Tag-Archive for ◊ magazines ◊

24 Jun 2011 The Difference Between Newspapers and Magazines
Author:  |  Category: Ask Mridu  | Tags: , , , , , ,  | 2 Comments

Would you do a post on how to pitch the big newspapers such as the Times, Washington Post, etc.? Is it different from pitching magazines since newspapers already have reporters on staff?

.

This is basically the reverse question from yesterday, and like I said, the process can be different between magazines and newspapers because of the frequency and style of the two mediums. Here are my top tips for pitching newspapers:

1. Keep it short. Newspaper editors don’t have the time to wade through two pages of quotes and sidebar suggestions. Newspaper editors, even those from the Times and Washington Post, understand that you’ll be doing the bulk of your research and reporting later.

2. Don’t pitch breaking news. Once you’ve started writing for a newspaper or news magazine regularly, they might be open to suggestions or giving you assignments, but for your initial contact, avoid stories that need to go in tomorrow’s paper. Trust me, their reporters have it covered.

3. You know why breaking into the New York Times is so difficult? Because their editors and their correspondents read everything and know of pretty much everything that’s going on in a region. If one doesn’t, the other does. Can you find a story or trend that is new enough that none of them have heard of or thought of covering? It’s one of the hardest parts of breaking into these big papers, but that one big idea will be what you need to get your foot in the door.

4. When I first started pitching the Times, I made the classic mistake of sending through big investigative story ideas. Why I thought they’d see it fit to assign 4,000-word stories that would cost them thousands in legal fees to an unfamiliar writer, I don’t know, but I wanted to sparkle. I wanted to wow them with what I could do, these amazing stories that I could find. They never responded. So now when I say pitch a big idea, I don’t mean stories that are going to take you months or years to report. I mean find stories that are interesting to their audience but under-reported. Stories that are reported in local or regional language papers, stories that haven’t yet found their way to the mainstream but are important and timely. Again, I think this is actually the hardest part of writing for big newspapers and magazines, this finding of the idea. And needless to say, it can be a time-consuming enterprise. The good news is that it does get easier with practice.

5. If it’s been published in the Washington Post or other competing papers, don’t pitch it to the Times and vice versa. The editors have seen the story already. If they want to cover it, they’ll get their correspondents on it even before you’ve finished writing the pitch.

6. If it doesn’t have recent significance, don’t pitch it. Old stories are often re-reported, but they need to have new angles and new relevance to them. Unless your idea, even if it’s a feature story, has a news hook, it’s not going to work.

7. Find the right person to pitch. Newspapers are complicated beasts with editors spread over the entire world. If you’re an international writer, do you pitch to the bureau here, the editors in New York, section editors, what? The answer is that it depends from paper to paper and section to section. Find out. Do your research. Check out the bylines. Read the darn thing.

8. Finally, relax! Take a deep breath. Yes, it’s the New York Times or the Washington Post or whatever, but as with every other publication, the worst they can do is say no. And maybe they’ll say no again. And again. Until eventually, one day you’ll find an idea that’s the perfect fit, the query that hits the right spot, and you’ll wake up in the morning to an e-mail that says, “Hi Mridu, I’m so-and-so from the New York Times. I’ve just gotten the go-ahead to work with you on this story.”

Good luck!

23 Nov 2010 22. If you’re a good writer, you WILL succeed
Author:  |  Category: E-Course: Freelancing Fact or Fiction?  | Tags: , , ,  | Leave a Comment

If you’re going to take away one thing from this e-course, let it be this: good writing is expected and there are hordes of people who are providing it. Being exceptional and talented may get you noticed, but what’s going to keep you fed and fed regularly is the ability to spot a good idea.

You are not only competing with freelancers for space in magazines and newspapers, you are also competing with the staff. Unlike a staffer who gets a monthly paycheck and therefore must be given space in the magazine, however, you have to prove yourself repeatedly.

Writers place a lot of focus on getting the query letter right, and I do agree that presentation is important. But if there’s no meat to the story, it doesn’t matter how fabulously you write it, it’s still a dull story. Interesting stories pretty much write their own queries. You have to make an editor think, “Wow, I didn’t know that,” because working in national newspapers and magazines, they’ve pretty much heard it all.

This is why stellar ideas are assigned to average writers all the time, because editors know they can go in and fix up the writing.

So definitely work on your writing, because that’s a given and unless you can write decently, you don’t have a chance in this competitive industry. But don’t ignore the other important factors that go into the making of a writer or journalist: the ability to spot a good idea, the ability to research, and the ability to put yourself out there repeatedly without getting bogged down by rejections.

06 Jul 2009 A Byline by Any Other Name
Author:  |  Category: Ask Mridu  | Tags: , ,  | 4 Comments

Doesn’t it put a question mark on my credibility to be ghost-writing or writing under an anonymous name (since my present contract doesn’t allow me to write for other publications)? I’m thinking that editors aren’t exactly going to rejoice when I propose that I’ll write under a fake name because I’m already working full-time somewhere else. At least, that’s how it seems to me, which is why I didn’t pursue the thought. So I don’t know how to go about that, can you help?


First of all, I have to say this: if you’ve signed a contract with your company that forbids you from freelancing, then you can’t. Sorry. Contracts are legally binding, and in no way will I encourage that you break them. What you can do, is either quit your job and get a new one that allows you to freelance on the side, or jump into freelancing full-time. Which option you choose is obviously going to depend on your personal circumstances.

I would also really avoid pissing off your bosses at work, because most freelancers who’ve worked at magazines/newspapers usually start out by freelancing for their old bosses as they add other clients to their repertoire.

That said, there are many reasons freelancers write under pseudonyms, including but not limited to, a name change after marriage, to distinguish one kind of work from another, and to keep real life separate from literary life. While an editor will need to know your real name (unless you don’t want a check!), most don’t care a bit whether you’re writing under your name, your pet’s name, or your imaginary friend’s name. All they care is that you deliver good work. On time.

Like I’ve mentioned on this blog before, I used to write how-to articles under a pseudonym, because it brought in quick and easy money, and I didn’t want that work to turn up on the top results in Google when anyone searched for my name. I knew I wanted to give that work up as soon as possible, knew I wasn’t going to be using those clips, and didn’t really care if that work was associated with my name or not.

I know that doesn’t answer your question. I completely understand how frustrating your situation may be, having walked away from some great job offers at the beginning of my career for precisely that reason. I really would recommend talking to the editor at the publication where you work and asking if you can take on some extra articles in the subjects and areas that interest you, so that you can get some of those clips and experience.

I’m also hoping some readers can chime in with their thoughts, since I know a lot of people freelance part-time. How do you handle this problem?

13 Feb 2009 The Way Up
Author:  |  Category: Life, Love, Writing  | Tags: , , , ,  | One Comment

I never had a mentor, the way some writers do. I never had someone look me over, look my work over, or look my career over, and give me advice on what I should do.

I didn’t hold writing sacred then, the way I do now. I didn’t put so much pressure on myself that I blocked up even before I’d written a word. I just wrote. Maybe that’s the curse of my generation. Or the blessing. I didn’t have to look at magazines and newspapers, read those widely published writers and wonder if I could ever be good enough. No, I read the Internet. And knew for a fact that I was definitely good enough.

It wasn’t until much later that I started doubting myself. But I was already making a living at it by then.

I always wonder about the pressure writers face when they come to writing as a dream, as something they’ve always thought of doing. I worry about people who quit their jobs before they’ve written a single article or book. What if they find that they like having written, but not the actual process? What if they find that it was tougher than they imagined, harder than it looked from the outside? What if they find, on sitting down in front of the blank page, that they’re really no good at all?

My goals initially were simple. I had failed college and had a year of nothingness ahead of me. If I could make a bit of money on the side, I’d be happy. So I did. By the time the year was over, I was hooked, and my ambitions had grown. Now, I was looking at this as a full-time career. I knew that I could no longer become an engineer and writing seemed to be my only ticket out. By the time I graduated college, I was making a living with my words.

It’s because I had no mentor, no guidance, and no real ambitions initially, that I’ve learned everything step by step, and built my career by working for the online publications and the small publications. Anyone who’d publish me, really. And that they did, was enough. I didn’t aspire to write for Time or The New Yorker. I’d be happy if that small e-zine for writers would publish me.

Now, things have changed. And I look back at that writer I once was and am glad that there was no one telling her to aim for The New York Times. She might have gotten rejected. And she might have taken that as a sign that she wasn’t good enough.

01 Nov 2008 The European Market
Author:  |  Category: Life, Love, Writing  | Tags: , , , , , , ,  | Leave a Comment

I’ve ventured into the European marketplace this year, completely by accident. I came across a magazine for Asian women in England around February, sent the editor an LOI, and received an assignment pretty quickly.

A few months later, my editor at Elle India let me know that one of their European editions wanted to reprint one of my pieces. Easy enough.

Several weeks ago, an editor of a magazine in France found my website and have me a ready-made assignment. He was fabulous to work with, the pay was good, and I enjoyed the whole experience.

Then, about a week ago, I received note that Glamour had optioned one of my pieces (meaning they wanted to reprint it). The check is already on its way.

I’ve worked with European publications before, but this year is the first time when I’ve looked at them as a viable market. I know several people who work with the European media, and adding up their experiences and my own, I’ve found the following major differences between American and European publications.

1. European publications, typically, will not send you five-page contracts asking for all rights (in every media that exists today and that may be discovered in future), expect you to sign a contract saying that you’ll pay your own legal fees should some psycho choose to file a lawsuit, and come to think of it, pay theirs as well, and if they’ve forgotten to get a signed contract, send you an all-rights contract after it’s been published or hold your money hostage. In fact, in many parts of Europe, like in many parts of Asia, work is often done without a contract. E-mail is typically proof enough of the terms agreed upon.

2. As is common with publishers though, publications in Europe (and Asia and Africa) too will stall on payment. Without a contract, you might feel a little nervous about missing payments. I’ve never had an invoice go unpaid, but you’ll have to see if that’s something you can work with. Or you can send the editor an informal contract of your own laying out the terms of the deal. Payment on publication is common, and is usually non-negotiable.

3. The good news, however, is that a lot of European magazines do not have huge six-month lead times that most American publications do. Editors typically work only one month in advance.

4. The money? It can be very good. While popular publications can and do get away with paying pittance, mid-size newspapers and magazines pay much better than their American counterparts.

5. There are, of course, differences in the way things are done from country to country (and publication to publication), but if you’re going to break into this market, you need to know that things work very differently from the way they do in American publications.

11 Oct 2008 Testing the Waters
Author:  |  Category: Life, Love, Writing  | Tags: , , , ,  | Leave a Comment

I sent out a couple of feelers about my controversial doctor story. I’m also going to ask one of my Professors for advice on how to execute it. It’ll require some amount of travel, and a lot of sitting around with medical experts trying to figure out the true nature of the treatments. I’d like to be paid well for volunteering to wade through all that jargon!

I’m also hoping to get the timing of it right. I have a lot going on right now, and I don’t want any of my projects to fall through the cracks. I have at least two editors who I know would take this story immediately. But I’m beginning to realize that as writers, we’re a greedy bunch. What wouldn’t I have given for one of these editors to accept an idea, any idea, three years ago? And now I’m sitting here thinking of them as backup.

I’m becoming one of those writers who beg and plead with the Universe. “Just one,” they’ll say. “If just that one agent could be interested in my work, I’d be so happy.” Two years later, their book has been published, they’re getting favorable reviews, and they’re still on their knees begging to the Universe. “Just one,” they’ll be saying. “Just one week on the New York Times bestseller list and I’ll be so happy.”

I’m trying to remain ambitious without losing sight of what’s important. I like having goals; they inspire me to be better and move forward. But I’m slowly learning to disassociate my happiness from my achievements. Maybe some big name will pick up this story and pay for the thorough research. But if not, I think I’m cool with either one of my two backups taking it as well.

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