ARTICLE WRITING - PART 14

Personality Profile - Although some magazines are technically or how-to oriented, stories of people are at the heart of many others. People like to read about people—people they can identify with and people they can admire, empathize with, or be inspired by. Often we are looking for answers to our own problems by reading about how others have dealt with and overcome similar obstacles. Don’t try to cover their entire life; zero in on their achievements or philosophy and fill in background at the end. When you start this piece, put a small sign within sight that indicates why you are writing this article for this particular publication and look at it regularly as a reminder to keep that focus. 

For example, I once wrote a profile on a married-with-children, Christian woman singer who had written a book on fitness. When selecting a potential market, I could have focused on her singing (for a music magazine), juggling career & family (for a

women’s magazine), her fitness philosophy or how-to (for a fitness magazine), her Christian testimony (for a Christian magazine),etc. Although this subject offered a number of different slants, when I picked a market I had to keep my emphasis on the appropriate slant for that publication. In other words, I would not write the same
article for each of these different publications. But I could have written a different article for each one, emphasizing a different aspect of her life in each version.

Examples: A celebrity profile that focuses on their childhood, early years, or tough times (rather than a profile of current fame); stories of everyday people doing extraordinary things or making a difference in the lives of others; a behind-the-scenes look at the Christian life and experience of a secular celebrity; profile on an unusual aspect in the life of an historical figure.