Writing Feature Articles presents clear and engaging advice for students and young professionals on working as a freelance feature writer. This fifth edition not only covers producing content for print, but also for digital platforms and online.
Mary Hogarth offers comprehensive guidance on every aspect of feature writing, from having the initial idea and conducting market and subject research, to choosing the right target audience and publishing platform and successfully pitching the article. In addition, the book instructs students on developing their own journalistic style and effectively structuring their feature. Each chapter then concludes with an action plan to help students put what they have read into practice.
Topics include:
- Life as a freelance
- Building a professional profile
- Telling a story with images
- Developing a specialism
- Interviewing skills
- Profile and interview articles
- Working in publicity and advertising
- A career in magazines and newspapers
- Getting published overseas
- Understanding issues in media law and regulation
The book also provides an extensive range of interviews with successful media professionals, including a newspaper editor, a money, health and lifestyle journalist, a copywriter and an award-winning columnist, where they share their own experiences of working in the industry and offer invaluable tips on best practice.
List of figures
List of tables
List of contributors
Foreword
1. Introduction
2. Life as a freelance
3. Ideas are everywhere
4. Market research
5. How to pitch successfully
6. Turn ideas into articles
7. Research and interview techniques
8. A cohesive structure
9. How to develop a strong style
10. Images tell a story
11. Copywriting & PR
12. Specialist features, columns & reviews
13. Interviews vs profiles
14. Worldwide markets
15. A career in magazines & newspapers
Miriam Phillips
16. Law and ethics: A rough guide
David Mascord
17. Last word: An editor’s perspective
Appendices
Index
Biography
Mary Hogarth is and educator, media specialist, and writer, Mary Hogarth is a HEA Senior Fellow and Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth University.
With more than 20 years’ industry experience and lecturing experience, Mary set up The Magazine Expert Ltd consultancy practice in 2015, specialising in new title launches (print, online and digital), audience engagement, editorial development and sustainable business strategies.
To date, Mary has written numerous articles on magazine publishing and authored three books -How To Launch A Magazine In This Digital Age (Bloomsbury, 2014), Business Strategies for MagazinePublishing (Routledge, 2018) and Writing Feature Articles (Routledge, 2019). Recently Mary has embarked on a PhD investigating how magazine business practices have evolved as a result of the digital age.
A rich resource, full of gold-plated advice for any budding feature writer. It covers everything you need to know – getting ideas, finding the right audience, pitching, researching and structuring an article and is packed with anecdotes and case studies from successful working journalists. Invaluable not just for would-be feature writers but experienced freelancers.
Dr Barbara Rowlands, Associate Professor of Journalism and Hon Research Fellow, City, University of London
This a welcome and timely update of Brendan Hennessy’s classic Writing Feature Articles. Offering useful examples, insightful interviews and helpful calls to action it is for anyone who aspires to be a journalist in our fast-moving digital age.
Journalism educator Catherine Darby, creator and leader of the UK’s multi-award-winning first MA in Magazine Journalism, launched at the University of Central Lancashire in 2004.