The Professional Freelance Journalism Course. How To Write For Sports Magazines. Jesse Fink

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1 The Professional Freelance Journalism Course How To Write For Sports Magazines Jesse Fink 1

2 The Professional Freelance Journalism Course How To Write For Sports Magazines Jesse Fink Introduction About the Author Some Simple Things to Bear in Mind With Your Story Specialist Sports Publications Define Your Market Some Stories to Look For So How Can I Get Published? What Should I Pitch? When Should I Pitch? How Do I Get the Story? The British College of Journalism Copyright All course material and material contained herein is subject to international copyright under the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and under United States Copyright Law and United Kingdom Copyright Law. 2

3 How to write for sports magazines So you want to be a sportswriter? Great but be prepared to join the queue. There s a lot of competition out there and as a freelancer just starting out, you re at the bottom of the rung. That said, it s not impossible to get yourself noticed. I started out as a writer without having written anything of note, but just persisted until the break came. If you have the talent and you want it bad enough, and can pick yourself up when you fall, you will make it. The biggest mistake all prospective freelancers make when they pitch to magazines, my magazine Inside Sport included, is they don t do their groundwork. Research, research, research. Know the magazine you re pitching to inside out. About the author Jesse Fink is Deputy Editor of Inside Sport. He has written for sports magazines worldwide. He left university with a BA Communication (Journalism) in 1993 and immediately commenced freelance writing work. He was also Senior Editor of non-fiction with HarperCollins Publishers for five years.. 3

4 Getting Started in Sports Writing Some simple things to bear in mind with your story: Will it suit the readership/demographics of the magazine? Will it be out of date by the time the magazine hits the stands? Is it too specialised? Has the magazine or a competitor already covered the subject sufficiently and in depth before? The sports magazine publishing market is a notoriously difficult market for publishers and for advertisers, because it is fragmented into specialised titles for individual sporting interests. The good news is that specialised sports titles have strong captive audiences. Then there are the specialist sports publications. Revheads will, by habit and preference, buy Automobile Magazine and Street Machine. Skiers will buy Ski Magazine or Snow Boarder. Anglers will buy Marlin Magazine or World Fishing. Cricket fans Inside Edge or The Wisden Cricket Monthly. Golf fans, Golf Digest or Today s Golfer, and so on. Outside of sports magazines the market for sports writing includes leisure interest magazines, men s and women s magazines, general interest magazines and many in-flight magazines. The other main outlet for sports writing is newspapers - local, regional, state and national. These offer less scope for worthwhile remuneration, given you re working on a per-word basis, and newspapers usually run fairly short sports pieces. Smaller, niche publications offer a better chance for you to get published, regularly or for the first time. So as an alternative market for your writing, look at smaller, niche publications such as fishing, martial arts, hunting and horseracing publications. They probably offer a better chance for you to get published, regularly or for the first time. But the best advice I can give you is write what you know or have a strong interest in. Your writing should be able to reflect that knowledge and interest, and will be better for it. 4

5 Define Your Market You have to decide what outlet your story is best suited to. If it s about a young, upcoming athlete in a fringe sport like karate or touch football, just to name two, it s probably best suited to a local newspaper or niche sports publication. If it s a humour piece on why fat guys make better golfers, for instance, it might be worth pitching to FHM or Ralph. If it s a story about the development of hector protectors over the past two decades, it s probably best suited to Inside Edge. If it s a profile piece on a big-name athlete, with serious issues explored or explosive revelations made during the interview, it might be worth pitching to Sports Illustrated. But chances are you re going to get your best shot at getting published starting small (shorter pieces in low-profile titles) and then moving on to bigger stories and bigger titles. Some Stories to Look For Sports magazines need to provide the kind of editorial content that you won t find in newspapers. For example: Feature-length, intelligent writing on important issues or major personalities in sport. Short pieces on unusual sports or unknown but worthy sportspeople. High-quality pictorial essays or what we call sportfolios, usually of an event, a sporting location, or a particular sport. Previews of upcoming events or tournaments that are of interest to our readership but which might take a different approach to a newspaper. Remember, sports magazines are usually published monthly. It s impossible to predict what will happen between the time the magazine goes to the printers and the day it hits the stands. Newspapers do their job well. If I want to get sports news, I buy a newspaper or go to its website. Better daily print sports coverage you won t find anywhere else. So most sports magazines don t try to be news magazines. Remember, sports magazines are usually published monthly. It s impossible to predict what will happen between the time the magazine goes to the printers and the day it hits the stands, usually a period of about three weeks. So How Can I Get Published? When a freelancer contacts me, I want to see originality both in the story and in the approach to be taken. I also want to see freelance writers who can show me that they know the style of the magazine. Who know the tone of the magazine. And are able to write accordingly. Any editor will be looking for the same thing. So tailor your pitch to the appropriate title. Remember define your market. But if your story idea has a general appeal and has something important to say that hasn t been said before, then that s the story I want to have a chance to commission. What Should I Pitch? The first thing you should do pitching to any magazine is know the content of the magazine. Most sports magazines are broken up into sections. Up the 5

6 Show me that you know your stuff inside out. Think outside the square. We want stories that will provoke debate. 6

7 front of the magazine are shorter pieces, usually no more than 600 words a page. This is where, under the banner of, say, Adrenalin, editors place humour pieces, interviews with obscure athletes, stories about bizarre sports, etc. In the middle are the feature stories, which usually run from 1200 words for a two-pager, to 3000 words and up for six- to eight-pagers. At the back are the regular shorter items again, say for example, Global Spillage. As a freelancer just starting out on your career, you re going to have a much better chance getting shorter items published than you are getting a feature commissioned. The competition is fierce for features and most magazines have a pool of very experienced feature writers. Which is not to say that you won t ever get a feature up I commissioned a feature last month from a young writer whom I had rejected three or four times previously; he finally got the gig because the idea he pitched was intriguing: Are there too few white players in the NBA? but you should try to work your way up to features by starting out with shorter items. I m just as likely to commission a story about kabaddi, a bizarre Punjabi wrestling sport, as I am about golf, cycling or speedway. A good rule-of-thumb with story pitches is don t assume that just because it s about major or popular sport that it s more likely to be commissioned. I m just as likely to commission a story about kabaddi, a bizarre Punjabi wrestling sport, as I am about golf, cycling or speedway. Why? Because it s different. It s informative. It s educational. And it s fun. But the flipside is I m also interested on what new story angles you can bring to the more popular sports. Show me that you know your stuff inside out. Think outside the square. We want stories that will provoke debate, that will get our readers writing letters - to agree on our stance or vehemently disagree with it. When Should I Pitch? Look at what s coming up on the sporting calendar. Magazines often work on their issues months in advance of the on-sale date. For example, I m now finishing off the September issue and this is early August. The issue has been in production since early July and the stories for this issue were commissioned as far back as March. Which means if a writer comes to me now in August and pitches an idea about something coming up in December or January, the reality is no other writer has put their hand up for it and I ll probably take more notice of you than I would if you came to me later in the year with the same idea. Or if it s an issue-based or investigative piece, tell me what you can bring to the table that no other outlet has before. Do you have an exclusive? Do you have better access to an athlete than any other journalist? Do you have some dynamite information that ll rock the sports complex to its core? If you do, great. That s what I m after. The same rule applies to any editor: we all want stories that are going to help sell our magazines. How Do I Get The Story? I now rely on my contact book for most of my stories, but inevitably I will run into a brick wall where I have no idea who to turn to or who to call to get the information I require. You ll find that most major sports stars are represented by sports agencies or PR firms, which have their own websites. Contact details are usually provided. Sponsors of athletes can also be useful. The best thing to do is call the agents, PR firms, or their offices directly. Don t rely on . They ll most likely ignore you. They still might brush you off on 7

8 the phone, but there s no harm in trying. Another avenue is contacting sporting associations relevant to the athlete in question. The bigger ones have media managers whose job it is to promote their sport, so most of the time they re helpful. A few are hopeless, but that s the same in any field. If you find a story that has been published overseas, ask yourself: Can I apply this idea in my country? Is there a local angle? As for story ideas, that is entirely up to you. Read widely, read what other writers are doing, surf the web every day to look for unusual or relevant story angles that aren t being published in your sports media. If you find a story that has been published overseas, ask yourself: Can I apply this my country? Is there a local angle? All editors are always looking for fresh story ideas. Everyone has a story to tell. You just have to dig deeper, push a little harder, and get the inside running on your competition - all the other freelancers out there. For example, I wrote a story on mental illness in sport for a recent issue, and everyone I spoke to said: I can t believe it hasn t been done before. Athletes, managers, and other sports professionals had some very interesting things to say on the topic. What finally transpired in the course of writing the story was that I uncovered a tale of bureaucratic infighting in the sport psychology department of a major sporting institute. This had not been covered anywhere in the media. The key to any genre of freelance journalism is persistence, imagination and effort. If you apply the work, the rewards will come. Your ultimate success as a freelance sports writer is exactly the same. Ready to take the next step and enrol in The Professional Freelance Journalism Course today? For your convenience, click here to go directly to our online Enrolment Application. 8

9 The British College of Journalism The British College of Journalism is a division of International News Syndicate Limited. Our directors and principals have been involved in all aspects of media work for some 30 years. We are an international media-training company with students in more than 80 countries and territories. The principles of freelance journalism are similar the world over. However our course has been individually revised and designed to suit the needs of students living and working in the United Kingdom. The Professional Freelance Journalism Course is conducted online, via distance learning, over your choice of 12 or 24 weeks, though you may take as long as two years to complete your studies. Upon completion you will receive your Diploma of Professional Freelance Journalism. The Professional Freelance Journalism Course is not simply a course in the theory of journalism. The British College of Journalism has developed this course to ensure that you achieve professional writing skills and get paid well for your efforts. The Professional Freelance Journalism Course is designed as a structured training program. British College of Journalism registrar@britishcollegeofjournalism.com Primary Course Writer Carl Hammerschmidt Senior Course Tutor Judy Yorke Our sister Colleges include: British College of Interior Design British College of Professional Styling Copyright All course material and material contained herein is subject to international copyright under the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and under United States Copyright Law and United Kingdom Copyright Law. 9

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