SiteYou Ask, We Answer: How do I take my clips into the Internet age?
Caroline asks: Hello! I am new to this whole freelancing thing-a-ma-jig (yes, that it is a made up word), and I have a question about electronic clips. Now, being the good little renegade writer that I am, I have been working on putting together queries that I would like to email. I have several that are pretty much ready to go, but one problem: I am not sure what the best way is to go about attaching my clips.
I recently left a full time career as a newspaper reporter, and I have clips coming out my ears. But they are all hard copy clips that I have saved. How do you recommend that I take these clips from the stone age to the age of the Internet?
Should I scan them? Get the electronic versions from the news organization I worked for (if that is even a possibility)?
I recently had a bunch of my clips scanned and converted to PDF, and this seems like the typical way to send attractive clips. However, the clips are also large and take a long time to e-mail, so you may want to do what I didn’t do, which is to investigate ways to create smaller PDF files. Wikipedia has a nice article on PDF format with links to PDF creation software if you need it. Another option is to put the text or the published versions of your clips on your website and include links in your queries. You can see how my web design guru did it for me here.
When it comes to deciding which format to send editors, don’t guess — ask! When I e-mail a query, I don’t attach any clips, but let the editor know they are available if she’d like to see them. If the editor does ask for them, she’ll often specify how she would like them: attached, as links, pasted into the body of the e-mail, faxed, mailed, or read to her over the phone. (Okay, I made up that last one.) If she doesn’t specify, you can ask (in your original query or in response to her request for clips), or just send whatever format you have that makes sense in that situation. For example, if you have only scanned copies, send them. If you have only the Word file, send that. And if you have different options, go with your gut.
I’ve heard a couple of editors say they don’t like to be told to click on links to see clips because you’re making them do the work. Now, I don’t consider mousing over a link and clicking to be “work,” but perhaps some editors have weak wrists and fingers. Also, “a couple” does not an entire industry opinion make.
In any case, what I do is send whatever is the most attractive and easiest at the time. Some clips of mine are available only online, so if that’s the best clip at the time, I send the link. Many of my “biggest” (meaning national) clips I now have in PDF format. And if I need to send something that’s available neither online nor in PDF, I paste the text of the article into the body of the e-mail.
Many writers ask whether they should, in that case, paste in the text as they turned it in or the edited version that appeared in the magazine. Occasionally I’ll have the published text available in Word format, and if so I paste that in. But most of the time I don’t, so I send in the text as I originally wrote it and say something like, “This is the version of the article as I turned it in, so you can see what my unedited writing is like!” Editors so far have liked this, as it assures them that you’re not one of the many crappy writers who survive on edited clips.
How do you send your electronic clips? Please post it in the comments!
Got a question for the Renegade Writers? Send it to us at questions [at] therenegadewriter [dot] com. [lf]
5 Responses to “You Ask, We Answer: How do I take my clips into the Internet age?”
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Hailey-C
Said this on July 20th, 2007 at 8:44am:Great advice. If you don’t have PDF converter software, and your scanned clips are under 2MB, you can upload the file to this website:
https://www.pdfonline.com/convert_pdf.asp
and they’ll send you a PDF of the file for free! It usually takes a few minutes. Did I mention it’s free?
Karen
Said this on July 20th, 2007 at 9:47am:Thanks for posting this topic, as it’s one that does seem to rely on editors’ whims. I am really surprised to hear that some editors think clicking on a link is “work.” I do understand that some people don’t like pdf files, especially when they appear as regular links and then, upon clicking, take time opening up in Adobe software and downloading. I provide clips at the end of my query with both options: I list the article title, followed by a link that says “read online as text only” (which links to the text version I’ve uploaded to my website) and a link that says “or download tearsheet (pdf 56 kb).” I provide the file size so they can gauge how long it will take to open.
To keep those pdf files compact, especially with long features, I scan only the first page of the story and run the rest as text only.
I do worry about putting the links into my queries, since so much email filtering software these days considers email with more than a link or two to be spam. I’m never sure whether those ever-silent editors just didn’t like my query or if it never reached their inbox. I like the idea of not including the links, but instead asking the editor if he/she wants to see them and, if so, what format he/she prefers. But if clicking on a ready link is “work,” wouldn’t some consider having to respond with a request for clips, in a certain format, even more work? So many editors say that good clips can be the factor that turns a “maybe” into a “yes,” I’d hate to make them “work” for it.
Hope others will chime in here. Thanks again for a great topic!
Denene Brox
Said this on July 20th, 2007 at 10:43am:I found that linking editors back to my website “bylines” section has worked pretty well. I think if the query is good, and they want to use your idea, clips are just added insurance and the format isn’t that important (so long as it’s easy and I think if an editor is too busy to click on a link that’ crazy!)
Justin
Said this on July 20th, 2007 at 2:19pm:One comment and one question for the renegades out there…
I’m a mild-mannered IT guy by day, one who’s fielded about 3.74 million questions about emails not going/coming through according to plan, etc. Couple things to keep before you think about sending clips as attachments willy-nilly.
First, remember that most servers have limits on the size of any email messages they’ll accept. The numbers vary, but, unless you’re told specifically otherwise, it’s probably best to assume the total size should stay under 5MB or so. Some might be as low as 2MB. Point is that your message might bounce (or, worse yet, get deleted without a word) if it exceeds the lowest limit on the sending or receiving server.
Along those same lines… Files attached to email messages are encoded before they’re sent as an attachment. During that process, those attachments tend to balloon in size, so a file that’s only 1.5 MB in size on your local hard drive might actually push the message size over the limit when it’s encoded.
Finally, in this Golden Age o’ the Internet, many users and administrators are so afraid of viruses that they strip attachments automatically.
Soooooo… while I’m far from an expert on the freelance/editor side of things, from an IT point of view I’d have to echo Linda’s thoughts: if you don’t know for sure, ask. It’s frustrating enough not hearing from an editor about your query simply because she hasn’t gotten to it, so why risk the chance that it might not get to them TO reject?
Ok, enough of my IT preachary. Time for Justin’s Question.
How do you all handle your online clips? Do you keep a copy of them on your own website? Do you just link to the online version on the publication’s website? Some combination of both?
My original thought was to keep an excerpt of the piece on my site with a link to the original, but then you have to worry about maintaining those links, etc.
LindaFormichelli
Said this on July 22nd, 2007 at 12:10pm:Thanks for all your comments and advice!
Justin, if the article is available online I typically link to the magazine’s version because I’m too lazy to put it online myself. I do go thrhough and update my links every once in awhile, though probably not often enough!