― Ronan (Ronan), Saturday, 19 July 2003 11:05 (twenty years ago) link
― Kate Silver (Kate Silver), Saturday, 19 July 2003 15:46 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 19 July 2003 18:07 (twenty years ago) link
1. Giving more than you promiseWhen an editor asks for two samples, give her three. If she trusts you with an assignment, don’t wait for the final deadline, but send it in a day in advance. If she’s asked you to provide notes, make sure you give her everything she needs so that she doesn’t have to ask for anything more. If you make an editor’s job easier, she’ll love you for it. And she’ll be willing to trust you again with more assignments.
2. Constantly coming up with fresh slantsThere may not be too many new topics (unless you’re writing about technology; then you just can’t complain), but there can always be new slants. An editor likes writers who can reduce her brainwork, and make her look good in front of her superiors by coming up consistently with great ideas.
3. Having all the answersIt’s important to know about your subject. That’s why so many well-paid writers advise you to specialize. So, if an editor calls you to discuss your query, and poses follow-up questions, you better have the answers. Because an editor’s never going to trust you with an assignment unless she’s sure you know what you’re doing. And not having answers to her questions is a sure-shot sign that you don’t.
4. Coming up with clever titles, and great sidebarsThe most important thing I’ve learnt so far is to visualize your article. See how it appears on the page. Granted, it’s usually not going to come out like you’d imagined it, but for a minute forget that you’re a writer, and think like a designer. See the beautiful fonts and the shaded box on the side? That’s how the editor sees your article. Now it’s your job to bring that visual to life with your words.
5. Understanding the core audience of the magazineIf you’re writing for a magazine for home PC users, your editor’s not going to appreciate ideas on network security, however wonderful they may be. Similarly, when writing for a small business owner, you’d want to treat that person as a little smarter, even if he might have the same knowledge base as that of a home user. His computing decisions are more important. That’s why you should always be familiar with the reader’s knowledge level. That’ll help you make the distinction between good ideas, and great ones.
― Mridu Khullar, Friday, 18 November 2005 15:30 (eighteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 18 November 2005 15:35 (eighteen years ago) link
As for this: "When an editor asks for two samples, give her three," I can't speak for editors at large, but don't do that for me. I've got enough to read without an extra sample. The extra one means you either couldn't make up your mind or you don't have any two that alone will sell your writing.
― JC-L (JC-L), Friday, 18 November 2005 15:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― strongo hulkington's ghost (dubplatestyle), Friday, 18 November 2005 15:40 (eighteen years ago) link
Most of that advice makes pretty good sense, actually. (And I say that as somebody who, early on, used to get pissed when Spin editors changed commas to semicolons. Though later, they did stupider stuff.)
― xhuxk, Friday, 18 November 2005 15:45 (eighteen years ago) link
Of course, maybe that's why I'm not a brilliant pitch-maker... :)
― JC-L (JC-L), Friday, 18 November 2005 16:21 (eighteen years ago) link
Publications I write for:
Baltimore City PaperOrlando WeeklyGrooves MagazineSignal-to-Noise MagazineMiami New TimesPitch WeeklyCreative Loafing AtlantaStaticmultimedia
I don’t think there’s any harm in non-local writers writing for alt-weeklies as long as they’re good; it’s important to cover ye olde local scene though. I remember back when the Baltimore City Paper didn’t do anywhere near as much of this as they do now – the volume of venom from local hipster musicians was incredible.
― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 18 November 2005 16:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― xhuxk, Friday, 18 November 2005 16:52 (eighteen years ago) link
All the more reason NOT to do too much local coverage. (I mean, right, my job is to provide publicity for local hipster musicians.)
― xhuxk, Friday, 18 November 2005 16:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― xhuxk, Friday, 18 November 2005 17:18 (eighteen years ago) link
Eep. I'm learning something here.
I never give too specific of pitch guidelines either, so I'm not sure why it bugged me by the suggestion that you should give more samples than requested. I think I just don't like it that someone else assumes they know what I need. Although this thread is pointing out that maybe they do!
― JC-L (JC-L), Friday, 18 November 2005 17:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 18 November 2005 17:50 (eighteen years ago) link
Jeezus.
> the volume of venom from local hipster musicians was incredible.<All the more reason NOT to do too much local coverage. (I mean, right, my job is to provide publicity for local hipster musicians.)
Did work for a local daily newspaper for years. It was intensely local, sometimes to self-destruction, and the hometown artists had grown accustomed to pattycake treatment. After a couple of weeks, every Monday morning the assistant managing editor for features would be in a really foul mood because he had to answer phone calls from them after I'd slaughtered some hometown favorite over the weekend. The best moment was when a bunch of them brought in a signed petition to have me fired. The griping in the letters section actually seemed to stimulate more readers into looking at the section, which had been one of the most ignored in polls judging aimed at rating what people turned to (sports, the comics and the horoscope always won). If they'd had a sex columnist or someone who told bathroom jokes, that probably would have been first.
― George the Animal Steele, Friday, 18 November 2005 17:53 (eighteen years ago) link
Mridu's advice is good, particularly the bit about fresh slants.
― s>c>, Friday, 18 November 2005 18:02 (eighteen years ago) link
http://karma2.karmadownload.com/images/albums/SKCD77_pic.jpg
― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 18 November 2005 18:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 18 November 2005 18:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Friday, 18 November 2005 18:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 18 November 2005 18:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 18 November 2005 18:51 (eighteen years ago) link
i have the angry emails to dispute this as my intent in covering local music.
― strongo hulkington's ghost (dubplatestyle), Friday, 18 November 2005 18:55 (eighteen years ago) link
I never understand why the weekend section focused so much on Anthracite entertainment; it always seem to enforce racialized fears that get so much play in Berks Co. as it is.
w/r/t local coverage in Philly: there's basically a one man monopoly on local band coverage in our weeklies and then there's Philebrity. As someone who actually lives here and doesn't carpetbag from NYC, it's amazing how detached and disillusioned coverage has been of Philly bands generally speaking. Maybe it's for the best; if you've waited on bands as customers, then it's probably better to avoid ever writing about them, right?
― blackmail.is.my.life (blackmail.is.my.life), Friday, 18 November 2005 18:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― strongo hulkington's ghost (dubplatestyle), Friday, 18 November 2005 19:01 (eighteen years ago) link
Yeah. I worked for the Allentown Morning Call in the Lehigh Valley, straight east from Berks and up the northeast extension from Philly. Went to college in Reading and the LV and there wasn't a lot of difference between the two. Anyway, after I left the Call, the music editor used some of Condran's free-lance reviews to help fill the hole. Don't remember seeing a lot but I wasn't paying much attention so I'm sure some stuff escaped me.
The Call was really into the local heevahava scene. It was what xhuxk referred to as local boosterism run amok. It had been that way for years. Everyone was totally into hagiography so this was circumvented by starting a new feature called "Nightclubbing," a weekly column that published satirical reviews of the locals in their watering holes alongside similarly voiced reviews of whatever semi-bigshots were at the Fairgrounds or in the Stabler Arena.
― George the Animal Steele, Friday, 18 November 2005 19:12 (eighteen years ago) link
-- strongo hulkington's ghost (wt...) (webmail), November 18th, 2005 7:01 PM. (dubplatestyle) (link)
Yeah, it's weird. With the exception of the ex-Man Man guys, that's pretty easy to maintain, and as someone who's had peripheral experience with Philadelphia, you can understand why. Search Marah and knifepoint and you may find some interesting results.xpost
When it comes to local Philly weeklies, it seems their predisposed to running the same people's pieces (see Philly Weekly for instance) and not welcome other writers at all, as though it were an affront to the editorial sensibility of the paper. Is this pretty common?
― blackmail.is.my.life (blackmail.is.my.life), Friday, 18 November 2005 19:24 (eighteen years ago) link
So far I have no editing horror stories to report from working for Strongo or his predecessor!
― Al (sitcom), Friday, 18 November 2005 19:40 (eighteen years ago) link
Hello editors!
― Al (sitcom), Friday, 18 November 2005 19:42 (eighteen years ago) link
Damn Technorati!
― blackmail.is.my.life (blackmail.is.my.life), Friday, 18 November 2005 20:19 (eighteen years ago) link
Agreed, Chuck ... on the flip side, though, scene-bitching is just as bad. Man-in-the-scene iconoclasm just doesn't have much value or shelf-life anyway you try it ... and that's all I'll say relative to my past experience.
― Chris O., Friday, 18 November 2005 20:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 18 November 2005 20:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― strongo hulkington's ghost (dubplatestyle), Friday, 18 November 2005 20:48 (eighteen years ago) link
Depends on the execution. For the operation, it was the most read and anticipated section of the weekend music news.
― George the Animal Steele, Friday, 18 November 2005 21:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 18 November 2005 21:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 18 November 2005 21:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― 'Twan (miccio), Friday, 18 November 2005 21:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, 18 November 2005 21:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― shookout (shookout), Friday, 18 November 2005 21:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, 18 November 2005 21:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― 'Twan (miccio), Friday, 18 November 2005 21:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, 18 November 2005 21:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― 'Twan (miccio), Friday, 18 November 2005 21:51 (eighteen years ago) link
On the other hand, I edit the music reviews on and off, and that's where if I say that I want 300 goddamned words, I want 300 goddamned words. People seem to think that this is something that I'll be pleased to get, 400 extra words on some bland album that I have to cut out anyway. And would it kill them to make a declarative statement that doesn't have "possibly" or "one of the" in it?
And that's leaving aside the hassle of a publisher who cuts the pages randomly and has no interest in funding editorial work at all. ("Yeah, I know that I promised you $25 for your review, Freelancer, but the publisher doesn't cut a check until he runs it, and he's cut the reviews page the last three months. I know it's a dumb policy. No, I can't help you out. Sure, I've got more albums for you to look at, but most of them are 35-year-old white guys rediscovering the blues, and I'm not going to be able to run them until 2008").
― js (honestengine), Friday, 18 November 2005 23:54 (eighteen years ago) link
-- Raymond Cummings (gracefulas...), November 18th, 2005.
haha Raymond, you're trying way too hard, my first name is Al and it's the same name as on my bylines, wtf
― Al (sitcom), Saturday, 19 November 2005 00:20 (eighteen years ago) link
― Al (sitcom), Saturday, 19 November 2005 00:25 (eighteen years ago) link
Yeah, some features are printed two months later, and then he'll wait a while before cutting that check. Meanwhile, you better be respectin deadlines an all.
― blunt (blunt), Saturday, 19 November 2005 00:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― blunt (blunt), Saturday, 19 November 2005 00:43 (eighteen years ago) link
-- Al (hoteloper...), November 19th, 2005.
It's Al Shipley right? I like that guy's writing. Who did you think it was?
― cliffing, Saturday, 19 November 2005 02:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 19 November 2005 03:41 (eighteen years ago) link