The complete guide to article writing : how to write successful articles for online and print markets

466 Pages·2014·2.28 MB·English

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO
ARTICLE
WRITING
HOW TO WRITE SUCCESSFUL ARTICLES FOR ONLINE AND PRINT
MARKETS
NAVEED SALEH
DEDICATION
For Dad—I miss you.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
1 A PRIMER ON STYLE
2 A BRIEF SURVEY OF JOURNALISM: ITS PAST, PRESENT, &
FUTURE
3 ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES OF A JOURNALIST
4 RESEARCH
5 INTERVIEWING
6 ARTICLES: AN INTRODUCTION
7 DISSECTING A STORY
8 TYPES OF FEATURES
9 FEATURES: STRUCTURE & CRAFT
10 FACT
11 NARRATIVE
12 NEWS ARTICLES
13 OPINION ARTICLES
14 BLOGS
15 PUBLICATION & PLATFORM
16 STORY IDEAS & QUERY LETTERS
17 THE AUTHOR-EDITOR RELATIONSHIP & MORE
EPILOGUE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
COPYRIGHT
FORWORD
See one, do one, teach one. Such was the mantra in medical school. And it is a
tradition that Naveed Saleh carries forward—with substance, style, and much
success—in The Complete Guide to Article Writing: How to Write Successful
Articles for Online and Print Markets.
I have known Naveed since 2008, when he applied to the science journalism
graduate program that I coordinate at Texas A&M University. Like me, Naveed
is a medical-school graduate whose greatest interests turned out to be writing
and editing. The abilities and commitment that Naveed showed in our program
have helped enable him to produce a valuable book.
The Complete Guide to Article Writing makes me proud to know Naveed and
to have contributed to his education. The book is extensively researched and
draws on popular and scholarly literature and on interviews with leaders in
academia and the media. It is timeless and also timely, containing both classic
advice on writing and current guidance on working in online media. Abundant
examples illustrate points. The prose is crisp, readable, witty in places, and
sometimes edgy. There is an extensive bibliography. In short, the book not only
tells how to write successful articles but also demonstrates the craft.
See one, do one, teach one. In the years since I first met Naveed Saleh, he has
seen much good writing in both classes and on his own. He also has done much
good writing for magazines and the Web. And now, through the current book, he
is teaching others to do so. I enjoyed this book, learned from it, and will
recommend it to students. I recommend it to you as well.
Barbara Gastel

INTRODUCTION
It’s hard to write a book about article writing—and more generally journalism—
at this juncture in time. You may expect this book to amount to a survey. But
how do you survey a field that’s in flux? Newspapers are folding, journalists are
losing their jobs, and news that once cost money is “freely” available on the
Internet.
It’s clear that what worked in the past won’t work in the future. Old
journalism is not only old but dated, too. In order to survive, the journalist of
today must understand and champion new media. The Internet, blogs, social
media, and smartphone journalism is the vocabulary of our new Lingua Franca.
The journalist of today must be just as concerned with learning style and
structure as he is with learning to design websites and build a strong Twitter
following. Even if you “just want to write articles,” you must cultivate various
other skills in order to make this dream a reality.
But for those who have the stomach, skills, integrity, and ingenuity, these are
wondrous times. The august institutions of yesteryear have been replaced by a
frontier mentality typical of the Wild West. There’s a need for entrepreneurs and
iconoclasts. Ideas that grab the attention of readers and generate digital-ad
revenue will breed success.
With this book, I hope to teach you everything I’ve learned about article
writing. Of course, I’ll teach you about style, structure, interviewing, narrative,
ethics, query letters, platforms, and publication. But I’ll also help you understand
the history of journalism, its status quo, and its possible future. Anybody who
masters the concepts in this book will have a strong understanding of the field. I
truly believe this understanding will make you a better writer and help you
succeed and see your name in a print or virtual byline.
Please don’t skim this book; read it in its entirety, and then use it as a
reference.
I want you to know that I consider it a privilege to host you with my words. I
strived to ensure that the information in this book is attributable to some great
mind. Feel free to regale your friends and classmates with knowledge gathered
from this book, and know that it has all been verified. I spent years researching
this book and months speaking with experts from national consumer magazines,
association magazines, newspapers, universities, and more. I drew on dozens of
texts, including the works of Jon Franklin, Roy Peter Clark, William Zinsser, and
William E. Blundell. I read many journal articles and studies. I even exploited
my own understanding of popular culture, finance, psychology, medicine, and
science to make the work more entertaining.
I am also privileged to be a custodian of the more general study of journalism.
Journalism is an old profession—even older than prostitution. Early prophets
believed they were reporting on God.
I think that most people who write books like this one have spent their lives
scaling some professional mountain and preach while perched on the summit.
The book becomes an extension of some larger ego. I can’t pretend to be so
weathered. This realization dawned on me early, and I redoubled my efforts to
turn out the best product.
I was originally trained as a science (medical) writer, and, at times, this book
tends to evaluate and analyze the craft of article writing with an eye toward
science and research. Moreover, I believe that every type of writer can benefit
from this scientific purview. It should be noted, however, that some fantastic
journalism scholars approach the craft of article writing from a humanities or
creative-writing perspective. For completeness, I do my best to introduce the
reader to some of this thinking.
With respect to word usage, you’ll see words like writer and journalist or
article and story used interchangeably. (If you’re reading this book and
interested in becoming a writer of articles, feel free to call yourself a journalist—
as I discuss later, there’s no license to practice journalism.) In the realm of
journalism, many words lack clear-cut operational or functional definitions.
Other words such as source have broad definitions and can refer to people
(interviewees) or written sources. Moreover, the word coherent has shades of
meaning, too. A coherent explanation can mean a consistent explanation, a clear
explanation, or an explanation that offers options. (It can also mean all three.)
When writing about the practice of journalism in more theoretical terms, this last
meaning is key.
With professional opportunities for budding writers to garner real-world
experience dwindling, it’s important to acclimate readers to variations in
newsroom lingo and jargon. That’s why I sometimes refer to documents or ideas
in various fashions. For example, although I may write features, features piece,
feature article, and so forth, all of these terms refer to one type of story.
Developing an ear for the lingo will help anybody, including the freelancer who
may never work in a brick-and-mortar setting or the writer of articles who ends
up in a newsroom.
Although I do my best to maintain consistency and practice what I preach in
terms of style and structure, I acknowledge that this book may suffer occasional
lapses—either conscious or unconscious. Please remember that style and
structure take a lifetime to learn and are, above all, coherent guides and not
dogma. Furthermore, the astute reader will notice that some of my advice on
style differs from that of Writer’s Digest Books, the publisher of this book,
including suggestions on number usage and the use of generic singular pronouns.
And this is absolutely fine … publications and individuals have their own
preferences!
When I asked my former graduate school advisor and mentor, Dr. Barbara
Gastel, what it was like to write a book, she told me that it felt like writing
several feature articles. This book felt like writing twenty feature articles, each
on its own deadline. (I definitely approached this book with a journalist’s
mentality.) I spent much time gathering excellent information for this book; it
was absolutely necessary to get this information sourced and make sure that it
was verified, transparent, and coherent. Fortunately, the world abounds with
good information on journalism, style, and writing, and new information and
research comes out every day.
I hope the information in this book and input from editors help you find your
own voice. And I hope this voice informs and entertains countless others.
Enjoy this book in good health, and feel free to e-mail me with any comments
or insights.
Naveed Saleh
[email protected]
4/8/2013