Simon Whaley's Business of Writing Newsletter: April 2023
Welcome to my April 2023 newsletter.
I’ll be at the end of a week’s break in the Lake District when this drops into your inbox. I’m hoping the weather will have been better than forecast, but then I suppose if somewhere is called the Lake District, it needs a drop of rain now and then.
Before I packed my bags, I submitted the August piece for my Business of Writing column in Writing Magazine. That feature looks at how useful those card payment readers are for authors at book events. Since Covid, whenever I’ve taken part in an author event where I’ve had an opportunity to sell my books directly to readers, I’ve noticed a lot more of them prefer to pay by card, rather than cash.
In the feature, I chat to two writers who’ve invested in such devices about their experiences with them. I say ‘invested’, which makes them sound prohibitively expensive. They’re not. I bought the Square reader for about £20. The first time I used it was when a potential customer had got no cash with him. All he had was his smartwatch. At least it enabled me to utter those immortal words . . . “Apple Watch? That’ll do nicely!” 😁.
Writers’ Get Together - Perfect Pitch
On 15th April, I had a great time in Burton-on-Trent running some workshops for the Writers’ Get Together. I wasn’t the only one - Jamie Thrasivoulou led a poetry workshop and Lawrence Oates led a walk around the lesser-known beauty-spots of Burton-on-Trent. I really fancied going on Lawrence’s walk, but I’m not sure my afternoon workshop attendees would have appreciated that.
One subject I explored with delegates was the joys of pitching to magazines. If you’ve fancied writing for magazines, then it’s best to pitch your idea to an editor first, to save yourself wasting any time writing an article the editor isn’t interested in (which could be for many reasons).
Pitching is not just about selling yourself and your idea. It’s also about establishing a relationship. Ideally, if the pitch goes well, you’ll be commissioned to write your article. Even better, is if you continue to pitch to the same publication and more work comes your way because of that.
Over time, editors get to know you. They learn whether you actually deliver what you originally pitched (always a good thing, unless the editor has asked for something different), and they find out how good you are at meeting deadlines. I believe an editor will consider your pitch more favourably if they know they can rely on you to deliver what you promised on time.
As we explored some of my example pitches, the attendees understood how a relationship develops and, ultimately, how that affects my pitches. Let me give you an example.
Coast Pitch Example
A few years ago, I spotted that Coast magazine had a slot called A Weekend In . . .. The pieces were all nicely structured:
An introduction to the area.
An itinerary, meal suggestions, and accommodation suggestions for Friday night’s arrival.
An itinerary and meal suggestions for Saturday morning, afternoon, and evening.
An itinerary and meal suggestions for Sunday morning and afternoon.
I wanted to pitch Plymouth Sound as a potential idea for this slot, but I’d not written for Coast magazine before, nor did I know the editor. As a result, I felt I needed a detailed pitch to show the editor that I’d looked at her magazine and understood what was required of the slot. (After all, I’m trying to convince her to give a commission to somebody she doesn’t know.)
Here’s my pitch:
Dear Editor’s Name (the magazine now has a new editor),
Would you be interested in A Weekend In … Plymouth Sound?
Despite Plymouth being a city, new luxury apartments in the Grade I-listed Royal William Yard, with its restaurants and cafes and excellent water taxi service, means it’s possible to explore Plymouth’s Sound and neighbouring coastline without needing to negotiate the city.
At the Plymouth Gin Distillery, in Plymouth’s historic Barbican area, which has the highest density of cobbled streets in England, I recently discovered why Plymouth Gin is 41.2% vol (Royal Navy Regulations). Families will love climbing Smeaton’s Tower, the first lighthouse designed in the same shape as the trunk of an oak tree (and since copied the world over), and enjoy a harbour tour that includes the largest naval dockyards in Europe (Devonport). Yet, just across the Tamar, the Cornish border, lies the tranquil coastal estate of Mount Edgcumbe.
My proposed weekend would be as follows:
Friday 6pm - Arrival in Royal William Yard, a magnificent collection of Grade I-listed buildings, once the victualling yard (supply centre) for the Royal Navy, and now a diner’s delight.
Saturday 9am - Ferry to Barbican, explore the Mayflower Steps, where the Pilgrims departed. Explore the Plymouth Gin Distillery and secretly hidden Elizabeth gardens.
Saturday 12noon - Lunch in the Boathouse Cafe, then Harbour trip around Plymouth Sound, passing Drake’s Island, Devonport Naval dockyard, the Torpoint ferry crossing and returning along the Cornish coast.
Saturday 3pm - Climbing Smeaton’s Tower, Plymouth’s iconic red-and-striped lighthouse on the vast green space that is The Hoe, and its vista over Plymouth Sound.
Saturday 6pm - return to Royal William Yard. Dining in Bistrot Pierre, then exploring the South West Coast path around Devil’s Point.
Sunday 10am - Ferry to Mount Edgcumbe in Cornwall, with its formal gardens and coastal follies.
Sunday 1pm - Award-winning Harbourside Fish and Chips for lunch.
Sunday 3pm - The Mayflower Museum and their influence on America (one year after arriving in the New World, they held three days of thanksgiving for a successful harvest).
The piece would also include boxout for:
Need to Know - Stay, Getting on the Water, How to Get There.
I’ve attached a selection of my images that might be useful for illustration purposes.
Many thanks for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Simon Whaley
As you can see, that was a long, detailed pitch. But it worked 😁.
Writing Magazine pitch
When you’ve written several pieces for a publication and the editor has got to know you, you may find that pitches become much shorter. Because I’ve been writing the Business of Writing column in Writing Magazine since 2014, the editor has a great understanding of what I will deliver, so when I pitch the ideas for that column, I don’t pitch one idea at a time; I pitch six, like so:
August 2023 (Out July 2023) - Plastic Payments
Covid didn’t quite kill off cash, but any writer hoping to sell books at author events, or charge on the door for a talk or performance, needs to be able to accept credit or debit card payments. That’s possible, thanks to bluetooth devices that connect to your smartphone. This feature will chat to writers who use these devices at events and share their experiences about the impact they’ve had on their writing business.
September 2023 (out August 2023) - Idea Tracking
A writer without an idea is like a conductor without an orchestra. For our writing business to thrive, we need ideas. But not only do we need a system of capturing them, we also need a way of finding them again when we need them. This feature will explore the different ways writers keep track of their ideas, so they’re never stumped for something to write about.
As you can see, these are much shorter: barely three or four sentences. (And now you know I’ll be writing about idea tracking for the September issue.) But I’ve written enough about the idea for the editor to make a judgement based upon what I’ve delivered in the past (and also what the editor knows is also coming up in the future - essentially, there are enough details here to make sure none of my ideas duplicate existing topics in recent issues).
So the next time you come to pitch, think about the relationship you have with the editor. If the publication is new to you, put more detail into your pitch, because that first commission could be the first of many.
Upcoming Workshops
Just a reminder that this August, I’m tutoring again at The Writers Summer School in Swanwick, and I’m running a short course (that’s two one-hour workshops) on travel writing one morning, followed by a one-hour workshop on Photography for Writers.
There’s a varied programme of events taking place this year, so if you fancy checking out what’s on offer, take a look at their website here.
Before that, though, I’m appearing at the Evesham Festival of Words on Sunday 2nd July 2023 (10.30 am to 12.30 pm at the Hampton Community Hall) where we’ll be exploring Creative Non-Fiction. (That’s about being creative with how you convey the truth. It’s not about making facts up!)
Perhaps I might see you at one of those events.
Until next time, keeeeeeeeep writing!
Best wishes,
Simon