Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Freelance Newspaper Writers

  1. #1
    God/dess
    Joined
    Jul 2007
    Posts
    3,654
    Thanks
    942
    Thanked 892 Times in 354 Posts

    Default Freelance Newspaper Writers

    I don't know how it works. I try to search online and all I can find are sites teaching you how to write a newspaper article. This was pretty helpful:

    but I still don't understand how it works.... When you submit an article for (hopeful?) publishing, how do you know what to write about? Do you pick something that you think is newsworthy, cover it yourself and then send it in? Or is there a way to find out what you should be writing about? I wonder if the majority of articles in newspapers are published by employees of the paper or by freelancers. Will I find these answers in the newspapers themselves?

    Does anyone know?


    I'm so cornfused.

  2. #2
    Veteran Member
    Joined
    Jan 2007
    Location
    New England
    Posts
    718
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts

    Default Re: Freelance Newspaper Writers

    I've done all facets of newspaper writing, Zinaida--from working on a newspaper staff to freelancing. It was some time ago, but perhaps the same things apply. When I was on the staff I was assigned things specifically--usually the editor was the one to come up with story ideas, either from a press release or from something he'd heard of, and he would assign it to us. I had a knack for the feature stuff, so that was usually the kind of story I got. When I was doing freelance writing (and if you have an interest in this you might want to check out the Writer's Market series of books, which you'll find in any library) I would approach newspapers and magazines directly with story ideas. With newspapers, as a freelancer, I even did ad copy when they needed...often, after I'd done a few things for a newspaper they would start approaching me with ideas and things that they needed done, and you could get a fairly lucrative career going that way locally. I would, for instance, hear about a scientist who was working on new ways to farm crops indoors--this particular fellow had done similar work for NASA, and was inventing ways to bring large buildings, with controlled environments, to economically depressed areas or disaster areas and provide people with fresh food--that kind of thing. Or I would go to the library and find historic figures from the area who might be of interest to local publications...I found, for instance, the speed-pilot who was the inspiration for the famous book "Jonathan Livingston Seagull"--the guy's name was actually Jon Livingston, and I did a feature on him.

    I am a creative writing teacher (college) now, and one of my students, who is into athletics, did a lengthy feature on different kinds of sneakers and what they were best used for and sold it to the Boston Globe...she had pretty much finished the article, I think, when she brought it to them, and I think the local angle she used was where people could find the sneakers locally. I would say to begin with you should look at what local papers are printing and come up with three good ideas and write them out, hone them, and then bring them to the paper's editor and see what the reaction is. Writer's Market will also help if you are interested in selling to magazines, for instance. But your instinct, to do work for local papers, is a good one. This isn't very thorough. Please feel free to PM me with any questions you might have.

    Good luck!

    J.
    JK Jim

  3. #3
    God/dess
    Joined
    Jul 2007
    Posts
    3,654
    Thanks
    942
    Thanked 892 Times in 354 Posts

    Default Re: Freelance Newspaper Writers

    Thank you so much!!!

  4. #4
    Veteran Member josie's Avatar
    Joined
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Detroit!
    Posts
    342
    Thanks
    2
    Thanked 26 Times in 7 Posts

    Default Re: Freelance Newspaper Writers

    J: What newspaper staff positions have you held, if I may ask?


  5. #5
    God/dess
    Joined
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    8,031
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 143 Times in 42 Posts

    Default Re: Freelance Newspaper Writers

    You pitch ideas and send clips of things you've previously written. You don't send in stories for publication.

  6. #6
    Veteran Member
    Joined
    Jan 2007
    Location
    New England
    Posts
    718
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts

    Default Re: Freelance Newspaper Writers

    Hi Josie,

    I was a reporter for a chain of newspapers on the north shore of Boston, and after graduate school a feature writer for the Aurora Beacon News in Aurora, Illinois. How about you, Josie? Sounds like you've worked for a paper, too--
    JK Jim

  7. #7
    Veteran Member josie's Avatar
    Joined
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Detroit!
    Posts
    342
    Thanks
    2
    Thanked 26 Times in 7 Posts

    Default Re: Freelance Newspaper Writers

    Zin:
    Also make sure you pitch to specific editors. Don't just call up a random editor and expect to get a response. If you email something, absolutely make sure it is error free. No spelling errors, no punctuation errors, no grammatical errors. Make it perfect. And don't forget a source list. You'd be surprised how many freelancers forget to list the contacts of their sources.

    If you've never been published before, I would suggest writing a few articles for the school newspaper before you shoot for the bigger papers.


  8. #8
    Veteran Member josie's Avatar
    Joined
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Detroit!
    Posts
    342
    Thanks
    2
    Thanked 26 Times in 7 Posts

    Default Re: Freelance Newspaper Writers

    J: I've only interned. What beats did you cover? How did you like feature writing? I'm one of the few reporters that just despises feature writing.


  9. #9
    Veteran Member
    Joined
    Jan 2007
    Location
    New England
    Posts
    718
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts

    Default Re: Freelance Newspaper Writers

    Hey Josie (and Zinaida),

    I was going to PM but I'll just answer Josie's question here because maybe it will help with the thread and give others some ideas to write Zinaida about--this was all a while ago, and I've gone into a different area of writing (I write fiction now...some of my former editors at newspapers would probably argue that I wrote fiction then, and that's why I'm not still doing it!) I left college midway through sophomore year and got a job as a stringer with a small chain of papers, and mostly did what we call "selectmens'" meetings in New England--town meetings. Then I got a larger job with another chain and covered sports, obituaries, and feature segments, and learned a great deal one summer when the rest of the unionized staff walked out in a salary dispute and I was left alone with an editor to write one newspaper pretty much alone for about three weeks! An interesting time with little sleep! But it actually lead to my writing a column, which was then picked up by the whole chain.

    I worked for a New Hampshire paper for a while and covered three presidential campaigns--one of those was father George Bush--and an LPGA golf tournament (I knew nothing about golf--I was covering for another reporter, and I managed to talk for twenty minutes to Nancy Lopez without knowing who she was...at that time she was the greatest golfer in the world. To her credit she was very modest, and didn't make me feel like an ass at all!) Much later I worked in Illinois writing only features, and then did so freelance: I was simultaneously writing for an insurance company (ad copy) and selling stories to larger magazines. But it was a bit of a scramble for me economically, and I went back to what I loved, which was teaching. Still, my first published book was a memoir, and I know that all the reporting I'd done helped, and it helps me now with my fiction.

    I think you'll find people here with much more experience in actual reporting than me, and they will be better to talk with about the more hard-boiled stuff. Josie, I just went to your blog, and see that you have a strong, athletic way of writing, so I'm guessing you would go more for the hard-nosed reporting than the feature stuff? I have to say I always admired reporters like Brian Ross at ABC--the investigative stuff. I did a little of that but wish I'd done a lot more.
    JK Jim

Similar Threads

  1. 50 Places That hire FREELANCE WRITERS
    By CamWhore in forum Other Work
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 12-19-2017, 08:36 AM
  2. grant writers?
    By babybambi08 in forum Dollar Den
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 07-01-2010, 04:51 PM
  3. Writers...??
    By krys in forum Other Work
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 10-16-2004, 09:58 AM
  4. any writers here?...
    By krys in forum The Lounge
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 08-30-2004, 02:43 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •