Hi there! My name is Nick Krewen (416-208-9262, octopus@rogers.com.)
I’m a writer, editor, content-and-solution provider who has been working as a professional since God wore short pants.
If you have a project you need some worry-free assistance with and that needs clear, concise messaging, I’m here to help. For a no-obligation conversation, you can call me at the number or write me at the e-mail listed just above my photo.
My 30 years of journalism regularly contributing to some of Canada’s most authoritative newspapers – The Toronto Star, The Hamilton Spectator, The Globe and Mail and The Kitchener-Waterloo Record – have sharpened my research skills in and coverage of, mainly – but not exclusively – the field of popular music.
If you need further examples of my most recent writing, please Google my name on the internet and you’ll find plenty.
I make an impact and I get results.
My passions include music, marketing, music, making people laugh, music, storytelling, music and making my clients look good.
My specialty is thinking out of the box and delivering relatable stories and copy that are easily digestible and as natural as conversation. I simplify complicated concepts so that the reader – or client – gains a comprehensive understanding of a person, a process, a product in whatever way the subject matter needs to be interpreted, dissected and/or communicated.
For example, a primer on biodiesel that I wrote for Nashville, TN-based Road King magazine won me an ASME from the North American Truck Writers Association, while a case-study-ish advertorial written for the Globe and Mail on Saskatoon’s Canadian Light Source – which specializes in synchrotron science, a source of light that functions as a probe – helped bring millions of dollars in business to this unique research facility.
Biodiesel Light Source Expanding Facility
And an article I wrote for the Toronto Star about the Unison Fund – a non-profit benevolent music industry charity that provides emergency financial report and counselling in times of hardship – generated almost $1 million in donations to the organization overnight.
I’ve also written for several trade magazines for Brunico Communications Ltd., including Media In Canada, Playback, Strategy, Realscreen and Kidscreen, developing expertise in the advertising, marketing, documentary, TV-and-film production, children’s entertainment and digital media worlds.
I’ve been published internationally in the U.S., the U.K., Australia as well my native Canada – and I’m Toronto-based, easy to work with and versatile. I will deliver your content needs to your exact specifications and through the cleanest of copy.
So, let’s work together and let me fulfill your writing needs for your next project.
And if you need further examples of my most recent writing, please Google my name on the internet and you’ll find plenty
If you’re a corporation or business, media or ad agency, I’m here to help.
Some of my bylined contributions include:
The Toronto Star
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS)
Molson
General Motors
The Hamilton Spectator
The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS)
The Globe and Mail
GRAMMY.com
SOCAN’s Words and Music
Billboard
FYIMusicNews
The Ottawa Citizen
The Kitchener-Waterloo Record
Southam News
Country Music
Country Weekly
Maclean’s
Saturday Night
Road King
The Arizona Republic
The Kalamazoo Gazette
Lavalife
The Record (music trade)
ole Media Management
St. Joseph Media
The Canadian Country Music Association
Redwood Custom Communications
Universal Music Canada
Warner Music Canada
EMI Music Canada
Sony Music Canada
Canadian Music Week
The Rose Theatre, Brampton.
I co-authored Music from Far And Wide – Celebrating 40 Years Of the Juno Awards in 2011 (Key Porter) and served as contributing author to 2022’s Prince On Prince: Interviews and Encounters (Chicago Review Press), 2012’s Routledge Film Music Sourcebook and Elements of English (McGraw Hill).
Books that have sourced some of my work for research and reference include Nicholas Jennings’ recent biography bestseller Lightfoot!; Bob Wegner’s definitive Max Webster: High Class coffee table book, published in 2023; Paul Myers’ Long John Baldry biography It Ain’t Easy – Long John Baldry and the Birth of the British Blues; Rush, Rock Music and the Middle Class: Dreaming in Middleton by Chris McDonald (Indiana University Press, 2009), Martin Popoff’s Rush: Updated Edition, the Unofficial Illustrated History and the unauthorized Shania Twain biography Shania.
I’ve written the liner notes for such anniversary CD reissues as Klaatu’s 3:47 E.S.T., FM’s Black Noise and Glass Tiger’s The Thin Red Line, as well as John Cody’s recent Hard Won: The Final Recordings.
Most recently, I’ve written the liner notes for the Sony Music Canada boxed set Bachman Cummings – The Collection, which includes fresh interviews with band principals Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings about their days with The Guess Who, their solo careers and Randy’s life with Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
My corporate specialty services include: ghostwriting, case studies, corporate profiles, press releases, newsletters, sales letters, biographies, web copy and white papers.
Here are the transferrable skills I’ve accumulated over the years that I can deliver for you:
- Interviews: I’ve literally interviewed thousands of people, ranging from such diverse luminaries as Prince, Bob Dylan, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Herbie Hancock, Kate Bush, Sting, Stevie Wonder and Kellylee Evans to managers, labourers and everyone in between. I know how to ask the right questions and get the best answers.
- Compelling copy: Everyone has a story. I can tell yours or your client’s in a most interesting way.
- Research: I’m a strong believer in metrics and include them whenever I can in analytical pieces.
- Speed: I’m prolific and extremely focused in providing deliverables on time and on budget.
- Clean copy: I know the difference between there, their and they’re, it’s and its and all the contexts in which to use them.
- Project Management: Serving as the editor of Nashville-based, American Media-owned Country Music, I generated content ideas, hired freelancers, proofed, provided budgets and curated the final product in a timely fashion, on a bi-monthly basis, read by a subscription base of 400,000. As the managing editor of the annual JUNO Awards Souvenir Program from 2007-2014, I hired freelancers, oversaw design and translation, proofed, gathered art and was responsible for the finished product on a yearly basis during extremely tight deadlines. For the ole Newsletter, I delivered monthly copy from 2005-2010 which included interviews, transcription and writing that amplified the corporate message and brand that the company was intent on communicating.
- Great Service: No drama. Everything done to your specifications and tailored to your needs.
Let’s talk!
P.S. I’m also pursuing a career as a voice artist with my resonant baritone Clients include Labatt through Anomaly and the Agawa Canyon Tour Train.
Please click the link and listen. Nick_Krewen
Or check out the 2020 Budweiser Canada Wassup Again Super Bowl Commercial.
I provide a few of the “Wassups”…