In some of my previous posts I've mentioned how editors are just as keen on the articles about their own 'back yard' as they are on the more glamorous and tropical locations.
No more so than in the American based magazine Scuba Diving ('the magazine divers trust' apparently). This title used to have writer's guidelines on its website, but towards the end of 2007 they pulled them. This move made sense as by then they were out of date, the forward planner on them only went up to the end of that year.
But you can find a copy here:
Download scuba_diving_writersguidelines.pdf
Although the site no longer has any guidelines (it does however have a media pack, more of that on another post) I would suggest the advice about what they are looking for won't have changed too much. But you should always do your homework about who's who, the Travel Editor in the guidance is shown as Deborah Kirk. She no longer works at this magazine, you would now need to contact Gil Griffin.
The guidance mentions how the best opportunity for a freelance contributor is in their 'Drive and Dive' section. It's always good to get this kind of guidance, however, you don't really need this information -it is possible to determine what the best opportunities are for freelancers without contributor guidelines.
By examining the past year's worth of Scuba Diving and the name of each article's author, what becomes very clear is that the Drive and Dive articles are nearly always written by freelancers while the main feature articles within the magazine are invariably written by magazine staff or regular contributors.
In this month's Drive and Dive (June 2008) there is an article about diving the wrecks of Tobermory, Ontario, text by Robert Osborne and photography by Warren Lo, as well as a short piece about diving in the Balmorhea State Park, Texas, by Amar Guillen.
A Google search on these names tells me that Robert Osborne hasn't had much published, but his buddy, Warren Lo has his own photography website. From this you can ascertain that he is based close to Tobermory. He's clearly followed the 'write about what you know' advice, or in his case, get someone else to write about what you know, you provide the pictures.
Amar Guillen has had quite a fair bit published going back to 2004. He has a website with his partner where they describe themselves as professional freelance photographers - the site lists a number of titles they have been published in. They appear to be based in Texas, once again, another freelancer who has written about an area they know about.
I congratulate the authors and photographers of both these articles - by noticing the opportunities in their own back yard, they have put themselves in a position where they can be counted on to provide accurate information for the magazine.
I hope this demonstrates how this kind of research on a magazine title can provide you with invaluable information in respect of freelance opportunities.
In a future post I'll examine the house style within the Drive and Dive section of Scuba Diving magazine. Although there are no longer any guidelines, it is still possible to ascertain exactly what the editor is looking for from the common style used in these short features.
If I were just starting out, I would go for the Drive and Dive as one of my first challenges - it's one I believe you would have a good chance of succeeding with.
Keep writing...
Brendan
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