I read a tweet last week, on the day of the Wikipedia blackout, by a writer pointing out that journalists might have to actually spend the day doing some proper in-depth research – for a change! – rather than click into the collaborative online people’s encyclopedia and trusting the information they found there.
It was partly tongue-in-cheek but there was a valid point underneath it all: it is very easy to become reliant on the net, or certain parts of it, for your work. As far as research goes, there are still alternative and effective means of conducting it, internet-free: calling organisations and professional bodies, speaking to experts, using the local library (and its librarians), for instance. And ditto getting ideas: yes, web chat rooms are terrific for generating them, but so too eavesdropping in a supermarket queue and reading old copies of magazines, for instance. It’s not all about the web.
I can’t help feeling that this must be impacting the content of what gets written, by established and new writers alike, even when that material is written for print, not web – perhaps not necessarily for the worse, but still. I often see decent enough articles by students which fall just slightly short of the mark, and which would possibly be saleable were they not so blatantly researched exclusively via the web. Sometimes, they’re just short of life.
Some of the poorer giveaway signs include a sudden throwaway internet reference – “if you don’t believe me, go Google it!” – or strings of lengthy URLs provided in the article’s body. I see this a lot. Why, when you are writing for a print reader, would you send him off to the internet before you’ve finished your article? Your goal is to inform the reader there and then, wherever he may be – quite possibly on an underground train with no web access. Don’t go sending them scurrying off to log on before you’ve finished your job. Maintain engagement. Add a website to your ‘info’ sidebar at the end, at best, once you’re done.
I don’t bother with magazines any longer, a student told me the other day: you get a greater diversity of news and views online. Maybe you do, but this still saddened me a bit. You already know that you need to read and research print publications if you want to write for them. But more than that, I still think you’re more likely to stumble across and read about a subject about which you don’t know much while turning the pages of a journal. When you’re browsing online, it’s so easy to click away into the hundreds of distracting and time-wasting options presented to you or just point your browser to the specific information you habitually seek out. Surely newspapers and magazines still broaden horizons?
I don’t want to give the impression I’m fixated on print and refuse to accept the march of the web and ebooks and the rest. Print may or may not survive in the decades to come, and I don’t expect to feel especially nostalgic if it dies by the time I retire. But the fact of the matter is it’s not gone yet. We still have it. If it goes, that’s one thing, but as it appears to be still kicking, let’s not turn our backs just yet.
So I guess this is a little plea to de-web and un-net yourself for a bit – if not necessarily physically, but mentally – attitudinally. Granted, this is a bit rich given I’m writing a blog and asking you to read it online – but consider spending some hours away from the www. Make as if it had stopped existing for a day. What would you do? How would you go forward? What would you read? It might reinvigorate a lost writerly dimension in you.
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
Mistake No. 64: Competition guidelines? Pah!
I’ve just administered a modest little online competition on behalf of one of my clients. It was not a writing competition or related to the publishing business in any way; it was a simple prize giveaway for subscribers of a newsletter.
Three things were asked of entrants:
1. To answer a simple question.
2. To express a preferred choice of winning product.
3. To provide an address.
I was managing the entries, which trickled steadily in by email, and from which several winners would be drawn at random after a one-month period.
I should have just let the emails stack up of their own accord until the deadline, but curiosity got the better of me and I idly started to click into them. It soon became clear that over half of entrants were failing to supply all three things asked of them. The ratio improved over the coming weeks, as those who’d taken their time sent their entries through, but the ‘early birds’, who I suspect simply experienced a rush-to-the-head to get their entry in, ensured that I had to disqualify what turned out to be a sizeable number – perhaps a third. Some failed on one or two counts, but one entrant almost deserved her own special prize in managing the remarkable feat of failing on all three, supplying none of requested information at all. “I’d like to enter your competition!” was the hopeful entirety of her submission.
Although I’ve not had any involvement in them before, I’ve heard through blogs and writing magazines and chats with writers who’ve judged them that many entrants to writing competitions fail to take the time to read instructions properly, and make variously problematic submissions, leading to disqualification. I suppose there is much more scope for error in this case, especially as each competition will have its own particular requirements. Examples that might earn your work a red card include: going over word count, not submitting the requested amount of copies, failing to fill out entry forms, missing the deadline, not specifying the category entered, omitting the entry fee, submitting poetry to a short story competition and, yes, forgetting to include a name and address and (often) age.
Now, on one level, I do sympathise a little with writers faced with several pages of guidelines and terms and conditions. Not quite as much as I sympathise with the judges for all the reading they have to do (that said, competition organisers, I am available for bookings if you’re reading…) but I do sympathise a bit nonetheless. Of course they’re boring. I find my eyes skimming the terms too: after a while it’s a constant battle to force them to read every word.
But read them you must. Fight the urge to skim. Take your time. There’s no benefit in rushing. Whether you enter on the opening day of the competition or by the last day you’ll stand the same chance of winning. (Or do early birds get their entries read sooner? Do they therefore stay in the minds of judges for longer, increasing their chances? Hmm…)
There’s an obviously selfish reason you should understand the requirements too: it helps you to ensure you submit the most appropriate work, in the best form, and increase your chances of success. Entering a prize draw takes only minutes of your time, but a writing competition is hours or days – all that work is wasted if you make an error.
But there’s a less obvious and more altruistic reason too: it’s just the right, polite and respectful thing to do, with respect to organisers and other writers. Save the very largest, writing competitions are not money spinners. They take a lot of work, and a lot of people – organisers, judges – are giving up their time for, well, probably not much reward, in order to read and assess your work. You wouldn’t run on to a football pitch or take your seat at a card table without knowing the rules of the game: show the judges and your fellow entrants the same respect. Writing competitions are organised for us, writers, and we want them to continue. Play fair, play right – and they will.
And if this has inspired you to enter some in 2012, see my competitions page here for some upcoming non-fiction competitions. (Please let me know if you know of more and I’ll add them.)
Incidentally, one entrant to the competition I told you about above sent three entries, the second apologising for the omitted information in the first, and the third apologising for the omitted information in the second. “Please delete the previous two! Here is my proper entry, with all the information required!”
She won. Perhaps there’s a lesson right there.
Three things were asked of entrants:
1. To answer a simple question.
2. To express a preferred choice of winning product.
3. To provide an address.
I was managing the entries, which trickled steadily in by email, and from which several winners would be drawn at random after a one-month period.
I should have just let the emails stack up of their own accord until the deadline, but curiosity got the better of me and I idly started to click into them. It soon became clear that over half of entrants were failing to supply all three things asked of them. The ratio improved over the coming weeks, as those who’d taken their time sent their entries through, but the ‘early birds’, who I suspect simply experienced a rush-to-the-head to get their entry in, ensured that I had to disqualify what turned out to be a sizeable number – perhaps a third. Some failed on one or two counts, but one entrant almost deserved her own special prize in managing the remarkable feat of failing on all three, supplying none of requested information at all. “I’d like to enter your competition!” was the hopeful entirety of her submission.
Although I’ve not had any involvement in them before, I’ve heard through blogs and writing magazines and chats with writers who’ve judged them that many entrants to writing competitions fail to take the time to read instructions properly, and make variously problematic submissions, leading to disqualification. I suppose there is much more scope for error in this case, especially as each competition will have its own particular requirements. Examples that might earn your work a red card include: going over word count, not submitting the requested amount of copies, failing to fill out entry forms, missing the deadline, not specifying the category entered, omitting the entry fee, submitting poetry to a short story competition and, yes, forgetting to include a name and address and (often) age.
Now, on one level, I do sympathise a little with writers faced with several pages of guidelines and terms and conditions. Not quite as much as I sympathise with the judges for all the reading they have to do (that said, competition organisers, I am available for bookings if you’re reading…) but I do sympathise a bit nonetheless. Of course they’re boring. I find my eyes skimming the terms too: after a while it’s a constant battle to force them to read every word.
But read them you must. Fight the urge to skim. Take your time. There’s no benefit in rushing. Whether you enter on the opening day of the competition or by the last day you’ll stand the same chance of winning. (Or do early birds get their entries read sooner? Do they therefore stay in the minds of judges for longer, increasing their chances? Hmm…)
There’s an obviously selfish reason you should understand the requirements too: it helps you to ensure you submit the most appropriate work, in the best form, and increase your chances of success. Entering a prize draw takes only minutes of your time, but a writing competition is hours or days – all that work is wasted if you make an error.
But there’s a less obvious and more altruistic reason too: it’s just the right, polite and respectful thing to do, with respect to organisers and other writers. Save the very largest, writing competitions are not money spinners. They take a lot of work, and a lot of people – organisers, judges – are giving up their time for, well, probably not much reward, in order to read and assess your work. You wouldn’t run on to a football pitch or take your seat at a card table without knowing the rules of the game: show the judges and your fellow entrants the same respect. Writing competitions are organised for us, writers, and we want them to continue. Play fair, play right – and they will.
And if this has inspired you to enter some in 2012, see my competitions page here for some upcoming non-fiction competitions. (Please let me know if you know of more and I’ll add them.)
Incidentally, one entrant to the competition I told you about above sent three entries, the second apologising for the omitted information in the first, and the third apologising for the omitted information in the second. “Please delete the previous two! Here is my proper entry, with all the information required!”
She won. Perhaps there’s a lesson right there.
Monday, 12 December 2011
Mistake No. 63: Writing-related Googling (Part I)
Because if you indulge in it, and one of the results takes you to the writing blog of a tutor who favours reading his Google Analytics stats ahead of addressing his looming deadlines, you run the risk of your search term being appropriated, occasionally for lightly comic purposes, and presented to readers in Writing-related Googling (Part II) – which (I hope) will follow next December, and (I hope) becomes a regular feature of this blog…
But seriously, this isn’t as frivolous a post as you might be fearing. Yes, there’s a bit of fun, but there are useful points to be made – and issues to be raised – too. Indeed, the questions asked of the interweb by visitors to the Mistakes blog this year have made me think quite a bit about writing and literary concerns – and I think this tiny collection may provide a snapshot of what a few of those are.
I’ll never know whether answers to queries were found here, but in case not, and the visitors hung around for more, perhaps these will help them.
“Do good writers make mistakes?”
A serious and important one to kick us off. The answer to this question is yes.
Furthermore, good writers make more mistakes than poor writers, because making mistakes is an essential part of the writing and learning process. You get good by cocking up and by improving your drafts (ie your versions with mistakes in them). The more you get wrong, the more you eventually get right. Good writers get more right than bad writers get right too. Good writers just do more.
“Is it wrong to console yourself with the mistakes of others?”
I doubt this was a writing-related one – and I hope the soul who typed those words found their answer and, if needs were, their peace – but I’ll try to answer it as if on-topic.
My first thought when I saw this was that presuming that you need consolation for a mistake as well, then no, it’s not wrong – so long as your feelings towards the other parties aren’t malicious or too dominated by schadenfreude. You’re basically comforting yourself with the knowledge that we are all flawed, that none of us is perfect, and even those whose paths you aspire to follow can, and do, get things wrong. We’re all in it together.
But I wasn’t completely confident in my own view.
Attempting to convince myself of it, I realised that I might try to console a friend with my mistakes. “There, there, mate – I’ve cocked up too.” Or, in other words, to give an example in a writerly sense: “Never mind – I’ve sent a rubbish idea to an editor as well.”
So if you’re happy to invite someone to console themselves with your own inadequacies and cock-ups, should the answer to the question, on those grounds alone, be no?
Not quite 100% convinced, but getting there.
“How do authors do those hyphen things?”
Ah. Sweet. But hyphens aren’t special little marks only Proper Writers use. They have lots of purposes, like joining up words to form compound words, or clarifying, and here’s a silly old post of mine which will tell you more. (I shall try to do a Proper Post on Hyphens soon.)
“Can you get money for pointing out mistakes in books?”
Can you? I have no idea. I have subsequently found several trivial bloopers in my own books, which opens up the possibility of a new career writing books with deliberate mistakes in them and then being paid to point them out. I demand to know the truth at once…
“I’ll wait for inspiration to strike”
This is perhaps my favourite of the year: a defiant statement made to the Internet. “I am going to sit here and be patient for the flash of magic to descend from the skies. And while I’m hanging around for this motivational thunderbolt, I’m just going to quickly tell Google.” (Well, you never know, it might help hurry things along.)
Of course: you can’t wait for literary inspiration to strike. Well, you can, I guess, but it’ll not be advisable from a time management perspective. You all know that you’ve got to just get cracking. And if you’ve nothing to get cracking about – then go out and find something. Read stuff, observe things, talk to people. That’s when inspiration will strike – not when typing into a search engine.
“What’s wrong with second-hand books?”
I guess the quick answer would be nothing, but this is something that has been bothering me for some time.
On one hand, we want people to read, and second-hand books provide a more affordable alternative to new books. We can’t all keep every book we buy and giving them away, perhaps to charity, is obviously preferable to adding them to your recycling box.
But on the other, if Amazon and private traders and second-hand book dealers are making money from books – then authors surely deserve a cut.
Unless I’ve missed it, I don’t think this has been debated enough – so I don’t feel adequately equipped with the pros and cons to have come down confidently on one particular side.
My gut feeling as it stands is, that with some sort of exception applying to, say, charity shops, I really think it’s time that Amazon and the rest made some a payment to writers for trade in second-hand books. A contribution towards a collective pot to be distributed in PLR, perhaps?
“I have pinched an idea from another magazine”
Ah, the confessional. I wonder whether absolution was found? You know what – it’s not needed. It’s not a sin. You’re just pinching the germ of an idea, usually, and by the time you’ve added your own spin, you’ve tailored it for a new market, your editor has had their input… it’s a different thing altogether. I ‘pinch’ from Italian magazines regularly, and even if the ideas don’t come off, they may spark other ideas and set you off down a different road. This is why it’s so important to read magazines. That idea in the dog magazine might be reworkable for a horse magazine. The lads’ mag idea, inverted, may work for a young women’s magazine. And so on. Ideas from old magazines, as I said recently, can be brought up to date.
“Appostrophies – where to put them?”
Well, try here – although might I politely point out that there's a little spelling issue to tackle as well?
“Must you address an editor with dear?”
Well, yes – in the main I do think it’s preferable to ‘Yo!’
“How to write words on your nails.”
I definitely think you need a different blog…
And on that note, I’ll thank you for reading the Mistakes blog this year, and will wish you a happy Christmas, but not yet a New Year, as I may well be back for a final post of 2011.
Writing bloggers! Any intriguing search terms in your Analytics this year? Please add a comment if so!
But seriously, this isn’t as frivolous a post as you might be fearing. Yes, there’s a bit of fun, but there are useful points to be made – and issues to be raised – too. Indeed, the questions asked of the interweb by visitors to the Mistakes blog this year have made me think quite a bit about writing and literary concerns – and I think this tiny collection may provide a snapshot of what a few of those are.
I’ll never know whether answers to queries were found here, but in case not, and the visitors hung around for more, perhaps these will help them.
“Do good writers make mistakes?”
A serious and important one to kick us off. The answer to this question is yes.
Furthermore, good writers make more mistakes than poor writers, because making mistakes is an essential part of the writing and learning process. You get good by cocking up and by improving your drafts (ie your versions with mistakes in them). The more you get wrong, the more you eventually get right. Good writers get more right than bad writers get right too. Good writers just do more.
“Is it wrong to console yourself with the mistakes of others?”
I doubt this was a writing-related one – and I hope the soul who typed those words found their answer and, if needs were, their peace – but I’ll try to answer it as if on-topic.
My first thought when I saw this was that presuming that you need consolation for a mistake as well, then no, it’s not wrong – so long as your feelings towards the other parties aren’t malicious or too dominated by schadenfreude. You’re basically comforting yourself with the knowledge that we are all flawed, that none of us is perfect, and even those whose paths you aspire to follow can, and do, get things wrong. We’re all in it together.
But I wasn’t completely confident in my own view.
Attempting to convince myself of it, I realised that I might try to console a friend with my mistakes. “There, there, mate – I’ve cocked up too.” Or, in other words, to give an example in a writerly sense: “Never mind – I’ve sent a rubbish idea to an editor as well.”
So if you’re happy to invite someone to console themselves with your own inadequacies and cock-ups, should the answer to the question, on those grounds alone, be no?
Not quite 100% convinced, but getting there.
“How do authors do those hyphen things?”
Ah. Sweet. But hyphens aren’t special little marks only Proper Writers use. They have lots of purposes, like joining up words to form compound words, or clarifying, and here’s a silly old post of mine which will tell you more. (I shall try to do a Proper Post on Hyphens soon.)
“Can you get money for pointing out mistakes in books?”
Can you? I have no idea. I have subsequently found several trivial bloopers in my own books, which opens up the possibility of a new career writing books with deliberate mistakes in them and then being paid to point them out. I demand to know the truth at once…
“I’ll wait for inspiration to strike”
This is perhaps my favourite of the year: a defiant statement made to the Internet. “I am going to sit here and be patient for the flash of magic to descend from the skies. And while I’m hanging around for this motivational thunderbolt, I’m just going to quickly tell Google.” (Well, you never know, it might help hurry things along.)
Of course: you can’t wait for literary inspiration to strike. Well, you can, I guess, but it’ll not be advisable from a time management perspective. You all know that you’ve got to just get cracking. And if you’ve nothing to get cracking about – then go out and find something. Read stuff, observe things, talk to people. That’s when inspiration will strike – not when typing into a search engine.
“What’s wrong with second-hand books?”
I guess the quick answer would be nothing, but this is something that has been bothering me for some time.
On one hand, we want people to read, and second-hand books provide a more affordable alternative to new books. We can’t all keep every book we buy and giving them away, perhaps to charity, is obviously preferable to adding them to your recycling box.
But on the other, if Amazon and private traders and second-hand book dealers are making money from books – then authors surely deserve a cut.
Unless I’ve missed it, I don’t think this has been debated enough – so I don’t feel adequately equipped with the pros and cons to have come down confidently on one particular side.
My gut feeling as it stands is, that with some sort of exception applying to, say, charity shops, I really think it’s time that Amazon and the rest made some a payment to writers for trade in second-hand books. A contribution towards a collective pot to be distributed in PLR, perhaps?
“I have pinched an idea from another magazine”
Ah, the confessional. I wonder whether absolution was found? You know what – it’s not needed. It’s not a sin. You’re just pinching the germ of an idea, usually, and by the time you’ve added your own spin, you’ve tailored it for a new market, your editor has had their input… it’s a different thing altogether. I ‘pinch’ from Italian magazines regularly, and even if the ideas don’t come off, they may spark other ideas and set you off down a different road. This is why it’s so important to read magazines. That idea in the dog magazine might be reworkable for a horse magazine. The lads’ mag idea, inverted, may work for a young women’s magazine. And so on. Ideas from old magazines, as I said recently, can be brought up to date.
“Appostrophies – where to put them?”
Well, try here – although might I politely point out that there's a little spelling issue to tackle as well?
“Must you address an editor with dear?”
Well, yes – in the main I do think it’s preferable to ‘Yo!’
“How to write words on your nails.”
I definitely think you need a different blog…
And on that note, I’ll thank you for reading the Mistakes blog this year, and will wish you a happy Christmas, but not yet a New Year, as I may well be back for a final post of 2011.
Writing bloggers! Any intriguing search terms in your Analytics this year? Please add a comment if so!
Saturday, 26 November 2011
Mistake No. 62: Republicanism, sportophobia
Too many of us are going to be, at this time of year, distracted by Christmas – presents, parties – and then later by New Year – resolutions, more parties – but what you really need to be thinking about over the coming weeks is article ideas for 2012.
And what 2012 is going to be all about is the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (June) and the Olympic Games (July/August).
These are huge dates – both in their own right, but also as far as magazine and newspaper publishing goes. There will be very few publications who will be totally ignoring them, and that means thousands of summer editions which will be at least partly devoted to the two events. A number will I’m sure carry jubilee or Olympic ‘specials’ or supplements.
You know where I’m going with this: supplements and special editions means lots and lots of articles, and that means lots and lots of writers will be needed to write those lots and lots of articles.
You could – and perhaps should – be among them.
Why ‘should’? Because writing about something major is satisfying. I wrote about Wimbledon once, and the launch of a new hi-tech medical machine, and I reviewed several key exhibitions: not so especially glamorous or notable in hindsight, but they felt so to me at the time, and when you’re covering something of importance it can give you more of a sense of achievement. Wherever you stand on the Royals or on sport – and I’m not keen on the former and only periodically so on the latter – you can’t argue that the events of next summer aren’t something important to many. Being a part of them by writing and publishing on them would be excellent for your writing CV.
You may be thinking it’s too soon, even for a monthly. Wrong. Monthlies tend to work around four months in advance of cover date, but for major dates (eg Christmas), it’s often a bit sooner. (Anyone who’s worked on women’s or lifestyle magazines, as I have, will know the curious feeling of writing about Christmas puddings in the height of summer.) Make no mistake: editors are thinking about their Jubilee and Olympic editions now.
The problem as far as you (the individual) is concerned, is that you others (every other writer reading) and those others over there (every other writer not reading) will also be thinking about sending such ideas out at this time, so there will be competition. A lot of it.
Do not let this put you off. But what it means is you must come up with strong, sophisticated and original ideas. A proposal offering an article looking back over the Queen’s 60-year reign is not going to sell. An article looking at the history of the Olympics will make an editor yawn.
An article contrasting and comparing the current jubilee plans with those put in place for Victoria’s in 1897 may be more like it. An article looking at how styles of medals have evolved since the Olympics were last in London? That might have something going for it.
The more niche, the more specific, the more tailored to your target publication – the better. I think the best way to turn on your idea-juice tap is to start with the magazine.
Any magazine will do. Get your WAYB or your WB and start at the beginning. What, you may wonder, would Accountancy Magazine want with an article on the Olympics? Well, you don’t know until you ask. You’ll not be surprised to learn that the best person to ask is an accountant. How will his or her life change because of the Olympics? Will he or she have more work? If business is going to boom in the London during Olympic month, might that be a challenge, in some other way? If you have such a discussion with an accountant, an idea could be thrown up. Another approach might be to ask whether the IOC is hiring accountants – and taking it from there.
Dogs Monthly? Maybe a piece on sniffer dogs and how they’ll be in huge demand next summer for security purposes? How are they all being trained? How were dogs used in previous jubilee celebrations and Olympics?
Look, you get the picture. You need to brainstorm. You need to ask questions. Construct an angle for every conceivable magazine and see whether there’s something in it.
There’s a huge opportunity looming, is the message I guess I’m trying to convey. If you want to be a part of it, get your thinking caps on, and start researching and writing. Good luck!
And what 2012 is going to be all about is the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (June) and the Olympic Games (July/August).
These are huge dates – both in their own right, but also as far as magazine and newspaper publishing goes. There will be very few publications who will be totally ignoring them, and that means thousands of summer editions which will be at least partly devoted to the two events. A number will I’m sure carry jubilee or Olympic ‘specials’ or supplements.
You know where I’m going with this: supplements and special editions means lots and lots of articles, and that means lots and lots of writers will be needed to write those lots and lots of articles.
You could – and perhaps should – be among them.
Why ‘should’? Because writing about something major is satisfying. I wrote about Wimbledon once, and the launch of a new hi-tech medical machine, and I reviewed several key exhibitions: not so especially glamorous or notable in hindsight, but they felt so to me at the time, and when you’re covering something of importance it can give you more of a sense of achievement. Wherever you stand on the Royals or on sport – and I’m not keen on the former and only periodically so on the latter – you can’t argue that the events of next summer aren’t something important to many. Being a part of them by writing and publishing on them would be excellent for your writing CV.
You may be thinking it’s too soon, even for a monthly. Wrong. Monthlies tend to work around four months in advance of cover date, but for major dates (eg Christmas), it’s often a bit sooner. (Anyone who’s worked on women’s or lifestyle magazines, as I have, will know the curious feeling of writing about Christmas puddings in the height of summer.) Make no mistake: editors are thinking about their Jubilee and Olympic editions now.
The problem as far as you (the individual) is concerned, is that you others (every other writer reading) and those others over there (every other writer not reading) will also be thinking about sending such ideas out at this time, so there will be competition. A lot of it.
Do not let this put you off. But what it means is you must come up with strong, sophisticated and original ideas. A proposal offering an article looking back over the Queen’s 60-year reign is not going to sell. An article looking at the history of the Olympics will make an editor yawn.
An article contrasting and comparing the current jubilee plans with those put in place for Victoria’s in 1897 may be more like it. An article looking at how styles of medals have evolved since the Olympics were last in London? That might have something going for it.
The more niche, the more specific, the more tailored to your target publication – the better. I think the best way to turn on your idea-juice tap is to start with the magazine.
Any magazine will do. Get your WAYB or your WB and start at the beginning. What, you may wonder, would Accountancy Magazine want with an article on the Olympics? Well, you don’t know until you ask. You’ll not be surprised to learn that the best person to ask is an accountant. How will his or her life change because of the Olympics? Will he or she have more work? If business is going to boom in the London during Olympic month, might that be a challenge, in some other way? If you have such a discussion with an accountant, an idea could be thrown up. Another approach might be to ask whether the IOC is hiring accountants – and taking it from there.
Dogs Monthly? Maybe a piece on sniffer dogs and how they’ll be in huge demand next summer for security purposes? How are they all being trained? How were dogs used in previous jubilee celebrations and Olympics?
Look, you get the picture. You need to brainstorm. You need to ask questions. Construct an angle for every conceivable magazine and see whether there’s something in it.
There’s a huge opportunity looming, is the message I guess I’m trying to convey. If you want to be a part of it, get your thinking caps on, and start researching and writing. Good luck!
Monday, 7 November 2011
Mistake No. 61: New mags only
A very quick post which I hope you’ll forgive – though it does at least suitably reflect the urgency of today’s advice: drop everything at once and go buy a copy of Woman’s Weekly’s special centenary collector’s edition – if you can still find one. Not because it’s a nice investment for your grandchildren, not because there’s a voucher for a free bag of toffee inside, but because the first, 1911 edition of the magazine is included inside as a bonus. If you can’t find one, go through next week’s neighbourhood recycling bins if you need to, as it is just priceless.
There are too many reasons – the fiction, the advertisements, the ‘HOW I ENLARGED MY BUST’ article – but I’ll let you discover those joys yourself. I’m interested in what you, the jobbing non-fiction writer, can get from it. The answer: ideas.
There are enough in here to keep you going for months.
Take an article on good health hints for babies. It discusses the relative virtues of types of milk, the importance of water for a baby, how to cope with convulsions. Extract: “The gums should be examined by a doctor, and if necessary they should be lanced.”
Ideas. One, “Have we forgotten the importance of water for babies?” Two, “How has infant medical care changed over the last century?” Three, “Will we ever find a way of making formula milk as good as human milk?” All for health, medical or parenting magazines.
Take an article ‘Dainty Dishes for the Invalid’. Dainty, in this context, includes ‘beef tea’ (devoid of tea leaves, but filled with beef), ‘savoury custard’ (cornflour with beef tea) and arrowroot pudding.
Ideas. One, “Ten great uses for arrowroot – a forgotten ingredient”. Two, “Food for the sick – how has it changed?” Three, “Old English recipes – due for a revival?” All for women’s, health or food magazines.
We’re in the business of words, so study words, language and phrases too. Certain things stuck out for me: use of the word ‘to-day’ (which I still see, charmingly, among older students), a careless tautology (“endless and countless”), full stops at the end of headlines, few bylines (I can’t even find the editor’s name – although she does bossily ask “that you will not only at once order No 2 ready next Wednesday…”), bold and boastfully worded advertisements (including for a cheese which will “eliminate the poisons that other foods create…”) – and much more.
Ideas. One, “Has the nation’s grammar and punctuation improved or worsened?” Two, “How have words changed their meaning?” Three, “How have advertising claims and laws changed over the years?” All for writing, language, education or marketing magazines.
The deeper you read, the more ideas you’ll get. It’s impossible to fail in this respect.
It’s rare that we get a chance to look at a one hundred year old magazine – but there’s no reason a publication has to be that ancient to inspire ideas. Thirty, twenty or even just ten years ago, magazines were very different – and yet, in so many ways, the same – and these are just as likely to provide food for thought for you to adapt to the modern day, or to inject a new twist into. Look in the loft. Go to a boot sale. I know you need to study recent copies of papers and magazines before submitting to them, but old copies can be priceless in other ways. Happy reading. And bust enlarging...
There are too many reasons – the fiction, the advertisements, the ‘HOW I ENLARGED MY BUST’ article – but I’ll let you discover those joys yourself. I’m interested in what you, the jobbing non-fiction writer, can get from it. The answer: ideas.
There are enough in here to keep you going for months.
Take an article on good health hints for babies. It discusses the relative virtues of types of milk, the importance of water for a baby, how to cope with convulsions. Extract: “The gums should be examined by a doctor, and if necessary they should be lanced.”
Ideas. One, “Have we forgotten the importance of water for babies?” Two, “How has infant medical care changed over the last century?” Three, “Will we ever find a way of making formula milk as good as human milk?” All for health, medical or parenting magazines.
Take an article ‘Dainty Dishes for the Invalid’. Dainty, in this context, includes ‘beef tea’ (devoid of tea leaves, but filled with beef), ‘savoury custard’ (cornflour with beef tea) and arrowroot pudding.
Ideas. One, “Ten great uses for arrowroot – a forgotten ingredient”. Two, “Food for the sick – how has it changed?” Three, “Old English recipes – due for a revival?” All for women’s, health or food magazines.
We’re in the business of words, so study words, language and phrases too. Certain things stuck out for me: use of the word ‘to-day’ (which I still see, charmingly, among older students), a careless tautology (“endless and countless”), full stops at the end of headlines, few bylines (I can’t even find the editor’s name – although she does bossily ask “that you will not only at once order No 2 ready next Wednesday…”), bold and boastfully worded advertisements (including for a cheese which will “eliminate the poisons that other foods create…”) – and much more.
Ideas. One, “Has the nation’s grammar and punctuation improved or worsened?” Two, “How have words changed their meaning?” Three, “How have advertising claims and laws changed over the years?” All for writing, language, education or marketing magazines.
The deeper you read, the more ideas you’ll get. It’s impossible to fail in this respect.
It’s rare that we get a chance to look at a one hundred year old magazine – but there’s no reason a publication has to be that ancient to inspire ideas. Thirty, twenty or even just ten years ago, magazines were very different – and yet, in so many ways, the same – and these are just as likely to provide food for thought for you to adapt to the modern day, or to inject a new twist into. Look in the loft. Go to a boot sale. I know you need to study recent copies of papers and magazines before submitting to them, but old copies can be priceless in other ways. Happy reading. And bust enlarging...
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