DID you know a top notch story in a women’s weekly magazine or tabloid ‘real life’ section could bring you thousands of pounds? Perhaps you did – and maybe you fancy a piece of the action.
But beware. As well as being one of the most lucrative areas of freelance journalism, unsurprisingly, because of the high stakes, it’s also one of the most daunting and competitive – and not one to be entered into lightly.
These publications include inspirational and heartwarming tales about everyday people who have battled through adversity. But of course they also feature hard-hitting stories peppered with tragedy, crime, sex or violence.
Your job is to find them and make them compelling…and it’s easier said than done.
Freelance journalist Sally Wilson says: “You have to be self-motivated – for every one ‘yes’ to a commission, there are about seven ‘nos’ to other pitches.
“I do real life exclusively and though the money’s good - I almost tripled my salary from my staff job as a writer at a weekly magazine – it’s positively soul-destroying when after days and days of searching, chatting to your prospective interviewee and organising photos, the magazine decides it doesn’t have enough ‘whizzes and bangs’ - even though it’s a cracking story in its own right.
Fellow freelance and senior magazine journalist Judy Yorke agrees.
She says: “You need a few rather conflicting qualities to succeed in the real life market. First, you need to be able to spot a story and work up a great coverline. Second, you need to be ruthless enough to secure the story ahead of anyone else chasing it. Third, you need to be a fairly sympathetic person (or a good actress!) because many of these are sad stories if you're a nasty ruthless person, you won't be able to sympathise with the person you're talking to and make them feel comfortable.”
My own advice is that if the thought of having to quiz someone on a wayward partner’s fling with the vicar fills you with dread, or you’re appalled at the “tawdriness” of it, leave it alone. You won’t be any good at it.
Asking the ‘right’ questions is key. It’s not enough to know how old someone is, how many children they have, or what their husband does for a living. You have to be creative, find a quirky ‘line’ with an emotional ‘pull’ – one that can draw readers in as a potential coverline – that succinct sentence on the front of the magazine that makes you want to read the story inside.
Sally, who has written for titles including Take a Break, Love it!, Bella, Best Pick Me Up and Chat, as well as the Mirror, Express, Mail and Sun, says: “I write letters to people on the back of stories I’ve seen in newspapers. Sometimes, it’s a stab in the dark – and I’m hoping to find an extra line to the story than the one that’s been in the newspaper. I need to ask the ‘right’ questions to secure those gem-encrusted lines. Sadly, it doesn’t always work but when it does, it’s fantastic.”
Many slots in women’s magazines pay around £500 to £1,000. You have to dig deep to find these stories. If they’ve been anywhere else, forget it. The magazines want exclusives.
Building contacts is also key – earn their trust and look after them.
The gift of the gab goes a long way – if you can’t charm the birds out of the trees, you’ve got to at least keep trying.
This is even more important as the market shrinks and the competition becomes more fierce.
Judy explains: “Stories have become much more sensational and much more celebrity-led. When I was first commissioning at Woman about 10 years ago it was all miracle babies and children with rare syndromes. Those stories are very hard to place now. Editors much prefer I was £50,000 in debt because I wanted to look like Jordan or sex slave stories.”
Sally adds: “Editors are asking for ludicrous scenarios. The amount of times I’ve heard something to the effect of…“I’d have taken the story if the guy had been wearing red underpants not blue ones. It’s really frustrating.
“Everything needs to be backed up by good photographs too. You might have a diamond story but unless there’s a picture of each key element of the story, it won’t work.”
So, once you have what you hope is the best tale since your neighbour plunged £50,000 into debt trying to look like Jordan, how do you persuade an editor to agree with you?
It’s all in the pitch.
Judy, who has been assistant features editor at Good Housekeeping and spent five years as features editor at Woman, before going freelance, advises: “If you have a good story, read all the magazines in the market. Decide who best to pitch it to, think of a great coverline, write a short pithy paragraph and send it to the commissioning editor on your chosen magazine.
“Tell them a picture is available but don't send it unless asked because you will clog up their inbox. If you don't hear back, follow up the next day and move on to the next magazine.
“And you have to be honest - don't lie about where else the story has been - if you do you will be found out and you won't be paid.”
You also have to show you know what you are doing. Can you get all the documentation needed? Have you “stood up” the story with the right authorities and sought comment from any other party? No? Better get it sorted.
And then we’re on to the writing. Put yourself in your readers’ shoes. Give them a cracking read.
While we are on the subject of the actual writing, Judy sounds a note of caution.
She says: “The magazines don't really care who is selling the story - they routinely re-interview case histories anyway. So if your copy is rubbish they'll just throw it in the bin and start again. Sadly the quality of the writing is just about the least important thing in many weeklies.”
You can even lose your story, once you have interviewed its subject.
Judy warns: “Don't think you have a story in the bag until it's been published. Agencies and other freelancers are very ruthless and will ring "your" case study offering to double their money. It's very easy to lose stories this way.
Lastly, once you have filed, never forget that these magazines are no place for writers who are precious about “their” copy. It may come out word for word, but with no byline, or perhaps it’ll appear, chopped and changed with your name and that of a staff writer.
The cheque at least will have your name on – so keep smiling.
But when will that cheque arrive? Sally says payment can be a major hassle.
“You’re not paid most of the time until publication. If your case study decides to back out, there’s no kill fee. Ensuring my case studies are happy is by far and away the most important thing to me and that’s not just being altruistic. If they drop out, I’d lose a packet.
And what about showing off your fantastic work? Forget it!
“If you’re in any way motivated by seeing your name in print in these magazines, don’t bother. Your name might run alongside the story, but the copy can be re-hashed beyond recognition by an in-house writer,” says Sally.
“Once you accept that the magazine are essentially paying for your ‘idea’, not your writing style, it’s easier to handle.”
Louise Bolotin is a freelance journalist whose first experience of writing for the ‘real life’ market is not one she would like to repeat. She hopes other writers can learn from what happened to her.
“I was commissioned to write a highly personal piece on my experience of having a cheating husband,” says Louise.
“I was offered £400 for 800 words, which I considered to be a reasonable fee and I was given a byline.
“I found it quite hard to get the emotions down on paper, but with some guidance from a journalist colleague who specialises in personal pieces, I did it. I filed and then had some follow-up emails from the subs' desk asking for a bit more detail here and there. So far so good.
“But I was appalled when the piece appeared. They'd sent a photographer round to do shots of me and I hated the one they used. But far worse was the alterations made to my copy. I don't mind about being subbed for house style or copy being cut - these are to be expected. But essential facts had been altered.
“I got an apology and an admission that they should have sent the subbed copy back to me for clearance after making such huge changes, but I had to wait a week before the online edition was altered and of course I could do nothing about the print version except console myself that it would be fish and chip wrapping fairly quickly.
“My advice to others considering ‘real life’ work is to be very clear that once you file your copy it stops being yours in a way far beyond losing control over any other kind of copy you file.”
So that’s the downside. Sounds pretty tough doesn’t it? If you are determined to forge ahead in the ‘real-life’genre, then I hope these down to earth pointers help you steer your course to publication. But there are massive benefits to working on these types of stories, just one of which is they can help change people’s lives.
And when they go right, it can be an amazing feeling – not to mention an amazing payout.
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H.T Lewis
http://www.writingmercenary.com
Posted by: H.T Lewis | January 16, 2009 at 10:35 AM