Brendiver's World

Welcome to Brendiver's World

Thanks for stopping by my Blog site where I hope you will discover something new about the world of scuba diving, travel and photojournalism.

I've been photographing the underwater world for 17 years and writing about diving and travelling in my spare time as a freelancer, mainly for DIVER magazine, for 12 years.

In this time I've travelled the world to: interview diving celebrities; cover news stories and competitions; review destinations, hotels, restaurants and even apres-dive bars! I've also been published in non diving titles with articles about my full time career. So far, my journey into the world of photojournalism has resulted in a clip file containing over 300 articles, news stories and features.

That's me to the left, on 'assignment' in Eilat learning how to free dive in 1999 for an article published in DIVER.

By clicking on the links to the right you'll find loads of stuff about how the diving / travel / media sector works, and how, with a bit of enthusiasm, imagination and a bit of luck, you too could get yourself by-lined in one of the hundreds of publications devoted to diving and /or travelling.

You'll also find the latest information on my seminars and workshops.

A few of my freelance colleagues have suggested I shouldn't pass on anything that would encourage others. "After all," they say, "aren't there enough people trying to get to where we are now?" Well, there might be, but I believe there's always room for new talent, and there really are hundreds of titles that will accept diving / travel related articles - plenty of room for everyone.

There's a Feedblitz e-mail updater to the left - if you want to make sure you don't miss out on any snippets from this blog, just put your e-mail address in the little box and by some miracle of the Web 2.0 world, every time I add an update, Feedblitz will tell you.

And please feel free to e-mail me with any ideas or suggestions. As an alternative you might also want to consider adding a comment to this post. Another Web 2.0 miracle - I'm notified as soon as you do so, and by doing this, you can share your thoughts with other visitors.

I end every post with, "Keep writing..." This is the lead to my mantra:

"Keep writing until you don't suck at it and until someone is willing to pay you!"

I hope you enjoy your visit and thanks for stopping by.

Keep writing...

Brendan

South Florida Adventures - "I doubt we'll publish contributor guidelines"

At last years Florida Dive Show (I was there to run a couple of workshops on diving photojournalism), I met Dave Raterman, the founder and editor of South Florida Adventures.

I liked Dave's approach to budding photojournalists. He was prepared to give them a chance and even offered an assignment there and then to one of the workshop attendees.

A few weeks ago I picked up the following press release from Dave in my in-box. As soon as I read it I knew this would be golden opportunity for any newcomers to the industry, so I wrote to Dave and asked him if he had any contributor guidelines. Have a read of the press release (in a way it is a set of contributor guidelines) and then take a look at his response:  

SOUTH FLORIDA ADVENTURES
TO LAUNCH NEW MAGAZINE

“SFA Fitness” Premieres June 17 In Partnership With
Forum Publishing Group / Sun Sentinel Co.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (March 17, 2009) – South Florida Adventures Media Group is partnering with Forum Publishing Group, a subsidiary of Sun Sentinel Company which is owned by Tribune Company, to publish SFA Fitness once a month. The first issue of this glossy magazine will be inserted into City Link MetroMix.com, FPG’s weekly entertainment newspaper, on June 17. Its audited circulation is 45,000. An additional 2,000 copies will be printed for a total circulation of 47,000.
 
Since June 2005 South Florida Adventures magazine has been distributed at gyms, sporting-goods stores, marathons and scuba expos in Miami-Dade,
Broward and Palm Beach counties. The glossy outdoor-sports magazine, with a bimonthly circulation of 25,000, is published by Fort Lauderdale-based SFAMG.
 
Instead of stories about eating salads or running on a treadmill, SFA Fitness, which is owned by SFAMG, will have stories on subjects such as standup paddleboarding off South Beach, cycling in Pembroke Pines, running in West Palm Beach, hiking in the Everglades, beach boot camp in Hollywood and scuba diving off Boca Raton.
 
Readers will also find stories on celebrities who exercise locally. Ex-Marlin Jeff Conine now trains in Weston for Ironman. Gloria Estefan kayaks in North Miami. Dwayne Johnson (“The Rock”) pumps iron in Sunrise. They exercise like everyone needs to.
 
“City Link Metromix.com is distributed at a broad range of outlets, including restaurants and bars, so it reaches a mass audience,” said SFAMG’s publisher and editor David Raterman. “South Florida Adventures magazine reaches physically active people. By inserting this new fitness magazine into City Link Metromix.com, South Florida Adventures Media Group and Forum Publishing Group reach people who can become physically active, or more physically active if they already exercise.”
 
With America’s obesity epidemic and South Florida’s year-round great weather, this fitness magazine fills an important niche. And the editors promise to keep it entertaining so readers keep turning the pages, then go exercise.


About South Florida Adventures Media Group
SFAMG publishes two magazines, a website and an e-newsletter; in 2010 the University Press of Florida will publish South Florida Adventures: The Book. This is the first time in Florida’s history that a magazine is being turned into a book.

SFAMG is the only outdoor sports and fitness publisher focusing on Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, plus the Everglades and nearby Atlantic. The company is owned by Fort Lauderdale-based Raterman Holdings, Inc.
###

South Florida Adventures Media Group
PO Box 21051 / Fort Lauderdale, FL 33335
(954) 683-5336 / www.SouthFloridaAdventures.com/about/


Contact: David Raterman
(954) 683-5336 / draterman@SouthFloridaAdventures.com

And Dave's reply to my enquiry:

"I doubt we’ll publish contributor guidelines. We’re still a small business and once we publish guidelines we’ll get overwhelmed with pitches. That’s good if we have time, but we’re at least half a year from then. When people currently ask, I respond for them to send several bullet points on the subject and I promise not to steal their idea. Then we can consider the story without them investing time."

The message?

 

Don't be put off if a magazine doesn't have contributor guidelines. In any case, you should be able to formulate them by reading several issues of the title. However, that won't tell you how they would like you to pitch your idea but a simple phone call should do the trick. As Dave says, people do ask him and he does give them a constructive reply.

 

The reality is, sometimes you have to pick up the phone and speak to editors if you want to become a travel journalist or writer for specialist magazines.

 

Keep writing...

 

Brendan 

What Bob and David thought of the workshop

As part of the article the attendees on my workshop put together for Sport Diver magazine, the editor, Mark Evans, asked them to put together a box out on it. 

So if you are wondering what is involved, this is what Bob Yee and David Kittos had to say about the workshop:

“Keep writing until you don’t suck at it.” Our workshop instructor informed the participants. “Or until someone is willing to pay you.” This sage advice was our introduction to the writer workshop. Brendan O’Brien, a noted underwater photojournalist and contributor to Sport Diver, conducted the workshop in hopes of educating neophytes the intricacies of writing for publication in the competitive world of scuba travel writing. 

Prior to the workshop, most of the participants were captivated by the lure of being sent on a commissioned assignment to an exotic dive location or defraying some or all of the costs of an occasional dive holiday with a magazine byline. Our instructor quickly doused that dream with the icy water of reality. The leading diving publications have a small cadre of proven photojournalists they rely on. It’s extremely tough to break into the ranks as an unpublished freelancer.

A novice will probably spend years honing their skills on peripheral publications, such as club newsletters, columns and websites, before breaking into a major diving magazine. The workshop offered budding photojournalists the opportunity to shorten this apprenticeship period by learning from the instructor’s publication experiences. 

Some examples of the topics and exercises covered in the workshop included scrutinising contributor guidelines, submitting proposals, avoiding multiple submissions and examining magazine images. Naturally, images stirred the most interest for the photographers. Participants learned what image types intrigued readers and editors. Perhaps the biggest revelation was to learn editors were not ogres who savoured eating the flesh of freelancers while using their manuscripts as napkins, but dedicated professionals with unrelenting publication schedules. 

The writer workshop was held in the late evenings after finishing other evening activities: night dive, dinner, photo workshop assignments and camera maintenance. Needless to say, the participants were exhausted before the writer workshop started each session. The workload from both workshops ensured working through midnight on most nights. Fortunately, the instructor and topics were lively and relevant enough to keep the attendees attentive and responsive.

The workshop had the support of Mark Evans, the editor of Sport Diver. He issued each participant a commissioning letter. The letter stated that the magazine was interested in publishing a feature on Puerto Galera from just one of the participants, providing the text and images conform to Sport Diver’s usual high standards. The letter became a powerful incentive to follow up on the lessons gleaned from the weeklong workshop. Writing for this publication took a great deal of hard work and dedication; the pros make it seem so easy. 

Robert Yee  

Before attending Brendan’s workshop I thought that only professional journalists and celebrities get to write in diving magazines. 

Now I know better – it was explained to us that you don’t need to be a super-diver or a TV personality to write about diving trips and destinations, but you have to be able to write. This ability can be developed but it does take a lot of time and effort. Equally important, budding writers benefit from having some insight on how to approach magazine editors and by figuring out the house writing style.

The workshop covered the important aspects of writing for commercial publications: how to structure and write an article so that it’s interesting, informative and keeps the readers glued to it until the end. Brendan went over the annoying bits of coming up with a good story, such as getting the beginning right: grab the editor’s attention from the start and there’s a good chance that he may read the entire article; bore him to tears and two months work ends up in the bin. There were sessions on how to get the article to flow smoothly from one paragraph to the next, anecdotes and themes, how to end it and about interview techniques, for those important quotes to make the story come alive. 

Brendan also talked about some of the inner workings of magazine and newspaper publishing, how articles are selected and photographs sourced. It has changed my perspective: I now read travel magazines and try to figure out what kind of material they are likely to consider. For example, a magazine that routinely prints stories about budget destinations is unlikely to publish anything about the diving at the Seychelles. 

A training pack was provided and this consisted of contributor guidelines from various diving publications (printed and online), interviews with magazine editors and a few sample magazine articles.

The diving photojournalism workshop was an optional extra for attendees of Michael Aw’s Digital Underwater Photography week in Puerto Galera which took place during March 2008. Ideally it would have been organised independently, allowing participants more time to take part in writing exercises or log a few more dives. Brendan is aware of these issues. 

Post-workshop support has been impressive, including a blog for posting general questions and comments (www.brendiversworld.com ) quick replies to attendees’ queries via email, as well as critiques on article drafts. 

Diving photojournalism is unlikely to be everyone’s cup of tea but if you are the kind of diver who likes writing, the workshop is definitely worth a go.

 

David Kittos

David and Bob put a lot of work into their articles and I hope that seeing them published online has given them some satisfaction, despite being runners up and not winning the prize of publication in the magazine.

Keep Writing...

Brendan

And here's the link...

... for the two articles put together by David Kittos and Bob Yee, the runners up in the Sport Diver writer's competition following my workshop in the Philippines. 

You can find their articles here.

Keep Writing...

Brendan

Licence to Thrill...

... Is the title of Virginia Fage's winning article which appeared in this April's Sport Diver magazine. Virginia attended the writer's workshop I ran last year in the Philippines and this is what Sport Diver had to say about the course and how they chose the winner:

"Writers' Workshop Winner

Students enrolled on a photo-journalism course in the Philippines had the incentive of possible seeing their work published in Sport Diver.

Sport Diver teamed up with occasional contributor Brendan O'Brien, who was running a photo-journalism course in the Philippines with underwater photographer Michael Aw (Brendan handled the writing side of things, Michael the shooting bit). We supplied a commissioning letter to those taking part to get them to focus on what was needed in an article for a mainstream diving magazine, and as an added incentive, we agreed that the best finished product (text and images) would appear in print. Virginia Fage emerged as the winner after impressing the judges with her photographs and writing style.

How we chose our winner

Mark Evans on the decision process he went through

Congratulations to Virginia Fage, who was chosen to have her debut scuba-diving article published within the pages of Sport Diver. The judges liked the style of her article, which immediately threw the reader into the midst of an exciting dive, and her photographs were consistently good, both macro and wide-angle.

Runners up David Kittos and Robert Yee both did well - we liked David's writing style, but there were too few underwater photographs; and Robert had some great shots, but this article didn't capture our attention."

Hopefully this will give you some idea as to what editors are looking for, it's not just about the writing, but the complete package. I know that much of what Virginia prepared in terms of box outs didn't get published, but that's the way it is in the magazine world, it's all down to space and the balance between editorial and advertising.

Congratulations again to Virginia and I hope this isn't the last we see of her efforts to get published.

For Bob and David, I believe their articles will go online on the Sport Diver website soon. I'll publish the link as soon as they do.

Keep Writing...

Brendan   

Interview with an editor - Hannah James from Real Travel Magazine

As some of the individuals who have attended my workshops start to delve into the world of diving / travel magazines they're starting to come across all sorts of unanticipated hurdles and opportunities. By the end of the workshops none of them were under any illusion that getting published would be as simple as writing a story about their latest trip, bundling it up with some nice photographs and sending it off to an editor.

One of the workshop attendees recently pitched an idea to Hannah James, the editor of Real Travel Magazine. Hannah wrote back to say how although the pitch and proposed article looked interesting, it didn't fit into the magazine's current plans. However, she would keep it on file as there was a possibility it may do in the future. There was also an invite to keep the ideas coming and to submit travel tips and images for the reader's gallery (see below about being part of a magazine's community). 

This reply wasn't the final communication between Hannah and the workshop attendee, he got back in touch to explore any future possibilities. Excellent move.

In a rather bizarre and I must say, "Bull in a China shop" way (it's a long story), I managed to ask Hannah some questions about getting published. I found it quite reassuring that her answers linked in nicely with the topics discussed in my workshops as well as confirming the information gleaned from interviews with other editors. 

It doesn't get much better than editors telling you exactly what they are looking for - Hannah's replies could well apply to numerous other titles out there:

Q. What is it about an article submitted to your magazine that makes you think, "I wish all contributors would do that..."

A. Ultimately the most important thing is that writers give you what you ask for. It explains exactly what we are looking for in the magazine (200 words and two/three photos). There is a reason why we ask for pitches to come in this format (ie short and sweet); I get around 100 pitches sent in a week, so it’s vital that they are quick and easy for me to decipher – this way, I’m much more likely to read it fully and get an idea for a piece in order to get back to the writer with a yes or no.

It’s always a good idea to consider entry points into an article – ie a piece that is about surfing on the Algarve, for example, should be aware that it needs to appeal to those who aren’t interested in surfing. Promising inclusions on food, drinking, other activities, local walks, the nearby market/town etc will open the piece up to appeal to a larger number of people. This is vital when we have such a varied demographic seen in our readers.

If it is clear that a writer understands the magazine, then it will grab my attention from the onset. If they appear never to have read a copy, it’ll lose my attention in the same way that it would lose the attention of our readers.

Q. What are the biggest mistakes freelancers make?

A. Simple mistakes such as misaddressing the editor, spelling mistakes in the email, not finding out what the guidelines are for pitching ideas or (and this is the ultimate sin) not understanding the magazine are all complete no-nos.

A pitch that comes in addressed to Mr James, Ian (a past-editor) or Hillary (as happened just today!) for example, would suggest that a writer is not paying attention to detail – in turn this would probably be reflected in their writing – not a great start!

Find out the writer guidelines and pitch ideas in the correct format – however, it’s not necessarily a disaster if this isn’t done. Sometimes a piece is already written for example, or a writer could just be showing their enthusiasm for writing and travel. However, it makes the life of an editor much easier if things are presented in an easy to digest manner – the longer a pitch/piece is, the less likely I’ll have the time to read it. Often the reason for turning down a piece is nothing to do with the idea, writing or pitch – it could be a simple case of having already commissioned a very similar piece or recently publishing something on the subject – because of this, it’s always worth sending just a short pitch in to begin with, rather than bombarding editors with full features – chances are they simply won’t have time to get to the end of everything that gets sent in.

The ultimate sin: ALWAYS READ THE MAGAZINE before pitching. I have so many people call to enquire after writing for the magazine – my first question? “Have you read a recent copy?” If the answer is no, then in my mind it is a simple case of time wasting. There is no point in pitching to an editor unless you know the magazine, the market and understand what a magazine looks for. Real Travel has a very distinct style – it’s about real people’s real travels – and therefore, a piece that timelines the political history of Myanmar or a guidebook style run-down of Barcelona’s best restaurants just will not work. Waste the editor’s time by not knowing who you are pitching to and it’s very unlikely you’ll be working for that magazine any time soon!

Ultimately it is simple – do your research before getting in touch.

Q. What character traits / skills do you look for in any regular contributor?

A. Inspirational ideas. An easy, relaxed style of writing. Sticking to deadlines and commissions (it’s surprising how often a writer only sends a few photographs, when it clearly states in commissions that photographs are a vital part of the piece – and, again, one look at the magazine would tell you this). If there are problems with deadlines etc, then honesty is always the best policy. I have no problem (within reason!) with someone missing a deadline if they’re warned me in advance and been honest about it rather than avoiding my calls on the day that the copy is due (this is a surefire way to never work for the magazine again).

Q. Do your regular contributors ever get to the point where you send them on assignments? I presume you have regular offers of press trips from travel companies, PR / Marketing firms and tourism organisations?

A. No. Press trips etc are not something that we would ever offer to writers – the ‘press-trip’ idea just doesn’t fit with the Real Travel style.

Q. Following a pitch, would you ever give a freelancer a letter or e-mail along the lines of, "as long as your suggested article meets the guidelines required by Real Travel Magazine, we would be looking to publish your proposed article." Basically, what could be used as a commissioning letter to gain support with travel arrangements.

A. Nope!

Q. This question kind of links in with the last one, if you knew that a freelancer had put together an article following a press trip, would you still publish it? Not necessarily the guided tour trip with several other journalists, but perhaps similar to the ones I often go on, where you pretty much go as a visitor, maybe with a loose itinerary the tourist board want you to follow, but nothing set in stone.

A. I would opt for something that wasn’t based on a press trip out of choice. Only if it was something that I was unlikely to get any other way would I contemplate using a pitch base on a press trip – particularly if it isn’t a writer that I had previously worked with.


Q. And do you pay?

A. Yes, we do pay – but we don’t have a set ‘per word’ fee. As we welcome contributions from any traveller rather than only ‘professional’ writers, the payment issue is something that is negotiated on an individual basis.

As an aside, the Q and A format I've used above is a really lazy way to write up an interview, you'd never get away with it in most reputable magazines. But as this is a blog, I hope you will forgive my approach on this occasion. I'll write more about interview techniques and how to write them up another time.

If you go to Real Travel's website and take a look in the forums you'll find some advice from Hannah on getting published in Real Travel magazine (copied below). However, you might want to note that her e-mail address has changed (see below for contact details):

Hannah-RTEditor - 02/09/2008 11:03

Most of you will know that we include reader reports in Real Travel – real stories from real travellers – so if you fancy seeing your next trip in print, then here's what you need to do!

Put together 200 words, providing me with a rough idea of how you see the piece working, the angles you would take and the destinations and places included. Try not to include too big a trip – but rather pick out a section of your travels – choose your favourite destination, a particularly memorable moment or an adventure that you feel every traveller should know about.

Along with a couple of photos, send it to mailto:hannah@realtravelmag.com">hannah@realtravelmag.com and I will get back to you to let you know what I think. Unfortunately it can take a while though, so please bear with me!

Don't forget – it's just 200 words and a couple of photos – and you could see your words and images in print!

Looking forward to hearing from you! Hannah

In my opinion the magazine's forum would also be a good place to get noticed. From talking to other editors, they all like potential writers to be part of the magazine's community through forums (and the letter's pages), as long as you don't go on and on about bizarre and irrelevant stuff, they are an ideal place to get involved and noticed. From forum entries it is clear that Hannah checks and replies to the messages on it. 

If I can wrap this entry up with a big thank you to Hannah. Any editor's time is precious, so for her to spend so much of her day to answer my questions is something I really appreciate.

Hannah James
Editor
Real Travel Magazine
Email: hjames@createpublishing.co.uk (please note NEW email address)
Tel: +44 (0) 117 929 7462
Fax: +44 (0) 117 927 6535
Website: www.realtravelmag.com
Address: 2nd Floor, 15-16 Lower Park Row, Bristol, BS1 5BN"

Keep writing...

Brendan

It's not just you that needs the support

The other day I was chatting with my wife about a short trip I would be making for DIVER which would necessitate a lift to the airport (airport parking and taxis eat into the profit margin - and if you don't make a taxable profit for most years the Inland Revenue will want to have words with you). Her reply took me back, "I'm getting a little bit tired of all the time I need to put into DIVER."

This set me thinking - being a part time photojournalist isn't just about giving up your time for what per hour is a lousy rate of pay (my newspaper delivery boy gets paid more!) and it isn't just about your time, your family will give up theirs as well.

If you are lucky enough to be able to take your partner on an assignment with you they may eventually prefer not to. The tightly controlled itineraries, the early starts, the formal and sometimes very boring meals with tourism reps, they all take their toll on what from your partner's perspective initialy appeared to be a brilliant sounding holiday.

And then there is the time they give up when you have to go and hide in your "cave" to write up your copy.

No - it's not you that gives up your time and your life, you get something out of it and it doesn't seem like any kind of hardship at all. But try telling that to your partner.

The only thing I'm struggling with is how to make it up? How do you repay your partner who stands by you in what is essentially quite a selfish and self indulgent pastime?

Keep Writing... 

Another article published by....

one of the attendees on my Philippines photojournalism course. Following on from his success in getting a camera review published in one of the many photography magazines, David Kittos has just been published in Underwater Photography Magazine (March 2009 edition) with his review of an underwater photography course.

David is as keen as anything and I'm sure it won't be long before he gets other stuff published.

Well done matey,

Keep Writing...

Brendan

And the Winner is!

OK, it's not the Oscars, but for the hopefuls who attended my Photojournalism Course in the Philippines last March it might as well be. 

Yes, the results are in, Mark Evans, editor of Sport Diver UK has decided which of the articles he liked best:

"Hi Brendan,

The winner has been chosen! Virginia Fage. One of the others had a nice writing style, but was let down by pics (only seven underwater out of 20), and the other had reasonable writing and the odd nice pic, bit overall, in terms of workable text and a usable mix of pics, Virginia had the edge.

So, she will be appearing in print in the April issue...


Mark Evans
Editor
Sport Diver

The Mill
Bearwalden Business Park
Wendens Ambo
Essex
CB11 4GB

Tel: 01799 544243 (direct line)
Email: mark.evans@sportdiver.co.uk
Website: www.sportdiver.co.uk"

As you can see, it's not just all about the words, but the package you provide for the editor. Those who attended my course will remember me saying time after time how it's your job to make your article as attractive as possible for the editor. Getting them to say, "yes" is more than just doing the words, it's about providing for their every need, so when they finish reading your copy and looking over your package of photos and associated material they think to themselves, "I wish every freelancer would do this!"

Well done Virginia, and for some of the other would be contributors, there's a little surprise when the April issue comes out. Watch this space (and Sport Diver's website - there's a clue!).

Keep writing.....

Brendan

PS - I'm back! :)

Oh yes, you might even get paid...

... but it won't be enough to pay your mortgage.

One of the wetpixel forum members has posted a question about rates of pay in the magazines.

While some magazines have variable rates of pay depending on the story and pics you have most have fixed rates of pay (if the title has contributor guidelines you might find the rate of pay listed there, see the below post on California Diving News). This might be per per word and photograph, or as in the case of DIVER and Sport Diver (in the UK) a fixed payment per page:

DIVER - 100 sterling per page, 150 for a front cover

Sport Diver - 50 sterling per page, 100 for a front cover.

My first articles were published in the above magazines in 1996 - back then the rate of pay was exactly the same. I don't believe the rate of pay will increase - the industry has become incredibly competitive with more magazines on the news stand and a proliferation of online titles.

I suppose you have to ask the question:

What is my motivation for wanting to contribute to magazines?

If it's money you're after I'd go out and get a newspaper round, per hour of time the rate of pay stuffing the Daily Mail through someone's letterbox far exceeds what you will get from the diving (or any other sport) media.

However - what price would you put on the fringe benefits? Press trips, commissioned assignments, the satisfaction of seeing your name in the byline?

Keep writing...

Brendan

7 years and 48 weeks to go...

until our daughter can start her PADI Bubblemaker course.

Hence the reason I haven't been posting much recently.

Once our little princess is settled into a routine I'll start posting more diving photojournalism stuff.

Keep writing...

from a very tired, bleary eyed and baby happy

Brendan