While down in New York City for New York Entrepreneurship Week last week, I made a few pit stops along the way at cool local startups and the Mashable NYC office. I was really excited to visit their office and talk with some of their writers about the tech scene especially in New York City. Mashable, as you know is an enormous player in the new media game and receives more than 30 million page views a month. They are the leaders in social media and figured they could offer a few insights to our readers.

I sat down with assistant editor Lauren Indvik and chatted about how to get a job at Mashable, their embargo policies, NYC events, and the best way to get Mashable to cover your startup. Check out our conversation below.

BostInnovation: How did you get a job at Mashable?

Lauren Indvik: My job before Mashable I was leading social media strategy at a financial news site. When I got there I didn’t know much about social media but was now responsible for driving all social media traffic, so I read Mashable every day and mimicked them as much as possible. Not just leveraging their stories or ‘how to’ section but even the changes on ther site. When Google Buzz was launched they included a buzz button on top of each story and I had to fight for real estate to make changes for us.

Mashable was my Bible, so I was constantly pitching them. Most of them were financial social media stories and they were never picking them up. Eventually they had a job opening and I decided to write this really silly email comparing Mashable and Pete Cashmore to Diana Vreerland and Vogue in the 60’s. That was a bizarre email but it did work they interviewed me and I had a job two days later.

BostInno: What is your day to day life like at Mashable and where do you get your news in the morning?

Indvik: I usually work from 8am -7pm, but my schedule shifts each day depending on events. I am typically the first person on the office and get the morning brief from our European editor who is on at night. He’s already got a really good idea for the top stories of the next day so we can start assigning them out. After that, we check Techmeme and subscribe to about 300 other blogs or news sources.

We are very flexible and some days I get to write more than others – which could be anywhere from 2 super long features to 6 news posts – other days I am picking up most of the copy-editing. We have four news editors total and really shift our duties depending on who’s out in the field.

As you know writing is addicting though, there is also something breaking, you don’t want to miss it or be late on it. I don’t have to be in the office but I literally can’t let go and stop writing.

BostInno: What sites do you read other than Mashable?

Indvik: Because I cover media I read Mediagazer a lot, it’s Techmeme for Media stories. Other than that I read a lot from Slate and some long form journalism thanks to Instapaper. I do read a lot of magazines still and other random things like a few professor’s blogs and fashion theory. During the day it is all social media, but I bookmark things constantly so I can read them later on my iPad.

BostInno: What’s the most effective way to get covered on Mashable and wow you guys?

Indvik: Big funding announcements tend to wow people. But other than that we have a Spark of Genius program sponsored by Microsoft, that is your best bet. We get so many pitches to our inboxes, that a lot of them tend to get lost. We have a two person startup team that literally reviews everything submitted. Meeting us in person at events all helps hugely if you can get us excited about your project.

BostInno: How many startup events do you attend?

Indvik: I am at events three nights a week, but we have some people who literally go every night.

BostInno: How’s the New York City startup scene?

Indvik: The New York City startup scene is blossoming and it is very important for us to be here and cover all of the startups all over the east coast.

The amazing thing about New York is that all of the media companies are here. So it is great for app developer startups like ScrollMotion – they built all of the iPad apps for Esquire and Oprah. Also the fashion industry is here so it is great for companies like Gilt Groupe. It’s more about the existing industries that are here and leveraging those connections. You can be a bigger fish in a smaller pond in NYC, rather than San Francisco.

BostInno: What startup excites you the most?

Indvik: I can’t do just one [laughing]. There are two app companies that do really excite me though. ScrollMotion, which I mentioned above is responsible for over 10% of the apps in the app store, and Loud Crow Interactive which made an iPad app called Pop Out Peter Rabbit.

BostInno: How do you feel about embargoes?

Indvik: For us we respect them, but if someone breaks an embargo early it is pretty much free game to publish the story. That’s why it’s important to have stories written ahead of time.

BostInno: What’s it like being a Mashable writer at events? Do people just throw themselves at you and give you free stuff to use?

Indvik: I suppose we could but we won’t, we don’t accept any gifts, whatsoever. I mean it is great for networking, because people are so passionate about the brand so it does go along way.

What do you think of Mashable’s content? Do you read it every day?