It’s Friday! And it’s the next-to-the-last stop on the I’d Rather Be in the Studio! blog tour.
Today, Tammy Vitale wants to know about writing articles for magazines. She said there is something that intimidates her about writing for a magazine and wants 3 baby steps to help move her forward. I gave her 4 steps.
I share 4 baby steps for writing a magazine article to help Tammy overcome her reluctance.
See below for the post from Tammy’s blog >>>
Alyson, I have not been able to find anyone to write an article with me for a trade magazine like Ceramics Monthly. I would like to do a PR piece, somehow, including one of my own authorship. I’ve tried the interview route (pretend you’re interviewing someone and do yourself). For whatever reason, that doesn’t work. When it comes to writing formally about my own work, I get tongue-tied and the writing comes out stilted (I can’t even get past journaling and then taking something from that).
What are 3 baby step suggestions you have for someone who can blog regularly about art but is totally intimidated about putting together an article for a magazine?
- Look at your goals for the article in relation to your long-term goals. What do you want the article to accomplish? I understand that sometimes you just want an article to have an article – to see your name and images in print. But maybe it’s more than that. Maybe you want more students in your workshops, comments on your blog, queries from galleries, or sales. Knowing what you want will help you put together the content.
- Figure out your hook. Why should people be interested in hearing your story? What makes you fascinating? And don’t say you’re not. Everyone can be fascinating! Consider the artists you enjoy reading about. What draws you in? What makes you remember their stories? Bottom line: Know why people should read your article. And know the audience you’re writing for.
- Go through your blog posts and group them. Fortunately you have them already kind of grouped under your Categories. It’s helpful to look through these from time to time in order to find common threads that you could make into an article. Once you have these all in one place, you can spend time with them. Maybe just an hour a week or 15 minutes a day. Spending time with them will force you to get to know them with new eyes. Who knows? You might even fall in love with your works all over again.
And that, dear readers, is why I stay tuned when Alyson writes. She is the master of “3 baby steps” toward any goal and I am reminded over and over that breaking things down can make them much more manageable. Also, having more than one head working on an opportunity can really open it up!
“You asked for 3 baby steps,” Alyson continues, “but I would add a fourth and very important step. That is to research potential places for your articles. Magazines are great, but it might be a nice baby step to post articles online. Maybe you could offer your articles to other artists for their blogs or Web sites, or to an avenue in your niche market.”
Image (c) Tammy Vitale, Searching for Persephone
