Andreas Jopp!

Deutsch (DE-CH-AT)English (United Kingdom)

That is why I write: "Clear facts on the table!"

Do you feel the same way: You are constantly bombarded with useless fad diets in newspapers and
magazines. High gloss lifestyle publications print nothing more than hidden advertising of manufacturers. Then there is a flood of poorly-researched advice and shallow TV reports on individual stories that have no substance at all. The typical cheap journalism to increase circulation and audience share. You quickly lose your money for products that have no effect and no scientific basis. Today, aloe vera is hip, tomorrow cabbage soup to lose weight, and some months later an apple diet guarantees weight loss. Who and what should you believe? Most of it has more to do with marketing than with health. As a medical journalist this really upsets me.
So I don't believe anything before I see it in a well published study. And I always read the original
study and not just the press clippings about a study.
This is how I work: For months I research the latest nutritional studies, conduct interviews with leading experts and only then I decide what I would like to communicate to my readers. What is worth knowing in order to live healthier and longer! I've never written a book with less than one year of intensive research. And I could certainly write 3 books a year like other authors do. Publishers love this. They often ask you to tailor your texts so they fit directly into their standard layouts. Sorry, but this is not the way I work. I allow myself the luxury to research extensively.

Good journalism in non-fiction books has three essential elements for me:
•    Intensive, specialized research.
•    To prepare the content in an interesting, understandable and practical manner.
•    The style should be fun to read and should motivate the reader to change habits.

This concept seems to work well: my books have been translated into 14 languages and they are not deleted
from the bookshops and publishers catalogues after 2-3 years. And the books have excellent reader reviews.
So, after all honest and hard journalistic work is worth the effort.
{jcomments off}