Archive for ◊ March, 2008 ◊
Traveling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, “I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.”
— Author Lisa St. Aubin de Teran, Off the Rails, 1989
Here it is, for easier surfing. The index to the Query Letters That Sell course.
.
Query Letters That Sell:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/01/query-letters-that-sell/
Introduction:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/01/qlts-introduction/
1.1: The Idea Factory:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/01/the-idea-factory/
1.2: A Closer Look at Your Life:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/01/look-at-your-life/
1.3: Brainstorming Techniques:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/01/brainstorming/
2.1: On the Market Hunt:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/01/markets-2/
2.2: Finding Markets:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/01/finding-markets/
2.3: Finding Magazines You’ve Never Heard Of:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/01/magazines/
3.1: Know the Market:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/01/know-market/
3.2: Deciphering the Demographics:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/01/demographics/
4.1: Shmoozing for Quotes:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/01/quotes-2/
4.2: Hunting Down the Experts:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/01/finding-experts/
4.3: Tuning into Public Places:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/01/finding-people/
5.1: Pieces of the Puzzle:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/02/pieces/
5.2: Hook ‘em Right:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/02/leads/
5.3: Parts of the Query:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/02/parts/
6: Get the Oomph:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/02/oomph/
7: Off They Go:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/02/submission/
8: The “Other” Types of Queries:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/02/other-queries/
9.1: Additional Tips - 1:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/02/additional-tips-1/
9.2: Additional Tips - 2:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/02/more-tips-2/
9.3: Additional Tips - 3:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/02/more-tips-3/
10.1: 5 Queries a Day?:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/02/5-queries-a-day/
10.2: Smart Querying 1:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/02/work-smart-1/
10.3: Smart Querying 2:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/02/work-smart-2/
Dudes, I’m published in TIME!
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1642444_1726285_1726235,00.html
It’s weird how people can simply look at you and jump to conclusions. Not negative, always, but conclusions. You’re an Indian woman, so you must be really nice and cultured. You’re an American man, so you must have slept with at least a dozen women. Things like that. And that’s not all bad either. I don’t mind being called nice, and I’m sure most men won’t take offense to being regarded as studs when they know that in reality, the only way they can get a woman is if she’s totally drunk and half passed out.
Anyway, so I’m walking down the street, minding my own business. Well, for the most part, since I do like chatting with random people and asking for directions and saying things like, “God! Are books really that expensive here or are you just making a goddamn fool out of me?” I shop, I explore, it’s a busy market, and I’m the only foreigner around, surprisingly.
But what gets me is this: every DVD guy I pass, and I do mean every, stops me and goes, “Sista! You like romance movie! I have romance movie!”
Is it written on my face?!
I mean, yeah, sure, I’m a chick. We like romance movies. But I’m known to enjoy a fair share of gratuitous sex and violence. And I think Bruce Lee is kinda cute and can totally kick ass. Okay, sure, I haven’t seen any of his movies, if you must put too fine a point on it, but still. I could be. I could be that woman who has many different interests that aren’t just limited to romance movies. I mean, come on, seriously.
But do these silly DVD seller men know this? Apparently not. Because they keep shoving these romance movies in my face.
Is it because I’m a woman? Is it because I’m a foreigner? Is it because I’m Indian? What is it about me that gives the impression that I must like romance movies and romance movies only?
I’m just about out of the DVD market, so I pick up some more cool odds and ends. That’s when the second phase starts.
“You really like Ghana, don’t you?” is a question at least three people ask me in one form or the other.
Of course! I love Ghana. I’m going to be quite sad when I leave. It feels like home. I’m happy and comfortable here, not judged for my choices, and it feels like I belong. It’s great. And Accra is such a vibrant city, such wonderful and friendly people, such a rich blend of culture and modernity. I love Ghana.
But, and I ask you again, is it written on my face?
I walk through town stunned by these questions. No one’s ever asked me either one before, and I wonder what it is about me that makes people think I’m a romance freak who’s really enjoying her stay in Ghana.
I buy myself some chocolate pie-like things (marshmallow sandwich biscuit coated with chocolate, if you must know), two books, and come back home to look at my loot for the day: A DVD that I’ve been clutching to my chest all afternoon which has sixteen love classics and a kissing couple on the cover, and my colored-like-a-Ghanaian-flag Ghana wristband.
I had the opportunity to meet an editor at a very large publication recently, and as much as I’d like to namedrop and establish credibility, I’ll respect his privacy (and save my career prospects!) by keeping him anonymous.
That said, he’s written hundreds of articles and features, is profiled frequently, and has lived and reported from several countries (we bonded over Indian memories and Ghanaian prospects).
He offered me the following tips:
1. “If I’m paying you for two days, work only two days.” It’s awesome when an editor says this because it shows he has an understanding of the freelance life (and my obsessiveness). Freelancers, including me, regularly over-research, over-report, and over-write. Getting paid for two days? Work only two days.
2. “I don’t always want breaking news.” New-ish works. New angles to old stories work. New research questioning old theories work. There are a million ways to make a story new and it’s not always breaking news.
3. “You don’t have to be very detailed in your queries.” If you’ve worked with an editor long enough (I’d been communicating with him for about three months), one-line ideas, story leads and what-do-you-think proposals work just fine. My editor did, in fact, discourage me from putting in too much work up-front.
4. “Match your story ideas to what’s happening in the news.” Best advice I’ve ever received. He gave me examples and taught me how to match news to evergreen ideas. It’s easier to sell a story about safe tourism in India when a British teenager is murdered in Goa. Your article on residencies offered to exiled writers will be all the more interesting if the work of an exiled author is being debated on every television channel in the country. That tourism in Africa pitch? Sell it when the American President is visiting.
5. “Don’t over-research to the point where you lose focus.” This is a specific problem of mine, but other writers have expressed feeling frustrated about it as well. Focus on the core of your story and build around that. If you keep adding more additional and equally interesting layers, it will become chaotic. Case in point: I pitched a very timely story about Tibetan exiles in India and a trend I’d observed within the community. I over-researched, of course, and discovered through my contacts that the changes I’d observed in India were even more pronounced in Tibet itself. The project scope soon multiplied and instead of exiles in India, we were discussing Tibetan life in China, of which I had no first-hand experience. Soon enough, there was a committee of editors involved, and since neither they, nor I, could confirm our (new) findings, we had to let that story idea rest. Oh, and my initial idea? It’s still relevant, timely, and has adequate proof.
When you have two equally interesting findings about the same topic, my editor suggested, write two articles.
Posted with permission.
**
Dear colleagues,
In late February this year, we carried out an informal survey of freelance journalists in India. The questionnaire itself was ad hoc, but the trends were clear—most freelance journalists in this country are perceived to be the stepchildren of the Indian news media.
Though some indications are there, we want to come up with concrete numbers. Hence, this—the first ever research study about the status of freelance journalists in India. We want to look at job (in)security, payment defaulters, general working conditions, legal frameworks, copyrights, arm-twisting tactics of news establishments, et al. And for this, we need just 15 minutes of one’s time.
If you are a freelance journalist, please follow this link:
http://surveys.newswatch.in/index.php?sid=84996&lang=en
The identities of all respondents would be kept confidential.
Regards and best wishes.
Subir Ghosh
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