How To Write a Short Bio April 20, 2009

The first time a magazine editor accepted my article I was ecstatic.  Then my health pitch for a baby article was accepted shortly after by a different magazine. I was stoked!  But, as I read the editor’s guidelines I noticed she mentioned a few things.  She said I would receive masthead credit (Yay!), a byline (Super!), and a two-three sentence bio (Yikes!).

A bio — what would I say about myself?!  After the panic set in, I took a chill pill and began brainstorming.  I didn’t have published clips yet.  And with no previously published clips, I was at a loss.  Thankfully, I came up with an idea pretty quickly.

The first thing I did was check out the magazine’s website to get a look at how other writer bios looked.  At first, I noticed that the authors were not only credentialed, but they had a lot of information included in their bios.  I didn’t panic because I remember reading that the magazine was open to new writers with great ideas and solid pitches (and “new” equaled me).  So, with a little more persistence I was able to find a couple of writer bios that included a simple sentence.  The sentence included where they’d written before and their area of interest.

Example: Jane Doe has written about women’s health issues for magazine X.

I decided to follow that format as well and not worry too much about my lack of abundant clips.  After all, every writer started without clips at one point, right?  Right.  I found many similar bios on their website that were simple and super-short (considering she asked for two or more sentences in the bio).  I realized that once my health piece came out for magazine number two, the first article would have already been published.  So, I included the first magazine’s name and submitted my lonely one sentence bio.  The editor was pleased with my article, she never mentioned my measly bio, and I’ve worked with her again since.  I’ve written a lot more since and wanted to share with other writers my how to advice on getting over writing about yourself (especially when you have limited writing experience).

• The Omniscient Point of View: Write your bio in the third-person because it sounds more professional than saying “I” all the time.  Reserve the first-person approach for your pitch letters when you’re describing your experience to an editor or agent.  When writing a bio, the third-person format sounds like someone else is writing about you and it comes off looking more polished.

• Check out the Doers: If you’re at a loss on how to start your bio whether it’s for your website, blog, book, or magazine article then just look at the experts for some direction.  Visit the library or bookstore and flip through magazines and books to get a sense for what works.  Book jackets are a great place to get ideas; you can find the bio in the back (usually with a picture of the writer).  Other places you can check out include Amazon.com and Google’s book search engine.  These online resources provide snippets of pages you can view which sometimes include the author’s bio.  Or you can just grab a few books from your own collection and read the bio’s of your favorite authors.

• Get Growing: So you’ve read some bios and realize that you don’t have anything that great.  You’ve been only writing for a few months and don’t have anything published.  Well, let me tell you that you probably have more than you realize.  Let’s say you’ve scored your first pitch for a scrapbooking or golfing magazine and you’ve never written anything before.  The fact that an editor said yes means your pitch was great.  Now, think about why you were interested in writing this particular subject to begin with.  For the scrapbooker, maybe it’s because for the past 5 years you’ve gone to scrapbooking conferences, run a home business making creative albums for customers or volunteer at a local YMCA teaching kids and adults scrapbooking activities.  Or maybe you’re a golfer in need of a bio to accompany you first article. Your bio should include the fact that you teach golf classes, work at a golf resort, or that you’ve been playing leisurely for several years.  The key is that you have experience and you need to highlight your strengths when writing your author bio.  It’ll show people why you’re capable of writing the article. The challenge of writing your first bio is overcoming the hurdle of not having any or a lot of experience.  Stay active in the writing world and realize that the more you pitch the more doors for writing opportunities will open up for you.  So get growing and write for a variety of publications.  It’s fine to pitch to the major players.  But, don’t forget to try out local and trade magazines — try college and university publications as well.  For the breakout novelist also pitch to smaller agencies or consider taking the self-publishing route.

• Be Interesting: Don’t just layout the facts about yourself.  Use engaging language and make yourself sound interesting — because you are. And if you don’t sound captivating then readers won’t think so either.  Let’s say you’re writing a piece about the health risks of spelunking or writing a book about the world of caves.  The chances are you’ve stepped into more caves than the average Joe.  When writing your bio share fun facts about yourself.

• Switch up Your Bio: Change your bio as your portfolio grows.  Don’t just cut and paste the same old stuff over and over again.  You’re evolving as a writer and you want to keep readers abreast of what you’ve been doing and the things to come.  Your bio should cater to the type of reader you’re writing for.  For instance, if your first book is for young children and you decide to write fiction book for teens tweaking your bio goes without saying.  For articles, you’ll want to keep your bios relevant — don’t include that you’ve written for AARP when you’re writing up your bio for a pregnancy magazine.

Writer bios are needed for a myriad of things such as press releases, websites, conferences, magazines and books. Remember it doesn’t have to be an overwhelming process to write your bio.  If an editor or agent is willing to take you on then you’re doing something write — ahem, I mean right.  So, take a deep breath and think outside the box when writing your bio.  Be creative; include facts while staying interesting, and use a tone that makes you look professional and confident.

The moral of the story today: Don’t sweat the short stuff.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about writing bios and your tips on how to overcome writing a bio (especially if you’re a new writer).

Know a Magazine Cover, Know Its Readers December 18, 2008

With the economic slump, the publishing world is taking major hits (and there are no signs of a bailout for writers).  As more journalists get laid off the freelance market is becoming even more saturated with experienced writers looking for ways to stay afloat financially.  For the newbie attempting to breakout the idea of sending a pitch to a magazine may be scary.  But, that doesn’t mean that you need to wait to pursue your writing endeavors.  Like many professions, the writing world is experiencing a tumultuous time.  But, that isn’t stopping me from pitching my ideas and even setting my eyes on a couple of national magazines in 2009.

Part of my plan is to continue to learn more about writing for magazines.  While, I’ve gained some success locally I am looking to pitch my ideas to national magazines. And in these tough times, sharpening my skills will help me improve my pitch to editors.

One of the first things I’ve done is to get to know the reader.  What I’ve learned in pitching my ideas to magazines is that I have to show the editor I know the magazine’s readership.  The bottom-line is to pique the readers’ interest by giving them what they want.  Initially, when I started pitching ideas to magazine I would come up with an idea, write a query letter, and send it off to publications.  The notion of learning the markets I was pitching was foreign to me – after all my idea was great, right?

Wrong.  I wasted a lot of time sending out query letters to magazines that had no interest in my ideas.  Who cares about a carefully crafted pitch when it doesn’t meet the interest of the readers?

Instead get to know the magazine’s audience.  Writing a query letter for a magazine when you know the audience and have an understanding for the type of stories they like to see makes the process easier.

A simple exercise you can do to kick start the process is to get into the habit of judging a magazine by its cover.  To start, view Amazon’s website (you can find loads of magazine covers there) or swing by the library or bookstore and select magazines where you’d like to be published.  Create reader profiles for each magazine based on who and what you see on the cover.  Here are two basic tips to get you going:

• Use the person on the cover to get a few details about the reader (i.e. age, marital status, household income)
• Write down the cover lines and figure out the readers’ interests based on the titles

These are really easy things you can do to make sure your targeting the right magazine for your pitch.  Another thing you can do is check out the magazine’s online writer’s guideline or Writer’s Market.  Using these resources may provide information about the type of articles featured and the readers’ age range and income.  Avidly reading magazines you want to write for will keep your ideas fresh and you’ll remain up-to-date on what the readers want.   I’ve posted a profile below for Glamour magazine, check it out:

PROFILE EXAMPLE: Glamour magazine, January 2009

The cover’s feature celebrity is Britney Spears which tells me that Glamour’s readers are in their 20s to 40s (I would have said 30s but Nicole Kidman is featured on the December issue).

From the cover lines below, I can deduce a couple of things about the readers’ interests.  Numbers 2, 5 & 6 tell me that the readers are interested in keeping up with the latest styles and trends in fashion; they are also looking for ways to live a healthier life as well as great fashion-forward tips that’s easy on their lifestyles and bank accounts.  Based on number 3, I know that the readers are looking for ways to spice up their relationships.  Also, number 4 informs me that the reader wants information on good health practices.

And tying everything together, I can say that Glamour readers are mainly women and their relationship status varies (she can be single, in a relationship or married).  As far as household incomes go I get the sense that the readers, while interested in ways to repurpose outfits in their closets, tend to enjoy shopping (“100 Perfect outfits”) and their wardrobe likely includes mainly designer labels.

1.    Britney – Healthier at Last, She Opens Up About Her “Crazy Year”
2.    Best Dos & Don’ts of the Year! – 76 Looks You’ll Love (and Laugh At)
3.    The #1 Thing That Makes Sex Very, Very Good
4.    8 Slim-Down Tricks Smart Women Swear By
5.    100 Perfect Outfits That Are Already in Your Closet
6.    WOW! 839 Little Breakthroughs for Your Hair, Health, Body, Money, Life

Why don’t you give it a try?  If you already have a knack for this share some tips about what you do to familiarize yourself with a magazine’s readership?

Understanding Your Rights November 25, 2008

When I decided to begin freelancing it didn’t take long before I realized that I’d have to up the ante and become more business savvy.  To be frank, I thought I’d put off learning about the business side of writing until I had written a novel and would be shopping for publishers.  Yup, that’s when I’d start.

But, I soon realized that getting a book published was only one example of when writers need to understand their rights.  I wasn’t clear on what I was giving up and what rights I retained after selling an article.  Once I started to break into magazine writing, I signed up with Writer’s Market and that is when I started to  notice the term “rights purchased” and I had no idea what those rights meant.  So, of course I would Google them as I came across each one.  Eventually, I purchased Mediabistro.com’s “Get a Freelance Life” and it has been a tremendous help in demystifying different aspects of the writing process.

I’ve included a brief review below:

First North American rights (FNA) are also called first North American serial rights (FNASR).  These rights mean that the publication will be the first to distribute your work anywhere within the US and Canada.  Your rights will be reverted back to you and the time frame depends on the publication.  For instance, a magazine may stipulate that your rights are returned to you three or four months after the article has first appeared.  The details vary from one publication to another.  But, most sources mention that FNASR are the most common type to be offered to writers in the US and it’s definitely the type you’ll want to sign off on.

Reprints are also known as second serial rights or nonexclusive reprint rights.  Reprints allow writers to resell their work after it has appeared elsewhere.  Look out for publications that offer reprint rights because it is a great way for writers to keep earning more money from previously published pieces.  Granted, you’ll most likely get paid less than you did for it originally. But, you’ll also be doing less work with your article (or short story) the second time around.

First serial rights are similar to FNASR with the exception that the publication is not limited by location.  You may see online publications using this in contracts.  Since web publications can be accessed anywhere in the world these rights will be applied.  But, don’t think it’s limited to just online publications.  Other printed publications distribute worldwide and may ask writers to sign off on these type of rights as well.

Onetime rights usually refer to works that are time sensitive.  Hot research findings, a new cure, a celebrity story to die for – you name it.  If the news is timely then getting it published may require you signing a onetime rights (also called simultaneous rights) contract.  A writer may sign off on onetime rights at various publications simultaneously.  Each publication usually targets a different audience.

All rights mean exactly that – you’re giving up all the rights to your work.  So, think wisely about this one.  If you are ever offered an all rights contract and negotiating for a FNASR is not an option then you need to think long and hard before you sign it.  Signing an all rights contract means that the publication now owns your work.  So, you get nothing if they decide to take your story to the next level and make a made for TV movie or worst an Oscar-worthy movie from your story.  Not only will you be paying almost $12 (if you live in NYC) to see a movie based on your story, but you’ll be kicking yourself for signing that contract.  And even if you don’t think your piece is Hollywood material and you decide to sign the contract anyway – realize that if later down the line you want to use your work for something else you will most likely have to buy it back.

Electronic rights mean that the publication wants to have the right to publish your work on its website as well as in print.  Other variations of this include the distribution of your piece through online databases like LexisNexis, archiving for public access and more.  An interesting twist is that if you are asked to sign over your electronic rights alone then you will retain your right to sell your work to print publications.

Understanding your rights as a writer is important business.  Be clear.  Ask questions.  And recognize your worth.  For the beginning writer, it is important to never sign something that you have reservations about or aren’t clear on.  The best way to figure out what you’re signing away and not giving away is to ask.  Being a well informed and successful writer begins with open communication and sound negotiations.

Clipless, Not Clueless November 7, 2008

When I began to pursue writing the first order of business was to do my homework.  The road to becoming a freelance writer was a far cry from easy street.  With no published articles under my belt, writing contacts, or a journalism background I had to start from scratch.  And that meant getting published wasn’t happening without clips.

So, how does one get work when they have no writing samples?

The idea of breaking into magazine writing has been a trying experience – I tried and nothing happened.  But, once I took the time to collect myself and get organized things started to work out.  I developed a strategy and committed myself to following through with my plan.  I’ve incorporated a few practices I used to build my writing samples below:

BECOME INFORMED: First, I signed up with Writer’s Market.  Being able to access information on various publications has been a huge time saver.  As I’ve learned not every section of a magazine is available to freelance writers since some are reserved for staff writers.  Rather than blindly pitching to a magazine, I can use the website (and at times the magazine’s guidelines for writers) to get pertinent information.  This allows me to craft tighter queries, get updated information about editorial staff changes, and include the section where I think my piece would work well.  I’ve found that adding a particular section shows that I am familiar with the magazine and that I’ve done my research.

KNOW THE MAGAZINE: What works for one publication may not work for another.  So research shouldn’t be limited to online resources alone.  Walk into any Borders or Barnes and Nobles and take a look at the magazine section.  There are so many magazines out there that the idea of researching magazines sounds crazy.  But, it is an important skill that will save both new writers and seasoned writers (who are pitching ideas in new areas) a lot of time.   Reading magazines provides me with a sense for its tone and tempo.  Which keeps me in line and assures that when I pitch a story it lines up with the type of material found in the magazine.  My writing focuses mostly on health and family topics.  So when I visit a bookstore I pretty much know what magazines I like to check out.  Also, libraries are a great place to review magazines you’re interested in because you can look at many back issues.  I did this for a magazine I was interested in pitching a story to and realized they had previously covered a similar topic.  I saved a lot of time and energy in sending a query about a topic that was already covered a few months before.

SPREAD YOUR WINGS: Consumer magazines are hard to break into without clips.  That’s why it’s a good idea to reach out to smaller publications.  By being flexible in my options, aiming nationally and locally, I have been able to cover more ground.  I have contributed a few articles to a local magazine and it has been helpful in building my clips.  For writer’s who are worried about how long it’ll take to break into magazine writing the answer is – it varies.  I started writing this year and actively began pursuing magazine writing since the spring.  After a few months of nothing, I finally got an email giving me the thumbs up late in the summer.  I was excited to get a yes.  But, I just didn’t keep pitching ideas to that editor alone.  I kept pitching and following-up on my other queries too.

Jumping into the trenches of freelance writing doesn’t have to be chaotic and unnerving.  With a little patience, preparation and practice you’ll get that first clip and the next one after that.  Getting your first clip requires that you clue yourself into the dos and don’ts of magazine writing, and remain flexible regarding the markets you target.  Once you’re a pro you can command the scene more and just drop a line to an editor (I hope) about an idea for their next issue.  But, until then keep working to secure good clips!

My Prescription for Transcription November 3, 2008

Conducting good interviews has been an interesting process for me.  I’m in a better place than I was when I first started interviewing people.  With every interview, I find myself more and more in control.

It’s been an exciting experience, I get to meet with people from all walks of life and learn some new things along the way.  After an interesting Q&A session, the moment is replaced with the realization that it’s just me and my tape recorder.   The idea of transcribing notes is so tedious.  But, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do to dig for those diamond quotes and golden nuggets of information.  Oh, how I dread the mundane – rewind, fast-forward, stop and start – clicking actions of transcribing.  As an average typist my speed without errors isn’t always the best.  So I find myself going back and forth to get it right and that takes more hours than I care to spend.

After a few rounds of trial and error, I’ve found a method that works for me.  No more incessant clicking of the tape recorder to go over something I may have missed.   Now, I use Dragon Naturally Speaking when I transcribe.  Once I get through an interview, I like to transcribe my notes while the information is still fresh in my mind.  Dragon Naturally Speaking has been trained to recognize my voice – not the interviewee’s voice.  So, I listen to the tape recording, speak into the headset’s microphone, and just watch my words turn into text.  I use an ear phone for the tape recorder so that the sound isn’t picked up by the headset.

Using speech recognition software has been a nice upgrade from my days of manually transcribing notes and allows me to save on time.  A one-hour interview would have taken me four or five hours to transcribe.  Using the software, I can transcribe the same interview in half the amount of time.  I am using Dragon Naturally Speaking 9.5 and it has been one of the best gifts I’ve received.

Using the software has been a nice improvement to the old stop and start method of transcribing notes.  But, it does have a few glitches which is why the latest version, Dragon Naturally Speaking 10, touts more speed, accuracy and features.  In fact, the upgrade deals with some of the issues I’ve faced with my current software.  For starters, there is a bit of a lag time in translating what I’ve said into text. So I have to wait for the text to catch up with my speech.  Also, the software doesn’t recognize some of my words.  So, I have to go back and change words which takes up more time.  So accuracy and speed are definitely some of the kinks that the latest version might address.  But, I haven’t gotten a chance to check out version 10.  I am hoping it really does handle these issues.

Overall, I must say that Dragon Naturally Speaking is still better than my manual approach to transcribing notes.  Care to share your prescription for transcription?  Whether you’ve used Dragon Naturally Speaking (or another voice recognition software), rely on transcription services, or a DIY-approach, I’d love to hear what you’ve been doing.

Reeling in the Runaway Interviewee October 28, 2008

It was a strange experience for me when I started interviewing people.  Whether I was meeting with a doctor, a community organizer or a business owner, conducting a good interview meant that I needed to exude confidence and check my worries at the door.  So right off the bat I realized I had to do my research.  Getting my facts together and doing the research has been instrumental in preparing me for interviews.

Though research has helped me a lot in preparing my questions for interviews, I realized quickly that scooping out information was only part of the process.  After my first interview, I realized that things may not always go as smoothly as I anticipate.  Among these problems, I’ve faced voice recording mishaps, the serial reschedulers, and runaway interviewees.

The runaway interviewee types have a tendency to veer off-course during interviews.  In the beginning, whenever I encountered a runaway interviewee I was a bit nervous about interrupting them.  I felt that it would be rude to just interrupt someone while they were speaking.  So off they went leaving me to filter through a lot of information that didn’t really pertain to my article.

But, I soon began to realize that the long way home to answering questions during an interview was both time consuming and unnecessary.  In the end, I found myself scrambling for good quotes and information to bring the piece together with the intended path for the article.  Although everything worked out in the end, I looked back at my transcripts and realized that I didn’t use most of the information.  Everyone seemed happy with the article except me.  I realized I made the piece work with more effort than I needed to because I wasn’t assertive enough to enforce redirection when the interviewee went astray.  And that cost me time during the interview and afterward as well as I tried to pulled information together.  From what I’ve gathered about freelancing – time is of the essence.  So, lesson learned.

There will always be variables to throw me off since I can’t account for everything.  But, it’s how I bounce back that matters.  So I focus on improving the things that I do have control over.  This is why I’ve incorporated some basic strategies to assure that my interviews run much better:

1.    Fact-checking my research with a media contact, publicist or simply checking out their website.

2.    Confirming appointments -Yup, people tend to forget or double-book.  So I save myself the grief and commuting time by making sure we’re still on for the interview.

3.    Prioritizing my questions in an order that makes sense.  I don’t want to appear as if I’m just throwing questions out there.  If something is mentioned that I didn’t think of then I’ll ask about it.

When in comes to reeling in the verbose interviewee here’s what I do:

1.    Piggybacking – When a subject is going off-course I just incorporate what they’ve been saying back to my real question.  For example: “The work you’ve done when you were working for Company X sounds great.  What projects for your new company have been influenced by your experiences there.”

2.    Firm redirection – For the harder, more talkative type (Rule No. 1 simply doesn’t apply) I politely redirect them to my question again to keep them on course.

3.    Specificity over Generality – Most of the time, it’s hard to gauge whether you’ll be interviewing someone with a larger-than-life personality or more of a tight-lipped, terse type of individual.  For the chattier type I tend to pose more specific questions to sway them back in the direction of my article.

Contradictory to what I’ve been saying, there are times when I choose to remain quiet.  Yes, part of interviewing is asking questions.  However, another important part is learning when to keep quiet and let the person just speak.  Sometimes when the interviewee has answered my question I let them go on for a bit before going on to the next question.  Doing so has gotten me some really great quotes, stories and some privileged information that hasn’t been released to the public.  Silence can be golden during interviews.

Antidotes for Scoring Anecdotes October 24, 2008

Two weeks ago, my editor called me with an assignment and I jumped on it.  Both for the experience (since I am a new writer) and the fact that I got to interview an amazing woman who is doing a lot for people right in her community.

While I learn to balance my time between pitching my own ideas and completing assignments, I’ve noticed that I have a few half-baked queries I’ve put aside because they still need a little something extra.  Actually, they need a story to tie in why my idea is informative and exciting for people to know.  Now, I can just tell the editor in the letter why my idea is so great.  But, showing an editor using someone’s story would be a bit more compelling.

So, I’ve committed myself to become a bit of a sleuth when it comes to scoring anecdotes.  For starters, using experiences from my own life has been surprising.  Like the time, I went in for an early morning appointment with my doctor.  After reading even the sports section of the newspaper (not something I do) and shifting my body several times to shush the boxing match in my stomach (we’re doing some routine blood work), I have yet to see the doctor.  If it wasn’t for his wonderful personality and the fact that I’ve been going to him for years, I swear I’d find another physician.  But would that really solve my waiting room dilemma?

The idea of waiting forever in the doctor’s office is something many people experience.  Voila!  I have a great anecdote for a how-to article about optimizing your doctor’s office visit by putting your waiting time to good use.

Besides my own personal experiences, here are some other resources I’ve turned to in my quest for a good anecdote:

• Family/Friends – Lately, I’ve been pitching a few parenting articles on babies and my sister and a few friends have been great sources.
• Bloggers – People blog about so many things and sometimes I come across bloggers who may fit the profile for a story I am pitching.
• Social Networking Groups – I sometimes send out a request to my network of online friends (if they can’t help they usually have a source in mind who just might be able to).

I don’t include a story with all my queries.  But, I find that leading a proposal with a great anecdote has given me some success.  Scoring that great quote or finding a story for my pitch isn’t always easy.  But, I find that some of my ideas need real stories about people that the reader can relate to in the article.

Where do you find anecdotes for your articles?