[Wamvan] Freelance Journalism tips

[Joanna Chiu]

I meant to send this out earlier. They're notes I took from that course on
Freelance Article Writing Level 1 course I mentioned in my last post. Hope
fellow freelancers and aspiring writers on this list find some of this
helpful:

Freelance Journalism Class 1 Notes: INTRO



About freelance writing:



    *  Freelance journalists should always be on the lookout for new ideas,
but do not take it personally if editors reject their ideas

    *  Online writing doesn't pay as much as print (about 1/5th tops)

    * It's a good time to start a career because the industry is in flux.
New writers can find different niches

    * Magazine content is about 80% freelance, editors need to fill pages

    * Benefit: 'Get paid to go to school'



Traits of a freelance writer:



    * has a natural curiosity

    * a reader

    * eye for detail

    * skeptical, questioning (even of own beliefs)

    * fair and balanced



Freelance Writing Process:



   1. Think of story idea

   2. Develop idea, research

   3. Convey idea to editor

   4. Write article



Typical Pay and Word Count:



    * In Canada, highest pay usually $1/word, in USA, $1.5/word

    * Globe and Mail pays .5/word

    * Articles used to be longer. Now features usually around 2500, and
front/back of magazines around 200-800



Developing Story Ideas



    * Think of different angles on recent news stories

    * Read publications in your field of interest

    * Trade magazines can give insider information, which you can convey to
the public in a general interest piece

    * University websites often have a lot of information on new research

    * Use personal experience and friends' experiences

    * Develop a strong and focused idea rather than propose a fact or broad
topic

    * "I would like to write about x focusing on y"

    * Once you have a story idea, think of who you could talk to for further
information



Local publications to look into:



    * Globe and Mail (accepts travel writing)

    * Georgia Straight

    * Vancouver Magazine
Class 2 Notes: INTERVIEWS, STYLE AND EDITING



INTERVIEWS



If interviewees ask to see interview questions beforehand, tell them you
can’t show them the questions, but could tell them the gist of the article



Look for experts: people interviewed in similar articles, company profiles,
google “____association”

Look for people who have written books, articles, research on the topic, ask
friends for contacts



Politicians: pretty easy to contact at municipal level, tough for provincial
or federal (restrictive speaking policies, only Ministers could speak and
often unavailable)



If stuck, could use quotes from other media with credit.

Ex. ___ told the New York Times…



Keep track of contacts in a file (magazines want contact info) as well as
research sources



If you don’t have an assignment yet, let interviewees know it’s an early
stage for a quick interview



STYLE NOTES



1-9: spell out



10 and above: numerals (except if the number starts a sentence)



Apostrophes



1970s and CDs, not 1970’s and CD’s



but ‘70s and ‘80s okay



rock ‘n’ roll (because a and d missing)



____?” says Smith.



It is called the “vuvuzela”, and it’s hugely popular



Don’t use too many square bracket edits, can paraphrase instead



To leave out parts of a quote:



1.    “_____,” says Smith, “________.” (but careful not to change meaning)



To leave out specific words:



“The dog bit the man … and it was terrible.” (omitted) (spaces on both
sides)



Use exclamation marks sparingly



“____,” he says excitedly is usually better than including an exclamation
mark



He said it was his “worst moment ever.” (don’t need comma before quote”



Director of Bill Smith says ____



Cm, ft



Use cannot, do not instead of can’t and don’t



Careful of canadian and american spelling



Canadian Oxford Dictionary has all canadian spelling



Americans more picky



Titles of books, movies, etc usually in italics



CD titles usually italics and song titles in quotes (check pub)



Every person should have their say is wrong



Every person should have his or her say



All people should have their say (way to rephrase to make smoother)



“The audience” is singular



The audience members sit in their seats.



For other languages, only italicize if it’s not in common usage



Ex. Don’t need for hors d’oeuvres



General Editing Tips



Check lead



Is the article making any assumptions about what people know?



Covered everything? Anything extraneous? Tangents



Check that tense is consistent



Check name spelling, and employment title



When asking friends for help, best to ask specific questions. Anything
confusing, missing?
RESOURCES



Periodical Writers Association of Canada (PWAC)



Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ)



Writers’ Union of Canada



Journalism school websites



Research ryerson, carleton, univ. of western ontario






June 29: MARKETING





Even with full rights, a magazine never owns your idea, so you can write
different articles on same topic (Efficient, but can get boring_



When working in same market with competing publications, you need to
disclose stuff that might be of concern to them and say how you would write
piece differently.



Careful of conflicts of interest (if you know an interviewee, careful about
what you say)



Once your piece is accepted, the contract is sent to you either in email
(accept by default) or faxed/scanned



*Queries*: strike a balance between making them perfect and sending them out


Important to take the leap to send queries



Know your customer, editor, readers, what they’re looking for, and writers’
guidelines



Can look at information magazines have available for advertisers



Subscribe to your top choice magazines to get to know the content



Either start with idea, then pitch or think of magazine, then think of
ideas, and pitch stories that would interest them



Keep query simple and to the point



Don’t forget to follow up!



Always pitch again to magazine that you wrote for to become a regular
contributor.



Ideally, editors will offer you work and you won’t have to keep querying.



In your last email to editor, can mention your next idea in the last
paragraph, but you still have to make the idea very compelling. Never get to
stop “selling” ideas.


Specializing vs. generalizing



Being an expert gives you an advantage



However, it limits you to publications that only want certain articles; it’s
hard to be just a specialist



Generalists appeal to broader range of editors



Usually, people are generalists with few different specialties (often
personal interests)

* *
WRITING AS BUSINESS



Home business: important to keep all receipts for things related to writing
(can write off on taxes).



Can write off part of home, heating, car, computer, books, supplies (ask
accountant for help)



Don’t need to register, just fill out self-employed form

Keep track of invoices/income



Don’t write off exaggerated expenses when you’ve made little income, has to
be relative



Writers’ websites helpful, check charles montgomery website, james mackinnon
for examples



Can change an article into book proposal



Tyee a good place to start



Make a goal of one query per week or something like that



Break into doable tasks



Bad to write for: Vancouver View sucks at paying writers



Careful about schemes online



Online, scams “you pay us, we’ll publish…”



Good magazine: http://www.vancouverreview.com/ good, quite smart, literary



writing competitions at legitimate publications okay with entry fees (some
come with subscription)



Writing with a day job very do-able



A lot of research/interview arrangements can be done through email



Workday could be very varied, need to be disciplined, try to schedule days,
block out times, realistic parameters




July 6: Guest Speaker John Ince (Editor at Vancouver Mag)

* *

GENERAL TIPS



Different ways to deliver stories, tell good stories in an interesting way



Look for ideas all day, be aware for things that are
interesting/scary/strange (use own emotions as a clue)



Stories often have central characters  (either very representative of topic
or bucks trends. People doing stuff are more interesting than people)



Writers help people understand the world better, and impose a narrative on
the world



QUERY TIPS



Make it clear why you are sending query to particular editor



Be concise and supper accurate, explain why the story is suitable for mag.



Start query with an anecdotal lead



Okay to not tell all the info in the story, but pitch must deliver its
promises



Get a sense of who you’ll talk to



Give either general word count or indicate which section of mag you piece
would fit



Put your contact info again at the end of your letter



For timely stories, you can say that you could finish at a certain time.
Otherwise, editors will give you deadlines



Newspapers: speed is more important



Some pre-interviews are good and you can include quotes from interviews in
query



Show, don’t tell



Can start query or article at the heart of action then backtrack to explain



Don’t need a lot of lead up



Never show interviewees the article before publication. First allegiance to
readers



If the content is unflattering, it’s not libel.

Make sure you keep copies of recordings in case interviewees say that they
didn’t say something.



If story is about people, good to start with the people (ie. Don’t start by
describing the location)



Write as you would speak, read aloud to edit



Strong voice if you write naturally



When sending email queries, paste letter in email, and don’t send as an
attachment.



*QUERY TIPS: (Jennifer Van Evra) *

* *

Don’t mislead people or be meandering



Graph means paragraph



Nutgraph: tells what story is about, gives away the story, should be subtle



Use characters to confirm facts instead of just stating them



Transitions should be invisible between characters’ stories and informative
sections



Stories usually end with summary or look to the future



At end of queries, explain what sets you apart from other writers, and what
may make you particularly qualified to write the story. Editors will expect
you to be an expert on the topic



Your query’s writing should reflect the tone of the publication



Basic Query outline:



1st paragraph: Lead, hook interest

2nd: Spill the beans about what the article’s about

3rd How you will do it, who you will talk to, etc.



By end of query, the editor should have a good sense of what the finished
article will be like, but be careful not to write the article in your query



Suggest title of article



Humour’s usually good



Say whether it will be a short piece, short feature, or full length feature



It’s worth it to contact interviewees in proposal stage, but sometimes,
interviews fall through.


MISC NOTES



To get interview contacts, use friends, facebook, forums, list serves,
google

* *

Vancouver magazine “top stories” profile characters that introduces us to a
bigger world



Most people don’t mind meeting for interviews outside of 9-5 hours



* *
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