Joanne the Coach

Advice for Anyone Starting Out in Journalism

Read this

That is all.

Thank you and goodnight.

Another Portion of Successful Freelancing - Pitching by Phone

Part two of my series of features on how to be a more successful freelancer is now up here at Journalism.co.uk It looks at how to be more effective when dealing with editors on the phone. I've included several easy, practical things you can do to become better at pitching on the jellybone.

I know several successful freelancers who would rather eat the hard skin off their feet than phone an editor, but really it's like a lot of things in that the more you do it, the better you get at it. Some say they fear these calls in case they get turned down, but if you don't chase up by phone then you are less likely to be commissioned, so you might as well have been told No - the result is the same. These days, it's very easy to spend your whole working life hiding behind email, but you're missing out on a lot if you do.

A Slice of How to be a Successful Freelancer

Just wanted to let you know that I have a new series of articles coming up at the Journalism.co.uk site, about how to be a successful freelancer. The first one has just gone up here, and looks at the best way to pitch your ideas to editors. This is a version of a previous post on this blog, now with added modernity including using Twitter to pitch. The original vintage, longer and more detailed post is here.

Blame it on the PRs

I don't mean to keep having a go at PRs, but my goodness, they make it so easy.

On Friday I received an email promoting an event. Lots of other media people got sent it too, including journalists from The Times, Grazia and the BBC. How do I know this? Well, all the recipients' email addresses were left visible in the 'To' field of the message. I started counting how many people had had their contact details exposed in this way, and kind of wished I hadn't, because it came to 294. Come on dudes, even I know how to use the bcc field, and I'm a techno-neanderthal.

Aside from the privacy issues, if you are sending an email to this many people at once, you stand a higher chance of getting tangled up in spam filters. Since ticket sales from this event are raising funds for a charity for people with cancer, I would have thought that the aim was to make it more, not less, likely that media would hear about it. Am I missing something here?

Things I Don't Understand About PRs

So as promised below, I wanted to let you know the good parts of my journalistic communications with the PR dudes. Here you go:

{cavernous echo}

Only joking. Seriously, over all it's been good. When I sent out requests on Response Source, Gorkana and the 4Media group, I was slightly hoping to get replies that included something extra daft to chuckle about. These free services exist to connect journalists with a wide range of PRs and their wares. But many of the journalists I know talk about them in quite derisory terms, swapping stories about the time they asked for information about penile implants, and got a press release for a product that washes your vavoova instead.

Alas, I didn't get anything all that random, but did get lots of useful information which in turn led to stuff I could write about. I am old enough to remember the days when, if you wanted to contact a bunch of PRs, you just had to grab your contacts book and a phone, get your head down and start dialling. So when used well, these sites can be a great resource on all sides. But there were still some aspects of PRs behaviour I couldn't quite follow.

• The sudden silences
  If you send a press release, and I reply with "Oh yes, I've used those, they're great - send more info/jpeg pic and I'll write about it" that's not a trick response. I'm not taking the piss. And it's certainly not a cue for you to go silent and never get in touch again.
• I only said hello, no need to propose
  Just because I asked for press releases on parenting stuff, doesn't make it a good idea to put me on a mailing list for everything you ever represented. I have enough trouble keeping track of info on stuff I'm interested in, I just don't have the brain space for all the rest as well.
• The terrier-like persistence, even though the plot has moved on considerably
  Our friends, The Bunnies in the Mirror, still rang me up to see if I was coming to their event. Twice.
• Why so coy? You're promoting this stuff, right?
  A large proportion of PRs who replied to my request simply hit 'Reply' and didn't bother to put anything in the subject matter about what they were promoting. Still more simply put "For ParentDish" in the subject line. I do keep press releases that I don't use straight away, and I do look back over them. But when you have a dozen with the same subject matter, it's hard to see the wood for the trees. It's a simple thing, but you'll make yourself stand out in a journalist's inbox if you say what it is you're offering in the subject line.
• Why phone people who don't want to be phoned?
  I was very careful to leave my phone number off my media requests, for the simple reason that I prefer to be contacted by email. This is practical as much as anything else, as I am often coaching by phone for an hour at a time, so if you call you won't get me. And if you do, I'm probably just a teensy bit busy. If you pitch by phone I'm less, not more, likely to listen.
• The messages that make no sense or are just plain wrong
  Some of the messages I received simply made no sense at all - they were just fragments of phrases that had been cut and pasted a little too often. And saying "This is for your new health site" when it's not a health site, won't turn it into one just because you have a health product to promote.

So aside from all that, if you are PR-ing for something in the parenting/family line, yes I do want to hear about it. But dudes, none of the above please.

Take Care of the Little Things (and Don't try to Maim my Children)

Picture the scene: It's Saturday morning, my son's 6th birthday. The postman brings a brightly coloured padded envelope, and we gather round to open it. I give it a shake - it rattles. Maybe some Lego from Granny? A few Star Wars figures?

I tip it open and it's a pile of broken glass. The kids and the cat jump back in alarm, but my daughter still manages to cut her foot on a shard.

So what happened was this: a PR firm have sent out invitations to an event, displayed in a mirror frame. They put the frame in some bubblewrap, unsealed. They put the bubblewrap in a jiffy bag, unsecured. So for the want of a couple of pieces of sellotape, instead of making a good impression of the company running the event, they've left a journalist (meself) thinking "Jesus Christ, what idiot did this?"

Since I've been writing for ParentDish I've had much more contact with PRs than ever before, and on the whole my experience has been good, unlike some of my colleagues elsewhere. But it's the little things that make a big difference. Like the PRs who phone up, even though I don't put my phone number on media requests and specifically ask to be contacted by email. Like the people who say "Hi, we've spoken before" even though I know we never have. Like the ones who send a PDF when you ask for a jpeg.

I will be posting about the good PR practice I've encountered soon, but till then, take care of the little details. And please don't send me broken glass again.

Farewell, FreelanceWritingTips

So the lovely Linda has placed the Freelance Writing Tips blog in the online equvalent of long stay parking. But not before posting a leaving gift of an article pointing you towards the most popular and useful posts on the blog. Sort of like an online party bag, if you will. So if you're a freelance writer, get your reading specs on this lot and prepare to learn.

How to be a Good Editor - Freelance Journalists Tell You How

Many people are promoted to the post of editor without much, or any, formal training. Which is a shame, because I don't think it would take a lot to make a big difference all round.

So here's some feedback from freelancers on the things they experience that makes a good editor stand out from the crowd. This list is combined from contributions from a range of experienced freelance journalists, working for UK and international publications.

Good editors do:

• Provide a brief stating what they want to see in a feature
• Read pieces fairly soon after they've been submited
• Think ahead. Don’t come back on a delivered-to-brief feature asking for 10 more case studies or 500 more words with interviews without being prepared to stump up more money. If your editor is likely to demand this, advocate for your writer
• Be honest when they've changed their mind
• Pass invoices through for payment as soon as possibly
• Acknowledge receipt of copy (even a one word Thanks will do)
•  Read the piece through before firing questions, rather than questioning something that is then made crystal clear in the next paragraph

• Acknowledge as many pitches as they can, however briefly
  
  Good editors don't:

• Pinch ideas, give them to their staff and expect freelancers not to notice
• Be slow to praise and quick to criticise
• Email a month after submission asking for changes, as the freelancer has all but forgotten about that piece
• Forget to inform your writer up front about any payment terms – like if it's on publication, or if there is a rights waiver or other contract to sign
• Tell a journalist you like an idea and suggest it is very likely to be commissioned, then go cold and ignore them
• Come back with any reasonable amends as soon as possible rather than an hour before deadline. Understand that your writer has other clients / responsibilities too
• Hold on to a feature for a year or more before suddenly deciding to run it and going back to the writer a few hours before it goes to press with request for rejig or fact checking

Got anything else to add? Post a comment or email me if you want your comment added anonymously

Easy Ways to Attract Publicity for your Business...

...is the gist of what I'll be speaking about on 4th March at Scanners' Night in London. I'll be making my way through the Capital's smelly murk to talk about how you can get lots of lovely free publicity for your business or project. It'll also be a good chance to get on the spot help for your business and meet lots of handsome and elegant creative entrepreneurs. Full details and how to book are at the bottom of this page. Hope to see you there.

Essential Skills for Journalists

The Guardian's Charles Arthur reckons that if you're starting out in journalism now,you need to learn to code. Linda Jones of Freelance Writing Tips agrees, and adds that in today's market, diversification is essential.

I do miss the days when you had to track someone down armed only with a telephone, the Yellow Pages and your shoes, but times change and so must we all. Evolve or die, it's always been the way.

Other skills and attributes I don't think you can do without as a journalist include:

• Curiosity
• Charm (this is optional for some sectors, you know who you are)
• The tenacity of Hairy Maclary and all his mates.
• A Plan B. Cos Plan A is never what you thought it would be.
• The ability to talk to absolutely anyone, on their level
• An eye for detail and commitment to accuracy (particularly important when all the subs have gone to Subhalla )
• Shorthand, or your own version thereof. Yes you can record and transcribe interviews instead, but that will take time that you won't always have.

What do you think? Any more to add to the list?