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5 Tips for Article Source Success
By Renee Roberson
All your well-researched queries and perseverance have paid
off and you’ve now landed some of your first assignments.
Congratulations! Your next step is to find the appropriate
sources to help bolster your articles and give them substance.
Here are some ideas for how to find the best sources, the best
way to work with public relations agencies and how to ward off
any source disasters before they derail a promising assignment.
Where should you find your sources?
Profnet.com is a great resource to find
experts on any number
of subjects, as is Peter Shankman’s “Help a Reporter Out”
service. Search Amazon.com in your subject heading and see if
you can find any recently published non-fiction books whose
authors might make great experts. Keep contact information for
every source you interview (and make a note of a particularly
positive or negative experience) so you can contact these
subjects for any future articles where they could be a good fit.
You can also find specific experts and research for your related
topic by contacting the communications departments of places
such as the American Cancer Society or Autism Speaks.
Always double check quotes and obtain permission from article sources.
When you conduct an e-mail or phone interview, always double
check your source is okay with her personal information and
anecdotes going into print. Send your source any quotes you plan
to use from the interview for verification (not necessarily the
whole article) and keep all e-mail correspondence. Sources do
sometimes have a change of heart, later, and may tell your editor
they no longer wish to be quoted. You may need to have evidence
to back yourself up.
Work with public relations agencies wisely. PR reps can be great
to work with. They recognize when a client is a great fit for an
article topic and swiftly coordinate an interview time that
works for both parties. But there are instances where a rep
presents a great source for your article topic but then find out
their client is going to be out of the country for the next year.
If you counted on that expert to provide the bulk of research for
your interview, you’re out of luck. Which leads me to my next point . . .
Don’t wait until the last minute to find sources. Always find
two to three more sources than you’ll actually need for the
article. Once, I had planned to interview an obstetrician-
gynecologist for an article and she had to cancel at the last
minute. The public relations agency she worked with provided me
with another source, in a time zone three hours behind me. I
stayed up late the night before the article was due to interview
the source on the phone, only to find out she really didn’t think
my article topic had merit and refused to give me any pertinent
information. I hadn’t lined up enough sources to cover me after
that bomb of an interview and struggled to complete the piece
on time. I now know having more sources is better than having
none when it comes down to the wire.
Make sure your source is the right fit for your subject matter.
When a source contacts you, make sure they have the proper
expertise to act as an expert source and aren’t just promoting
their latest book, blog, or Web site. For example, a personal
trainer with an exercise blog may not be the best expert for an
article on children’s nutrition. I typically find experts who
will include facts, anecdotes and research in their initial
correspondence with you particularly promising. Over the years,
I’ve learned how to comb through “dud” sources and spot which
experts and anecdotal subjects will be the best fit for my
articles. In time, you will too.
BIO
Renee Roberson is an award-winning freelance writer whose work
appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and online publications.
Visit her website at
www.finishedpages.com.
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