The DIY Newsroom: your handbook to communicating today

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Author and Flame Tree executive director Stuart Howie
Finally, someone puts method to the madness of communicating today.

The executive director of Flame Tree Media, Stuart Howie, has released his new book, The DIY Newsroom. It is the ultimate playbook for setting up a world-class communications unit to compete in today's Attention Economy.

Stuart draws on more than 30 years in traditional and new media to provide a fresh approach to achieving powerful, strategic and sustainable communications.

In this seminal work, Stuart unlocks the secrets to the world's best newsrooms - and explains how they offer a timeless and perfect model for communication teams.

In The DIY Newsroom, Stuart outlines the SMART Way™ - a logical path of Strategy, Media, Authenticity, Results and Team that leads to better recognition for your hard work.

For the ambitious business leader, the COMM-ANDER, this book is a manifesto for how to get a better return on communications and to control your message.

For those at the coalface of marketing, the COMM-ANDO, this is a handbook for how to hit the target.

You can BUY the HARDBACK BOOK here NOW. Yes, it's a real book! (And cheaper than on Amazon.)

* RRP, Australia $32.95, plus postage​.​
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Ready for release: order your copy now.
WHAT THE BOOK WILL DO FOR YOU

​Is your message getting lost in the cacophony of communications today? Would you like to be better recognised for the good work you do and to do that within existing resources? Do you need a strategy and steer on how to organise your team for stunning results?

Never have there been so many ways to communicate but never has it been so complex.

Now there's a roadmap to guide you through the toughest of terrain - The DIY Newsroom.

  • Discover Stuart Howie's 5-step SMART Way™
  • Master your media without blowing the budget
  • Let social media work for you, not consume you
  • Stand out from the pack in your industry.
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY

Empowering guide from someone who knows

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Stuart Howie since the 1980s when we were young journalists in Melbourne. Even as a cub reporter, Stuart was a storyteller par excellence, a second-generation ‘inky’ who could quickly discern the facts and pitch them in an engaging way. Later, I was not surprised to hear he’d risen to an executive role with Fairfax.

Ultimately, however, many of us in the media want to give more to our community – and that’s just what this book achieves. The DIY Newsroom demystifies the morphing mediascape in which information is a currency.

This book empowers organisations and individuals to tell their story in a concise way that cuts through the competing voices. Here, you have strategies and tactics for creating an identity that’s authentic, meaningful and relevant to your community, by simply leveraging what you’ve got.

​Everyone has a story to tell. What is yours?

- Dr Jacqui Donegan, historian,  Sir John Monash Centre, France

Blueprint for the newsroom of tomorrow

Ready to unlock your content superpowers? Stuart articulates the skills that every storyteller needs today and the blueprint for managers to build the decentralised newsroom of tomorrow.

- Yusuf Omar, cofounder Hashtag Our Story, and the Prince of Mojo (mobile journalism)

Cutting through to absolute truth

Communication without truth and authenticity is like a house with a shaky foundation. Stuart captures the importance of checking in on truth from all angles as you develop personal or organisational strategies. 

He leaves readers with an absolute wealth of tools to effectively give and get the right information in the right way at the right time. 

- Elly Johnson, International Truth, Trust and Deception Authority, truthability.com

Your chance to connect better with audiences

As a newsroom manager Stuart Howie was one of the most engaging and innovative editors in the Australian media landscape.

Now that he is translating his newsroom nous to the wider corporate world, many others can tap into that knowledge and reconsider how they manage their external communications.
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Whether you work in a large or small corporation, or a school, or a community organisation or sporting group – there are lessons in this book which will enable you to connect far more closely with your audience.

- Paul Nolan, Director of Community Development, St Patrick's College, Ballarat

A new way, sure to be followed

The DIY Newsroom is a breath of fresh air in the digital space.  The problem with most books about communication is that they do not help you strategically. In The DIY Newsroom, Stuart Howie sets a way that is sure to be followed by companies into the future. 

​- Doyle Buehler, author of The Digital Delusion

Straight-up messages for serious times

My organisation has messages for governments, policy makers, the commentariat and my members, but it’s hard to compete with the noise of others and to break through.

This book is accessible for small organisations such as mine but has lessons for all organisations no matter the size. I am particularly heartened by Stuart’s exhortation for content, content, content.

Important messages are lost in entertainment value or couched as false news. These are serious times. More than ever, we must heed the straight-shooting messages in The DIY Newsroom.

- Craig Robertson, CEO, TAFE Directors Australia, Canberra

UNSOLICITED, READERS HAVE TOLD US ...

I couldn't put it down

My book arrived today. I started reading it when I got home and couldn’t put it down until I finished it. Such a great read. Simple, elegant and immensely practical. Congratulations ...  it is about to be put to good use as I rebuild my new ‘newsroom’ ... I mean marketing team!

- CMO at a Queensland university, Australia, 2019

You had me at Page 1!

I was hooked from Page 1. I almost found myself nodding my head in agreement as you worked your way through stuff like social media, authentic and interesting content, and planning with foresight as to where you want to end up.

- Reader, Melbourne, Australia, 2019

Insights and helpful

Stuart, I just finished reading your book and I really enjoyed it. Congratulations on it. The book is both a good read and extremely insightful and helpful.

- Lawyer, Sydney, Australia, 2019

A SMART-er way

Stuart, I really enjoyed your book. When I return to work I will definitely be thinking SMART-er.
 
- Assistant communications director, Auckland, New Zealand, 2019