5 Things You SHOULD Say to an Editor

Last week I named a few things you shouldn’t say to an editor “5 Things You NEVER Say to an Editor” and the post was pretty darn popular so I figured it was only practical to give a couple of tips on things editor’s love to hear from writers.

5. “I need help.”

Writers like to present a tough facade. They want to show they have everything under control and worry that asking their editors for help on a piece will cost them future work. On the contrary, editors love to know a writer will come to them for help because it ensures they will get the article they asked for, not the one a writer thought they wanted. If you are unsure of what the editor wants, encounter a major issue, i.e. with sources, or are having trouble working a particular angle, let your editor know. They’ll help come up with sources or approve a new angle, it’s their job. Just don’t wait until the last minute.

4. “You can reach me at: (614) 555.1234.”

There is nothing worse than having an issue with an article right before you go to print and you can’t get in touch with the author. Sure there is email, but as you anxiously refresh your Twitter page and email hoping for a response, you find yourself wishing, woefully, they had included a phone number in their correspondence.

Many editors are assigning work to writers without ever speaking to them over the phone – the power of technology! Unfortunately, where there is power, there is pain. Contrary to popular belief, writers aren’t in front of their computers every hour of the day and in every time zone. We leave the house, have internet troubles, and *gasp* take a break from social media and microblogging! Having an alternate means of contact an incredibly important, often overlooked courtesy.

3. “I’m available for edits.”

A Twitter friend reminded me after the 5 Thing You Never Say article that writers should keep themselves available for revisions. (Thanks NancyDWrites!) Some writers will say they are too busy to do revisions or become offended at the request. Both responses are a sure way to make the Do Not Call list. You want to do your own rewrites and edits. You are familiar with the information, sources, etc. it really is your responsibility. Do you really want someone else calling all the editing shots on your piece when you can do it yourself?

2. “I saw the great piece you published on (subject here).”

This helps establish a relationship with the editor. You don’t have to be best pals, but it helps keep your name in the front of the editor’s brain and shows you are keeping up with the publication. It’s a good idea to touch base with an editor every so often without asking for work. That’s building a relationship. Remember to keep the emails short and friendly professional.

1. “Here’s my article (turned in early!).”

OK, you don’t have to say the “turned in early part,” they’ll know. Getting a quality, ready to publish article in early is like sending a gift wrapped hug to an editor – it gives them warm, fuzzies, makes their lives easier and instantly puts you into the ‘favorable writer’ category.

5 Things You Never Say to an Editor

We all joke about crazy editors and their goofball demands. Editors, for the most part, have a good chuckle too because they know some of their peers are pretty nutty. Here at FWJ we often reinforce a writer’s right to push back – professionally – against edits, cheer on as they ask for more work, better pay, etc., however sometimes a writer can take things too far. There are a few things you should never say to an editor, especially if you ever want to work with them again.

5. “You’re just a frustrated writer.”

It could be true, it really could be your editor doesn’t have it in them to formulate an article from scratch, but they have no qualms about taking your article and reworking most of it to fit their own voice. Saying so, however, is not only rude, it is also a baseless accusation. Not cool.

4. “So-in-so at (competition publication) would love this piece.”

“Perhaps they would, good luck with that *click*,” would be my response to a writer pulling that low brow threat out of their butt. There are ways to negotiate and there are ways to make an offer more appealing, a threat like this will land you and your piece in the permanent slush pile.

3. “I know what the readers want.”

No, the editors know what the readers want, you may have a pretty good idea which is why your pitching your query, but ultimately the editor has a better understanding than you. No one wants to hear you are better at their job than they are it is never a good way to make waves.

2. “I was so sick it was coming out of both ends, it looked like…”

TMI or too much information is an epidemic in this share all, instant message, Facebook society and too many writers damage their professional relationships by rushing into a awkward, often one-sided relationship with editors. If we only talk via email about queries and payments, I don’t want to suddenly become your best friend and become privy to your non-work related exploits. Yelk!

1. “I’m going to miss my deadline.”

This deadend line will quickly turn you into the ‘not go-to-writer.’ Missing a deadline is serious business. Do writers miss deadlines? Yep. Do they have to tell their editor? Yep. Should you do everything absolutely possible to make sure it never happens to you? Absolutely.

There’s this thing called ‘burning bridges’ and people are always advised against doing so. I tend to agree, the writing community is small and rude or outrageous writers are likely to earn a reputation that matches their unprofessional behavior.

Want to add to the list? Give your tips below!

Cut! How to Shorten Your Web Articles

A recent commenter here at FWJ wrote she was having trouble making the transition to web articles from traditional print. Writing for the web is significantly different as I pointed out in “P.U.! Why that Web Article Stinks.”

When people go to the web, they are often in short attention span mode.  Most readers hit the headline, skim for the important points and are onto the next piece before you can say, “Whoa!” If you bring your print mentality to the web you’ll find yourself dropped faster than a 486 PC. So how to make the cut?

• Bullet points and headlines.
  • Both work wonders in directing your reader’s attention to the main point.
  • Bullet point ideas are short and to the point.
  • Any information needed beyond the main idea can be added below keeping info clear and concise.
• Figure out what the audience needs.
  • If you are writing an article on fixing a dripping faucet, your readers do not want to hear about the history of modern plumping. Get to the point.
• Cut out ‘that’ and all of those other extra words.
  • ‘That‘ is a word (that is) often used to transition throughout a sentence, but if you eliminate it during editing, you’ll find (that) you don’t need it.
  • When you’re first transitioning from print to web, go through and read each paragraph and ask yourself if you can say it in less words while keeping the ‘voice’ of the piece.
• Turn it into a series.
  • If you have the opportunity, turn your long article into a series, breaking it up into shorter, manageable bites.
  • This is easier to do with blog posts, though an editor may be open to it as it is likely to drive more readers back to the site to read the next piece in the series.

Writing for the web requires tight writing. Be sure to suck up any extra words without sucking out the personality. It’s like putting on a girdle without cinching yourself to the point of becoming immobile. My male readers will just have to trust me on this one!

Got a question or lament? Tell me below and you may just become the inspiration for my next post. *Thank Jen for this one!

Writing Tip of the Day: Threesomes are Tricky…

Writing an article is like delving into a relationship. There is commitment instilled into each piece. Ideally, a writer works hard to learn about the piece,  researching and interviewing sources, collecting information and getting to the truth of the subject. They are eager to work with the article, finding out what works and what doesn’t. They expertly manipulate transitions until the article reaches new heights of writing ecstasy and when it’s really good they introduce the article to family and friends.

There are times when there is trouble in paradise: You’ve got an article to write and you make a date, taking time out of your very busy editorial calendar. Unfortunately, what should have been time spent alone, wrapped up in each other turns into frustrating series of starts, stops and half-hearted efforts. Your attention is elsewhere – you’re jumping up to look for the mailman or stopping to check your email, Twitter or Facebook when you should be with your article. The relationship suffers and instead of slowly taking the article to new heights, you “wham bam” it and while the goal (finishing the article) is accomplished, the experience is cold and unfulfilling.

Sound familiar?

Multitasking is an overused and over-celebrated phenomenon, especially when it comes to writing. Words and a writer are meant to go at it one-on-one and yet, many routinely praise and advocate incorporating a third party in the mix. Whether it’s social media, chores or other people, taking a couple to a threesome rarely works out for all parties. The article suffers, the writer suffers and it is easy to lose sight of what’s important – the process and experience of writing. Starting and stopping in the middle of a project makes for frustrating, slow going work. Give your piece the attention it deserves – take it out, turn off the email and Twitter alerts, let the phone go to voice mail and special thing you do with your fingers – type!

Article Writing and Your Psychic Friends

Pitching queries for magazines can be a bit like playing fortune teller. You have to be in tune to what the audience will want to read six months from now. In my post “Are you thinking about Christmas yet? You should be…” I talked about the long lead time for magazines, how writers need to use their insider contacts and hunches on trending topics to pitch specifics to mags and how they should look for new angles on evergreen topics.

What if you don’t have a talkative insider? To get a future cast, all you really need to do is talk to an expert. Experts and angles on evergreen topics can be found just about anywhere.

Keep your ears open.

Go where the people are – if you are interested in what college kids will be thinking and talking about next October, go to where they are now and soak up the atmosphere and information. Pull up a chair and your laptop in public places and eavesdrop. It’s not as creepy as it sounds, if you’re a real writer you’re naturally nosey and would be listening in anyway so you might as well use your natural curiosity to generate ideas and income. Use your Twitter and other social media to see what people are talking about.

Keep you eyes open.

Eavesdropping is fun and informative, but I have to argue people watching is more fun. I write a lot about parenting and kids issues and let me tell you there is nothing more inspiring than sitting at the mall in the middle of the day watching people with their kids. I get ideas about ways to keep kids safe, helpful tricks and time saving techniques from inventive parents, social interaction issues like “Should you discipline other people’s kids,” “Settling playdate disputes,” “When parenting styles clash,” and more!

Beyond people watching, watch for events in the field you’re interested in covering. I look for and go to parenting seminars, family festivals, lectures from experts, advertisements for new products and services, etc. Subscribe to free pr distribution sites and set up your filters to screen for topics geared toward your beat/interest or niche.

What’s past is prologue.

If you have your eye on a specific publication, often reading what they covered a year or two ago will give you a good idea on what they will cover in the future. Studying a publication is not only good way to find out what evergreen topics they’ve covered, you can also get a feel for what angle has been covered. Interview experts who proved they had their finger on the pulse of the future last year. When querying you can point to their knack for being ahead of the pack.

Got any tips for predicting publication futures? Tell us below!

5 Ways to Know You’ve Written a Good Article

There are times when you have an article finished and you wonder if you’ve really done the piece justice. Here’s a few things to keep in mind:

5. It has great sources.

Great sources include leaders or well known folks in the field, interesting subjects that give a personal perspective to the piece or sources with something new to offer on an evergreen topic. Great sources have been vetted, they provide accurate information and there’s a demand for the information they are offer.

4. There are no holes.

All the questions have been answered – the ‘why’s’ and ‘why not’s’ researched and the ‘who,’ ‘what,’ ‘where’ and ‘when’ exposed. Attention has been paid to the audience and what they want to know.

3. It’s been thoroughly edited.

The editing process went beyond spell check. The article was allowed to marinate, then read aloud, printed out and double checked. It has been screened more than Dionne Warwick at the airport.

2. It has a killer lede (lead).

The kind of lead that stops you in your tracks and pulls you in like an ant at a cook out. The lede (lead) is catchy without being cliche, makes the reader think and stops the reader from turning the page.

1. You know it’s awesome.

Writers know when they’ve given an article their best. They know when a turn of phrase is magical or when an interview subject has just given the pull-out quote. It’s almost orgasmic when a piece or a lede seems to write itself, flowing from brain through fingers and out onto the computer screen. It is equally satisfying when an article is hard won. It’s a fight between the writer and the words and only one can win. The struggle to get every transition smooth, every bullet point packed with succinct information and finally, finally, victory. An article is good when there’s no need to see the score, you already know who won.

Query Quick Tip: Get Your Query to the Right Editor

Many writers don’t realize the importance of making sure their query makes it to the correct editor. The writing market is more competitive than ever with publications either downsizing or folding completely there are more writers looking for a way into the remaining or newest magazines. Time is of the essence and being accurate with your query is an essential part to making the cut. It also shows you pay attention to detail and that makes a better impression than a “Dear Editor” query with generic name title that was forwarded on by someone in a completely different department.

Checking the masthead is no longer enough to make sure you’re sending your piece to the right person. As a result of the shifts in the publishing world, many editors and editorial assistants have changed departments, positions or moved to new magazines and the magazine’s latest masthead may not reveal the changes. Take the time to place a quick call or email to ensure that the person you’re trying to contact is still in the same position.

Same goes for contacts you currently have in your roster. Not everyone sends out those helpful and courteous emails that informs their contacts they are leaving or changing positions and even less people are listing who the new contact person will be, so it’s up to you to send a quick shout out.

Not taking the time to pin point the correct editor/editorial assistant is like taking your query and tossing it into the wind. It has about the same chance of making it into the publication. Don’t waste your time or other editor’s by sending your info to the wrong person.

Got a query question? Email me (terreece@terreececlarke.com) and get your answers in my next Query Quick Tip column!

Self Editing Tip #1: Distancing yourself from your work

Self editing is an important and often difficult part of writing. Distancing yourself from your own work can be especially tough. Think about it, you’ve poured over the subject, invested time, sweat and even, on occasion, tears into a piece and in the end you have to take a step back and go over ‘your baby’ with a critical eye.

Time It

You need time away from your piece to see it with your fresh editor eyes. I like to call this letting an article “marinate.” This marinating time gives you the opportunity to reset your brain and can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. You do need to schedule marinating time in accordance with your deadline. An editor is not going to want to hear about how your piece is late because it’s still in the sauce.

Print It

This isn’t the best ecological practice, but printing an article out will go a long way in making sure you catch any errors. It may sound old school, but there is really no substitute for a printed piece and a red pen. I find that longer articles benefit from this style of editing and shorter, blog-style pieces are less likely to need the stroke of the pen.

If the thought of printing out an article just for editing bothers your green sensibilities, simply reuse the paper for something else:

• add it to the shredder and turn it into packing paper for packages or gifts
• keep it on hand for kids drawings and doodles
• use both sides before tossing in the recycle bin

Robot It

No, I’m not asking you to bust out in your best robot dance routine while editing, though if you do put it on YouTube so I can laugh. I’m actually asking you to leave your emotions at the door. This is vital to editing especially when it comes to hitting your word count. As a writer you can become so  attached to your words that you can’t possibly find any place to trim your beautifully crafted work.

It is better for you to do the trimming than your editor because they don’t want to do it. I’ve gotten pretty darn resentful when a writer has sent in 500 words for a 300 word piece and expect me to whittle it down for them. It makes me think that they are either trying to get over, trying to get paid more than I budgeted or they are too lazy to be bothered. In any case I get cranky.

Imagine you’re a woodcarver and you have carved the most beautiful bench for a client. You deliver it proudly and when you see the piece at the homeowner’s housewarming party you’re horrified to find the client has hacked away at the legs with a handsaw because you failed to make the bench within the parameters they gave you. “But the legs were the best part!” you yell in horror. The client shrugs and mentions it just didn’t fit so they cut what they could. Edit to hit your word count so you have more control over what makes the publication.

Self editing requires distance in order to see your words as just words – words that need to be manipulated and perfected to the best of your ability.

How do you distance yourself from your work? Tell us below!

Writing When You Know Nothing About the Subject Part 1

I hear a lot of writers talk about how they won’t apply for certain jobs or worry about accepting assignments because they know nothing about what they’d be required to write about and I hope to set you free today by letting you know you don’t have be an expert on a subject to write about it.

*Sigh* Felt good didn’t it? Letting out that breath of fear and hesitation is the first step to taking your writing career to the next level. Now, back to business. How do you write about something of which you have no knowledge? Research, research, research.

Do you need to become a leading expert in the subject before you can write your lede? No, but you need to become literate in the subject before you can begin searching for and interviewing subjects. Read up on the bones of the subject and then look at your audience. Are they other experts, hobbyists or the casual reader? Knowing your audience helps you determine how in-depth your knowledge of the subject needs to be.

Read up on the subject and then contact an expert. Ask the basic questions and also ask for research and source recommendations. Ask about angles on the subject that are not often covered. Remember, even for the casual reader you want to offer something more – something that will catch a reader’s eye and draw them into the article. Every parent has read an article on infants losing their belly buttons, but an article targeting less circulated newborn belly button issues like hernias is a great and different angle.

On Thursday: Part 2 – Research Sources.

Go Against Type & Type Up Creativity

A lot of us get caught up in our niches or types of writing. Blog posts, business writing, parenting writing and it can get a little tedious. Not to say you don’t enjoy what you do, just that every so often it feels good to do something against type. Your type.

It pays to stretch your writing muscles and get creative by experimenting with different writing genres. It may be just thing to juice up your writing in your specialty. For example, technical writers don’t have many opportunities to write humorous pieces or fictional fantasy pieces. You may suck at it in the beginning, but there are always things that can be learned by learning about a new style or area.

Venturing into other areas of writing doesn’t mean you have to be in it for paying gigs. I’m not talking about writing for free, you know how I feel about that – on rare occasions is it smart – I’m talking about freebie classes at bookstores, online courses or just writing for your own eyes.

The idea is to let your brain breathe, wander and stretch without the pressure of deadlines and electric bills affecting the work. If you find you really like it you can always jump into the paid world later.

I’ve got an interest in poetry, good poetry. Poetry that goes beyond the black-inked doom and gloom poems of my angst-ridden teenage years. Oh you know you have some too, don’t laugh – at least not too hard! It gives my brain the opportunity to play with words and phrases that move me emotionally – not necessarily something you’d get from an article on potty training. That brain stretching helps me turn words and phrases in more ways than before and that helps in every area of my work.

What areas of writing do you have a non-professional interest and what are you going to do about it? Tell us below!

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