Expert: Cathy Clamp - 3/29/2009

Question
Hello Cathy, hope all is well with you. I am writing into ask you if you have any advice on how to become an "ask the expert" type of columnist. The idea struck me when I was 17 and I used to read Seventeen Magazine (girls used to write in with teenage questions), but I had forgotten about it until I saw the movie called Dan In Real Life.
I can tell you a bit about me. Growing up, my parents never pushed me in school, nor did they have me read any books (for pleasure). Unfortunately I grew up on TV. However, I feel that I have a big voice and that I am meant for something big, and I think writing is it. I have my AA degree in Liberal Arts and plan to go back to school, but really don't know where to begin with writing. Also, I must admit that I'm afraid to be wasting my time (if I'm not a good writer). I wonder if there is any way to have your writing critiqued...

Well, thanks for your time and I hope you can help.

Sincerely,
-Margo

Answer
Hi, Margo!

Sorry for the delay in responding, but my ISP has been down for a few days. Columnists are a unique breed in newspapers and magazines. It used to be that it was "filler"---something fluffy to fill a page because there was no advertising purchased. But then it started to become more entertaining and people started to buy the newspaper/mag just FOR the columns. It surged for a while and then faded again. Right now, blogs have taken the place of a lot of columns. There are still paid gigs out there, but there's pretty fierce competition for the slots. You need to set yourself apart in order to make an impression and the nice part is that it's pretty much free! Wander over to Blogger.com or Livejournal.com and sign up for a blog. Pick a subject and start talking. At first, you'll be talking to an empty room, but after a few weeks, people will drop by (because it'll take a few weeks for the search engine spiderbots to find your posts). Offer the advice you'd offer in a magazine. Make sure you end the blogs with some variation of "So, what do YOU think?" In other words, invite conversation and dissent. Defend your views and if people feel your advice is good, they'll start to follow you. I'd recommend specializing in what you hope to have a column about. You mention Seventeen. So, talk about topics that would suit that magazine. Once you gather a following, it'll build by itself. THAT'S when there's the opportunity to send in a query, asking if you can sell, and you can reference the number of hits you get and the number of followers. It takes time to build an audience, but it can be done.

The only other way is to query the magazines for filler slots or articles. Many magazines use in-house staff for everything except fillers (recipes, lists, quizzes in little boxes, etc.) If you sell enough of them, you might get assigned an article, and can move up from there. Both are slow, but IMO, blogging is probably the quicker path, because it starts you out in the right FIELD of writing.

Hope that helps, and good luck!

Cathy