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Craft to Copy: How to Write Articles for Publication
I recently gave a talk in the Dublin Central Library
entitled "From Craft to Copy", giving some advice to people who were looking
to have their writing, and in particular their articles, published. The
evening went quite well, and I certainly enjoyed myself. One of the things
that the people who attended that night suggested was that it might be
useful to put the main ideas of the talk into an article of my own.
The basic idea of the talk, and so this article, was to give writers a
few tips to help them avoid the most common mistakes I see when people
are sending in pieces for publication. I'll warn you in advance, this
is an unusually long article, even by tuppenceworth.ie standards. You
may want to print it out to read.
Why do you want to write?
We'll start before you've even put your pen to your pad. (I still write
almost all my work longhand first, and then type it up.) I want you to
ask yourself why you want to be published. Do you want to become famous?
Maybe you like the idea of being a respected pundit, or commentator called
on by the TV news to give your views on matters of weight.
Or do you want to reach people? Are you trying to persuade them of something?
Maybe you have an issue you feel passionately about, and you want to reach
people and make them see the sense of your thinking. Or maybe you have
an interesting story or view on something that you feel is neglected by
other media.
You may have decided you want to make money from writing, and may even
be willing to tailor your work to that end.
Perhaps you have a creative urge to write, and the topic is of secondary
importance to you. After all, if you see yourself as a writer, it is important
that you do actually write. So maybe your articles are exercises in style,
or showcases for your talent.
Bluntly, if your main aim is to become famous, I advise you take up something
else. Apply to go on Big Brother, or present the weather on TV3. I wish
you all the best, but nothing I say here will really be of any use to
you. If you really want it that badly, there are easier ways to be noticed.
For the rest of us, who might find that it is one of the other reasons,
or a mix of all three, which makes us start writing, I hope that some
of the pointers I'll give here will help you. Only you can make your work
meet your expectations, but one of the things that can help is having
a clear idea of what the expectations of others who'll be reading it might
be. You don't have to pander to them but it's good to know, just so you
can make that choice.
So we've decided why we want to write, so probably you're going ask yourselves
what do we write? But pause a moment, because I'm going to ask you a different
question.
Who do you want to read your work?
Now we're really heading for the heart of the matter. Are you trying to
reach a mass audience, in a national newspaper? Or are you writing for
an already well-informed group of people? Keep that question in your head
for now, we'll be coming back to it in a few moments. I just wanted to
introduce it here because there will be probably two critical sets of
readers you have to navigate to have a successful, published article.
By far the most important is that final audience, but it is also the easiest
to lose sight of.
Let us imagine that you have already decided the topic for your article.
You are a world expert in hamsters, (or you know a world expert in hamsters,
which is more likely) and you wish to alert people to a thrilling new
development in hamster technology. So what do you do first?
If your answer is rush to your keyboard/refill pad and start writing,
I think you need to read on. Caught up in the excitement of having something
to say many people will launch themselves into an article, write maybe
1,500 words and then start sending it out to as many publications as will
reveal their addresses. That's natural. You've written this great thing
and by sending it to as many people as possible you're aiming to maximise
the chance that somebody will like it and then publish it.
Pick your outlet carefully
This is where I tell you one of the great secrets of writing for publication.
Remember I said that there were two sets of readers you have to impress
to succeed. Well the first set of readers are the editors of the journals
you want to publish you. So for a moment, put yourself in the editor's
chair, and see if you've made a friend.
It's Wednesday morning and the post has come in. Slurping your Cafe Sol
overcooked coffee, you burn your tongue, scowl at your misfortune and
then start opening the envelopes. Circulars, press releases, bills, requests
for work experience... and a letter. You pull out the letter, and read
the first paragraph.
Dear Sir, it says, I am sending you a copy of my recent article regarding
the exciting new developments in hamsters. I believe that this would be
of great interest to your readers... You grunt. They didn't even bother
to find out your name. Hamsters... well it makes a change from the unsolicited
opinion pieces on Northern Ireland, you suppose. You take a look at the
article. You're dismayed as you realise it seems to go on for pages. Doing
a quick guesstimate, you'd say there was around 1,500 words there. That's
more than half a broadsheet page, including a photo. And the photo would
need to be a stock shot of a hamster, hardly the kind of thing to draw
people in...
We'll leave our bad tempered editor there for the moment. Let's examine
the reasons she's hating you already, without having read a single word
of your piece. Firstly, you didn't bother to find out who she was. This
is the easiest thing in the world to do. Phone the paper or magazine you're
writing to, and ask whoever answers the phone who the features editor
is. (At 1,500 words, you're definitely in the Features category). This
and the fact that you don't mention her journal by name tells her she's
got a form letter, and that this has gone out to who-knows-how-many other
editors.
Also, she's never heard of you. You never talked to her, or asked if she
wanted an article on hamsters. And even if you could have shown her that
she really did want an article on hamsters, you didn't agree a length,
an angle or the level of knowledge you should presume from her readers.
So without even glancing at your piece she knows it probably isn't suitable.
Now she looks at what you've given her, and finds it goes on for pages.
Remember when you're writing that your words are going to have to fit
in eventually with all the other articles around them. So if you write
1,500 words the editor would have to give you a lot of space to publish
them. Maybe she works a month in advance, and everything you've said will
be out of date by the time they could publish something that size.
So what can you do? Fortunately I'm here to tell you that all is not lost,
and you can get your chosen message, be it hamsters or anything else,
to the people who will be glad to read it. But you're going to have to
be a bit crafty.
There are two legitimate paths you can take for success. Firstly, decide
who your audience for the kind of article you want to write would be.
Then focus on the magazines that these people read. If it's people in
the know already, focus on specialist magazines. If it's a general readership,
look to broader based publications. Now contact their editors and tell
them the kernel of your story. They'll tell you if it sounds like the
kind of thing they're interested in. If they're not interested, think
how fortunate you are you didn't waste your time writing anything for
them (All right, put down the phone, swear and then think how fortunate
you are.)
Alternatively, you may decide you want to be published by a certain publication.
In which case you should analyse their style and write in a way that will
suit them. What you should never do is to follow the example of our earlier
hamster writer and sit down, write an article and then send it unchanged
to everyone and anyone.
Know what you want to say
Are you writing an opinion piece? If so, you should be qualified somehow
to hold an opinion on the matter. Or maybe you're looking to place your
finished article in the news pages. Be sure that it is news, and not rehashed
from other items you've read. Is it a review? If so, be careful to remain
professional in your writing style. Even if you hated something, "YUK!"
will not do as a reasoned argument. Tell us where it falls down, what
errors may have been made. Try to find one thing to admire in the work,
if only because you need to work particularly hard to make something which
is unremittingly negative enjoyable to read. Above all, do try to avoid
abusing the creator of the work, rather than the work itself.
So, back to our fictional career. Maybe you're going to go to the World
Hamster Festival in Frankfurt. You don't know anything about the golden
vermin, but you think that there must be a story in thousands of strange
hamster enthusiasts descending on one place and you'll write a light-hearted
look at their otherwise hidden world. (As an aside, you can be sure that
if you are ever going to attend a World Anything Festival in Europe, you
will find it will be in Frankfurt. Or, at a pinch, Cologne. Sorry about
that, but that's the way it is.) Chances are, this will be a winner with
general interest magazines, (Marie
Claire, Cosmopolitan,
FHM etc) and Sunday Newspapers (All
those glossy magazine supplements to fill. Be sure to take hundreds of
photos!) but will go down like a lead balloon with the editors of Hamster
Monthly (you're laughing at their readers).
The wider the circulation, usually, the better paid you'll be. Glossy
magazines will cough up more than most newspapers. Certainly more than
Irish newspapers. If you contact them in advance and persuade them that
you are a gifted and brilliant writer (now is not time to expose your
self-doubt) some of the richer publications might give you expenses to
cover the cost of your stay. Jam!
So you've called the Sunday Independent or the Sunday
Times and they've agreed that your ethnographic piece on hamster lovers
might be for them. (They'll never guarantee they'll print it. You can
see why if you put yourself in their shoes. What if you send them a pile
of drivel?) Do you leap on the next plane to Frankfurt? Not so fast.
Make the Editor love you
They said they wanted 750 words, but you know you'll be able to get a
good 1000 out of the stuff you have in mind. That's more words, which
a writer might feel was more space in the paper, a better profile and
a bigger article to show other people.
Freeze that thought. If an editor gives you a word-count, which they always
will and if they don't you should ask for one, that figure is engraved
in stone. They said 750 words for a reason. Probably that's the space
that's free this weekend in the magazine, and if you give them over that
they'll only have to chop 250 words from it. And you may not like where
they make the cuts. Furthermore, if you give them something outside the
wordcount they wanted, they'll hate you forever. Honestly, they will.
You'll have shown yourself to be unprofessional in your work, by not being
able to write within a given framework. So don't do it.
A professional submission will be typed. It will be in 12 or 14 point
(no larger, or you look childish. No smaller or the editor's eyes will
hurt). You should not take the opportunity to show off your collection
of unusual fonts. Times, Times New Roman or Arial will all make sure it
is your words and not how they look that your piece is memorable for.
Also, it is a good idea to communicate with editors through their chosen
medium, not yours. By post, by phone, by email, by fax- whatever way they
ask for it, that's the way you give it to them.
OK, so let's recap for a moment. You've learned to consider your audience,
to contact prospective editors and discuss what they might like from you
before you start to write. You can pick what kind of reader different
kinds of publications have, and know that you should bear that in mind
as you write. You know that a good photo will increase your chances of
getting published, and might even persuade an editor to run an article
they wouldn't normally look at.
What else is there to know, you're probably muttering to yourself at this
stage. Well, not to put too fine a point on it, are you sure your work
is ready to be published? By that I don't mean to question your writing
skills, but just to point out that I have been sent more than one article
that fails to follow the basic rules of syntax, grammar or punctuation.
Before you send your article off to the powers that be please, for all
our sakes, print it out and read it with a pen in your hand. Make notes
in the margins, cut out repetition, and rewrite if necessary. Only send
your very best work, and be sure that you know why you wrote every word,
and that you know why they're in the order you put them in. You're the
writer- if you don't know, who else will?
At the most basic level, learn how apostrophes work, be consistent in
your capitalisation, avoid exclamation marks like the plague, and unless
you're writing about a lot of acronymic bodies (NATO, the UN etc) never
use all caps. And that's it, in terms of writing. Or rather, that's it
in terms of what I can say to help you to avoid the pitfalls of starting
to write for payment. On the night of the talk, we had a meaty questions
and answers session, with one of the big questions being how to actually
get paid for your work. Some of the participants found a shortage of outlets
was limiting them. Their local newspapers might agree to print something,
but say that they couldn't pay for it. This is a hard decision for somebody
who is starting out. It is useful to be able to show a portfolio of past
published work, but there comes a point (hopefully quite soon) when you
should start to insist that you are paid for the value of your work. If
your friendly neighborhood editor doesn't see it like that you may have
to ask yourself who is getting the better part of the deal.
One outlet I suggested any English-speaking writer should consider is
the Internet. If your interest is writing about Classical music, there
may not be many outlets for you locally, but Yahoo lists 20 different
magazines in this area.
All of these will need content, and new ideas, to fill the merciless maw
of the reading public. Many of them will pay you to help take this pain
away.
Tuppenceworth.ie doesn't pay
of course, but a number of those who attended the Ilac centre talk nonetheless
expressed an interest in taking advantage of the freedom that we offer
to strike off in new directions in their writing, or to explore a broader
canvas than a newspaper interview or review would allow. I have sometimes
said to writers (usually through gritted teeth, admittedly) that I thought
their work was good enough to sell, and that they should consider taking
it elsewhere. Gratifyingly, none of them have ever wanted to.
All that remains is to tidy up a few loose ends and make some recommendations
on further resources for the freelancer. Although some of the books have
links to Amazon.com, I wouldn't recommend you necessarily buy any of them
straight away. (Although if you do decide to buy them from Amazon, please
come through us, as they give us pennies for each one sold. Precious pennies.)
Instead get the ISBN number from the Amazon page and then go to your local
library. They'll order them for you, probably for less than one Euro,
and then you can borrow them when they arrive. They may already have a
copy for you to examine there and then. This is particularly true of regularly
updated reference books, like the Writer's
Handbook. Remember, libraries are our friends.
A word of warning- books with titles like "Freelance Writing For Untold
Riches" are preying on the insecurity of writers. Steer clear. They'll
tell you everything common sense would tell you anyway, but with a lurid
cover. And despite their claims, they can't improve how you write. Chances
are, they work to a formula and recommend that you do too. This is probably
necessary for certain kinds of writing (news, or court reporting) but
it is the kiss of death to any creativity in feature writing. And in the
medium to long term your work will be both more successful and more satisfying
if you develop your own style.
Which brings us to two books on style. These are guidelines on what works
and what doesn't, which you should absorb and then subvert if you feel
you want to. But by reading them, you gain understanding into the hidden
rules of conveying information. Reading them I realised that my work was
filled with cliche and padding. Although I can't say I have eradicated
both from my writing, I do know that my awareness of them has only had
positive effects. The frequently reprinted Elements
of Style by William Strunk is generally available but even more elegant
is F. L Lucas' tiny gem Style,
which is criminally out of print, but should be snapped up if you find
a copy second hand.
In addition, decide what kinds of writers you enjoy reading. For interviews,
profiles and colourful vignettes, my own favourite collection is Mark
Singer's Mr. Personality. You will have your own favourite writers from
newspapers or magazines. Examine what you like about them and try to capture
that outlook into your own writing. If you enjoy your own writing, it's
much more likely that other people will as well.
Resources and Outlets
The Writer's Handbook is an invaluable reference tool, giving contact
names and addresses for hundreds of publications. But please bear in mind
that you should always read a few issues of their work before contacting
an editor. It is good manners, and will save you embarrassment if your
presumptions of what kinds of things they're looking for turn out to be
wide of the mark. Again, no need to buy them when your local library will
be delighted to help.
On the web, the Irish Writer's Centre has a good website,
and a free email newsletter called From the Centre. For those of you not
in Ireland, there will always be local equivalents of writer's organisations.
But this shouldn't stop you subscribing to the Irish newsletter. Who knows,
you could be the first Saudi to win the Clare County Council Short Story
competition. I've discussed some of the outlets available above. But there
are others, including little magazines, like the Stinging
Fly or The Yoke, in Ireland.
I recommend the use of Yahoo's web directory to pinpoint sites which might
be looking for articles in your chosen area. There are also sites which
aim to capture a general readership such as ourselves here at www.tuppenceworth.ie,
www.flakmag.com or www.salon.com.
Whatever you do, I wish you the best of luck in your writing career, and
let me know if you have any comments on my suggestions here. I'm particularly
interested if you have any more points you think I may have missed.
By
Simon McGarr
3rd August 2002
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