BUIES CREEK — Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas has released “The ABC List of Feature Ideas,” a new book for budding journalists by Michael Ray Smith, a communication studies professor at Campbell University.
Smith wrote the book to help new writers generate story ideas and think strategically in planning and executing features articles for the popular press.
He said he consulted writers from across the nation on the book and gathered input from colleagues Pete Kenny and Dr. J. Dean Farmer, both of Campbell’s Department of Communication Studies. “Our department provides lots of support for teaching and research activities,” Smith said.
In addition to “The ABC List of Feature Ideas,” Smith is working with Lighthouse Publishers on two other books slated for release in 2014: “Seven Days to a Byline” and “How I Write.”
Smith has written hundreds of articles for newspapers, magazines and online sites including the Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Enquirer, USA TODAY, Christianity Today, Guidepost, Decision and others. He is the head for Small Programs Interest Group, one of the largest interest groups in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication for the 2013-2014 academic year.
In 2012 Campbell’s Faculty Development and Research Committee presented Smith with the Alumni Award for Teaching Excellence. In addition, he was named the Top 50 Journalism Professors in 2012 by www.journalismdegree.org, a web site that spotlights the best journalism professors and programs nationally.