Advice for a newspaper journalist

[porgep]

Everyone here wants to be a writer, video game journailst, developer, etc. I'm fully aware at how competitive video game journalism is, and I know there's less writing positions than writers. I'm a music writer, and I've spent the last few years out of college working as a newspaper reporter. I have hundreds, if not thousands, of clips of everything from crime articles to music reviews. My goal is to become a video game journalist and I'm willing to do what it takes to get there.

So my question to any established game journalists, how do I break into the field? Will the experience I have as a reporter and music writer translate well for video game publishers? How do I take that step, based on my experience, into this career?

Thanks!

[yaustar]

Assuming you have a degree already, your next step is to apply for jobs. There is no magic step, a good games journalist is still a good journalist.

If you have contacts already at companies you want to apply for, apply through them.

[jillduffy]

It also helps to have a list of contacts in the game industry already, PR people, developers, managers of developer communications at big companies, etc.