Freelance journalism

Cuppa Tee

Hi all,

I'm thinking of doing some freelance journalism, and, realising that it's a difficult thing to break into, would be interested in hearing any advice people might have.

I'm based in Galway, and so obviously will approach local press. Thing is, I'm not sure what the best way of doing this is. The onus would be on me to submit stories to them, rather than the editor seeking my services when required, am I right? It'd be great to hear from anybody who has experience in submitting stuff to local papers, who could give me a quick rundown on how it all works, how best I should approach them, how I'd find stories that a staffer wouldn't have covered, etc.

Moving further afield, I'd interested in submitting features to nationals/magazines. I know it's highly competitive out there, but I'm a decent writer and researcher, with a wide range of interests, and some media-related training behind me, so I'd be confident enough I could give it a go.

I realise that at the start, I wouldn't be making enough cash to sustain me full-time, but this would be a part-time venture, and ANY money made would be a bonus.

Anyone has an idea, or a tip or two, I'd be grateful to hear them...

Wicklowteacher

hi there
i worked on a paper for 4 years. best thing to do if you are really serious about it is a) apply to DCU to do their one year master's programme. its expensive, but even submitting the application and being interviewed will give you an idea who you are up against in the freelance world.
b) submit STORY IDEAS to editors on your local papers. the trick is, don't write a single word of the story, but work on what it is about, then practice your sales pitch about why they should be interested. In your sales pitch you should be able to compress the story idea into ONE LINE. that makes the difference between these two scenarios.
first call -
FE 'yes?'
YOU 'er, I'm wondering if you would be interested in a feature story...'
FE 'have you been published before?'
YOU 'no, but....'
FE 'we don't publish first time writers. what's the idea?'
YOU 'well I was thinking, you know the way diets are really popular now....'

second call -
FE 'yes?'
YOU 'Would you be interested in a feature on the Irish dieting industry? Its value has increased from E40m to E100m since 1990 - 1 in 4 Irish people are now on a diet.
FE 'maybe. can you send it in?'

(I used to practice this by getting my sister to pretend to be a really impatient editor on the end of a phone line until I got it right):D

Judt

What are you thinking of, specifically? Freelance reporting? Freelance feature writing? A mix? In what areas, specifically? For example technical IT stuff, gardening, bridal mags... the works. A good book on the subject (in fact, an excellent book on the subject) can be found here.

Let us know what specifically you're looking at and we can advise. One thing of note from the off is, don't limit yourself - local papers are all well and good, but why not even bother trying national ones? Or ones in the UK? It's an email world...

Cuppa Tee

Thanks for info, guys.
As regards what I'm interested in writing, hard news wouldn't really be my thing, but I'm prepared to do some of it if it means making a name for myself. I'm more interested in submitting features, and targeting mags, nationals, websites, etc, would definitely appeal more than going the local route.
Particular areas I'd aim at writing on would be sport, politics, maybe new technologies. A lot of what I plan would involve taking my lead from current affairs; for instance if a film or book were coming out on a particular topic, I'd try to plan ahead, maybe write a supporting feature that could run in a national daily or special interest mag, approaching the topic from an angle people would find interesting. It's that type of writing I'd be best at, and which I'd like to go with.

Judt

Well the happy thing is that feature writing can send you off to mags as well as newspapers. As I say, don't limit yourself artificially.

For technology, are you tech savvy or aiming at the non-tech savvy, teaching them the more basic stuff? If it's more savvy look at the likes of VNU and Future, for example.

You have to be on your toes, be able to dig for contacts as much as stories... it's a good living when you get on the rails, but breaking in requires a lot of hard pushing. Stick at it and you'll make a good journalist.

DublinWriter

Cuppa Tee wrote:

Anyone has an idea, or a tip or two, I'd be grateful to hear them...

I'll level with you. Freelance journalism (aka 'Stringer' work) is almost impossible to get in this country unless you are seriously connected or you're in the public eye for something other than hournalism, sorry, journalism.

Pick a specialist area of interest, buy a copy of the 2006 Writers and Artists Yearbook at Easons and approach UK publications.

...but it's neigh-on impossible to earn a living from that kind of occasional work.

Without wanting to reveal my identity, I do freelance work for a number of I.T. publications in the UK. I find the UK to be more open to newcomers rather than here.

Irish I.T. publications basically live or die on advertising revenue, so they're never critical of anyone and product reviews just tend to be palid re-written company press-releases.

Best of luck!

segadreamcast

"Irish I.T. publications basically live or die on advertising revenue, so they're never critical of anyone and product reviews just tend to be palid re-written company press-releases."

Listen to the man - he speaks the truth.

LegacyUser

I do a bit of freelance, and basically, what I do is:
Submit a story idea proposal to certain magazines - I always determine my target audience before I submit proposals, a car magazine is not going to want to know about Irelands fashion trends and wont appreciate me wasting their time.
So, submit proposal, hope someone likes your idea and commissions you to write the story.
Even when my proposal is rejected from everyone I will usually write the piece anyway, and submit a taster of the finished product to certain publications, and if I am lucky, they go for it.
Also, I worked in sales for an event guide magazine and did a few reviews for them while I was there - if you go to a pub or club, and review it, you might not get paid at first, but an event guide will almost certainly publish your work, and that always helps when your building a portfolio.


Well, I hope this helps,

Good Luck,

A

Ronan Raver77

Do you have any experience on radio???? Would be a good way to get to know people in the Industry!!! You could do it part-time at the weekends on the local station.I know its probably not the exact job you want but news readers on radio stations have gone far..