Brendiver's World

Blog Coaching - Back on Track

Martin, the blog's very own budding diving photojournalist has taken the advice from the last post, this is where he is up to now.

"Well life has gotten in the way of my writing aspirations. But this week its back to the keyboard. I have identified one magazine for a modified trip report. Researched the back issues for one year and could not find any on this area. For this article I have plenty of photos and word count, about 1200, seems to by typical for this publication.

The second article requires a little more research but I am getting numbers from some of the major certification and housing manufacturers. Hunting around in my very unorganized photo files for supporting shots."

As far as the first idea Martin has, he's now back on track to getting published. On the previous post I was concerned he was going to write the article and then try and find a home for it. But now he's taken a step back - he's now found the magazine he wants to get published in and also has an idea of word count and pictures required. Another first step - he's checked whether this angle has been published recently and as it hasn't he is creating a gap that needs to be filled.

Next step - we need to know what magazine this is and from there we can look at the contributor guidelines and if there are no CG, then there is still a lot we can do to identify exactly what the magazine is looking for.

Keep writing...

Brendan

Blog Coaching - Finding Your Market

Martin (the blog coachee) has sent me the following information about the ideas he has for getting an article published:

"I am considering a two prong attack.

One article that will be a Cocos trip report/questions we commonly get asked about this destination. A second that is more editorial in nature and I really don't have any photos to support but is about a subject that really interests me. Basic working premise: Seas and it's creatures are in trouble due to a variety of issues, more people seem to be getting involved in underwater photography....."

(I've deleted the rest of his e-mail - no point in giving away free ideas!)

I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm Martin, your ideas are sound. But first I would identify exactly which magazine you are going to target. This is absolutely the first step - too many people make the mistake of writing the article and then they try and find a home for it, but as it wasn't written with any one magazine in mind, a number of issues can get in the way of publication:

The article might not be written in their house style
It might be too long or too short
You might not have illustrative photographs and pictures, which might be a must
The magazine may well have featured a similar subject over the past two years (which tends to be the recycle time for most magazines to cover a destination or subject again)
The magazine may not have a suitable slot for your article
The article might be the right word count but is not written in the style for the feature space

There are a number of other considerations - the key thing is to identify which magazine you want to target and then write for them and their needs.

Tempting to do it the other way, but all it tends to do is lead to frustration. Remember, at this stage your job is to please the editor and make it easy for him or her to say yes, not to try and please the reader.

So Martin, the next step is to identify which magazine you want to target, and then we can take a look at your ideas.

Keep writing...

Brendan

Blog Coaching - The Next Step

The blog coaching 'experiment' has started!

Martin Heyn from Seattle has a dream of getting published in a diving magazine. For anyone out there thinking about writing for magazines this is a very realistic goal - the industry survives on freelance contributions and there is no reason why the next byline shouldn't have your name in it.

By using this blog and no other means I'm going to help Martin achieve his dream, which means you will be able to follow his progress and learn from his successes and setbacks.

Following on from the last Blog Coaching post Martin has asked a few good questions (my answers in blue, but bear in mind, there is no right or wrong in this field, just 'stuff' that works):

Question number 1.
To start small or go big? There is a local, Pacific Northwest publication that takes submissions from the general diving public. It mainly focuses on cold water, local diving but does often feature tropical trip reports. Going big would be trying to submit to one of the big print magazines we all know like Sport Diver, Scuba Diving, Fins and the like.

It's really up to you Martin - follow your dream.

What I would say is balance up the probability of getting published with your dreams - North West Dive News (is this the publication you refer to?) has been around for a while and although it doesn't pay, it is a magazine that would be good for your clip file.

In their Contributor Guidelines (I have a post in draft form on this publication) It has the message,

"At NWDN, we are ALWAYS accepting stories and photographs from non-professional writers."

I didn't put the capitals in 'ALWAYS,' they did - what does this tell you? And as you are from Seattle you are a local diver telling it as it is for the rest of the North West Diving community - ideal.   

Question number 2.
Does it have to be Print Media only? Take Underwater Photography (UwP) the free online magazine for example. To me this would also fall in the category of going big.

Again - up to you, UWP magazine has been the springboard for quite a few photojournalists.

Question number 3.
To adapt one of the trip reports I have done recently or do something entirely new? Trip reports at my website are a little dry as their aim is to try to give people the "facts" about the location and dive operator. They are not really written to entertain.

Here's some feedback Martin - I found them quite entertaining, which is why I chose you.

Your write ups could be the foundation of some interesting articles - at all times written in the style of the target publication. Plus - the destinations you have visited are all accessible for west coast residents. In reaching this decision you might want to look through back issues - no matter how good your article is, if this destination has just been covered in the past year your chances of publication are slim.

However, it's often hard to completely change the style of an article, you might want to consider starting afresh with a local dive site or issue?

Looking forward to the journey.

Martin Heyn

Me too - should be interesting.

So, the first task is to pick a target publication.

Message for Martin, please remember to post your questions, replies and findings in the comments box.

Keep writing...

Brendan