55. How to sell stories and photographs to newspapers and magazines.

There has never been so much need for journalism... and so little desire to pay for it.

But there is a lot to admire in the Samuel Johnson school: "No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money."

There are, of course, plenty of blockheads. And to be fair you do need the experience to be a journalist - not a blockhead.

But let's face we are not writing for charity... and even if you are writing for charity, you'd like to get paid, right?

The prospect of actually earning money for what we write is what makes us professional journalists... unlike amateur or citizen journalists.

(Which strictly speaking isn't correct if you are British. We are subjects - but I think the idea of having subject journalists would only confuse matters - so let's stick with citizen.)

So to the point. Can you make money in this game while studying?

The simple answer is: Yes, you can. And should you be doing it? Yes, you should. And will you make a fortune doing it? Er, no.

If you've read these posts from the beginning - read lots of different papers, read the local newspaper, make contacts etc etc - and future ones this is what it is all about.

That is unless you have private means and want to be a journalist as a hobby - then please skip a few posts, there is nothing to see here.

For the rest of you this is what you do.

First off a question: What is the media? This isn't some bullshit philosophical question.

The correct answer is: Information, written/filmed/recorded/photographed and packaged for certain target audiences.

They generally fall into four categories: Geography, socio-economic, consumer or interest.

It is the wonder of our pluralistic media that everyone - or, at least, nearly everyone - is catered for. (Alas Hermit Monthly folded on account of the distribution costs.)

What does all this mean? Simply put having the right information (story) to yourself (exclusively) and packaging it (writing) to the right target (media organisation) means you may - just may - get paid for it (there are never any guarantees).

Note, no one is asking for your opinion (that probably isn't worth anything - at least not yet).

For now the basics:

1. Get a story: They come from all over the place - check the rest of this blog on how to do this.

2. Make sure it has not already been written: Go on the internet and search the mainstream media. Not just the paper you want to sell to but all of them.

3. Write the story: Unless you are already an established freelance you are highly unlikely to be paid on spec for an idea or concept. Otherwise known as "being put on an order".

4. Double check everything: Make sure your story is watertight. Muck it up now and you could be wasting a lot of people's time - not a good thing for them... or you.

5. Get a friend to read it: (Optional) Find someone who is willing to pull your work apart. Listen to their questions. If they can find holes in your work - you can be sure so will a professional news editor.

6. Try to get a package together: If there are photos/words to be had, make sure you've got them.

7. Think where you are going to place it: Decide where this particular story would best fit (this will change from story to story) and, importantly, who will pay.

8. Pitch: Generally speaking a cold call should go to a news/picture desk. If you live in the provinces find out who the area man is, especially if you are planning to make a go of this and continue to produce future stories.

9. Get the timing right: There is little point trying to sell something (unless it is huge and immediate) after news conference.

10. Hope and learn: If you've got a surefire winner you will probably know straight away. Don't get disheartened if it is rejected...

Future posts will go into more detail on some of these. In the meantime if you think you have a story drop me a line: journalismtips@hotmail.co.uk - if I can I'll make suggestions for UK papers.

Good luck.

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27. Carry a camera with you, even if it's just on your mobile and remember to take pix. Photographers can't be everywhere.

Sadly, as I've stated before on this blog, local newspaper photographers are an increasingly rare breed.

Given the fact newspapers rely on content - namely words and pictures - to fill in the gaps between the adverts you would have hoped that photographers would have been kept on.

Naturally that is asking a little too much - which is a shame because a really good photographer can make all the difference. So too can a really bad one.

I once watched a photographer at an awards ceremony half lift up his camera a dozen times and never take a shot.

When the proceedings were over he shouted: "All together now." Like sheep they all got together for the great group shot. That evening he took a single picture.

The following day I was sent it in all its blurred glory - looking like a slightly hazy portrait of the Adamms Family...only without the charm.

(We never used that photographer again under my editorship.)

At the same time we lost a great asset to the paper - one whose art and dedication made a difference to the pages.

Indeed I've seen and worked with many photographers on local newspaper I would gladly work with again.

But bit by bit we are losing them. This, in part, is due to the increasingly cheap technology becoming available. That, and the fact there is no need for a dark room any more.

(Reporters have never been trusted with dangerous chemicals - a fact that remains true today but is largely confined to the showbiz circuit. *feeble joke*)

Digital technology has certainly made it a lot  easier for any slob to pick up a camera and point it in the direction of an object or person who, in turn, is usually pointing at something themselves.

(This in part, but certainly not entirely, is why local papers believe they can do away with photographers - some are so bad or lazy that managers thought anyone could do what they do...the same, it must be said, of a lot of reporters.)

So the point: If you are a reporter carry a camera with you. The bigger, the better really. It helps too if you learn how to use it.

You never know what's going to happen and with locals to usually one - although quite often no - photographers it is essential you learn the skill.

I am a rotten photographer. I have no "eye"....or for that matter no steady hand either.

As can be demonstrated from one of my own efforts when a photographer was unavailable one Saturday morning.

The man in the picture was the Dean of Truro Cathedral, who had been the subject of a church investigation when he was accused of having an affair.

He denied any wrong doing and was allowed back to work. (Although than put on gardening leave). However despite being cleared rumours persisted that was indeed now living with the woman.

He was, and this shaky shot taken on a Canon D500 (I won't go into lenses it's too tedious but it was pretty basic) was proof enough to go to the church authorities.

The picture was used about the size here in the paper I was working for at the time. It got a slightly bigger show in the Daily Mail.

This is a rather extreme example but think because in theory we are always heading towards the story...or we are if we are doing our job right.

And with mobiles now packing half-decent cameras it's worth remembering to take them out if you are first at the scene.

A crap picture is better than no picture.

8. Use a newspaper’s in house library system. It can provide important background information to improve your story

The chances are when you start at a local newspaper - even if you've been very good and been reading it for weeks - you won't be from the area.

And even if you are it doesn't mean you will have a grasp of every planning application, political row or even change in the High Street.

This is why you should familiarise yourself with the in-house library. The system which - on theory at least - all the clippings and photographs are stored...well at least for the past decade or so.

Unfortunately in the rush to save space in the dawn of the computer age many newspapers threw out their clippings libraries - and newspapers have been suffering ever since.

But let's work with what we have. The in-house library helps with giving background which can improve your stories no end.

The obvious and most basic example is the on-going story, looking back gives you important background information.

It can also help with finding taking heads - see the previous blog on quotes - who can assist you.

If you are writing a backgrounder - rare on most locals in this age when a lot of editors seem to have a fear of stories that take more than 10 minutes to write up and are longer than 250 words - the information is invaluable.

It provides a first source.

As I warned you I would use examples of some of my old stories - not because they are particularly good - but easy to find.

Here you can see how using the newspaper's library helps fill in details and provides a starting off point for interviews with his family and friends.

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Self-man-thought-law/story-11415826-detail/story.html

Secondly libraries also include photographs which proved essential - see you took them, they may be able to help with your story.

Tomorrow: Making contacts - what to watch out for at meetings.

7. Photographs are very important. Always ask for them, don’t think your job is just words

Photographs (or "art" as it's called in America, at least from what I can figure out from The Wire - reporters call them smudges in the UK reflecting our differences and giving you some idea of how we value our colleagues with cameras) are as important than words.

And don't go believing that if you write 1,000 words you've painted a good enough picture - you haven't.

In theory every page lead should have a photograph to illustrate it - although this isn't always possible.

But don't make the mistake, as many reporters do, that your job is simply words.

These days your job includes everything - including securing the picture. Always ask for them.

Of course social media has helped a lot - the days of banging on lots of doors may not quite be over but it is very close. (This is not necessarily a good thing as we shall see at a later date.)

More importantly don't even take it for granted that your local newspaper even has a photographer any more...or at least one available.

For despite the fact that newspapers are made up of just two things words and pictures - the pictures side seems to being slowly forgotten. Many are working on eradicating the words side too.

Ah yes! but photographs still appear in newspapers. Indeed they do - usually taken by the readers themselves on cheap cameras, with red-eye and no composition, badly lit or slightly out of focus.

Most of the time these pictures are pointless - they get dumped under "community news" the catch-all phrase for putting in any old crap that people submit to the paper.

But once in a while that blurry shot taken half in the dark with the side of someone's head disappearing off the edge is...well, is gold dust.

It could be the perpetrator or the victim of a crime, the local lad who is now a star, the health guru with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth...the local MP on a protest march as a student.

And always be on the look out for potential pictures to use (oddly many local paper editors don't understand their importance but it is good to maintain an eye for these things).

Some years ago as editor of a local newspaper I was sorting through some boxes of old photographs one was a wonderful wide black and white shot of the local hunt meeting outside the town hotel with protesters and supporters.

A few weeks later the hunt announced it would be returning to a town for the first time in years - suddenly this historical photo taken 15 or 20 years before was the perfect illustration...a look back for older readers, a novelty for younger readers and a historical reference to others.

Tomorrow: Using the in-house library