Nicholas Thompson

Current

• Senior Editor at Wired Magazine

Connections

322 connections

Industry

Writing and Editing

Websites

• nickthompson.com
• Wired Magazine

Nicholas Thompson’s Summary

I am a senior editor at Wired Magazine. I'm looking for two things: ideas that can be turned into long magazine features and journalists who can write long magazine features.

I'm not looking for breaking news or cool tips about gadgets---only because those aren't the things I work on for the magazine. Instead, I'm trying to figure out big trends and interesting narratives from the worlds of science and technology. Here are a couple rules of thumb for Wired features:

* If it could be made into a movie, it can probably work for us.
* If you mention it to someone at a party and their jaw drops, great. If their eyes glaze, it's probably too technical.
* If needs to be interesting and important six months from now. That's about when it'll come out if pitched now.

Here are three examples of great features that I worked on recently. All are very different, but also very Wired.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.05/feat_cia.html
A narrative about how the CIA used a fake science fiction flick to rescue six Americans from Tehran.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.05/feat_firstblood.html
A story about how one scientist is trying to stop future pandemics by figuring out how viruses spread from bushmeat to humans.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.05/feat_popup.html
A piece about a city in China being built from scratch on sediment buildup in the Yangtze, designed totally for environmental efficiency.

I'm currently writing a book for Henry Holt about the rivalry between George Kennan and Paul Nitze and how the two men shaped the Cold War. The only freelancing I do has to connect directly to that topic.

I do appear frequently on TV---most regularly on Fox and CNBC---to discuss technology. If you're a producer or booker, I'm happy to discuss segment ideas.

The best way to contact me is over email: nicholas_thompson at wired dot com

Nicholas Thompson’s Experience

• Senior Editor

  Wired Magazine

  (Writing and Editing industry)

  2005 — Present (3 years)

  I edit pieces in the feature well and in the posts section.

Additional Information

Nicholas Thompson’s Websites:

• nickthompson.com
• Wired Magazine

Nicholas Thompson’s Groups:

Council on Foreign Relations, Central Park Track Club, NYC Broadband Association, Truman Scholars Association