Tips for freelancers — from ideas to rewrites and beyond

Meryl Davids Landau

Freelance writers, even those with a long time of knowledge, can operate into problems working with the editors who fee their pieces. At the “How to be your possess copy editor (and advocate),” panel at Overall health Journalism 2022 in Austin, editors and productive freelancers  shared recommendations in a session that advanced into a broader conversation between the panel and the audience.

Freelance writer Meryl Davids Landau commenced the session by supplying a several guidelines primarily based on her personal ordeals as both equally a novelist and a author of nonfiction well being and science article content.  She claimed composing fiction manufactured her non-fiction producing greater, and suggested  that writers attempt to make the anecdotes in their tales read through additional like fiction. “Put yourself in the readers’ shoes and request if they are savoring reading the write-up,” she mentioned.

Landau also proposed that writers get ideas by attending scientific conferences, or simply by wondering of story that they are ideal positioned to write, perhaps thanks to individual connections or contacts.

The three editors on the panel — Rob Waters of MindSite News, Carmel Wroth of Countrywide Public Radio (NPR) Pictures Blog and Matthew B.H. Ong of The Most cancers Letter — all emphasised how important it is for writers to continue to be in call with their editors. “The most essential detail about the connection involving an editor and a writer is that it is a connection. As an editor, I want to join with my writers,” Waters mentioned.  It never hurts to overcommunicate, Wroth additional, furnished the writer keeps in thoughts that editors are themselves struggling from info overload. It’s particularly  important for writers to get to out when a tale veers absent from the original idea — and  Waters and Wroth equally mentioned that  a author speaking that need to also propose a solution.

A author who has considerably far too substantially info to set into a one report can usually pitch a sequence to their editor. “They will likely say no,” Waters claimed, but at that level, the writer is totally free to pitch the other short article to yet another publication (unless of course the agreement with the authentic publication says if not).

Landau experienced a to some degree distinct consider. “For me, as a freelancer, if you have above-documented, that implies you failed,” she explained. Usually freelance writers are not paid by the hour or by the interview, so paying out more time signifies a lower for each-hour fee of fork out.

The panel also talked over compensation.  “I have not identified a way to place a worth on a tale that isn’t the [industry standard of] phrase fees,” Waters mentioned.  That common charge for every phrase presents various issues, like incentivizing writers to write longer than necessary  — and the actuality that occasionally creating shorter is more hard than crafting for a longer period. When it comes to inquiring for extra income for the reason that a tale is using for a longer period than expected, Wroth stated, “I’ll take into account additional income if it gets much more work for the author since of one thing I questioned for.”

Pitching of system is essential, and editors stated it’s essential to have a distinct concept of both what the post is about and the publication it’s for. “Please investigate,” Ong mentioned. “Look at who is reading the publication.”

Wroth suggested imagining what a Facebook blurb introducing the last report could possibly say, and using that as the starting stage.  “It’s a assure to the reader,” she mentioned, “so you will need to determine out what your promise is, and then make it happen.” Acquiring this succinct plan of the posting is significant even from the time of the pitch. “When you really do not know what your story is, there is a great deal of wrestle for all people,” Wroth mentioned.

At times a first draft desires to be slash to bring the story back again to that succinct strategy. “I really do not over-interview, but I do overwrite,” Landau explained. “As a writer, it can be tough to cut your text.” She advised putting any slice textual content into a different doc to support make it a bit simpler mentally. (Waters jumped in with an settlement, calling the textual content in that separate doc the “orphans” of the piece.)

Other enhancing strategies from the two the panelists and the audience, irrespective of whether reviewing one’s individual do the job or another person else’s, associated attempting to see the piece from a diverse viewpoint. For illustration, established it aside and read it again in a handful of several hours, browse it out loud, or commence with the previous paragraph and study just about every paragraph operating towards the initial a person. While doing so, writers ought to appear diligently for repeated text as well as verbs, which must be precise and sharp.

When requested what stories they had been hunting for, Waters explained he is fascinated in facts-driven tales on long COVID and connected psychological wellness symptoms. Wroth also mentioned an interest in COVID articles or blog posts, inspite of noting that anyone is suffering from COVID exhaustion. “There’s a bucket called COVID-adjacent that I assume is vital suitable now,” she mentioned.