Freelance writing
Cristian Bodo
Thursday, 13 November 2008 11:05 UTC
Hi there
I’m a junior postdoc, still active on the bench, but with a lifelong interest in scientific writing and an idea to switch my career in that direction in the future.
I’ve noticed that among the pieces of advise on how to make this transition that I’ve collected (including here at Nature Network), freelance writing keeps popping up as a way to highlight one’s interest about science writing to potential employers. My question is: how exactly does one get commisioned to write a piece? I know that editorial boards include so-called “commision editors”, and the role of these persons is to contact potential writers when they want a piece about a particular subject to appear on an incoming issue of the journal, but looking at the background of the authors whose work is actually published you realize that they are either senior scientists with an established reputation in their field, or people who are already working within the organization (professional journalists, let’s say, or people who have already made the transition). How does someone who’s just starting manage to get something published? Are there some etiquette rules that apply here? Is it common for editors to be approached with an idea for an article by someone they’ve probably never heard of before? Should one instead go ahead, write the article in question and then start sending it to editors in hope that some may become interested? And finally, do you happen to know of any specific publications that would be more willing to accept pieces from someone with (almost) no journalistic experience?
Thank you in advance.
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Welcome, Christian.
There are basically two kinds of “freelance” writing one can do for a Nature jouranal (to which I’ll limit myself, as the subject of this forum). One is to write “News and Views”, Essays, Book reviews and so on – short articles about a scientific paper, book or some idea-focused piece. For our journals, these articles are commissioned from researchers, probably on the basis of their track record of previous publications.
The other is freelance journalism – news pieces. Of the Nature journals, Nature, Nature Medicine and Nature Biotechnology have news sections, and editors who commission journalists to write pieces. Often those journalists are semi-regular writers, and will “pitch” a story to the editor. Other times, the editor will commission a piece.In both types of writing, it is not likely you’d get a chance for a Nature journal until you have a body of work published. You could write your own blog, if you don’t have one already – this is great practice for science writing. You could peer-review, or help to peer-review, submitted manuscripts sent to your lab head or others in your lab to review – this can train you in writing summaries of papers and otherwise help. There are lots of ways you can get articles published – look out for competitions run by newspapers or popular science magazines, for example. Contribute to your institution’s magazine with an article about your research.
In summary, start to collect together a body of work as a portfolio (could also be online). If you’ve got a great idea for a science news story, you can certainly pitch it to the editors – you can see who they are from the masthead of the publication – but I think you have a better chance if you have some work the editor can see, so he/she can get an idea of your writing.
Lots of publications use freelance journalists, and plenty of them publish articles about science by scientists, so just keep trying. It isn’t easy, but it is possible.
I can’t really advise on specific publications, but take a look at the science magazines you usually read – it is fairly easy to tell if a magazine publishes freelance contributions from the bylines on the articles – also see if your funder and/or institution has a publication, or look at local publications in the area where you live. Good luck!
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P.S. I forgot to say, you might also like to look at this forum entry for some further advice.
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Thanks for the helpful advice, Maxine! I’ll try do something along those lines…
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I’m not a Nature Editor, but have an additional suggestion that might be of use in building up a portfolio of writing. Many societies and associations produce house publications for their members. These vary in size, quality and frequency, and are called different things (eg newsletters, bulletins, or they may have individual apt or clever names). Some are quite glossy and appear frequently, they may even have journal status, with peer-reviewed content. Some societies/associations are very large and so the audience for the content of their publications is also very large.
Society publications have to fulfil a number of functions. They have, of course, to keep the membership informed about society matters and things that are going on in the academic and professional areas of interest to their membership. They often have an educational role. They also have to entertain and provide a lighter side – something to read over coffee or as a break from ‘keeping up with the literature’. The content has to be of interest to the various sections of their membership, which in a healthy society will range from young researchers doing their PhDs right up to very senior people at the top of their profession.
The editors of these publications are always on the look out for suitable content. If you belong to a society, see what you could contribute to its publication if it has one. Get a feel for what they like to publish and see if you could write a potential contribution. Also ask your colleagues in different research areas about their society publications and if you can take a look at them. Do some market research – ask your colleagues what they think of the publications they get, what else they’d like to see featured. If you think any are lacking some important element, write to the editor with a suggestion, perhaps for a regular section (even better if you can suggest a snappy title). If they like what you suggest or an article you submit – and especially if they get positive feedback from their readers – they may give you the chance to contribute regularly. A note of caution, be diplomatic. Don’t be harsh or too critical or say how awful something is – it may have been written by the editor or be their pet love. Many editors feel very proprietorial and protective of their publications, and so, as in all things in life, it’s best to start with the good and positive and lead in gently with your suggestions in a constructive way.
Be realistic about what you could contribute. Write about what you know and understand. Are you able to provide an individual slant that strikes a chord with your contemporaries or helps provide insight for more senior members? Could you provide copy to deadline for a regular section, or is your temperament or working life and other commitments better suited to you doing occasional one-off articles?
There’s a lot of really useful information and advice on the Nature Network about writing opportunities and internship schemes. Some societies also have internships, where young researchers are given the opportunity to shadow the person who deals with PR/external affairs and then helps or takes responsibility for promoting talks and posters at the society meetings – arranging press releases, setting up and co-ordinating radio and TV interviews – so that route is also worth checking out.
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Cristian, I apologise for spelling your name wrong. That isn’t very good, coming from an editor.
Irene, I think the idea of contributing to society newsletters is a very good one. Not only are these types of contributions good writing practice, but they demonstrate (eg to future employers) that you are interested in broader communication and outreach of science, all to the good.
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I also meant to add that NatureJobs runs a competition every year for their “Postdoc journal”. Four postdocs write a regular diary which features in the journal, so this is a great opportunity for the winners. I am not sure when the competition rounds happen, but it is worth checking out the NatureJobs website (which is one of the “explore nature.com” links to the left, and if you have missed this year’s round, noting the deadline for the next.
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@ Irene: thanks for the suggestion! I’ll definitively explore that option.
@ Maxine: no worries about the name, people do that all the time ever since I moved to the english-speaking world. I’m thinking of adopting the alternative spelling.
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Cristian, this might be of interest and is a great opportunity to gain experience in a number of aspects of science communication:
SCIENCE COMMUNICATION INTERNSHIP 2009
The Society for Experimental Biology (SEB) is offering an internship for a postgraduate student/early career scientist to gain a month’s training in press and publicity during the period 1st June – 1st July 2009. The placement will be suitable for someone who is seeking a career in science journalism, scientific administration, or as a publicity officer. Applicants with some experience of non-academic science writing will be given priority.
Working under the guidance of the EPA officer, the main activities will be:
• To write press releases for the SEB’s Annual Main Meeting (Glasgow, 28 June – 1st July 2009) in advance of the Meeting. You will be expected to review the meeting abstracts, talk to session convenors and interview speakers in order to produce interesting, eye-catching press notices. To send out the press releases to the media using Eurekalert and email.
• To attend the SEB Meeting in Glasgow as its Press officer: to liaise with journalists and science editors, organise interviews, take publicity photos, attend relevant talks and visit posters, and write additional news for release during the meeting.
• To assist in the organisation and running of the EPA programme during the Meeting when required.You will need to be self-motivated with excellent communication and time management skills. You will be given the option to work remotely for the most-part of the internship if it is not practical for you to absent yourself from your research full-time for one month. However, you will be expected to visit the EPA office initially to liaise with the EPA officer and remain in close contact throughout the duration of the placement. You will also attend the SEB Meeting full-time from 27 June – 1 July inclusive. All reasonable travel and accommodation expenses will be paid.
This is an excellent opportunity to further develop your experience of science communication (previous winners have secured jobs as news editors, science writers and publicity officers). To register your interest for this post please email the EPA officer, Sarah Blackford, with your CV highlighting your science communication experience and skills, and stating why you are applying for this post. s.blackford@lancaster.ac.uk.
Closing date: 3rd April 2009.
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Thank you so much for the info, Irene. It seems to be perfectly tailored to my situation, I’ll apply right away!
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Dear Irene, Although I understand your posting this ad is intended to be helpful, and indeed is helpful to Cristian, please could I gently remind you that this is an “ask the Nature editor” forum, and not for pasting-in adverts from external organisations – a simple link would have sufficed. (Please see statement on the forum main page about what this forum is about.) There are other appropriate forums at Nature Network for highlighting these types of opportunities elsewhere, eg the science writers’ forum or the careers forum. The topic of this particular forum is for Nature Network users to ask questions of the Nature editors about matters relating to our publishing and editorial publication policies. We very much appreciate your previous constructive contributions to this ask the Nature editor forum and hope you will continue to contribute material when relevant to the forum’s topic.
With best wishes
Maxine.
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