Uncategorized | Words on the Page

Insanity Via Craig’s List

Posted on August 3, 2011 by lwidmer

It’s nuts around here today. I have a ton of stuff to get done before I head off to Maine tomorrow. Five interviews between 11 and 4:30, car in for an oil change (who has time?), and negotiations on yet another job that came in on Friday. Thanks to Wendy Johnson for sending over this…

Common Sense and the New Freelancer

Posted on August 2, 2011 by lwidmer

Super day yesterday. I managed to get nearly 500 words down on a 1,500-word article and I’ve yet to touch the interviews. It’s going well, amen. I scheduled a few more interviews – three for today – and I hope to have most of these articles at least roughed in by the time I shut…

Things That Make Us Stronger

Posted on August 1, 2011 by lwidmer

Can I just say how predictable some facets of our profession are? I sat nearly idle the last two months. Luckily the projects I had paid enough, but I spent a ton of time on marketing and personal projects. The second I realize our vacation plans are firming up, in come not one, but three…

Things That Make My Head Explode

Posted on July 29, 2011 by lwidmer

It was a good work day yesterday. I stuck to my plan, which was to concentrate on my larger project in the morning and get some new queries out in the afternoon. I received an assignment from a magazine I hadn’t contacted, so that was a nice bonus. I like when they have topics and…

This Job, Not That Job

Posted on July 28, 2011 by lwidmer

Yesterday was another day where I spun my wheels and got very little done. I managed to get one query out before the daughter came home and took me to lunch. Too much time at the mall later, I insisted we come home. I’m not buying anything, and I can’t window shop when all I…

Calling in Reinforcement

Posted on July 27, 2011 by lwidmer

Yesterday proved to be a difficult day to get anything done. I had a dentist appointment in the morning – there went three hours. I got home and the phone rang. Normally, I don’t take personal calls in the middle of the work day, but I hadn’t heard from my sister in a few weeks…

Killing Your Image – Internet Style

Posted on July 26, 2011 by lwidmer

Yesterday was a good day. I finished a small project within an hour in the morning, tweaked another one, and got some really focused queries out the door. I’m excited because I know the queries are spot on. The only thing left is to hope the editors are buying. I managed to get a personal…

Good Monday

Posted on July 25, 2011 by lwidmer

Friday’s temp(Reading from the thermometer sitting outside – in the shade) Busy weekend. We spent much of it in the basement, the temperatures being just part of the reason. Actually, I guess you could say it was the entire reason. We were trying to get more AC to flow upstairs into the northern-facing rooms. Oddly,…

Coming to a Journalistic Head

Posted on July 22, 2011 by lwidmer

Done! It took all day, but I finished my article. I wanted to make this one as good as I could – there were some conflicting study results and I wanted to present all the evidence clearly and with no implications as to whose study was correct. It seemed like a quiet little topic, but…

Pitch Perfect

Posted on July 21, 2011 by lwidmer

Great work day yesterday. I managed to get a good chunk of work done on my article. If my day hadn’t been interrupted by an appointment, I would have finished it. Today, for sure. I worked a little later than usual – 6 pm – because of the interruption. I spent an hour trying to…

Cathy Miller

July 21, 2011

I don't do much pitching as 99.9% of my articles are ghost-written and pitched by my client. But, your Who is your audience question is key. On one of my ongoing gigs for ghost-written articles, my client writes (through me) for an audience different from her norm. Sometimes I have to remind her that she is writing for that different audience.

Great tips here, Lori-per usual. 🙂

Ashley

July 21, 2011

This reminds me of an idea I had pitched, but it wasn't a fit. I need to shop that idea around a bit because it would make a great story. Just gotta figure out who would want it 🙂

Great tip on looking at the "most read" and "most commented" section. Super easy to do, and provides great information.

Paula

July 21, 2011

I love the idea of checking on the magazine's website for reader comments.

A couple of other things to ask or consider:

When was the last time they covered a similar topic? (Most magazines won't revisit the same topic right away; others might have a monthly feature on that particular topic – but it might be written by their regular columnist.)

What sidebars or extras can I offer? (A short sidebar on a related topic? A quiz? Photos? An info box? etc….)

When I'm narrowing which market to pitch an idea too, I number the candidates. Highest pay first, but another big consideration is: how many freelance articles to they really use?

That info can often be found in Writer's Market, but if you flip through a magazine and compare bylines with the masthead you'll get a better idea of how much of the writing is done in-house.

Paula

July 21, 2011

Of course I meant "to" and not "too." What can I say? It's not even 10 AM and it already up to 85 in my office.

Lori

July 21, 2011

Switching audiences is tough, Cathy. Good thing she has you there to give her that reality check!

Ashley, you could also try landing on a publication you want to work with and modifying the idea to fit it. Why not work it in reverse?

Great advice, Paula. I've found if the idea's been done within the last two years, they won't touch it unless you're coming at it from an entirely different perspective.

I've done the same with seeing whose name is on the byline. If yu see four or five articles per magazine per staffer, your chances of an assignment are slim.

Ashley

July 21, 2011

Good point, Lori. Looking at it from both directions just provides that many more opportunities to get it assigned!