Feature Writing 3 | The Freelancers Year

how to get exactly what you need from interviews

Corporate Writing

How to get exactly what you need from interviews

Conducting interviews is a very important part of being a freelance writer. For me, the best interviews are those where you get exactly what you need in the shortest amount of time possible. These are the interviews where the interviewee feels heard and understood, and where your questions hit the mark. But not every interview goes smoothly, in fact, I’ve had some shockers. Here are my top tips for preparing for interviews and getting exactly what you need.

Feature Writing

How to get an editor to read your pitch

There’s no doubt that pitching is an art, and if I’m honest, despite all the good advice out there, pitching is one of the things that lets so many freelance writers down. Despite what some people may profess, there’s no one single way to make sure your pitches to magazine or newspaper editors hit the mark, but there are definitely ways to increase your chances of your queries getting opened, read and responded to.

the 5 things that can help get a pitch across the line

Feature Writing

The 5 things that can help get a pitch across the line

What kind of success rate should freelance writers be aiming for when pitching editors? I got asked this question recently and it’s not easy to answer because it depends on if you’re sending pitches to editors you have a relationship with and the quality of your query letters. But I think if freelance writers get 60% of their pitches accepted they’d be doing exceptionally well. There’s lots of advice out there about how to pitch, but there are five particular things I have found that freelance writers can do to help secure a commission.

The 3 questions editors want you to answer

The freelance writer-editor relationship can be a tricky one to navigate. Many of the writers I coach often feel they are double guessing what an editor wants and are never really sure if they’ve hit the mark. Over the past six years I’ve found that editors of magazines, newspapers and digital outlets have three main questions they want freelance writers to be able to answer.

Feature Writing

Anatomy of a feature article

In the survey I sent out a few weeks ago, lots of you mentioned that you’d like to see how one of my feature articles developed – from the initial idea and pitching the editor to interviewing case studies and experts, writing the article, submitting it and being published. In this post I take you through an example of a feature story and all the steps involved in getting the article published in one of Australia’s newspapers.

how to get started as a freelance writer

Feature Writing

How to get started as a freelance writer

What is the best way to break into freelance writing? There’s so much information available, but this is the quickest and easiest way.

How freelance writers can find fantastic interview sources

If you’ve got a great idea for a feature article for a magazine or newspaper, you need the talent to back it up. But for journalists or freelance writers, finding case studies or sources can be a tricky thing. You might need experts to translate complex ideas so that a general readership can understand recent research, or you may need to find someone with first person experience to speak eloquently about the topic you are exploring. But how do you find those people who are going to bring your story to life?

Feature Writing

Writing for trade magazines

They pay well, the work is regular and often the editors come to you with story ideas. So what is the best way to get into writing for trade magazines and industry publications?

Landing a column – what it takes

A lot of freelance writers say their dream is to be a columnist. I asked three of Australia’s best-known columnists to spill the beans on how they landed their regular gigs, how column writing differs from feature writing and what advice they would give to freelance writers who dream of having their very own regular space to rant, review or reflect.

Case study spoking – What it is and why it works

During interviews with case studies I often find myself in the middle of a fascinating conversation. Often, though, the topic is nothing to do with what I’m writing about and we have veered off from our original subject to something else the interviewee is passionate about. For many years I just wrote those conversational titbits off as interesting distractions during the interview. But recently, I’ve changed my tune.

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Category: Feature Writing

How to get exactly what you need from interviews

How to get an editor to read your pitch

The 5 things that can help get a pitch across the line

The 3 questions editors want you to answer

Anatomy of a feature article

How to get started as a freelance writer

How freelance writers can find fantastic interview sources

Writing for trade magazines

Landing a column – what it takes

Case study spoking – What it is and why it works

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