Tips for Recognizing Great Article Ideas

by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen @ Quips and Tips

These ten tips for recognizing great article ideas will help you focus your pitches and land more assignments, fellow scribes! Especially if you’re into magazine writing…

Before the tips, here’s a quip from this fantastic book about magazine writing:

“Editors frequently complain that freelance writers don’t study their publications before they submit unsolicited ideas and manuscripts,” write Sumner and Miller in Feature and Magazine Writing. “Experienced freelance writers pick a magazine or group of magazines they want to write for before they decide on a story idea. That’s because the best source of ideas will come from seeing the types of articles those particular periodicals publish.”

This great writing advice is from Feature and Magazine Writing: Action, Angle, and Anecdotes by David Sumner and Holly Miller (click on the cover for more info). And, this book is the source of these tips for spotting great article ideas.

10 Tips for Recognizing Great Article Ideas

You don’t need to answer “yes” to every one of these ten tips – just the majority of them.

1. A great article idea is new and original

To be great, your article idea has to be so new and original, you can’t find any books written on it. (A tall order!)

2. A great article idea is appealing

“Is your topic of broad interest to the narrow group who read the particular magazine for whom you are interested in writing?” ask Sumner and Miller in Feature and Magazine Writing. “Or will it just appeal to a narrow group within this narrow group?” To be a great article idea, it has to be broad enough to appeal to the magazine readers – and yet specific enough to be different.

3. A great article idea covers basic life issues

Love, money, health, careers, death, sickness, etc are basic life issues that all readers are interested in.

4. A great article idea has a strong theme

Your central idea or focus needs to be strong and clear.

5. A great article idea includes an action verb

If you can state your angle in one sentence using an action verb, then you’re more likely to land an assignment.

6. A great article idea offers intelligent insight

“Does your angle allow you to offer intelligent insight, as opposed to saying something that’s obvious, common sense or that readers have already read about many times?” ask Sumner and Miller in Feature and Magazine Writing.

7. A great article idea includes drama

Even nonfiction magazine articles need elements of conflict and drama to attract and sustain readers.

8. A great article idea tells stories

Readers love anecdotes because they illustrate ideas, facts, and statistics in a colorful, engaging way. If your article idea won’t be supported by human interest stories, it may not be assigned by an editor.

9. A great article idea contradicts assumptions

If your theme questions what most people think or assume, then you’re on the right track. “The best articles call into question the conventional wisdom about a subject,” write Sumner and Miller in Feature and Magazine Writing.

10. A great article idea is open to sources

If you don’t have the expert sources you’ll need to write this article, then it’s not the best idea. The best sources should be participants, keen observers, or experts on the topic.

If you have other tips for recognizing great article or book ideas, please share! I welcome your questions, too…