This morning for the first time in Lord knows how many years, but quite a lot, I sat in a classroom doing maths (or math, as our American friends would call it). My daughter's school think it's a jolly good idea to get parents involved in what they are doing during their six hours at school. They were learning long division - ah, no problem, despite failing my maths exam, I can successully work out how many Mars bars I can eat in one day before I use up my daily quota of 2000 calories. Simples. You'd think, wouldn't you? Not so.
The new division system had us all (kids included) scratching our heads in mutual confusion as we all muttered, 'well, that's a long-winded way of going about it!' The system involved a very lengthy way of working out just how many pages of his book ten-year-old Billy would have to read if he wanted to finish it during his two week holiday. I've had three children, all who have been ten-year-olds at one time or another and I've never known them to actively seek to read a book on holiday, much preferring the log flume, but I digress. Whilst I did eventually work out just how many pages Billy would have to read, it took me half an hour to do so, and I was so excited that I even put my hand up, shouted 'Me, Miss!' and blurted out the answer, (12 with 2 remaining), looking rather smug that I, a forty-something woman, had outsmarted the ten-year-olds. Oh yeah!
So, what has this got to do with writing?
I'm glad you asked.
Two things, actually:
Firstly; very often when freelancers are starting out they will go to great lengths to compile an article, spending hours upon hours, sometimes weeks perfecting it, so that it will have the best possible chance of being accepted by an editor. That's fine if you have plenty of time on your hands, but you're not making the most of your freelancing time. Whilst we all want to submit the best possible work we can, time is money and spending weeks perfecting one pitch is not only eating in to your writing time, it is also counter productive. Most editors will want to make changes to your original idea, or will have to cut sections out in order to make it fit. As I mentioned earlier, they may have already commissioned a similar idea, or have one in stock, so all your invested hours and hard work may amount to nothing.
I never write a full article until I've secured a commission. Instead I write a short brief outlining the subject I'm intending to write about, why I'm writing it and why I think it will appeal to a particular publication's readership. Then I email it to an editor. If she is interested and wants a more detailed outline I send her one. If she wants it, she will commission it - then and only then will I write it. Not only does this save you hours of wasted time, the editor will very often ask you for extras such as box outs or as recently happened to me, ask you to turn it into a quiz style piece.
Secondly; editors are very busy peeps and they really don't have the time to read through pages of attachments. They want to know what your idea is and why their readers would want to read it. End of. They don't want writers who go all round the houses, sending them articles they don't want (or even have time) to read. They don't want a very involved and lengthy email either, informing them all about your life, how you became a writer, or that you have a cat called Norris (unless of course Norris is significant to your article).
In short editors want you to get to the point. They don't need you to show your workings out; they just want the answer!
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