Narratively: longform local journalism startup to launch LA branch

Longform local journalism outfit Narratively, based out of Dumbo’s IFP Made In NY Media Center, just hired an editor for work by Los Angeles writers as part of their first expansion. They expect to soon post at least one feature out of the L.A. office per week shortly thereafter, said founder and editor Noah Rosenberg.

It’s one major sign of growth for a journalistic outlet that has focused on human interest news rather than breaking stories since it opened in September 2012 to cover under-reported stories in New York CIty.

Rosenberg said that Narratively is filling a void for some of the country’s best writers, by giving them a chance to write and earn money off of stories that didn’t have a place in publications the writers already worked for.

“Many of our best stories,” Rosenberg said, “are stories the creator has had in their back pocket for five or six years.”

We wrote about Narratively last summer as one of two local electronic literature concerns that have found new ways to earn revenues. Narratively serves as a content agency for brands and organizations that want someone to help them tell their story. It’s an editorial marketing consultancy that funds longform narrative storytelling.

Rosenberg says that they do especially well with small to medium sized businesses, while similar companies handle the needs of big corporations. The company is, itself, near the point of signing a deal with a creative agency to help its writers find deals for its stories in other media.

Rosenberg expects the agency side of its business to become a smaller percentage of its overall income as it increases its revenue in live events and advertising. He can even envision the day when it has an in-house production company. In the more immediate term, while Narratively has had a strong partnership with publishing platform Marquee since the beginning, it plans to bring some of its development work in house soon, as well.

Developers that might be interested in working for a small media firm should contact Narratively.

Rosenberg’s cofounder and editorial director is Brendan Spiegel. Both have established news media backgrounds. During his nine-year career, Rosenberg found he had a special interest in detailed human interest stories.

“That’s come to define my career, focusing on the smaller story we can tell in a big way,” said Rosenberg, who lives in Fort Greene.

Narratively has been a bootstrapped company thus far. The one way it has sought external investors is the $53,739 it raised on Kickstarter to kick things off. The company has been generating revenue since about two months after it launched and it is now in the process of seeking investors. It currently has two full time staffers, 25 part timers and a pool of about 550 freelancers.

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