Are You Producing "Career-Enhancing" Work?

Veteran writer Mike Sedge explains how to get the most from your feature articles

By Michael Sedge

Many years ago, I realized that it is almost impossible to make a good living writing articles.   During a recent conference, this was reconfirmed when the speaker asked how many attendees had made $50,000 or more writing for magazines and newspapers.   Only two hands appeared from the crowd.

Because this is a reality of the writing business, about fifteen years ago I began to look for alternative benefits from the features I produced.   When I mention this to others, they immediately think of free lodging, meals, books, and other traditional freebees, or PR benefits, that can easily

come with writing in specific genres like travel, or reviews of restaurants, books, and computer software.   Good writers could literally fill their mailboxes with invitations and goodies if they put their minds to it. But what I was seeking were career-enhancing benefits.

It's common practice in the marketing industry to use one good campaign to launch another.   You've no doubt seen several examples of this.   There may be a single television commercial that does well in increasing product sales.   Suddenly, there is a series of commercials for the same product, using identical characters or themes.   This same concept can be used to increase your article sales.

In 1997 I was commissioned by the editor of Mobil Oil's Compass Magazine to write a feature on Franck Goddio, the French archaeologist who had uncovered the ancient city of Cleopatra in the harbor of Alexandria, Egypt. While researching, I realized that my direct contact with Goddio provided me with a platform on which to create a series of articles.   As it turned out, I not only wrote articles for four other publications, but was hired by Discovery Channel to join their team in producing the book and TV documentary, Cleopatra's Palace: In Search of a Legend.

During the filming of the documentary, I learned of a new archaeology magazine being put together by Scientific American.   I quickly contacted the publisher, Jeff Leach, and, based on my experience in Egypt and work with the Discovery Channel, was immediately hired as their Mediterranean Editor. In March 1999 the new magazine, Scientific American Discovering Archaeology was released. The cover story was "Cleopatra's Sunken Palace" and ran nine

pages.

Using one article as a platform to launch your career into several directions, as I was able to do with the Cleopatra story, is the "career-enhancing benefit" that you should be seeking out in all your assignments.   Let your articles and the experience they provide work for

you.

Not long ago, I won the "Rustichello da Pisa" award for journalism excellence by a foreign (non-Italian) writer. The Regional Tourist Office of Pisa gives this prize each year. Along with the award, and trip to Pisa, winners receive a set of gold and silver coins, interviews with national

newspapers and television networks, encounters with the political leaders of the Region of Tuscany, and a banquet in the author's honor. In turn, this lead to book offers by international publishers as well as assignments from Italian magazines.

By exploring external benefits for my work--i.e., parallel markets, international awards--I was able to turn one assignment into a career-changing event. Once you get into the mind-set of seeking more out of each article you produce, you'll find it is not a hard task.   You will learn, as I have, to ask yourself simple questions like: Who might benefit from this article?   How can I approach them?   What in this particular assignment makes me an expert?

An editor for WriterOnline and a native of Flint, Michigan, Michael Sedge has worked in the marketing, publishing, and telecommunications industries for over 30 years. An accomplished writer (with over 3,500 published articles, 20 books, and four television documentaries to his credit), Sedge has resided in Europe since 1973. While living there he has held a variety of positions including military correspondent for The Associated Press, Newsweek, and Time-Life books. He also founded Strawberry Media, a US-European media/marketing agency, in 1988. Mr. Sedge is the backbone of The Sedge Group, a marketing/PR/editorial agency. Some of his previous editorial positions include: foreign correspondent, Cardiology World News; travel editor, Family Magazine; travel writer, R&R Magazine; Mediterranean editor, Off Duty Publications; Italy correspondent, Diplomat; contributing editor, International Living.

For more detail. Check out his bio