Like many publications, The New Yorker makes some of its articles freely available on their website, but restrict others to subscribers only, in this case with the “digital edition” (which is horrible, but that’s a different story). Most publications that operate with this model provide the first few paragraphs of the story to give the user some sense of the story and whether he should log in (or subscribe) to read it.
The New Yorker, on the other hand, writes wonderfully detailed abstracts that actually describe the article in a terse, neutral tone. Here are some examples:
409 words:
The resulting product has sold nine million pairs since October of 2000, when Blakely started Spanx. Before Spanx, shapewear was associated with the aging and the piteous. Now unmentionables are objects of boasting. Mentions Oprah Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kim Kardashian. Itzler is a former rapper and a co-founder of Marquis Jets. He currently owns a marketing and “business incubation” company called Suite 850. Blakely has already expanded into legwear, lacy lingerie, casual separates, and retro swimwear.
…
Only thirteen of the hundred and five employees are men, and the offices resemble a hygienic bordello, with pink shag carpeting and pink velvet sofas. Mentions Spanx C.E.O. Laurie Ann Goldman. Jadideah Duckham, Spanx’s director of research and development, is responsible for one of Spanx’s most successful innovations: the Bra-llelujah, which took three years and more than a hundred prototypes to perfect. Mentions Amy Quick and Sylma Colon-Otten. Tells about Blakely meeting the Proenza Schouler designers, Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCullough, at the Jeffrey Fashion Cares benefit.
24 words:
Short story about a Japanese man who attempts to piece together his reaction to his divorce by taking a trip north to bleak Hokkaido.
415 words:
Tells about Novitzky’s career and his investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO, run by Victor Conte. Also discusses Greg Anderson, Bonds’s friend and former trainer, who was an associate of Conte’s. Writer visits Conte at his office in San Carlos, California. Discusses Bonds’s career and his achievements on the field. If he is convicted, Bonds will almost certainly get no more than a few months of jail time. Mentions Bonds’ former girlfriend, Kimberly Bell, who will testify at the trial. Also tells about Iran White, an undercover narcotics officer who befriended Anderson with the goal of getting to Bonds.
185 words (the full article has more discussion of each point):
SHOUTS & MURMURS about a new activity called GOING OUTSIDE. Introducing GOING OUTSIDE, the astounding multipurpose activity platform that will revolutionize the way you spend your time. GOING OUTSIDE is not a game or a program, not a device or an app, not a protocol or an operating system. Instead, it’s a comprehensive experiential mode that lets you perceive and do things firsthand. GOING OUTSIDE: 1. Supports real-time experience through seamless mind-body interface. By GOING OUTSIDE, you’ll rediscover the joy and satisfaction of actually doing something. 2. Is completely hands-free. No keyboards, mice, controllers, touch pads, or joysticks. 3. Delivers authentic 3-D, real-motion video, with no lag time or artifacts. 4. Delivers “head-free” surround sound. No headphones, earbuds, speakers, or sound-bar arrays required—and yet, amazingly, you hear everything. 6. Enables complete interactivity with inanimate objects, animals, and Nature. 11. Provides access to everything not in your home, dorm room, or cubicle. Millions of people have already tried GOING OUTSIDE. Many of “your” friends may even be GOING OUTSIDE right now! Why not join them and see what happens?
Why do they do abstracts like this? Who writes them?
