Freelancewritingtips.com

Want to write for the nationals? How to pitch an editor

THERE'S a feature in the current edition of Writing Magazine called Pitching High. It includes advice from me on how to contact editors.

I'm republishing some more advice on just that here.

But I'd also stress you can have all the pitching gumption in the world, and get your approach to an editor as fine tuned as you like, but if you can't deliver on what you promise in your pitch, you won't be able to darken that editor's doorstep again.

So perhaps it would be a good idea to focus on learning how to best research, structure and write a feature, how to carry out interviews and how to make sure your piece doesn't leave out vital information for your target publication *before* you worry about pitching. Anything else would be pretty foolish.

Once you have learned all that -- and it can take a while -- I hope the following guidance may come in handy.

If you want to convince a magazine, newspaper or website editor they should commission a piece from you, you need to prove your idea:

• Would fit well in their publication
• Is worth writing now
• Would be best written by you
• Will be delivered well and on time

Miss out any of these elements and your pitch won't stand a chance.

The Greatest Freelance Writing Tips in the World: Book, blog and training

THE Greatest Freelance Writing Tips in the World was published in November 2007 and can be bought in bookshops and from Amazon here.

See a selection of reviews, plus feedback from readers, here.

Listen to a podcast about The Greatest Freelance Writing Tips in the World.

This blog was set up to help publicise the book.

Here are some of the most popular posts:

Back to basics: Ten mistakes to avoid when writing a news story

The most important thing? Learn multi-media skills

The fine art of negotiating press trips, by Andrea Wren

Should you write for free?

Coping with rejection: Editors are people too!

Freelance journalism: Start low, aim high?

How networking can boost a freelance writing career

How journalists can survive a recession, by Sara Edlington

Making the most of Twitter

Going freelance after being made redundant by a regional paper? Hard-learned lessons to help you on your way

Can you send the same pitch to different editors?

How journalists can reap the rewards of blogging, by Craig Mcginty.

Six myths about freelance writing.

Depression, my story and how journalists should speak up when they are feeling down

Six characteristics of a successful freelance journalist

Real life, real profit? Selling features to women's weekly magazines

A small selection of pitches that worked

Freelance writers describe their writing day.

Ten blindingly obvious things I have learned in my first year as an author.

Think you know "mummybloggers"? Think again!

My work as a writer continues to be varied, interesting and fun. My latest project, a site reporting on holidays, short breaks, days out and activities, is called Havealovelytime.com

I'm the director of the Midlands agency, Passionate Media, and our blog chronicling news from our company and clients is here.

We also run training sessions for freelance journalists wanting to make more money. The following is feedback gained from a London session:

Great course. Up and at 'em now! Anne Marie Flanagan

Thanks again for yesterday, feel very motivated today!  Rachael Glazier

Thanks for a very enlightening day. I feel like a Jedi Knight to your Obe Wan Kenobi. Catherine Goddard

Thank you! It was a fantastic day! Emma McNeil

Thanks Carol and Linda for today and the kick up the bum, enjoyed course. Michael Cross

Had a great time on Saturday. Course was brilliant, thank you. Really useful. Siobhan O' Neill

Thanks so much for the fab seminar - it was sooo helpful and have come away full of ideas and plans. You and Carol were both brilliant. Olivia Gordon

Thanks to you and Carol for a really great training day today - definitely the best course I've been on for a while. You two should add life coaching to your list of talents. Olivia Holcombe

Just wanted to say thanks for the fab course, Linda and Carol - very informative, inspiring and good fun too. Judy Yorke

I'd like to add my grateful thanks for the well-delivered and extremely interesting course - it was great to meet such creative, positive and friendly people and I now feel inspired and ready to take the plunge into a new and different world.  Ruth Derrick

Brilliant, thank you both for a very informative and enjoyable day.  I think much of what we learned will be of huge benefit in all areas of our working life. Amanda Lees

I thought it was the best course I've been on - full of practical advice and illustrative examples. It has really got me motivated and excited about getting out there and chasing down the commercial work. Thanks. Emma Jayne Jones

Please get in touch with me via email Linda@passionatemedia.co.uk if you would like to know more. Our next training date is Saturday, June 27, in central London.

Depression: My story and how journalists should speak up when they are feeling down

THE following piece appears in this month's Press Gazette, but isn't online.

I'm posting it here in the hope of further raising awareness that mental illness doesn't have to be a 'dirty little secret' - even if when you are in the midst of it, the last thing in the world you'd ever want to do is tell people!

As someone who is fully recovered, I hope my experience and the advice offered here by freelance journalist colleagues, the NUJ and charities, may help others suffering the effects of a mental illness.

I'd welcome any comments at the end of the post, especially from others with similar experiences. Again, I hope this could help show those going through a tough time that they are not alone.

AS I sat on my bed at 3am, sobbing and contemplating throwing myself through the window, I knew I had to seek medical help. Despite thinking everyone would be better off without me, part of me was still rational enough to know I didn’t want to feel like this.

How I use social media to survive and diversify

THE Black Country Social Media Cafe is described as a place for people interested in social media to gather, get acquainted, chat, plot, scheme, and share.

I attended the first meeting a few weeks back when guest speakers Pete Ashton and Chris Unitt outlined lessons learned on a visit to SXSW.

At the next meeting, to be held on Tuesday, May 12, at 2.30pm in the Alchemy Bar in Wolverhampton city centre, there'll be a chance for members to say a little about who they are and what they do, with a particular emphasis on how they have been able to use social media in their work.

It's unclear whether I am going to be able to make it to the next meeting, because of a work commitment. Nevertheless, I have been thinking about how our work has been transformed by social media, so am posting here about its impact on my professional life. As I think about tomorrow's JEE Camp, I also thought it would be useful to pull some of my experience together in this way.

Overall, I'd say that a growing knowledge of social media has allowed me to:

* Survive and diversify in my chosen career.

* Make and strengthen new contacts whom I never would have met previously.

* Improve ways of finding, researching and completing existing work

* Find new income streams - both directly and indirectly through blogging but also in offering my services to help others get to grips with the concept of social media and understand that it's not about technology for the sake of it 

* Better promote my work across various disciplines

How freelance journalists are coping in the recession, via Journalism.co.uk

THERE's an interesting piece on Journalism.co.uk today packed with excellent input from the likes of Paul Groves, Louise Bolotin and Guy Clapperton among others.

For some, like Andrea Wren and Lucia Cockcroft, now has been the perfect time to branch out into quite different areas based on other ambitions.

Predictably, others tell of how rates have been cut and jobs are now thinner on the ground. Importantly, they also explain what they have done about it.

• Journalism.co.uk has also published an edited version of my piece from earlier this week with advice for journalists who have been made redundant.
  The original is here. Thank you everyone who has been in touch about it.

Writing magazine feature on coping with rejection: Editors are people too

HOW scared are you of editors?

Does the thought of picking up a phone to suggest an idea for a magazine feature fill you with dread? Do you break out in a cold sweat as you open an email with the all-important “yes” or “no” to your pitch?

If you're are nodding in agreement to either of these questions, then to put it unkindly, you need to get a grip! Or, to put it much less bluntly – don’t worry, editors are human too.

But to see the correspondence I receive seeking advice from aspiring or in some cases established freelance writers, you’d think these more senior journalists were ogres – who’d chew up and spit out humble wannabe hacks without a moment’s thought.

I find this frustrating.

Ten blindingly obvious things I've learned in my first year as an author

1. A book launch may be more hassle than it’s worth This time last year, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. My first book, the modestly titled Greatest Freelance Writing Tips in the World had just been published. Holding some initial copies in my quivering hands, I’d felt a rush of pride. Now here I was, preparing for my very own book launch. Then one by one, more than half the confirmed guests dropped out. My heart sank. Even though local paper reports and reviews followed and those lovely guests who did come along were overwhelmingly positive, I was disappointed. In hindsight I can see my expectations were unrealistic. But I hated feeling like Billy no-mates.

2. Authors don’t always want to discuss sales Go on; guess how many my book has sold. Bet you can’t. I’d rather not say, if you don’t mind. Of course if you know anything about publishing it won’t surprise you that my figures may not even rival David Blunkett’s. This wasn’t the outcome I was hoping for. I was so naïve. Wary of upsetting a PR team, sacred of jinxing future sales or plain embarrassed, other writers I know also prefer not to join this potentially humiliating ‘show and tell.’ Yet this ‘smoke screen’ allows wannabe authors to cling on to unrealistic dreams – creating a vicious circle of silence followed by dashed hope. Seriously, how many do you expect your book to sell?

Avoiding stereotypes when writing about twins, triplets or more

DID you see the BBC’s star-studded adaptation of Little Dorrit at the weekend? It went straight for the ‘evil twin’ cliffhanger as Mrs Flintwich came face to face with her husband’s doppelganger in the dead of night.

Dickens is not the only author to have trodden the well-worn path of mysterious, shady, mischievous or downright evil twins.

I wrote about this in the Guardian's book blog this week. I hate to see writers lazily rehashing stereotypes about twins so was pleased that people agreed it was a point worth making.

Bloggers' reaction to piece on fictional characters' social networking

SINCE writing a piece about fictional characters making their presence felt on Facebook and Twitter, it has been interesting to see how it has been picked up by other bloggers.

Andrew Crofts himself pitches in on both his own blog and Trashionista. (I still think Steffi is more Jessie Wallace than Babs Windsor but best not dwell on that...)

There was a piece on a French website here as well as insightful pieces here, here, here and here.

One of the best aspects of this exeprience for me has been discovering these blogs on writing that I hadn't seen before but hope to return to in the future.

Advice from the pros - how freelancers can plan for a holiday

THIS piece is from a very recent edition of Press Gazette.

FREELANCE education journalist Janet Murray plans to take the summer off this year. Trouble is, she’s worried about how much work this will lose her.

“Because my workload is unpredictable, I go through periods which are very intense,” she says. “In my case, with a small child and part-time childcare, that might mean a couple of weeks of very late nights and early mornings, working over the weekend to get things done. As a result, I reach a point where I need a break. But I fret about it a lot.”