Writing for frum publications

amother

Mauve

Tue, Mar 14 2017, 3:39 pm

I enjoy writing and would love to write articles occasionaly for the frum papers like yated hamodia jewish press etc. How would I go about sending out my work? Should I write up a few peices and send them to all the papers and say these are samples of my work if you are interested in me writing for your paper please contact me or do I send a different peice to every paper and say if you are interrsted in publishing this article I can be reached at etc. Any advice or words of wisdom would be appreciated.

amother

Natural

Tue, Mar 14 2017, 4:35 pm

trixx wrote:

no offense but make sure you proofread before you submit anything, especially if it is for consideration.
your initial post lacks basic punctuation.

I'm an editor and you wouldn't believe how poorly many of these articles are initially written before I get my hands on them.
As long as she has good ideas/stories, I don't see why she's any worse off than many other authors I've come across!

amother

Mauve

Tue, Mar 14 2017, 5:09 pm

amother wrote:

Amother Editor what do I send out when I contact the papers, random samples of my work and tell the papers if you like my work contact me and I can write about a topic of your choice, or do I send an article and say if you want to publish this article contact me. If I do the second option I have to give the article to only one paper at a time. I write articles on the parsha or current events better than short stories.

amother

Natural

Tue, Mar 14 2017, 5:15 pm

amother wrote:

I'm sorry, I don't know. That's not my department. I just see the articles once they're selected; I have nothing to do with the submission/selection process

seeker

Tue, Mar 14 2017, 8:27 pm

If you send completed pieces with the offer to publish those pieces, you should not send the same one to multiple publications. If they take their time to review it and then find out it was accepted by someone else, they will never look in your direction again.

If you are looking to write on assignment (rather than submitting your already-written unsolicited pieces) then it's OK to send a sample along with a description of what kinds of assignments you are interested in.

As for grammar/spelling, while it may be true that "editor amother" sees many very unpolished pieces, don't take chances on that. I'm not sure how those pieces got in but editors don't have tons of time and patience to sift through poorly written work. You'd have to be offering something really outstanding to make it worth their time and energy. When all else is equal, they will gravitate more toward something that's well done, pleasant to read, and won't require too much work once accepted - especially if you're looking for regular assignments and not just a one-time story acceptance.

And yes, call them and ask for advice on what and how to submit - but not anonymously! Let them know who you are so they will recognize your name when your submission comes. The phone call/email is your first chance to make a good impression.