What do editors want?

What every freelance writer wants to know – what do editors want? Many new writers view it as being akin to mindreading. At first they think they know, and they suggest ideas which they think would make a great article. Common mistakes are – everything you could possibly want to know about X; my family holiday in Majorca (oh yes, travel editors love that one); and an article on the latest craze which has been around for ten years and which everyone knows about anyway.

It is hard to know what someone else wants, so apologies if any of my reader have pursued any of the ideas mentioned above. Please don’t take offence. We’ve all been there (apart from Majorca). 

One thing you have to realise when you are starting out is that you need to put yourself in the editor’s shoes and view ideas from his point of view. Contributors often think they know a magazine well and may disagree with the editor’s decision to reject their article, but really that is the equivalent of me, a stranger, going up to you and saying that I know you and your family better than you yourself do. 

Read as many back copies of the magazine as you can get hold of, decide who the reader is, what their interest are and how much knowledge of the subject he is likely to have, find a news hook, give the editor something new.

Finally, don’t forget the advertisers. Advertisers are very important, particularly in today’s economic client, and an editor can’t risk losing regular advertisers. Years ago when I was starting out I sent an idea for an article on how forward facing buggies where detrimental to a child’s development. I sent it to a parenting magazine, and the editor, quite rightly, pointed out that while she thought it was a great idea she couldn’t risk upsetting one of their largest advertising clients, one of the biggest pushchair brands.

In short – put yourself in the editor’s shoes, get to know the magazine and readers well, and think like an editor, not a writer.