Hey Bob, >I have a brother who is a free-lance writer. He does a regular column >for one magazine and writes articles for others as well. Mostly in >specialized, niche publications, like Poker Digest. He was doing an >article about a casino in Europe for one of them a while back and the >editor said, "Be nice to have some pictures." He said, "No problem."
This is very timely for me. I am currently going through a research process with hopes to try and break into this market. I have written plenty in the past, and been published (paper magazine) twice, but never considered it as a chief method of income, mainly because I already have a profession. However, a few years on, I am thinking of alternatives to my career, partly through want of something different, partly because the industry I work in (UK tv news) is still undergoing change, with the possibility or redundancy rearing its ugly head, partly because I actually enjoy writing and stills more than shooting news. I asked advice from a 60-something colleague, a freelance who primarily is a stills man. Years ago, he realised that editors seemed much more keen on photographers submitting words with their pics - it saved them from having to sort a writer to go out and interview the subjects of the pics! So my colleague started running off a few paras and bundling them with his portraits and 'colour features' (lots of country folk and farmers). As he puts it: 'You don't need to be John Steinbeck - a sub will soon knock it into shape. That's much easier from their point of view...' And so he's been doing this for quite a while. His advice to me? Know your market. Write about something you know, but most importantly, write it in the style the editor you are submitting to will want. Make it easy for them, and they'll snap it up. Of course, this assumes a basic ability in both writing and picture-taking. But as your friend has discovered, this doesn't necessarily mean an 'understanding' of the techniques. If the pics look okay, what does it matter what they were taken with? Similarly, my writing ability may seem fair, on the face of it, but give me a punctuation quiz and I'll flunk miserably. Food for thought. Best regards and cheers, Cotty _______________________________________________________ Personal email traffic to [EMAIL PROTECTED] MacAds traffic to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Check out the UK Macintosh ads http://www.macads.co.uk - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
