Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

Publishing Your Article in a Print Magazine – An Expert Interview with Sharon Crawford, freelance writer, editor and writing instructor

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Sharon Crawford and I met at an evening seminar presented by the Toronto chapter of the Professional Writers Association of Canada. I’ve really been enjoying these events, and I appreciate the work that Sharon and the rest of the PWAC Toronto executive put into them! 

I asked Sharon if we could get together for a chat about print magazines. It’s a subject that came up in a survey of my readers awhile back – and I suspect that more than one of you are curious about it.

We talked briefly about her early days in the business – I was curious about the first story idea she ever pitched to an editor. It was scary, she said, but it went so well that she drew up the courage to pitch a second one right there on the spot – and he took that, too!

Sharon provided some wonderful details and tips about "hooking" an editor with a good query. I’ve put these together in a separate post, "Publishing Your Article in a Print Magazine – Anatomy of a Winning Query" (coming soon).

Listen to my interview with Sharon below:

To find out more about Sharon, please visit her website at www.samcraw.com.

Get to the Point – My Newest Elevator Pitch

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The latest tweaks to my elevator pitch came as a result of reading these words from Michel Neray of Essential Message, reprinted in adherence to the reprint agreement:

"Is context clouding your message?

If you're like most people, you feel the need to give people the context of what you're saying before telling them the important stuff.

You probably do it in your memos, proposals, networking introductions, presentations and speeches, and sales letters.

While context can be crucial in some situations, it often creates distance between you and your audience.

These two techniques help you — and the people you speak to and write for — get to the point more quickly. Try them. They really work.

1. Next time you introduce yourself in public, like at a networking event, don't give your audience a chance to tune out: skip the part about your name and your company, and get straight to what you offer.

They couldn't care less about who you are until after they think you have something they need. Starting with non-essential stuff simply gives them time to tune out. If they show an interest, you can easily fill in the blanks later.

2. Next time you write a memo, recommendation or email, try this after you write your first draft. Replace the first paragraph with the second paragraph or delete it entirely. For a case study we developed for a client, this is exactly what we did — with dramatic results.

Instead of giving the company background and context, now the very first line of the case study is: 'Global success couldn't keep Carrefour Spain from falling prey to the retail industry's most common problem: inventory and cash shrinkage.'

Admit it, you want to read more too…"

Michel's newsletter is a quick and fun read — subscribe free at www.essentialmessage.com.

Writing Prompt: How will you use Michel's ideas to get to the point in a piece of writing you're working on right now?

Now, here's my new elevator pitch:

"My clients have great ideas for a self-help book they want to write. They know having a book will bring them more credibility and more business. But they're intimidated by the writing process or they're worried about the quality of their writing. That's why they're so relieved to find me! I'm Linda Dessau, I'm a ghostwriter and editor, and I put my client's great ideas into writing. My website is www dot you talk dash I write. That's www dot you talk dash I write."

I tried it out the other week at Referral Quest and it felt like a winner to me, what do you think? Your comments are always welcome and appreciated!

Audio Isn’t Enough: 3 Ways to Enhance Your Live or Recorded Offerings

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If you’re a visual learner like me (see “How Do You Like to Learn“), audio offerings probably leave much to be desired. I’ll only attend a live tele-class if I’m really keen on the company.

However, I’m ten times more likely to attend a tele-class if I receive a handout beforehand. If I don’t get notes from the instructor, what I’ll do to help myself is take notes as I listen. As I type, I’m seeing the information laid out on the page and all of a sudden I’m learning visually, just the way I like it.

Otherwise, it can be very difficult for me stay focused or grasp the concepts I’m there to learn. Quite simply, you’ll lose me. IF you even get me to show up in the first place.

As you can probably guess, I’m also not one to purchase a recording of a tele-class after the fact, or any other audio products, for that matter. No matter how interested I am in the topic or how much I like the person. If it’s not packaged with a written resource that has the same information, I know I’ll never use it.

If you’re offering audio, consider how many visual learners might be in your midst, and how you can draw them in instead of turning them away. Here are three ideas:

3 Ways to Enhance Your Live or Recorded Audio Offerings

1. Before a live telephone event or as a free give-away to promote an audio product: Provide callers, students or prospective customers with an outline of what you’ll be covering in the audio.

I like using PowerPoint slides for this because it also helps me to structure my content and keep it organized. Include blank pages for notes for people who will print the outline before the call. You can check out Guy Kawasaki’s thoughts about the 10/20/30 rule for PowerPoint presentations. Personally, I like to think in 3’s, so I aim for 3 main topics and then 3 sub-topics for each of those.

2. After the event or as an added bonus: Provide an enhanced transcription. [Update July 26, 2016 – I now use and recommend Scribie for transcription.] Once you receive the raw transcription, go through it carefully to make sure it stands alone as a written document.

3. For a real WOW!: Provide a learning guide – a workbook that combines an enhanced transcription with questions and exercises that deepen the learning and offer opportunities and ideas for how the reader can apply the information immediately in their own life. You may also want to combine this with a special offer of a one-time coaching or consultation session with you, to discuss their specific situation. Give the session a catchy name that relates to the topic of the audio.

It doesn’t matter which option you choose, just please remember that for us visual learners, audio isn’t enough!

[This post was updated on November 8, 2016.]

The Editorial Schedule: Not Just for Magazines

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I recently put together my 2008 Editorial Schedule, and boy am I pumped! I admit that it’s been a struggle the last couple of months to blog as frequently as I’d like to.

With this schedule in place, I know exactly how I’ll be creating content this year. I haven’t chosen all of my topics ahead of time, so there will still be plenty of room for spontaneity and creativity and HEY, I can always blog MORE.

What I’ve laid out in my editorial calendar are the SOURCES for my content, so that it’s an automatic process.

For example, to write my fifth blog post of every month, I’m going to cull through my "Learning" folder in Outlook. "Learning" is one of my 2008 Business Plan strategies, so it gets it’s very own folder for the newsletters and blog updates that interest me (and that I think might interest you).

I don’t even try to read all of these when they come in, but when it’s time to write my blog post, I can skim through the subject lines, articles and posts for ideas that jump out at me.

This is the first year I’ve used an editorial schedule, so let’s all watch and see how well it works! Hopefully you’ll notice that I’m posting more frequently.

Writing Prompt: Put an editorial schedule to work for you in 2008. Simply plot out a space for everything you want to publish this year, and fill-in-the-blanks. You can do as I did, and think of HOW you’ll write the content when the time comes, or you can go one further and actually create your list of topics for the year. If you publish a monthly newsletter, that’s 11 more spaces to fill in and you’re done! Imagine the relief!

What Would You Hear from Your Ideal Customer if You Were a Fly on the Wall?

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Too often there’s a disconnect between what we want to sell and what our ideal customer is looking to buy. I’ve heard marketing experts share that we need to, "sell them what they want, so we can then give them what they need."

For example, even though we know, as coaches, that people need life balance, serenity and better self-care, they may not be ready to even think about those things. They may, however, be very open to a solution that addresses what they ARE ready to deal with.

To write in a way that your ideal customer will relate and respond to, imagine that you’re a fly on the wall at a coffee shop.

Your ideal customer is confiding in a friend about a problem. It’s a big problem, and it’s keeping her up at night.

What words would she use to describe the problem? Get as specific as you can about:

  1. What is the problem?
  2. Why is it a problem?
  3. What’s the impact of the problem?
  4. How will her life be (and how will she feel) if the problem continues or gets worse?
  5. What solution is she searching for?
  6. How will her life be (and how will she feel) when she finds that solution?

The closer you can match the words your actual customers and potential customers are using to describe their problem and YOUR solution, the quicker they’ll be able to see that your product or service is the match for them.

Writing Prompt: Write out the conversation between your ideal customer and her friend. Read it out loud and really get into character. Channel your customer! Now bring that exact language into your next article, blog post or promotional email and get ready to connect.