul Bavard Reviews (issue 54, Spring '01)
CD Reviews par Jean-Paul (issue 55, Summer '01)
C'est What?( An "Interview" with Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst) (issue 52, Summer '00)
Fi "On an" Apple (issue 51, Spring '00)
Bach-St.-Beuys (issue 50, Winter '00)
2K: The 59 Greatest List (issue 50, Winter '00)
Hooray for Everything (issue 49, Fall '99)
An Interview with the Auntie Christ Super Tsar (issue 47, Spring '99)
The New Guy's Not Working Out (issue 46, Winter '99)
L'Oser: Jean-Paul Bavard rappes avec Beck (issue 45, Fall '98)
J.D. Salinger "Interview" (issue 42, March 1998)
A "Hole" Lotta Love: Courtney Love: L'Interview (issue 41, December 1997)




Monday, June 4, 2012

Description for Blind and Visually Impaired Audiences

With WGBH Public Television in Boston, I worked as a Writer/Editor for the Media Access Group. Our mission was to make television programs, films, websites, educational videos, museums and theme parks accessible for blind and visually impaired audiences.

Whether describing a science documentary, a children's show or a costume drama, I had to adapt my writing style to fit with the show's tone. In some scenes, there would be room for paragraphs of detailed description. In others, there would be room for a word or two.

Always, the challenge was to paint the scene for the visually impaired audience as accurately and descriptively as possible.

In addition to writing and editing scripts, I also selected and hired freelance narrators and directed the studio recording sessions where the script would be turned into an audio narration track mixed with the program's soundtrack.

Here are some samples of my Descriptive writing for blind and visually impaired audiences:

A scene from the nature program Sea Rescue:

A title appears: SeaWorld presents “Sea Rescue.”

A pelican takes flight. The Rescue team releases a sea turtle into the ocean, and team-members slap triumphant high-fives.

Host Sam Champion, a clean-cut blonde man with blue eyes, stands in the water with a dolphin. Nearby, a sea lion barks. Rescue team members check the pulse of a manatee, and bottle-feed a baby whale.

At the research center, a team-member rubs clear gel over a young loggerhead sea turtle's shell. He places the basketball-sized turtle in a plastic shipping crate, and closes the lid.

Sam and two other rescuers load the crate into a black SUV. Later, the vehicle speeds down a highway to an airport, where dozens of crates the size of suitcases are loaded onto a C-130 plane. The flight crew places rigging over the crates to keep them secure in the cargo hold.

On the beach, Kemp's-Ridley sea turtles with numbers painted on their shells struggle across the sand until they reach the ocean. As they enter the water, they're swallowed up by the waves. One turtle pokes its head above the surface for a moment, then dives under.


A section of description from the short dramatic film “Shoot”:

With a scowl, the bald, dark-skinned man switches off his flashing alarm clock. Bare-chested, he sighs, and rubs both hands over his face.

Later, near his bed, he does a dozen pushups, wearing only white sport briefs. His fists braced on the floor, he rises and falls quickly, pumping intently, his muscles tensing.

In the kitchen, wearing a long-sleeved white t-shirt and faded jeans, the man gulps down milk right from the carton. He stares off, brooding.

He runs his hand over a tabletop, quickly finding his keys and dark sunglasses, then heads out the door.

Outside, he pauses, one eye half-closed. A rueful grin spreads over his face.


NFL.com email Subject Line: Orton, December 2, 2011

NFL.com Newsletter: Orton's Here-- Whoo-hoo! Can New QB Get Chiefs Back on Track in Chicago?




To: recipient@email.com December 2, 2011
NFL.com Newsletter: Orton's Here-- Whoo-hoo! Can New QB Get Chiefs Back on Track in Chicago?

Verizon
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