Dentaltown January 2018 - 12

howard speaks
column

What Gets Published in Dentaltown?
Discover how articles are planned and selected-and how to pitch one of your own
Most content published in Dentaltown magazine
comes from members of the Dentaltown community.
In every issue, Townies contribute articles about
topics in their respective areas of expertise, whether
they're dental professionals, industry advisers or key
opinion leaders.
To discuss how the Dentaltown team decides what
to publish each month, editor and creative director
Sam Mittelsteadt stopped by the Dentistry Uncensored
with Howard Farran headquarters to record a podcast
with me. Our hourlong conversation, recorded in
late December, covered several topics, including the
most important things our readers expect to see in an
article and the best way for anyone interested in being
published to "pitch" a piece to the editorial team. Here
are some highlights.
Dr. Howard Farran: What makes a good article? If
my listeners are thinking, "I'd love to write an article,"
what would you tell them?
Sam Mittelsteadt: The first thing that comes to
mind is: How interesting is this story? A member of
our editorial board will look at each piece from the
clinical point of view, and I'm looking at it from the
publishing perspective.
At my first newspaper reporting job, I had submitted
what I thought was a great story-even the transitions
were beautiful. But when my editor turned it back,
she'd had written at the top just two words: "So what?"
I hadn't included any element explaining why what I'd
written about was important to the readers. We look for
that at Dentaltown, too. If someone
says, "I filled a filling!" our reply would
be, "What would our readers fi nd

interesting about that?" If readers likely would say, "I
do that kind of stuff every day," then they wouldn't be
interested in that article unless it involves some unique
element. Did something go wrong? Was it your very
first one? Did the patient freak out? What is the lesson
that was involved?
HF: You've been working at Dentaltown for almost
two years now. What surprised you the most when you
entered the dental world?
SM: We ran a story by an oral surgeon that I will
remember for the rest of my life. A woman had cancer
in her mandible; the surgeon took out her fibula, placed
implants on it, then cut that part out, grafted it onto
her chin and, like, sewed her up. Which is a cool story
... but I didn't realize the photos would be embedded
in the Word doc, as I started reading it at 8:15 in the
morning, eating breakfast at my desk. I had to read
the article with my hand over the photos the first few
times I went through it.
HF: You would not believe some of those cases on
Dentaltown! But you should never put up pictures
like that on your website. I go to some dentist websites
and I personally love it-I'm drooling!- but I know
potential patients are bouncing off that website in less
than a second, because the pictures are gory. Your
website pictures have got to be pretty-bleaching,
bonding and veneers.
SM: That's "code switching." How do you communicate with each of your audiences? You shouldn't put
bloody, up-close progress photos on a consumer-facing
website, but that's exactly what we expect for an oral
surgery case in the magazine. Professional dentists don't

Hear the entire podcast online!
This article includes just some of the highlights of Dr. Howard Farran's conversation
with Dentaltown editor and creative director Sam Mittelsteadt. To download the podcast,
watch the video or read a full transcript, go to dentaltown.com/thegenuinearticle.

by Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, publisher, Dentaltown magazine

12

JANUARY 2018 // dentaltown.com


http://www.dentaltown.com/thegenuinearticle http://www.dentaltown.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown January 2018

Dentaltown January 2018 - Intro
Dentaltown January 2018 - Cover1
Dentaltown January 2018 - Cover2
Dentaltown January 2018 - 1
Dentaltown January 2018 - 2
Dentaltown January 2018 - 3
Dentaltown January 2018 - 4
Dentaltown January 2018 - 5
Dentaltown January 2018 - 6
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Dentaltown January 2018 - 12
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Dentaltown January 2018 - Cover3
Dentaltown January 2018 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-march-2024
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https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-october-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-september-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-august-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-july-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-june-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-may-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-april-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-march-2023
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https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-january-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-december-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-november-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-october-2022
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https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-july-2022
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https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-may-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-april-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-march-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-february-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-january-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-december-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-november-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-new-grad-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-october-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-september-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-august-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-july-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-june-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-may-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/dentaltown-april-2021
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https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2020February
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2020January
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2019December
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2019November
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltownuk/2019OctoberNovember
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2019October
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https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2019September
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https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2019January
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltownuk/2018Winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2018December
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2018November
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltownuk/2018November
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https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltownuk/2018October
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2018NewGrad
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2018September
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltownuk/2018September
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https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltownuk/2018March
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https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltownuk/2018February
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https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2017December
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltownuk/2017Winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2017November
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https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltownuk/2017october
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/NewGrad2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2017September
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltownuk/2017September
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltownuk/2017August
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2017August
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2017July
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltownuk/2017July
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https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltownuk/dentaltownuk/2017march
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/February2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2017January
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2016December
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https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2016september
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2016august
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2016july
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2016june
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2016may
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2016april
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2016march
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2016february
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2016january
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2015december
https://www.nxtbook.com/farran/dentaltown/2015november
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