Seven Steps to High Performance Articles 

by Carol Hamill

Carol Hamill, writing instructor and author of the soon-to-be- published Write on Target: Writing Articles That Sell, offers a seven-step planfor fine-tuning your articles. Carol covers major points that will help youturn out high-performance articles that can compete in the publishing market.
 
Around 16,000 magazines in the U.S. each year publish a total of two million articles. Of these, approximately half are staff written, which leaves great opportunities for freelancers. To successfully market your articles, however, you must fine tune your writing and shape it into the best possible piece. A high-performance race car, for example, needs frequent tune-ups and careful adjustments. A carelessly maintained vehicle will run poorly in demanding races. Likewise, sloppily written articles can't compete with carefully crafted pieces in the race for publication. Let's take a closer look at the seven steps that will help you produce competitive articles.

step one
In step one, you want to shape your article's opening lead or hook into an attention grabber. I tell my students that an article has about 30 seconds to catch a busy editor's attention. If that lead or hook doesn't quickly interest the editor, then he/she will assume that the rest of the article is deadly dull.

Here is an example of an attention-grabbing lead from a true-life drama (a dramatic or tragic real life occurrence article). Watch how this lead pulls you directly into the writing. 

I held Jason close to me during that last visit to the children's home. We both had tears in our eyes and doubts about the unknown future. "I guess that none of this is really our fault, Mommy," Jason said, infinitely wise beyond his seven years. "Things just happened that were beyond our control." All too soon, a frowning children's home worker insisted I leave. With one final hug, I looked at my only child for the last time. I tried to forever imprint his face upon my memory. Then I turned and walked away. I left Jason behind to give him a new chance at a better life.

This opening lead or hook, which takes you right to the scene, is an anecdote or little story in a capsule. Other popular leads include the quoted words of an expert, the startling statement, and the attention getting question. Your article's lead or hook must be compelling in order to draw the reader (and editor) into your writing. 

step two
In step two of your writing tune up, choose the right slant for your article. Basically, a slant narrowly focuses on part of a topic. For example, suppose you want to propose an article on "Vacations in Hawaii" to an editor. This topic is far too general, but can be slanted in a variety of ways. Geared to a senior citizen audience, for example, you might suggest an article on "Popular Hawaiian Vacation Cruises for Seniors." For a bridal magazine, you could write about  "Seven Romantic Hawaiian Honeymoon Getaways." In each case, determine the magazine's reading audience. Then slant your article so that it zeros in on the needs of that readership.

"If you don't have the right slant," says Sandy Whelchel, Executive Director of the National Writers Association, "you're not going to sell the article. Every editor is very cognizant of the particular slant or focus of their magazine."

step three
In the third technique in article adjustment, you will keep each paragraph's topic sentence in line with the article's theme. For example, your piece discusses recent advances in a certain genetic disease, which is the article's theme. You plan on covering four main topics: the disease's history, its symptoms, what people can do to live with it, and promising research that offers hope for the future. For instance, with the first paragraph on the disease's history, the topic sentence will introduce the history. Every other sentence in that paragraph will help support and substantiate that topic. Toss out any unrelated material as it will only distract or confuse readers.

step four
Another method in tuning your writing for maximum performance lies in using quotes from experts to substantiate your writing. Ms. Reader, for instance, is scanning your published piece on "Lose Twenty Pounds Fast With the Easy Microwave Diet." Quotation marks around quoted words will help draw her eye to certain parts of your article. Ms. Reader is more likely to believe information, which is quoted from a well known expert. Readers will also appreciate the depth and breadth from the quoted experiences of other successful dieters. 

step five
By adding anecdotes, you can also increase your article's high performance.  Anecdotes pull the reader and the editor into the piece. These encapsulated stories give the reader the feeling of being in the experience. For example, earlier in this article, I included an opening anecdote that depicts a mother's last visit with her child.  After reading the anecdote, can you picture such a scene in your mind's eye? "Anecdotes help keep the reader's attention", says Sandy Whelchel. "It's very difficult for a reader to read just dry facts and figures." 

step six
When appropriate, remember to adjust your writing's service value by adding side bars and quizzes. Quizzes appeal to readers by challenging them to test their knowledge. Side bars, usually found in boxes outside of the article, offer extra sources of information that readers can contact. For example, your travel article on "Ten Colorful New England Fall Foliage Tours" provides a side bar entitled "When You Go." This boxed information lists names and addresses of tour companies, rates and fees, plus suggested clothing and supplies. Your article, with its sidebar, gives readers service information and take-away value. 

step seven
What is the seventh method to help fine tune your articles? Watch out for too many typos, poorly used punctuation marks, or gangly grammar. Consider this: your article is a finished product produced specifically for a customer (your editor).  Why not present your writing and yourself as professionally as possible? Sloppily produced articles are real editor turn-offs. Remember that your article has less than 30 seconds to grab a busy editor's attention. Let your writing put its best foot forward every time. 

"It is essential that people do a spelling check both with the computer and visually," says Sandy Whelchel, "because there is the 'to/too/two' problem: all of which will go through the spell checker very nicely."

Do remember that more than 90% of all articles that cross editorial desks get rejected. Many of the larger women's magazines, for instance receive over 50,000 articles and queries per year (per magazine). To help give your article that competitive edge, remember the seven steps to article tune-ups.

   -- CH
   ©1998 Carol Hamill  

Carol Hamill, both a biologist and a writing instructor, has had over fifty articles published in both national and regional magazines such as Off Duty, Natural Food and Farming, the Country Review, Our Town, Senior Highlights, and other publications. For over seven years she taught a wide variety of nonfiction writing classes at both the university extension and community college level. She is also included in Who's Who in the West and Who's Who in Science.