Justin Barisich

Copywriter and Storyteller // Founder of Little Writing Man

United States

Good Stories, Well Told.

I’ve always had a way with words – writing them, analyzing them, editing them, speaking them, & even performing them all across the country.

And after a decade of experience, I decided to go into business with my words – & a practiced hand – to help others create good stories, well told.

So use me for my wordsmithing skills. Hire me as your word mercenary.

I’m here to help you find the story you always knew was there, and then set it on its feet to walk out and win over the world.

And I promise you, it’ll go far. After all, I am a man of my words.

— Justin Barisich / Little Writing Man
[email protected]
(404) 590-3928

Portfolio
Little Writing Man
LittleWritingMan.com

Good Stories, Well Told. My professional freelancing website. Use me for my wordsmithing skills. Hire me as your word mercenary.

Little Writing Man
My Writing Blog

Regularly updated blog with my musings, poetry, and publishings.

Copywriting - Web Copy

Allconnect.com
03/15/2016
Allconnect Website Copy

Making moving less stressful by helping customers connect their homes. Shop and compare phone, Internet, television, electricity, gas and home security.

ConnectToXfinity.com
2016
Xfinity Authorized Retailer Website Copy

Want the best deals on XFINITY Cable TV, Internet and Phone? We'll set you with an XFINITY package that meets your needs and budget! Get the best in entertainment today!

RealShrimping.com
2014
Real Shrimping with Capt. George Website Copy

An Adventure Unlike Anything You've Done Before. Eat like a king and experience first-hand why we call Louisiana the Sportsman's Paradise. Hop aboard the F/V Peruga in its constant quest for the freshest and most succulent seafood available.

IndieGoGo
6/5/14
Atlanta Word Works Crowdfunding Campaign

Help send Atlanta Word Works to Brave New Voices 2014 and build a community of writers and performers who are redefining what it means to be young and talented.

Copywriting - Infographics and E-Books

Allconnect
07/10/2016
How to Get Move-In Night Right

INFOGRAPHIC: Move-in day is fast approaching, and to make everything as easy and enjoyable as possible, we've got some great preparation advice for you.

GetVoIP
04/29/2014
Just Pick Up The Phone!

INFOGRAPHIC: These methods of communication are trending, and here's what consumers think about them, as well as their preferences toward each method of communication.

Allconnect
01/06/2017
TV Streaming Services Comparison Chart

INFOGRAPHIC: Gathered information on 7 popular streaming services and organized them in an easily digestible format for consumers' ease of comparison.

Copywriting - Email Marketing

Allconnect
2016
ADT Pulse Email Campaign

Series of 3 emails designed to increase customers' purchasing of ADT Pulse Home Security Products

Copywriting - Press Releases

Blogging

Band of Hands
05/19/2016
How the On-Demand Economy Empowers Workers

What many politicians and pundits are ignoring is that the on-demand economy is an incredibly empowering force for the people they claim to serve: our nation’s workers.

Novel Reviews

BookPage
04/01/2015
"Finding balance" - review of David Almond's THE TIGHTROPE WALKERS

In this sprawling, emotionally enrapturing and mostly autobiographical tale, a talented lad comes of age in the harsh shadows of Northern England's shipyards. Dominic Hall was born in a hovel along the River Tyne in the 1960s. His severe father is still embittered from fighting in World War II, and his kind mother always wanted more for her sweet boy.

BookPage
02/05/2015
"Hierarchy of Blood" - review of Victoria Aveyard's RED QUEEN

In the magical, feuding lands of Norta, a poor young woman is thrust into the center of an elite world where she must hide her true self and discover her inner strength and power to survive. Seventeen-year-old street thief Mare Barrow has always understood the blood-based hierarchy of her nation: Unremarkable Reds serve the Silvers, who possess supernatural abilities to control metal, fire,...

BookPage
09/17/2013
"On the brink of revolution" - review of Kat Zhang's ONCE WE WERE

In a world where all humans are born with two souls in every body, hybrids are the citizens who refuse to lose or sacrifice their second souls. Once We Were, the second book in Kat Zhang's Hybrid Chronicles, takes us deeper into the hidden realm of the hybrids.

BookPage
05/12/2015
" A challenge of love and death" - review of Renee Ahdieh's THE WRATH AND THE DAWN

Set within the historical Persian empire of Khorasan, The Wrath and the Dawn is an enrapturing tale of love, loss, loyalties and longing-and the stakes couldn't be higher. When 16-year-old Shazi offers herself up as the next wife to Khalid, the 18-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, many are baffled by her sacrifice.

Author Interviews

BookPage
11/23/2016
Interview with Neal Shusterman, author of SCYTHE

In a futuristic Earth where humanity has finally conquered death, humans only ever meet their true ends by one thing: the hand of a scythe. Unlike murderers from back in the "Age of Mortality," scythes are highly trained assassins that are both government-sanctioned and socially accepted-as there's nothing else to keep the planet's population growth in check.

BookPage
02/09/2016
Interview with Victoria Aveyard, author of RED QUEEN

Picking up immediately where Red Queen left off, Victoria Aveyard's Glass Sword throws us right back into the blood-feuding world of Norta, with the Reds and Silvers teetering upon the edge of civil war. With the help of Captain Farley and her Scarlet Guard militia, "little lightning girl" Mare Barrow and the fire-brandishing former prince Cal make a near-death escape from the...

BookPage
09/15/2016
Interview with Guadalupe García McCall, author of SHAME THE STARS

Pura Belpré Award-winning author Guadalupe García McCall draws readers into the war-torn years of the Mexican Revolution with her latest novel, Shame the Stars. We spoke with the author about the heartaches of the two families at odds during this contentious period, the inspiration from her own heritage and more.

BookPage
01/01/2017
Interview with Robin Roe, author of A LIST OF CAGES

In her raw and eye-opening debut novel, A List of Cages, author Robin Roe draws from her real-life work of counseling and mentoring at-risk teens to craft this heart-wrenching tale. BookPage contacted Roe to discuss her new book and how even the smallest of kind gestures can save someone's life.

Feature-Length Magazine Articles

NATIVE
05/02/2013
The Hybrid I Am - Kat Zhang / The Hybrid Chronicles

When Kat Zhang walked into her first class at Vanderbilt, her mind was set on medicine. Four years later, she carries a hard copy of her own novel and a signed book deal for a trilogy with HarperCollins.

NATIVE
08/26/2013
The Apportunist - Steven Buhrman / Wannado App

He used to be a linebacker, middle school teacher, political organizer, and philosopher. Now, Steven Buhrman, the founder and CEO of Wannado, is pouring all of his experiences into one grand idea-right into the palm of your hand.

Travel Writing - Atlanta

Trip.com
2014
From Before the Fires - Atlanta's History Hot Spots

This is Atlanta for those who don't know that this city has a history. While a decent bit of it did burn down (twice) and other parts were swept out and under the rug, Atlanta was an integral site for both the historic American Civil War and the modern American Civil Rights Movement.

Trip.com
2014
Eat Like You Live Here - Atlanta Edition (Inside the Perimeter)

After living in a city for a while, locals earn the title of "local" because they learn and know where to go. But with Atlanta being such a massive and spread-out metropolis, the local's knowledge is more vital than ever for visitors, especially if you're already hungry from sitting in traffic for 2 hours longer than you'd initially anticipated.

Trip.com
2014
Atlanta's Arts to Warm Your Hearts

For some strange reason, a lot of folks seem to think that all the arts in America are hoarded in New York City, Los Angeles, or Chicago. Not true, world. Though the arts scene here is smaller and/or younger, we run deep, stick together, and are often experimenting with new forms and media.

Trip.com
2014
Beyond the Traffic - Biking for Atlanta's Best

Sure, with the busiest airport in the world and one hell of an urban-sprawl problem, there are a lot of folks around Atlanta driving cars - with a lot of those cars stuck wasting hours and gas in traffic. But there's an easy, healthy, and enjoyable solution to this issue: ride a bike around town.

Travel Writing - New Orleans

Gogobot.com
2013
"How's ya momma and 'dem?" - (Some of) NOLA's Local Culture

While it may be physically located in the south, New Orleans differs immensely from any other southern city in America. As Chris Rose, one of the city's most famous journalists, once said of his New Orleans, " We dance when there is no music. We drink at funerals.

Gogobot.com
2013
More than Marie (Laveau) - The Voodoo Guide for Supernatural Seekers

Known as the Voodoo capital of the U.S., New Orleans reserves a huge spot in its thumping heart for the supernatural, the occult, and the off-kilter. And since NOLA's a gigantic melting pot of Caribbean, African, and American Southern cultures, traditions, and religions, it's only natural that some of these gods, spirits, and practitioners would setup shop here.

Gogobot.com
2013
Eat Like You Live Here - New Orleans Edition

With a truly unique combination of Cajun, Creole, French, Italian, Spanish, and good 'ole southern cuisines, New Orleans is easily the food capital of the south, if not of all America. And while it would be rather impossible for me to list every one the amazing restaurants this city has to offer, I can provide a select few spectacular ones that travel writers from afar may never discover.

Gogobot.com
2013
These Marshes Hold Memories - New Orleans' History Hotspots

New Orleans is a vital American city; anyone who tells you otherwise is a fool. Just look to your history books. Handed back and forth between the French and Spanish in its early years before being sold in 1803 to the U.S.

Restaurant Reviews

Taste + Scene
08/13/2014
For Your Inner Saucier: Fat Matt's Rib Shack

If you consider yourself an aspiring saucier - and when it comes to barbecue sauces, you've tried every one you've ever seen - then Fat Matt's needs to be your next stop. Even with all that past sauce tasting, you'll soon find your feet under Fat Matt's table at least once a month.

Taste + Scene
08/19/2014
A Little Pad Thai at Little Bangkok

In general, you can judge the quality of a Thai restaurant by its main staple dish, and Little Bangkok's Pad Thai never disappoints. Actually, it's so well done that you may find it hard to even consider other items on the menu, but the rest of it is just as good.

Ghostwriting

New Orleans City Business
06/19/2014
Coastal livelihoods, lifestyle require protection

Let me start this by saying that there's been brine in my blood since before I was born. I am a third-generation commercial fisherman, the son of Croatian-born parents who settled in St. Bernard Parish and threw me into fishing by the time I was 8 years old.

When I Work
03/14/2014
The Current State and Future of "Made in America" Business | When I Work

For some products, the fact that they are made outside of the United States' borders is of little consequence. For others, it makes all of the difference for ensuring the products' quality and dependability. Yet, which products are produced in which countries all comes down to consumer demand.

Voxer
03//20/2014
5 Ways to Improve Morale and Productivity at the Same Time

What's best for your employees is often what's best for you and your company too. Keeping them happy and with purpose will also help them to be their most productive selves. So, just follow these mutually beneficial tips and help everyone return to doing the good work.1.

Academic Papers

Vanderbilt University
2011
All the World’s a Stage

English course essay addressing Ernest Hemingway's A FAREWELL TO ARMS, Jack Kerouac's ON THE ROAD, and modern themes of American masculinity.

Vanderbilt University
2008
Where the Light Is

English course paper that discusses two poems by Earle Birney, "Vancouver lights" and "Anglosaxon Street," both of which caution humankind about the future we are creating. (Paper selected for appearance in Vanderbilt's Undergraduate Writing Symposium in 2009).

Satire Articles

Speech Writing

Public Speech
2011
Renaissance Commodores

Original speech I gave at the Berger Family Scholarship Dinner in New Orleans, as part of the Opportunity Vanderbilt fundraising initiative.

Public Speech
2010
People and Passion: A Panacea for the Poison

In which I convinced a room full of people to close their eyes and reflect upon the most influential teacher(s) in their lives. Original speech given at the Peabody College Roundtable Donor Society Dinner.

Public Speech
2010
The Luck of the Outliers

Original speech I gave at the Berger Family Scholarship Dinner in New Orleans, as part of the Opportunity Vanderbilt fundraising initiative.

Personal Essays

Written Poetry

RATTLE
07/17/2015
"People of the Megabus" by Justin Barisich

The plump, elderly woman beside me sleeps with chin to her distended chest. She rouses from a road bump, spots me reading a book of poems, and assumes me to be educated.

gutwrench.
02/08/2017
"Eleven" (for another Katrina anniversary)

May you remember like a child: the gulf’s bastard breathes in 11 today, and we’re still trying to wipe away her flood lines marking our sinking houses,

Nately's Magazine
03/14/2016
"Under the Skin"

Wrap our cracking skin in deep-root truth. Wear our hearts out where sleeves should go - help whoever's trying to fathom them not need to remove so much.

Eyedrum Periodically
04/30/2016
"The Two Taylors"

A found/blackout poem I crafted from a TIME article titled “Taylor Strikes a Chord,” as written by Jack Dickey about how pop’s savviest romantic conquered the music business.

Spoken Word Performances