Any writers out there?
12-30-2002, 12:07 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Grand Rapids Michigan USA
Posts: 8
Any writers out there?
I am an avid hunter and I also love to write. Does any one here know the best way to get into writing for a magazine or online publication. I have my B/A from college but it is not related to writting in anyway. Any advice would be great.
It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way
It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way
12-30-2002, 01:08 PM
#2
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,846
RE: Any writers out there?
moose,im in the same boat as you kinda.im just 13,but i love to write.i think the best way to get with a magazine is to keep sending them stuff youve written.like a story every week or something.im in the process of trying to get a short story published in a magazine.i would say to just send them stuff.
slayer
"Accurate,Deadly,Dependable"
slayer
"Accurate,Deadly,Dependable"
12-31-2002, 01:46 PM
#3
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Houston TX USA
Posts: 14
RE: Any writers out there?
Hey guys,
Yes, the life of an outdoor writer can be “glamorous”! But it can also be very, very, very hard work and require efforts that many are not willing to put into the venture. As a little back ground for the last 23 years I have been a freelance writer, magazine editor, newsletter editor, contributing editor, newspaper columnist, web site editor, web site contributing writer and a TV show host. That said it has been a wonderful, though not a financially rewarding ride and I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.
The first thing that you must ask yourself is why do I want to be a writer? Is it because I want to see my name in print so that I can gloat about the public attention I will get? Is it because I want others to consider me an expert and therefore I can be the center of attention? Is it because I will get tons of free stuff and get invited on world class hunting or fishing trips? Or is it because I will get paid for doing what I love best? Let’s look at each of these questions in turn.
Is it because I want to see my name in print so that I can gloat about the public attention I will get? Public attention can be a good thing or it can be a very bad thing. Are you willing to put the effort into the research that is needed to correctly write an article? For example, you can’t just look in the reloading manuals and take what they say as set in stone. They are simply a beginning point. I normally shoot a new rifle or bullet/powder load many times before I am ready to write about it, often in excess of 1500 times. For example a new rifle may require several hundred rounds from up to 10 different ammo manufacturers through it before I feel confident that I can write an honest evaluation of the firearm in question. If I am working with a new powder/bullet combination it may take several hundred rounds through several different firearms before I am comfortable describing its performance capabilities. It is only after having conducted the proper research that I feel confident that what I am writing is correct data that can be used by my readers and that I am not printing something that won’t shoot accurately or worse yet get someone killed or hurt. And who pays for all of this ammo and range time you might ask, well usually this is considered part of the pay you will receive from a magazine. Starting pay is usually in the $50-100 range per article or as in most cases for beginners you “donate” your work to the publication for free, just to get started. Each article of this type usually costs me in the neighborhood of $250-300 to research. And this is before I have even left for the hunting trip.
Is it because I want others to consider me an expert and therefore I can be the center of attention? Being considered an expert in the shooting and hunting fields can be even more dangerous than just simply seeking public attention. If you don’t do your research and get hands on experience then you could publish bad data and get someone hurt. Even after all of this time I still do not consider myself an expert and do not present myself as one to my readers or viewers. One person can not know every aspect of the shooting or hunting sports. Therefore, I have assembled a team of “experts” that helps me in my writing or TV efforts. Among others these include a ballistician, shotgun smith, pistol smith, rifle smith, several professional hunting and fishing guides, wildlife biologists, a metallurgist, a machinist, an optics expert and several from within the competitive shooting arena. When I need a question answered about a topic that I have not personally participated in then I go to my “advisory” board for the proper answer. This allows me to write intelligently about a variety of subjects without running the risk of publishing faulty data that once again could get someone hurt. And in this time of “let’s sue everyone” attitude this is an important consideration.
Is it because I will get tons of free stuff and get invited on world class hunting or fishing trips? Now I will not mislead you. I do get to shoot and hunt with some of the newest and best equipment available today. However, almost none of it, except consumables, is free. With consumables being such things as gunpowder, bullets, scents, etc.. Every firearm, riflescope, binoculars, dog training collar, clothes and in some cases boots sent to me for review or evaluation must be returned after the project they were loaned to me for is completed. One thing that makes companies wary of new writers is that unfortunately like in other endeavors in life the writing business has, for lack of a better description, what I call a bunch of whores. Companies have been burned time and time again by someone calling up and asking to review products that they promise to return after the project is completed. It takes time to build a relationship with editors just as it does with company marketing representatives. You have to establish your validity and you don’t do this by not returning products that you are loaned to write about. So outside of consumables, I have had to purchase most of the items I wanted to keep once an assignment is completed. And free hunting trips, ha, ha! I can count the number of really free trips that I have received in the last 20 years on both of my hands and have several fingers left over. Sure, some of the more famous of our brethren do get free trips but these guys are often very low paid “staff” writers in which their employer helps cover the costs of these adventures. But remember the old adage, you can’t eat them horns. You will have to decide for yourself if free trips are worth the pay you will lose because of trading hunting trips for dollars. My last “free” trip was back in October. It was an elk hunt in Idaho. And yes the hunting part was free. But the hunting license was $101.50 and the elk tag was $332.50. My cost of getting to Idaho and home again was $747.26 with a 1998.6 mile 62 hour round trip drive. (The airfare would have cost me a lot more as I was invited on this hunt less than 3 weeks beforehand.) My taxidermy bill to have the 7x7 bull mounted will be approximately $500.00 and meat processing will run me around $185.00. So my “free” hunt only cost me $1,866.26. I will be able to publish 3 articles from this effort and may make up to $1,400.00. So as you can see this is a very lucrative business to be in.
Or is it because I will get paid for doing what I love best? As I jest mentioned, this is not a very high paying job. I supplement my writing with my TV show hosting and I was able to make around $42,000.00 last year. No it is not begging, but I wrote 60 feature articles that appeared in 36 different countries, filmed 36 TV segments, finally sold my 5th book and wrote 127 newspaper columns or minor articles to achieve this lofty financial reward. That works out to approximately $8.00 an hour for the hours actually invested in my literary efforts, or what a clerk at McDonalds here my area makes. This is a job we do because we love it and not because we are going to get rich quick. Or if you are like me you hate wearing a suit and tie. After all where else can I wear blue jeans, cowboy shirts and hiking boots around as my everyday work clothes?
NOW HOW DO I BEGIN WRITING?
Before you decide what kind of writing you want to do take a minute and look at the activities that you enjoy participating in. Do you like whitetail hunting or offshore fishing or duck hunting or bass fishing or competitive shooting? Once you have decided what you like doing then seek out those publications or web sites that deal with these topics. Read as many back issues or articles that these publications or web sites that you can. Doing this allows you to determine what kind of articles they are interested in. After all you would not want to send a fly fishing article to Blackpowder Hunting or an article on working up a whitetail load to Offshore Fisherman. They do not publish these kinds of articles do and their readers are probably not interested in them. Do these publications publish entertaining hunting stories like Sporting Tales or are they more technically oriented like Precision Shooting who wants to know the minutest detail about working up an accurate load? Do they want how to articles, where to go articles, what to do articles, wildlife biology articles, hunting techniques articles, etc? While you are doing this research take the time to find out who the editors are. Write them and request a copy of their writer submission guidelines. Find out if they want articles submitted via electronic means or via hard copy. Or do they simply want inquiries that spell out the scope of the article without you submitting the completed work? What about photos? How long do they like their articles to be and in what program format? How long before publication do you have to submit your article for consideration? Do you have to have professional press credentials to submit to them or will they accept work from freelancers?
A good web page to look into is the Outdoor Writers Web Page at www.outdoorwriter.com
Take the time to investigate the various writing organizations. Many of these have programs to help beginning writers. Some of these are:
Rocky Mountain Outdoor Writers and Photographers - rmowp.org
300 West Straford Drive
Chandler, Arizona 85225-7117
Outdoor Writers of America – owaa.org
121 Hickory St, Suite 1
Missoula, MT 59801
Phone - 406-728-7434
Fax - 406-728-7445
Texas Outdoor Writers Assoc. – towa.org
7503 Bayswater
Amarillo, TX 76119
806-+345-3280
Southeastern Outdoor Press Assoc. – seopa.org
[email protected]
Outdoor Writers of Canada - http://www.inside-outdoors.com/
P.O. Box 20008,
Pioneer Park Postal Outlet,
KITCHENER, Ontario.
N2P 2B4
Florida Outdoor Writers Assoc. – fowa.org
411 NE 18th Ave.
Ocala, FL 34470
New England Outdoor Writers
40 Shelburne Road
Merrimack, NH 03054
New York State Outdoor Writers Assoc.
321 Robertson Road
Sherrill, NY 13461
Assoc. of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers - http://www.greatlakeswriters.org
P.O. Box 35
Benld, IL 62099
Michigan Outdoor Writers Assoc. - http://www.mioutdoorwriters.org/
[email protected]
Missouri Outdoor Communicators - www.mosportsmen.com/moc.htm
Joel Vance
573-782-4490 [email protected]
Outdoor Writers of Ohio – http://www.outdoorwritersofohio.com/
6021 Gilead Road
Fredricktown, OH 43019
Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Assoc. – http://www.paoutdoorwriters.com/
P. O. Box 189
Cooperstown, PA 16137
Hopefully some of this has helped, it was not meant to discourage you but give you food for thought. If you have any further questions you can email me at [email protected]. Take care and good luck.
<font color=red></font id=red>
denvas
Yes, the life of an outdoor writer can be “glamorous”! But it can also be very, very, very hard work and require efforts that many are not willing to put into the venture. As a little back ground for the last 23 years I have been a freelance writer, magazine editor, newsletter editor, contributing editor, newspaper columnist, web site editor, web site contributing writer and a TV show host. That said it has been a wonderful, though not a financially rewarding ride and I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.
The first thing that you must ask yourself is why do I want to be a writer? Is it because I want to see my name in print so that I can gloat about the public attention I will get? Is it because I want others to consider me an expert and therefore I can be the center of attention? Is it because I will get tons of free stuff and get invited on world class hunting or fishing trips? Or is it because I will get paid for doing what I love best? Let’s look at each of these questions in turn.
Is it because I want to see my name in print so that I can gloat about the public attention I will get? Public attention can be a good thing or it can be a very bad thing. Are you willing to put the effort into the research that is needed to correctly write an article? For example, you can’t just look in the reloading manuals and take what they say as set in stone. They are simply a beginning point. I normally shoot a new rifle or bullet/powder load many times before I am ready to write about it, often in excess of 1500 times. For example a new rifle may require several hundred rounds from up to 10 different ammo manufacturers through it before I feel confident that I can write an honest evaluation of the firearm in question. If I am working with a new powder/bullet combination it may take several hundred rounds through several different firearms before I am comfortable describing its performance capabilities. It is only after having conducted the proper research that I feel confident that what I am writing is correct data that can be used by my readers and that I am not printing something that won’t shoot accurately or worse yet get someone killed or hurt. And who pays for all of this ammo and range time you might ask, well usually this is considered part of the pay you will receive from a magazine. Starting pay is usually in the $50-100 range per article or as in most cases for beginners you “donate” your work to the publication for free, just to get started. Each article of this type usually costs me in the neighborhood of $250-300 to research. And this is before I have even left for the hunting trip.
Is it because I want others to consider me an expert and therefore I can be the center of attention? Being considered an expert in the shooting and hunting fields can be even more dangerous than just simply seeking public attention. If you don’t do your research and get hands on experience then you could publish bad data and get someone hurt. Even after all of this time I still do not consider myself an expert and do not present myself as one to my readers or viewers. One person can not know every aspect of the shooting or hunting sports. Therefore, I have assembled a team of “experts” that helps me in my writing or TV efforts. Among others these include a ballistician, shotgun smith, pistol smith, rifle smith, several professional hunting and fishing guides, wildlife biologists, a metallurgist, a machinist, an optics expert and several from within the competitive shooting arena. When I need a question answered about a topic that I have not personally participated in then I go to my “advisory” board for the proper answer. This allows me to write intelligently about a variety of subjects without running the risk of publishing faulty data that once again could get someone hurt. And in this time of “let’s sue everyone” attitude this is an important consideration.
Is it because I will get tons of free stuff and get invited on world class hunting or fishing trips? Now I will not mislead you. I do get to shoot and hunt with some of the newest and best equipment available today. However, almost none of it, except consumables, is free. With consumables being such things as gunpowder, bullets, scents, etc.. Every firearm, riflescope, binoculars, dog training collar, clothes and in some cases boots sent to me for review or evaluation must be returned after the project they were loaned to me for is completed. One thing that makes companies wary of new writers is that unfortunately like in other endeavors in life the writing business has, for lack of a better description, what I call a bunch of whores. Companies have been burned time and time again by someone calling up and asking to review products that they promise to return after the project is completed. It takes time to build a relationship with editors just as it does with company marketing representatives. You have to establish your validity and you don’t do this by not returning products that you are loaned to write about. So outside of consumables, I have had to purchase most of the items I wanted to keep once an assignment is completed. And free hunting trips, ha, ha! I can count the number of really free trips that I have received in the last 20 years on both of my hands and have several fingers left over. Sure, some of the more famous of our brethren do get free trips but these guys are often very low paid “staff” writers in which their employer helps cover the costs of these adventures. But remember the old adage, you can’t eat them horns. You will have to decide for yourself if free trips are worth the pay you will lose because of trading hunting trips for dollars. My last “free” trip was back in October. It was an elk hunt in Idaho. And yes the hunting part was free. But the hunting license was $101.50 and the elk tag was $332.50. My cost of getting to Idaho and home again was $747.26 with a 1998.6 mile 62 hour round trip drive. (The airfare would have cost me a lot more as I was invited on this hunt less than 3 weeks beforehand.) My taxidermy bill to have the 7x7 bull mounted will be approximately $500.00 and meat processing will run me around $185.00. So my “free” hunt only cost me $1,866.26. I will be able to publish 3 articles from this effort and may make up to $1,400.00. So as you can see this is a very lucrative business to be in.
Or is it because I will get paid for doing what I love best? As I jest mentioned, this is not a very high paying job. I supplement my writing with my TV show hosting and I was able to make around $42,000.00 last year. No it is not begging, but I wrote 60 feature articles that appeared in 36 different countries, filmed 36 TV segments, finally sold my 5th book and wrote 127 newspaper columns or minor articles to achieve this lofty financial reward. That works out to approximately $8.00 an hour for the hours actually invested in my literary efforts, or what a clerk at McDonalds here my area makes. This is a job we do because we love it and not because we are going to get rich quick. Or if you are like me you hate wearing a suit and tie. After all where else can I wear blue jeans, cowboy shirts and hiking boots around as my everyday work clothes?
NOW HOW DO I BEGIN WRITING?
Before you decide what kind of writing you want to do take a minute and look at the activities that you enjoy participating in. Do you like whitetail hunting or offshore fishing or duck hunting or bass fishing or competitive shooting? Once you have decided what you like doing then seek out those publications or web sites that deal with these topics. Read as many back issues or articles that these publications or web sites that you can. Doing this allows you to determine what kind of articles they are interested in. After all you would not want to send a fly fishing article to Blackpowder Hunting or an article on working up a whitetail load to Offshore Fisherman. They do not publish these kinds of articles do and their readers are probably not interested in them. Do these publications publish entertaining hunting stories like Sporting Tales or are they more technically oriented like Precision Shooting who wants to know the minutest detail about working up an accurate load? Do they want how to articles, where to go articles, what to do articles, wildlife biology articles, hunting techniques articles, etc? While you are doing this research take the time to find out who the editors are. Write them and request a copy of their writer submission guidelines. Find out if they want articles submitted via electronic means or via hard copy. Or do they simply want inquiries that spell out the scope of the article without you submitting the completed work? What about photos? How long do they like their articles to be and in what program format? How long before publication do you have to submit your article for consideration? Do you have to have professional press credentials to submit to them or will they accept work from freelancers?
A good web page to look into is the Outdoor Writers Web Page at www.outdoorwriter.com
Take the time to investigate the various writing organizations. Many of these have programs to help beginning writers. Some of these are:
Rocky Mountain Outdoor Writers and Photographers - rmowp.org
300 West Straford Drive
Chandler, Arizona 85225-7117
Outdoor Writers of America – owaa.org
121 Hickory St, Suite 1
Missoula, MT 59801
Phone - 406-728-7434
Fax - 406-728-7445
Texas Outdoor Writers Assoc. – towa.org
7503 Bayswater
Amarillo, TX 76119
806-+345-3280
Southeastern Outdoor Press Assoc. – seopa.org
[email protected]
Outdoor Writers of Canada - http://www.inside-outdoors.com/
P.O. Box 20008,
Pioneer Park Postal Outlet,
KITCHENER, Ontario.
N2P 2B4
Florida Outdoor Writers Assoc. – fowa.org
411 NE 18th Ave.
Ocala, FL 34470
New England Outdoor Writers
40 Shelburne Road
Merrimack, NH 03054
New York State Outdoor Writers Assoc.
321 Robertson Road
Sherrill, NY 13461
Assoc. of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers - http://www.greatlakeswriters.org
P.O. Box 35
Benld, IL 62099
Michigan Outdoor Writers Assoc. - http://www.mioutdoorwriters.org/
[email protected]
Missouri Outdoor Communicators - www.mosportsmen.com/moc.htm
Joel Vance
573-782-4490 [email protected]
Outdoor Writers of Ohio – http://www.outdoorwritersofohio.com/
6021 Gilead Road
Fredricktown, OH 43019
Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Assoc. – http://www.paoutdoorwriters.com/
P. O. Box 189
Cooperstown, PA 16137
Hopefully some of this has helped, it was not meant to discourage you but give you food for thought. If you have any further questions you can email me at [email protected]. Take care and good luck.
<font color=red></font id=red>
denvas
