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Tips for Filler
Writers
Updated:
Tips
For Filler Writers.
Keep your eyes and ears open for anything remotely interesting to use in
your letters and fillers. Listen to what other people say,
particularly children. Watch out for odd signs and business names,
and have your camera ready to record them.
* Study other published fillers, especially those in magazines
you would like to write for. You can't, of course, copy other
people's work but there is no copyright on ideas, so what you see in
one magazine can be borrowed to form the basis of a filler you write
for another publication. Other things to watch out for include
recipes, jokes you can change a little, recipes you might alter
slightly, crossword and puzzle grids you can use in your work.
* Study at least a dozen or so publications of the type you
would like to write for. Rank these in order of preference,
according to filler types, payment, subject matter. Start
writing and submitting material for those highest on your list.
* Think pictures. Think illustrations. Instead of
sending just words to your target publication, include a photograph,
maybe a cartoon or line drawing. As always, careful study of
your target magazine will establish editorial preferences.
* Search your own experiences for material ready to be written
up as it stands or which can be amended to suit.
* Always have a notepad and pen at hand, and preferably a
pocket camera and mini recorder. It's amazing where
inspiration and ideas strike and how often there is nothing handy to
record the incident.
* Keep an eye open for useful lists, including anniversaries,
biographies, popular sayings, well-known 'firsts' and 'lasts',
quotations, and so on.
* Make sure you know when to query editors and when to submit
work 'on spec'. Querying is usually inappropriate for letters
and shorter fillers, including jokes, anecdotes and odd things
children say. But it might be wise to query before producing
longer manuscripts like articles, (including mini-articles and
important news breaks), personality profiles and compilations.
Querying is often appropriate for news breaks and some
time-sensitive material.
* When you have one filler published follow this up with
another submission to the same magazine. Mention in your
letter that you have already had your work published. This is
usually inappropriate for readers' letters, incidentally, which are
'imagined', often erroneously, to be spontaneous submissions from
readers, not necessarily professional writers.
* Always be professional in your approach to everything you
write, however brief. This will bring your name to the fore
when editors view your work. Being professional can also open
the door to longer assignments, like articles and columns an maybe
even regular commissions.
* Never assume that what suits one market will also suit
another. It won't. Each market must be studied
carefully. Do this when writing fresh material or revising
manuscripts for submission elsewhere.
* Do not submit the same piece, or something very similar, to
two markets at one time. Editors hate this, especially where
that other market is one of their major competitors. More
importantly, you will lose all credibility as a writer.
* Make sure you address your manuscript to the appropriate
person or department. This will usually be indicated in the
publication itself, usually on the readers' letters page or in
appropriate sections reserved for fillers. Otherwise, address
your work to the editor whose name usually features in the early
pages of your target magazine. Alternatively, look in
'Writers' and Artists' Yearbook' or 'Writer's Handbook'
for the information you require.
* On the question of when to retrieve your work and submit it
to another publication, most writers agree that three months is the
very minimum you should wait before assuming your work has been
unsuccessful. Some writers wait longer, up to a year for
high-paying markets like 'Reader's Digest'. Instead,
wait an appropriate period and assume your work was unsuitable, at
which time it may be revised and submitted elsewhere.
* Keep your work in circulation. Keep accurate records
of everything you write, including where it is currently on offer
and where it might be submitted next. Incidentally,
resubmission doesn't apply purely to unsuccessful pieces; published
pieces can also be revised and resubmitted to new markets, but not
too soon after publication and preferably not to major competitors
of your main markets.
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