Freelance
Writers' Series
Career & Business
Development Help
The
Education of an Education Writer...
How does a person who celebrates the fact that she balances her checkbook every month write about student activities on personal finance and consumer education?
It's one of those overlooked opportunities
in freelance writing: not every educational writer is an educator.
Sometimes we're as much student as teacher. I started writing some 15 years ago, right
out of college. I'd planned to freelance, fly solo all the way. But
after six months with just two bylines, I was happy enough for the
quasi-security of a project worker with one of McGraw-Hill's textbook
publishing divisions. My first assignment was as a humble
researcher for a child care book. I read magazine and newspaper articles
and chapters from competitors' books and sorted them according to topic:
preschool, parenting, toileting. My first writing assignment was doing
features, one-page articles and activities on timely topics-careers or
technology, for example-that run through the book. It got me out of the
office, happily telecommuting by email. Equally important, it imparted lesson
two: don't be afraid to ask a living, breathing expert. Sure, you
could-and I did-learn about space food from the NASA website. But it was
more interesting and informative to pick up the phone to the Not everyone gets back to you, of course,
so line up three or four sources. If you've done your research (see lesson
one), the most respected names will sound familiar. Vet them closely: visit
their websites, check out their books at the library, Google their articles
or public speaking engagements or appearances on Oprah. Find the specialists
in the field. To improve your chances, show that you've
done your homework. Explain who you are, what you need to know, and why you
believe they can help. No flattery is needed; recognizing their authority is
enough. One caveat about consulting experts: be
prepared to be humbled. My question to a food historian about pasta
making in ancient After a decade of keeping me fed and housed, the textbook publisher unceremoniously and inconveniently closed its doors. By then I was too spoiled for a grown-up job. Instead, I applied
lesson three : think outside the classroom. Trading on
my own "expert" status as an educational writer, I sold an article on
simple ways to encourage kids to read to a parenting website. Two writers'
newsletters bought my piece on writing recipes for children. It was the chance to submit articles for a food encyclopedia for a small but scholarly press that reaped the greatest rewards. That credit was barely under my belt when I used it to promote myself as a published foods researcher and writer. I earned a check for an article on
teaching children social studies with easy ethnic recipes, and another from a
kids' website for a story on potato processing, including a recipe for potato
fudge.
Kids today are reading about Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's filmmaker. They're
making Renaissance-style frescoes. Whole publications are dedicated to history,
archaeology, and world cultures. Most ask for a bibliography of sources just to
look at an article on spec. As luck would have it, I had a little
experience doing research. This is where expert sources come in handy
again. Editors love quotes from experts. They liven up what could be a stale
recital of facts and dates. Even if it's not required, getting a recognized
authority on board is like being insured by the FDIC. And when you're competing
with a hundred other writers, half the battle is convincing editors that this is
the story they want, and you're the one to write it. My expert for a story on bread baking in
ancient
Sincerely,
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