Utilize and Other Useless Words

Back in the days when we fledgling journalists were struggling to write leads and master the inverted pyramid, one professor took on the role of spotting useless words in our copy. “Utilize” was one of his favorite words to underline heavily with a red pencil. If that word appeared in someone’s assigned story, we could all be sure of a lecture on precision in writing during the next class.

He contended that utilize had much less impact in a sentence than the word “use,” which essentially means the same thing. A simple word is always a better choice, he said. He implied that people who favor utilize were putting on airs. Partly because of his influence, I resolved never to use that offending word in a sentence (unless, of course, it’s in a direct quote that I can’t paraphrase or in an article like this).

Another influence helps me avoid the word — one of my favorite Winston Churchill quotes:

Short words are best and the old words when short are best of all.

The word “use” comes from Middle English so it’s definitely old. And short. Our use of the word “use” is a lot like our use of the word “said” when we attribute statements to a speaker. It doesn’t stand out in any way, it does its job and it doesn’t get in the way of our ability to communicate the point we are trying to get across. We take it for granted. And no one thinks we’re putting on airs when we use use.

Another word topping my list of useless words is “interesting,” which is rapidly becoming outdated due to overuse. Overuse has reduced interesting to a state of valueless jargon. I cringe when I read something being described as interesting. What exactly has the word come to mean? At one time it may have had some impact, but in today’s world, it can mean different things for every person who uses it, or it can have no meaning at all. As writers, we’re in the business of using our words to touch people, to convey emotion, to impart information, but we can’t do that with weak words like “interesting.” We must choose strong, concrete words to convey meaning and emotion.

Offhand, I can think of several more words that don’t fit the concrete word category but do fit the useless category. Empower is one. It may be the most overused word in the English language. My eyes glaze over when yet another speaker tells us that we must empower women to do this or that. A television commercial assures that their cleaning tool will empower you to enjoy more free time with your family. An academic essay explains that reading can empower you to overcome cultural conditions. We’re told that hypnosis empowers us so we can lead our lives in harmony with ourselves and others. A Feng Shu web site encourages you to empower your life with your house number. Another web site implores “give us a flat tax and empower our economy.” And the list goes on. Ad infinitum. Give me a concrete word any day.
Please leave a comment.

© 2007 by Laverne Daley

TAGS:
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useless words

Getting Published: How to Study A Magazine

When visiting WritersDigest.com recently, I happened across an article with some good advice on studying magazines. “Studying the Magazine Market,” was drawn from a Writer’s Digest workshop that focused on nonfiction magazine writing. This article, and others like it, should be a must-read before sending a query to a magazine, especially one you haven’t sold to before.

Studying a magazine can keep you from approaching a magazine that wouldn’t be right for your article idea. Most guidelines for writers suggest that you read the magazine before submitting. That alone would make a lot of editors happy — editors say they get far too many articles completely unsuited to their publications. Heed the editors’ mantra: “Read the magazine before submitting to us.”

Reading the magazine before submitting is a basic requirement, but that’s just the beginning. If you want to increase your chances of acceptance, go beyond the basics. Study the magazine in detail.

You can find out a lot about a magazine just by spending time at a newsstand. By looking at the cover, you can usually learn a publication’s topic, but you can find out much more by scanning the coverlines. According to the un-bylined Writer’s Digest article:

Look at the coverlines, those ‘teaser’ phrases that tell newsstand browsers what articles are inside. The publishers believe these articles would be the most appealing to their readers.”

Try to assess how your article’s teaser would appear on the cover and how it would appeal to readers of the publication.

The WD article also suggested that you read through each article, examine the advertising, and study the contents page. The contents page will not only clue you in to all the articles in the publication, it will also show you the various departments. I think you should explore the departments thoroughly because it’s usually easier to break into a new magazine by submitting to one of its departments. Check the masthead (no, it’s not the magazine’s cover page — it’s the page inside with staff names and editorial, advertising and publication information). The masthead will show who edits those departments so you can zero in on the one most appropriate for your article.

Read all the articles in at least three issues. That’s easy to do now that most magazines have an Internet presence. Does the publication use first person articles or are most written in third person? Does it use statistics to back up statements? Does it have a lot of how-to articles? Does it appeal to younger readers or the over-50 crowd? Ordinary people or highly affluent individuals?

The ads can also tell you a lot about who reads the magazine (the writer’s guidelines often do, too) but articles will help you determine what grade level articles are written to and how the articles are constructed.

Check out the quotes. See how many are used in each article and see who is being quoted. Are they university professors, business experts, working people? Check out the sidebars, too. Editors are very big on sidebars, and you want to be able to suggest the right kind of sidebars to accompany your article.

With all that information assembled, and if you have an idea that you think is right for the publication, you are in a good position to craft a query that will grab the editor’s interest.

But wait. One more thing to do before you sit down to write that query. Carefully read over the writer’s guidelines and follow them exactly. You can often find guidelines at the publication’s web site, or sometimes receive them by email from the publication. If the magazine wants queries sent by regular mail, send them that way. If e-mail queries are preferred, go that route. If the guidelines want queries directed to a specific editor, send them there. And make sure you get the editor’s name and title right.

If you follow this plan, you have a good shot at having your article accepted. You may still be rejected — it happens to all of us, for any number of reasons. Don’t give up. Hit the newsstand again and get ready to study and query another magazine.

Please leave a comment.

©2007 by Laverne Daley
TAGS:
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Contracts and the Magazine Writer — Part 2

Earlier, we presented a basic overview of some risks that writers should be aware of before signing contracts for periodical articles. This time, we tackle a few specifics.

Ideas for this post came from the website of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) and especially from their free writer’s resources section. The site reminded me that some phrases in publishers’ contracts may contain traps for writers. To find out more, I clicked on a link called What to Watch Out For. What appeared was a distinct learning lesson. Look at one example that deals with publishers’ contracts containing the phrase ” the nonexclusive right….“

…the nonexclusive right…. This may sound OK, but it often isn’t. Any right — Exclusive or Non-exclusive — must be paid for and must be paid for appropriately. You should receive at least 50% of the gross revenue or a fair percentage of the original fee for each usage that occurs as a result of the publisher’s sublicensing or reuse of your work. (The editor of an Australian magazine who loves your piece is going to call the U.S. publisher, who will make the deal; you’ll never know. And if you approach the Australian editor yourself, he may well ask for a month’s exclusivity in Australia; you won’t be able to provide it. Because your publisher in the US may be selling it to the Australian’s competitor, you lose the sale. In market terms, ‘nonexclusive’ wipes you out. Exclusive or non-exclusive, if the publisher wants the right, you ought to have separate compensation for that license.”)

Here’s another short segment from the Dangerous Clauses section:

…the right to publish, distribute and license others to publish and distribute the article in all its forms (or in any media)….” These words do not spell it out, but they mean you transfer electronic rights along with print rights.”

The “What to Watch Out For” section helps to shine a warning light on a dozen or more examples of wording that can trip you up if you aren’t alert. If you sign contracts containing those clauses, you may lose some rights or income you are entitled to receive.

Along with warnings, the ASJA authors offered two additions to the rights clause that writers can add to documents to make contracts more equitable. They suggest that, instead of First North American Serial Rights, you make contracts read, “First North American English Language Print Serial Rights.”

And also add this sentence: “All rights not expressly transferred herein are reserved by the author.”

In addition to reading the ASJA Contracts Watch newsletter that is sent to my inbox, I make regular stops at ASJA website to keep up with the latest developments in publishing, copyrights, and contracts and to learn how the developments could affect me as a freelance writer. It may pay you to do that, too.

Please leave a comment.
©2007 by Laverne Daley

TAGS:
contracts,
magazine writers,
writing,
freelancers,
publishers’ contracts,
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