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!

A Query Question

I got a great question from a FWJ follower & thought it would make a great post. Aja writes:

Hi Terreece,
I am not sure if this fits with your query tip column or not. I know that most queries include information on who will be interviewed for the article but at what point do you line up the interviews? Do you contact the person prior to submitting the query and ask whether they would be be willing to be interviewed and conduct the interview after the article is accepted, do you interview the person first, then submit the query, or do you pitch the article based on who you would like to interview and then contact that person. Thank you for reading my question.

Hi Aja!

I always contact a source before I include them in a query. Even if you have a relationship with the source, it is always good form to get their permission first. Deciding to conduct the interview before sending out the query is really up to the writer. In my query letters I usually introduce the source(s), give a wee bit of background information like their area of expertise, i.e. the name of their new book or other information to show how they are connected to the article and sometimes I include a few sample questions.

Sometimes you are not able to land the source before you want to send in your query. It is okay to list a few people you’d like to contact, but make sure you make it clear you haven’t spoken with them. If you are unable to land them after you’ve been given the assignment, be sure to update your editor and provide an alternative and comparable source. This scenario can get a little complicated if who you said you’d be interviewing is the key reason you scored the assignment.

If you do interview a source before getting the assignment approved, make it clear to them that you are shopping the article around. The worse thing you can do is give the impression that the article has already been assigned. If you tell a source you hope to have the article placed in one magazine, but wind up selling it to another, make sure you update them. Some sources have issues with certain publications and it just makes sense to cover all your bases. Hope this helps and thanks for the question Aja!

Got any advice for Aja? Got a query question? Email me today & you may just see your question on Freelance Writing Jobs!

Quick Query Tip: Work Your Contacts

Writers tend to meet with, connect and befriend other writers. We build social networks and professional contacts that are both supportive and invaluable. These same contacts can be used to help get your foot in the door with editors and publications.

Now before you hustle off to pitch a magazine using the name of a Twitter friend who has also written for them,  you should know there is a fair amount of courtesy and responsibility that comes with using someone’s name to further your career.

The first thing you have to do is ask the person – seems obvious, but many people ignore this simple common courtesy.

Remember, before you ask permission, be sure you two actually have a relationship. Have you ever recommended a friend or family member for a job only for them to turn out to be a less than stellar or, at times, adequate worker? The same thing happens in writing.

An established writer can count on a couple of things: requests for hook-ups and advice. Advice is free to give as long as a person has time, but a hook-up costs. Many established writers are reluctant to allow their good name, one they’ve worked years to build, to be muddied with an editor because a writer-friend turned out to be a chronic deadline blower.

Part II of Work Your Contacts will discuss when and how to ask a friend for help and how to use their name to attract the attention of an editor.

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!

Writing Tip of the Day: Simultaneous Query Submissions

Every so often I’ll get a timeless writing question: What about simultaneous queries?

Old school rules dictated that unless the magazine indicated, you never submitted the same query to anyone else until you received a rejection from the first publication. This is a oft grumbled rule with writers because it could take months to receive a rejection for a piece and then after waiting those months you have to start the process all over again.

Editors cite concerns over their processes and the time it takes to approve an article, place it, pay for it, publish it only to see the same article in a competitor’s magazine.

Over time, the lag time between article submission and approval or rejection has been cut dramatically with the use of email submissions. Now a writer can receive a yay or nay almost as soon as they send it out, which can be a bit disconcerting when it’s a nay, for some reason fast rejection stings a little bit more.

Alternatively, editors have begun to understand and receive more pushback from writers who don’t want to wait on a long approval process. So they have begun to accept simultaneous submissions as long as the piece hasn’t been submitted to a competing publication. So what should you do?

Ask.

I personally like to wait on acceptance or rejection when the publication explicitly requests no simultaneous submissions. However, I’ve talked with writers who incorporate their simultaneous submission request in their query letter. There are others still who just take a chance and submit regardless of publication preference or notification.

I don’t recommend the last course of action because should you happen to get accepted at competing publications you’ll have some awkward explaining to do.

Got an opinion or tip on simultaneous submissions? Tell us below!

Are you thinking about Christmas yet? You should be…

If  you are thinking about pitches for magazines you need to be several months ahead of the curve. I know the last thing anyone wants to think about right now is snow, cold weather and roasting chestnuts, but thinking ahead is a great way to get your pitch approved.

When everyone else is thinking about decking the halls, editors are looking to spring fashions and top summer vacation spots. Thinking and working on magazine editors’ schedules will help in getting your work to the top of the heap.

When thinking ahead, writers need to balance general with specific. Editors take risks looking to trends and future happenings and if you think you have a good beeline on a trend, go ahead and pitch it. Be prepared with great sources or a record of being an expert in the field to back up your pitch.

When pitching the general, look back at the last two years or more of seasonal information. This is a lot easier now with magazines putting much of their information online. A magazine isn’t going to put out the same topics every year at every holiday season. Even if summer articles always talk about sun safety, there’s something new offered each time, new products, latest research, etc. Think about a new angle, perspective or product debut you can add to your pitch.

Baby Talk magazine had a great article this month on sun safety for moms and talked to several moms who found out they had skin cancer. They talked to one mother about how she didn’t think she could get it because of her olive skin tone. The stories took a tried and true topic and made it interesting again.

There are many components to be a great freelance writer. Being able to anticipate is one of them. What trends are you recognizing in your niche or in an area you’re interested? What magazines would be receptive and why? How timely will the information be in six months? Answer these questions in your pitch and you may have yourself a winner!

Caller You Say What? Questions About Queries

By Terreece M. Clarke

I always wanted my own talk show :0) Today I’m going to answer a few of the great questions I’ve received:

Rupa Says:

Hi Terreece,
Off topic – but I wanted to return to the query challenge. (Yes, I am working on it!)
I have spent some time studying query letter tips and sample queries online. I have never done this before and want to learn to do it right.
I have a few questions -
Is it absolutely necessary to mention in the query some of the names of the people I will be talking to and the quotes I will be using in the article? I guess names and quotes do add some personality and interest and convince the editor that I actually am capable of doing the research…But currently I don’t have the sources or quotes, although I will be getting them before starting the article (If I get chosen to write!) So, is it ok to leave that part out in the query or should I first work on the sources and quotes?

Hi Rupa, thanks for the question. It’s not necessary to include exactly who you will interview. While yes, it does give the query an extra kick to list a respected expert or someone who’s recently published a book on the subject, it is also okay to list a general roster. “I will interview an expert in the field of origami as well as a member of the National Origami Organization,” one way to leave yourself open to some wiggle room.

Nina Says:

Hi Terreece,

This may be off topic. But I am looking for some answers. I am starting my query process, I have never been published in a print magazine. I have read that a great way to break into a magazine, would be to interview an expert. My issue is, how do you come up with questions that are news worthy? For example I want to query a magazine about a natural health supplement. How can I construct a solid interview? Any help would be appreciated.

Hi Nina! A great place to start would be to research current news on the health supplement. What do proponents of the supplement say about it? What about those who dispute its use? You can also think about it in terms of the magazine’s focus. For a parenting magazine you could interview an expert in natural medicine and its affects on pregnancy or use while breastfeeding, for a male fitness magazine the emphasis could be on performance enhancement – and I mean athletic, not the other kind, though if you find information on that it would be a good angle! Find an angle that appeals to your publication and construct an interview around the angle. Remember to be flexible during the interview because there are times you never know where the interview will take you.

Got a question about writing? Working on the query challenge & need some help? Email me or post your questions below!

Query Tip: Date Your Publication

By Terreece M. Clarke

There are a variety of things a writer must take into account when making a pitch to a publication. A writer must meet and get to know the publication. So I’m advising writers to take it out on a date.

Make an appointment, clear out the distractions and ask the publication about itself:

• Are you printed often?
• Who’s your audience?
• What’s your tone? Are you authoritative? Cheeky? Friendly?
• How much of you is written by freelancers? Any specific sections?
• What have you talked about in the past year?
• Are there certain topics you just love to have?
• What’s your editorial calendar like?
• How much do you pay?
• Do you offer kill fees?
• What about rights? Are you naughty – taking all rights or do you like first serial North American rights?
• Who edits each section?

After a lovely date in which you two had so much to talk about you should go home and decide if you think there’s a future there. Are you two compatible? Would the publication be interested in what you have to offer? Are you willing to take the next step and make your intentions know through a promise ring (query) in front of the folks (editors)?

Getting a good feel for the publication is one of the most important things a writer can do because editors can tell when a writer is comfortable with its audience. Nothing will sour the relationship more than a pitch that is completely out of sync with the audience and tone. It signals sloppy research and less than noble ideals. It’s like using your ex’s ring to propose to a new love – not cool.

How is the query challenge coming along? What steps have you taken to get started?