Identify your Sources Early

Blogathon, day 27. Make sure you tune in on Monday, June 30, for a one-day special offer I've never done before! 

Two days ago, I picked up an assignment from a market that's brand-new to me. It's a research-heavy assignment; two related stories that require three experts and three "real people" sources each. The stories aren't due until the end of July, but I'm already working on lining up my sources and ideally want them interviewed by July 10 or so. 

Experts are easy. Swing a dead cat...you know the rest. "Real people," however, are not. It takes time to find "real people," especially when they have to meet specific parameters like for these stories. (One story about newlyweds and sex took me three weeks to find the three "real" people who would agree to speak with me. Lesson: No more writing about newlywed sex again!) And I never want to be in a position where I'm closing in on a deadline yet don't have all of my sources interviewed. It makes me cranky and anxious. 

So I always get my research and interviews done way ahead of time. You should too. 

Your assignment: When you accept an assignment, immediately start identifying and lining up your sources for the story. 

**Want to learn more about successful freelancing? 

Check out Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer's Guide to Making More Money, Second Edition, a freelancing classic that helps both new and experienced writers boost their bottom line. 

If you're a new freelancer, get up to speed fast with Dollars and Deadlines: Make Money Writing Articles for Print and Online Markets, which is aimed at brand-new freelancers in search of their first clips.

And if you want to add ghostwriting to your repertoire, you'll want to read Goodbye Byline, Hello Big Bucks: Make Money Ghostwriting Books, Articles, Blogs and More, Second Edition, which shows how to break into the ghostwriting/content marketing field--even if you haven't ghostwritten before. 

5 Ways to Sharpen your Ghostwriting Skills

Blogathon, day 22. 

Ghostwriting (and content marketing, which often requires similar skills) is one of the most lucrative areas for freelancers today. But it can be a challenging field to break into if you haven't done it before.  To ghostwrite, you have to be able to capture a client's voice so that you sound like him, not like yourself. Here are five ways to sharpen your ghosting skills: 

1. Write for a variety of markets. Every market has its own voice. As a freelancer, you're expected to match that voice. Writing for a wide selection of publications will help you experiment with different voices, and better capture a new one.

2. Pay attention to sources. Just as every market has its own voice, so do each of us as individuals. Listen to how your sources talk; how they phrase things; whether they use short, concise sentences or long rambling ones that never seem to end. Imagine how a source would explain a concept or tell a story. 

3. Develop a specialty. Often a client wants a writer who has experience with or knowledge of the topic of his book or article. If you specialize in a particular area, you can use this as a "calling card" for ghosting work even if you haven't done a lot of it. 

4. Embrace a collaborative spirit. When you write an article for an editor, and she wants you to rework it, and you do, that's collaboration. Working with an editor (not just for an editor) gives you practice at working with a ghostwriting client, too (even though your client doesn't know as much about writing as your editor does). 

5. Analyze structure. A good editor knows how an article or book chapter should "hang together." A good ghostwriter does too. Take a look at the structure of the articles you write, and pay attention to what works and what doesn't. Do the same with what you read, and you'll gain a greater understanding of how to structure pieces when you're writing for a client as opposed to an who's already given you some direction about what she wants. 

**Want to know more about ghostwriting? Goodbye Byline, Hello Big Bucks: Make Money Ghostwriting Books, Articles, Blogs and More, Second Edition, shows how to break into the ghostwriting/content marketing field even if you haven't ghostwritten before. 

**If you're a new freelancer, get up to speed fast with Dollars and Deadlines: Make Money Writing Articles for Print and Online Markets, which is aimed at brand-new freelancers in search of their first clips. 

**Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer's Guide to Making More Money, Second Edition is a freelancing classic that helps both new and experienced writers boost their bottom line. 

Make Your Query Better: Suggest a Source

The blogathon continues! Halfway through as of today. 

Want to make your query stand out? Tell the editor who you plan to interview for your article by suggesting a source or two. Here's a paragraph from a pitch I emailed to a market last week: 

“In your Mind’s Eye: Exercise’s Impact on Body Image” will report on this fascinating topic, and give readers yet one more reason to work out. I plan to interview noted psychologists like Monica Ramirez Basco, PhD, author of Never Good Enough and report on recent research for this piece; if you like, I can include several “real women” to report on their experiences as well. I estimate 1,000 words for this story but that’s flexible depending on your needs. 

See what I did there? I said that I "plan to interview" experts like Basco. By that I mean that Monica Ramirez Basco is the caliber of expert I will reach out to for the story. If I can't get Basco, I'll get someone else who's respected and nationally known. But by providing my editor with the name of the person I think would be a good source, I show him or her that I've already done some background research, and that I understand the importance of quality sources, especially when writing for a national magazine. 

If the story turned on Basco's participation--like if talking to her was essential for the story--I'd make it clear that I'd already spoken with her and had her agreement to be interviewed by me. (That's what I call the McCaughey Septuplets rule.) But for most pieces, giving an idea of the type of person you'll speak to is sufficient. 

Your assignment? Next time you send a query, make sure you suggest at least one source for the piece.  

**If you're a new freelancer, get up to speed fast with Dollars and Deadlines: Make Money Writing Articles for Print and Online Markets, which is aimed at brand-new freelancers in search of their first clips. Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer's Guide to Making More Money, Second Edition is a freelancing classic that helps both new and experienced writers boost their bottom line. And my latest book,Goodbye Byline, Hello Big Bucks: Make Money Ghostwriting Books, Articles, Blogs and More, Second Edition, shows how to break into the ghostwriting/content marketing field. 

A Simple. Proven Way to Find Even Hard-to-Find Sources

Do you find that locating--and interviewing potential sources--one of the time-consuming parts of freelancing? Me too. That's one reason I always start looking for sources within a day or so of accepting an assignment--I need to identify my sources before I contact my sources before I line up interviews with my sources before I interview my sources...you get the point.

If there's a way to make this process easier, I want to know about it! So I was excited to learn about Source Sleuth, and what it does for freelancers. I spoke with Ryan Evans, its founder recently for this Q and A: 

Q: Let's talk sources. Just how important is finding the right sources is for journalists/freelancers?  

A: The daily routine of a writer can be pretty hectic and it's tempting to plug in sources quickly and move on to the next assignment. But finding a good source can make a huge difference, both in an article, and in a career.  

Here are some of the things a good source can bring to the table:

• Credibility - A high-caliber source not only makes a story more credible, but it shows your editor that you have a good network to draw from.
• Articulating ideas - Writers have to write about a wide variety of topics and quickly understand complex issues. A knowledgeable source can distill a complex issue or give nuance to something that seems simple or uninteresting. 
• Fact checking - While you are digging up information, you'll uncover things that need to be verified. Having a few good sources can keep you from getting burned. 
• Diversity of opinion - Having a few different opinions go a long way in articulating complexity or highlighting different perspectives. 
• Controversy - Sometimes a source will provide a quote or commentary that is controversial. While you may have to endure a few crazy comments, controversy gets people excited and can drive a lot of interest.  
• Visibility - Having a well-known or respected source can significantly impact how much people talk about and share an article. This has a huge impact on the number of times your piece is seen. 
• Networking - When you build a relationship with a influential source, you can often call on that source to connect you with people in their network later. 

A good writer is a good storyteller. It's hard to tell a good story without the right people, so it's usually worth the extra work to find them. 

Q: There are other sites (e.g. Help a Reporter Out) that appear to provide a similar service to SourceSleuth. How is SourceSleuth different? 

A: Many query sites send their queries to a massive email distribution list. Because of that, they are better at finding sources who have had a particular life experience (did something embarrassing at work party, had a makeover go awry or went through a nasty divorce). We focus more on finding someone with a particular expertise or informed perspective, rather than a life experience. 

One of the problems with sending queries to an enormous email list is that the queries are open to the public. You run the risk of being scooped or irritating the publication by using their brand name. 

Another problem is that while the queries sent to email lists typically get a lot of responses, most of the responses will be unqualified, pitching off-topic or just don't make sense for the story. As Ryan Holiday demonstrated with his prank on HARO (http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/07/18/how-this-guy-lied-his-way-into-msnbc-abc-news-the-new-york-times-and-more/), relying on sources that haven't been vetted can be risky. 

We care a lot more about the quality of sources than the quantity of sources we provide. With other services it's pretty common to get dozens of responses, but none of those sources have been vetted. Any writer who has used these services knows they don't have strict requirements or filters for people responding to a query.

Writers come to us, not because they'll get dozens of sources, but because they'll get a handful of vetted sources that make sense for a story. We have someone who is responsible for connecting writers with quality sources for every single query that comes in.  Because of that, we successfully connect writers with sources for 90% of our queries. 

Q: That's an impressive statistic, Ryan. So how do writers/freelancers work with Source Sleuth? Can you tell me a little about the process? 

A: The process is pretty simple. Writers fill out a form on our website and usually within 24 hours we'll introduce a source via email who is interested and qualified for the story. 

Q: How do you [Source Sleuth] locate potential sources? 

A: While we try to keep the process for the writer very simple, what we do behind the scenes is a bit more involved. 

Over the last year, we've built a proprietary database with hundreds of thousands of sources. When a query comes in, we search profiles in our database to see if we have someone who fits the query. 

While our database is pretty robust, it's not perfect. When we don't have a quality source in the database we use a combination of research techniques, tools and good old-fashioned legwork to find sources. Either way we do it, we have someone who personally approves each source. 

Q: That's good to know. So, tell me why you decided to create/launch the company, please.  

A: I'm fascinated by the changes going on in media. A lot of people are cynical about where the Internet is taking journalism.  Google created a short-term incentive for publishers to crank out a massive amount of low-quality content. Social media clamors for Buzzfeed to crank out animated gifs. 

But I think some of these things are just the growing pains of the transition to new media. Technology has provided the opportunity for writers to publish at little or no cost and connect with niche audiences. There has also been an explosion of tools and great resources for writers - like this lovely blog :) - that make writers much more efficient. 

I don't think the trends that have given low-quality content undue attention are permanent. Yes, people want to be entertained. The Kardashians and Miley Cyruses of the world are always going to get attention. But readers also want to be well informed. They need quality journalism and writing from publishers and writers they can trust. I'm a big believer that quality will prevail and I want to be involved in this evolution. 

==============

Thanks very much to Ryan Evans for this post. Evans is the Founder of Source Sleuth (www.SourceSleuth.com). Ryan is passionate about entrepreneurship and innovation.  When he’s not working, he spends time with his wife and chases his three little kids around the park. Find Source Sleuth on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sourcesleuth

When Do You Contact a Source? The McCaughey Septuplets Rule, Revisited

New writers often ask me how to make their queries stand out from the pack, especially when they lack clips. The best way to do so is to craft a compelling query that shows you've already down researched the topic you're pitching. 

Depending on the topic, this may mean including statistics, recent research, or "live" quotes from an expert or another source. So how much time and effort do you put into the query itself? Do you interview a source before you get the go-ahead to do the actual article? Or do you wait until after you get the assignment? The answer depends on what I call the McCaughey Septuplets Rule.

Let me explain. If the story I'm pitching turns on someone's participation (such as with a true-life feature or a profile), I contact the person ahead of time to make sure he or she is willing to do the story if (and hopefully when) I get the assignment. I may also use this opportunity to do a brief interview with my source and include some "live" quotes into the query, demonstrating that I've already done my homework. 

I call this this "The McCaughey Septuplet Rule." Long before 19 Kids and Counting aired, the McCaughey Septuplets, born in November, 1997, were big, big news. Every few months, their beaming faces would grace a women's magazine.

So let's say you wanted to write a profile on the McCaughey septuplets or interview one or more of them for an article. Sure, you can pitch the piece, but if it gets assigned, well, you need the septuplets. No one else will do. 

Same goes for pitching an article about a particular celebrity. If you want to write about Matt Damon, you'd better confirm with his publicist he's willing to talk to you for the story. And if you plan to write about a researcher's ground-breaking discovery, you want to be sure she's willing to be interviewed for your story. Otherwise you'll be unable to write the promised piece. 

That's why I confirm that any critical story source is willing to talk to me before I pitch the story—I don't want to be stuck with an assignment I can't deliver. Otherwise, I note a couple of people who I "plan to interview" (note my phrasing--these are the types of sources I plan to talk to--if one isn't available, I'll get someone similar), and contact them once I get the assignment.

Get the idea? If the story turns on someone's participation, I get their OK before I pitch it. Otherwise I pitch it and contact my sources afterwards. That's the McCaughey Septuplets Rule, in short. Follow this strategy and you'll write stronger queries--and never be in the position of being unable to deliver a story you pitched. 

**Want to launch your freelance career--or make more money as a freelancer? Check out Improvise Press' first two books: Dollars and Deadlines: Make Money Writing Articles for Print and Online Markets, and Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer's Guide to Making More Money, Second Edition. You can order them through any bricks-and-mortar or online bookstore, or directly through www.improvisepress.com.

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The Sell-your-First-Article Series: Step 6

Welcome back to the sell-your-first-article series. (You'll find step 1 and steps 2 through 5 here.) Today we'll only be covering one step, but it's a critical one--step 6, interviewing your sources. 

Remember that for this short piece, I only needed to do one interview with one of the coauthors of the NEAT study. I'd already contacted him to see if he was willing to do an interview with me, and he was. 

To make sure I wouldn’t forget any relevant questions, I wrote them down beforehand. Here’s my list:

1. Confirm name and title

2. Mailing address (so I can send him a thank-you note after the interview)/email address

3. Explain research findings briefly 

4. Was he surprised by this? Why or why not?

5. Take-away message for women who want to lose/maintain their weight?

6. Anything else you want to add that I haven’t asked?

Questions in hand, I called Dr. Jensen at the time we’d agreed. The first question I asked him was, “Is this still a good time for you to talk?” That shows respect for his time, and if he needs to push back the time, I can accommodate him. Then I asked permission to record the interview (I use a digital recorder that hooks into my phone jack); in some states, it’s illegal to record without the subject’s permission. (You don’t have to record interviews, but it makes it easier to quote your sources accurately, especially if they turn out to be fast talkers. Check out Hello Direct, www.hellodirect.com, for headsets and digital recorders. On the other hand, if you take notes quickly, you may not need to record your interviews.)

At the conclusion of the interview, I thanked Dr. Jensen for his time, and told him I’d be in touch with any further questions via email. I also asked whether he’d be available in the next month or two in case my editor had any follow-up questions. Finally, I promised him I’d be in touch to let him know when the story was published. And then I sent him a thank-you note via snail mail, expressing appreciation for his time. 

Scared about conducting an interview? I used to be, too. In fact, I’d say I was petrified I’d forget to ask something, or that I’d sound stupid (or both!) during pretty much every interview I conducted for the first year or two of freelancing. But I’ll tell you something—the person you’re interviewing doesn’t care about you sounding stupid—he’s more concerned about whether he sounds stupid.

Keeping that in mind, I’d like to give you some tips to get better interviews, regardless of who you’re speaking with. First, always do your homework ahead of time. Second, let your source know that you have. I’ve interviewed hundreds of experts and real people over the years, many of whom are busy professionals. They may be willing to be interviewing, but that doesn’t mean they’re eager to be. As soon as I make sure that it’s still a good time for the person to speak with me, I demonstrate that I’m prepared to speak with him.

So, for example, with Dr. Jensen, I told him that I’d already read the entirejournal article, but wanted some “live” quotes from him for the story. With another source, I might let him know that I’d visited his website or mention one of his books or some of his latest research. It depends on the source and the subject, but even with an anecdotal source, I can say something like, “Becky, thanks so much for agreeing to speak with me. I understand from Sarah that you’ve been homeschooling your kids for three years, and I had a chance to check out your homeschooling blog. Is this still a good time for you?” It’s that easy to start your interview off on a positive note.

I always tell the person I’m interviewing how much time I’ll need (say, 15 minutes) and I stick to that estimate. Watch the clock. If the interview is going to go over, tell your source. “I’ll say something like, ‘You know, I told you I only needed 15 minutes to speak with you, but we’re about to hit that. Can we speak for a few minutes, please?” It’s another way of doing what you said you would, and demonstrating your professionalism.

Finally, I always send a thank-you note. I mentioned that already but I’ll tell you that it’s made a huge difference in my career. Sources remember me! They remember my name even years later because, “You’re the one who sent that note!” People think of me as a professional, thoughtful writer—and there are much worse things to be known of in a business where your reputation may precede you.

               For this story, I only needed a couple of brief quotes from Jensen, so the interview took less than five minutes. My transcript included Dr. Jensen’s contact information and several short statements about the study. With the study and my transcript in hand, I sat down to write the story. That's step 7, which will be the subject of my next post! 

               **In the next post, we'll talk about how to start researching this short piece. In the meantime, Dollars and Deadlines: Make Money Writing Articles for Print and Online Markets, from which this post is drawn, in now in print. (Prefer the Kindle edition?) 

               If you're interested in writing articles, be sure to sign up for next week's Write Now! Mastermind class. Rochelle Melander will be  interviewing me for How To Pitch And Sell Articles To A Variety Of Freelance Markets. The call is free, but you need to sign up at http://www.writenowcoach.com/resources/write-now-mastermind.html. I hope to "see" you on the call!  

Writer vs. Source: When Can you Be Both?

Regular readers of this blog know that I often suggest that new writers start off pitching ideas that they already have some personal experience or background knowledge of. Demonstrating that you’re, as I say, “uniquely qualified,” to write a particular article or blog post boosts your chances of getting an assignment. 

Sometimes you may want to demonstrate this experience by using a first-person lead or personal anecdote in the article itself. But when is it appropriate to insert yourself into a story, and when should remain a reporter alone? In other words, when you’re writing a piece, when should you play both writer and source?

With some types of writing, it’s pro forma to share your experiences with your readers. Take a personal memoir or essay, where the piece itself springs from something that’s happened to you. But for a reported article, inserting yourself may be unnecessary at best, distracting at worst. 

That's why many editors don't want a writer to use first-person anecdotes or references. If you're not sure whether to share your own experience in a piece, I suggest you do the following:

       Consider its impact. In some instances, a first-person anecdote may not work for a particular story. For example, when I wrote about how to avoid employment discrimination claims for a small business magazine, I chose to use real business owners as anecdotes. Yes, I was a lawyer in my former life and had defended these kinds of claims, but I felt that my experience might overshadow the article.

         Run it by your editor. Make sure it’s all right with your editor to include yourself before you do so. In several instances, I’ve suggested a first-person lead only to have an editor tell me he prefers me to stay out of the story. For example, when I pitched a piece on how to avoid running injuries, my query included my experience falling and concussing myself during a run. (I’m a klutz.) But my editor at Runner’s World asked that I write a straightforward piece without using any anecdotes, including my own—so that’s what I did.

Consider your duty as a writer. Each of us has our own prejudices, experiences, and biases. If I were to write an article on the pros and cons on having an open adoption, ethically I should disclose the fact that I happen to be a parent who has open adoptions with several of her children’s birth parents. Can I write an objective piece about this subject? Certainly, but I think I would have to reveal my own experience in the piece.

      Keep your standards high. Using your own experience in an article is no substitute for conducting research. A common rookie mistake by new freelancers is thinking that because they know something about the subject, they don't need to call on experts or other sources for the story. I suggest you err on the side of over-researching, even if you plan to include a first-person anecdote. That will help you write a balanced piece.  

Bottom line? Inserting yourself into a piece isn’t appropriate for every piece you write. But judiciously sharing your own experiences can make your work more compelling, relatable, and marketable.  

***Readers, what do you think? Do you use first-person anecdotes or do you avoid them, and why? I welcome your comments. 

***Finally, a big thank you to readers who have purchased my latest book, Writer for Hire: 101 Secrets to Freelance Success. It's selling steadily, as are my line of ebooks for new freelancers!  

The McCaughey Septulets Rule

To successfully freelance for magazines, you must be able to write compelling query letters. You make yours stand out from the pack by researching the topic ahead of time—and letting the editor know you've done so.

Depending on the topic, this may mean including statistics, recent research, or "live" quotes from an expert or another source. So how much time and effort do you put into the query itself? Do you interview a source before you get the go-ahead to do the actual article? Or do you wait until you get the assignment? The answer depends on what I call the McCaughey Septuplets Rule.

With some articles, contacting a source to write the query ahead of time is a smart move. How do you know whether it's necessary? My rule of thumb is this: if the story turns on the person's participation (such as with a true-life feature or a profile), then I contact the person ahead of time to make sure he or she is willing to do the story if I get the assignment. This also gives me a chance to do a brief interview and drop some intriguing quotes into the piece.

When I was teaching magazine writing, I called this "The McCaughey Septuplet Rule." Long before Jon and Kate Plus Eight (post-divorce, now Kate Plus Eight) came along, the McCaughey Septuplets, born in November, 1997, were big news. Every few months, their beaming faces would grace a woman's magazine.

But here's the thing. If you want to write a profile on the McCaughey septuplets, you need the septuplets. You can't just grab three sets of twins and a singleton, smush 'em together, and call them septuplets.

That's why I confirm that any critical story source is willing to talk to me before I pitch the story—I don't want to be stuck with an assignment I can't deliver. Otherwise, I note a couple of people who I "plan to interview" (note my phrasing--these are the types of sources I plan to talk to--if one isn't available, I'll get someone similar), and contact them once I get the assignment.

Get the idea? If the story turns on someone's participation, I get their OK before I pitch it. Otherwise I pitch it and contact my sources afterwards. That's the McCaughey Septuplets Rule, in short.

What about you? How do you handle this?