Before we launched the Long Read in 2014, dozens of my new colleagues at the Guardian asked me versions of the same question: “So, what is a long read?” In other words, what will actually go into this new section of the paper? Nearly four years and about 500 stories later, I think our colleagues and readers alike know what to expect from the Long Read. Each story takes up three pages in the print newspaper – or about 15 minutes to read on your phone on the train. Three years later, it turns out that readers (and listeners) love the sense of getting beneath the surface of somethingThe making of a Long Read almost always starts with a series of meetings. You’ve got 5,000 words: what’s going in the first section?

Source: The Guardian April 07, 2018 12:00 UTC