Get your feature published by Susan Welsh, feature writer with the Aberdeen Press and Journal
Having a well penned feature land on the desk can make a features editor’s heart soar like an eagle — especially if it comes with good quality, free-to-use colour photographs.
But submitted features regularly fall short, often for simple reasons such as timing.
Deadlines can be set months in advance. July, for example, is when many Christmas preview shows are staged, and decisions can be made then as to what is published in December.
Building contacts will help you become familiar with deadlines.
However, it’s also worth keeping an eye on current events taking place within popular culture.
A soap story-line involving issues as diverse as eating disorders to glamping holidays can spark interest in the subject and be considered good ‘feature’ material and required for publication while still a hot topic.
Good geographic knowledge is also important, especially when targeting regional publications. Ensure you know where the publication will be sold before taking any “local” line.
Regularly read your target publication to learn what style of features it favours; the word counts and lay-out.
If writing about people give us much information as possible; age, occupation, where they live, if they have family/pets, unusual hobbies and so on.
Find a “hook” that will grab the attention and write as if telling a story to a best pal. Include humour, if appropriate.
Pitch the article with a call or email but leave a gap of a few days before following up. Never send it to more than one person within the same organisation.
Ensure you include contact details: email; land-line and mobile numbers, and be willing to re-jig the article to suit the publication’s style or perhaps to tie-in with a current event, and you may soon find yourself in print.
Susan Welsh is a features writer for the Press and Journal. She has been a journalist for 15 years and was formerly features editor of the Aberdeen Evening Express. She has written on topics as diverse as spending the night in the late Queen Mother’s home, the reputedly haunted Castle of Mey; make-up for men; and why Bill Wyman was happy to leave the Rolling Stones.
Leave a comment