 |
|||
|
|
|||
|
GUEST PROFILE An Interview with Lisa Collier Cool
Lisa Collier Cool spent several years working as a literary agent. But after giving birth to twin girls in 1982, she wanted to find a career that would allow her the flexibility to work from home. Freelance writing would allow her the flexibility she wanted, so she gave it a try. Collier Cool is now the author of over 400 articles in national magazines such as Good Housekeeping, Reader’s Digest, Parenting, Woman’s Day and Family Circle. She is well known for her two Writer’s Digest books – “How to Write Irresistible Query Letters” and “How to Sell Every Magazine Article You Write.” She has also written “How to Give Good Phone: Telephone Techniques to Increase your Power, Profits and Performance;” “Bad Boys: Why We Love Them, How to Live with Them, and When to Leave Them.” She is the also the co-author of “Beware the Night: A New York City Cop Investigates the Supernatural.” She lives near New York City with her family. LCC: I sold my first article to North American Newspaper Alliance, a features syndicate, while I was still in college. It was an election year, and the Libertarians had developed a campaign for a candidate named “Nobody.” I was assigned to write 500 words about it for $35, and I spent hours on it. When I gave it to the editor, I expected him to go through the story word by word with me. But instead, he asked if I had spelled the town Parsippany in the story correctly, and my first story was accepted. After writing about five stories for $35 each, I thought that maybe, just maybe, there was someone out there who paid more than $35. Then I found a place that paid $350 for my writing. Now, I typically get $2 to $3 a word and have made fees as high as $12,000 for an article. MWLM: Do editors contact you about stories or do you still write queries? LCC: I found that writing your own query letters allows you to focus on projects that you want to write about. Right now, I am very interested in writing true-life dramas. MWLM: How do you find your stories? LCC: I have developed a writer’s query e-mail list of about 400 names. These names include publicists, children’s hospitals and contacts all over the country. So when I am asked to write a story about medical breakthroughs, I send out an e-mail to my contact list asking people to send me stories they have heard about medical breakthroughs. I am also registered at profnet.com, which is a free service for journalists. You can register as a freelancer, and the site gives you the ability to query lots of different people for expert resources for stories. Sometimes, I imagine a scenario in my mind that I would like to write about, and then I research it on the Internet. One time, I did a search on long-lost relatives and found information about a woman who was adopted at the age of 40, twenty-five years after the first adoption was supposed to take place. I also brainstorm ideas with two writing friends who I met through the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) at asja.org. We talk about once a week about the stories we are working on. One friend writes about health-related articles and another writes dramatic stories, but they are not health-related. MWLM: Do you consider yourself an introvert or extrovert? LCC: I am an extroverted person who likes to hear people’s stories. My two favorite things are coming up with the story idea and finding a place for it in a publication, and then calling the people for the interview. MWLM: What writing tips do you have for mom writers? (Collier Cool’s twins are now 24 years old and her youngest is 18). LCC: In the old days, I used to try to schedule interviews during their naptime. I would also hire part-time help. But at an early age, I taught my children to not bother me on the phone unless completely necessary. I told them that I would always say no to their requests while I was on the phone, but that I might say yes when I got off the phone. It took them a long time to learn this. And I found that you need to be flexible, because kids wake up sick and can’t go to school. So you need to plan extra time to get things done. MWLM: What type of writing schedule do you have? LCC: I start work at 9 a.m. each day in my third-floor office, and I work about 40 hours a week. I prefer to work normal hours. While the children were younger, I was able to write a lot while they were at school, but I stopped when they came home for the day. MWLM: Do you have any new projects you are working on? LCC: I would like to approach my old publisher – Writer’s Digest – about working on an updated query book. MWLM: I read your book about selling every magazine article that you write. Do you sell every article? LCC: Yes, I sell every article, because I always write the query first. MWLM: Do you meet with the people that you write about or is most of the research done over the phone? LCC: I do about 80 percent of my research over the phone. But there are times where I feel that I need to be there to feel the story. For example, I did a story about a family raising 22 children on little money, and I felt that I had to see the house and meet the people to tell their story. MWLM: Do you think it is challenging to break into the magazine market? LCC: It has always been challenging to break into the market. But as I used to tell my writing students, it is not a lottery, and talent does count. Some of my students succeeded at breaking into the market the first time out with a good idea. You need to approach editors with local stories that can be made into national ones. MWLM: Do you see yourself retiring? Kathy Schlaeger lives in Liberty Township, OH with her husband and three daughters. She has been published in "The Cincinnati Enquirer", "CIN Weekly", and the "Pulse Journal."
|
|||
|
