Meet the Trainers: Susan Grossman, writing for customer magazines

Journalism.co.uk has lined up a host of great trainers for our short courses covering social media, online marketing, customer magazines and data journalism for journalists and other communications professionals.

On 28 October, media and writing coach Susan Grossman takes our one-day course on writing for customer magazines, looking at how to successfully write, source ideas and pitch to appropriate titles.

In the next in our series of interviews with the trainers, Journalism.co.uk finds out more about Grossman's experience, which includes working with non-fiction authors to mentoring individual writers and journalists:

How did you get started writing for consumer magazines?
I was editing a magazine called What Hotel? and the publisher couldn't sell any ads so he ditched it after three issues. I took the magazine to Redwood Publishing, naively thinking they might take it over, only to be reminded that there had to be a 'client' on whose behalf the magazine would be published. I felt really stupid that I hadn't done my homework, but lucky for me walked out with an editorship of the BUPA magazine for their private members. I stayed at Redwood for about four years, and went on to edit a book called the Best of Britain on top UK hotels, and had a short spell editing the AA magazine (until they discovered I drove an old car full of crisp packets!)

How can journalists set themselves apart when pitching to consumer magazines in tough times like these?
Not like I did! The most important thing to do is to find out as much about the client as you can before you approach the editor. Think about why they are producing the magazine and who for, read some previous issues - most are online, and then think about what could be topical for future issues. The magazines are not ads. It's important to think about the lifestyle of the reader and how to make them feel like part of an exclusive 'club' than writing to promote a product or service. So you need a lot of lateral thinking. 

Are there common mistakes you feel journalists make in pitches?
Absolutely, they write an intro to their story instead of a pitch, and forget they are trying to explain its content to a busy human being. Go for the sort of impact that makes an editor sit up and read on. Use facts or figures, or 'react' to something in the news. You need to include why you should be the one to write the feature, along with what will be in it. The most common mistake is not to have done any research. It's not so much "I will...", but "I've already...". Demonstrate not anticipate.

What benefits of working for consumer magazines have you experienced in your career?
Understanding a client's needs has stood me in good stead for practically everything else I have ever done from radio broadcasting and presenting TV programmes to running my Pitching to Editors workshops or lecturing students. Whatever you are trying to put across, you have to be able to identify the needs of your audience. Working with clients on customer magazines is one of the toughest challenges a journalist can have (apart from working in a war zone) once you've mastered it, you can 'sell' yourself or your ideas to anyone.

Click on this link more details about Susan's course 'How to write for customer magazines'.

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).