Our WWN July speaker was Suzanne Imrie, Editor of LivingEtc magazine.

Suzanne kick-started her magazine career in Nat Mag’s PR department before heading off down under to Sydney, that most stylish of cities, to work for Australian Elle and Vogue Entertaining. On her return to London she freelanced for The Guardian and Maxim before becoming Deputy Editor of Real Homes magazine. Within just twelve months Suzanne had made it to the position of Editor.

In 2000 she jumped ship to IPC’s Livingetc, becoming editor in February 2002, and has seen the magazine fly up the ratings to become ‘Britain’s best-selling modern homes magazine’, scooping up awards along the way.

Suzanne has also earned her ‘multi-media/multi-tasking’ spurs with her 2005 fifteen-part television series on design, called Livingetc, and draws world wide audiences with her www.livingetc.com website.

Suzanne’s talk covered, opportunities for freelancers at Livingetc, the dos and don't of getting a commission and much more.

Suzanne Imrie Talk – 9th July 2007

Twenty top tips for getting ahead as a freelancer…

Suzanne Imrie, Editor of Livingetc magazine gave a great speech to Women Writers’ members on Monday 9th July and gave a definitive guide to the vexed question of what editors really want from freelancers. Helen Pearse reports.

Suzanne Imrie is a cuts a tall, striking figure with a long mane of dark hair and skin that positively glows. Feeling a little less fabulous after weeks of no sun and torrential rain I ask the secret of her radiant good looks – it turns out that nature had been aided and abetted by two weeks in the capable hands of therapists at Thailand’s most fabulous spa destination – Chiva Som.

Livingetc is a kind of Chiva Som for the home, a glossy interiors magazine that is now selling an impressive 95,000 copies per month. Suzanne has been editor for over six years and, with her team of twenty staff aims to deliver a “most beautiful, most useful home magazine.” Before she came to give her talk to WWN Suzanne sat down with her team and asked them for their advice to freelancers hoping to write for the magazine. Suzanne explains, “good freelancers are invaluable – we need people out there doing the stuff that we can’t because we’re in an office.”

They came up with twenty top tips which are as follows:

1. Knowing the market and the magazine is vital. Livingetc’s style is informal, unstuffy and friendly. Look for regular articles and how the magazine is structured – where in the magazine an article will fit. Look out for ‘slugs’ – little signposts that take you through the magazine, “we talk in ‘slug’ language,” says Suzanne.

2. Who are the magazine’s readers? . Most of Livingetc’s readers are in the 30 to 40 something age bracket, and are split 75:25 female to male. They tend to be urban and affluent, 70% of them are married and 78% fall in the ABC1 category. “We need to constantly inspire our readers…”, Suzanne explains, “think about their cultural references, where they would take a holiday, what car they would drive. Speak their language. Inspire them.”

3. Avoid pitching ideas for features that have gone before. Do a bit of investigative work. Buy the magazine for a couple of issues.

4. When pitching it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the name on the mastheads. “It’s nice to have a personal pitch, be specific, name a name…”

5. Pitch by email with a brief paragraph. “Tell us about the house, what is its’ USP? Who are the owners? We feature four houses per issue. Follow up the email with a phone call a couple of days later”, advises Suzanne.

6. Be on the ball about current affairs/ TV/culture/ecological issues. How can you make these ideas relevant to the magazine?

7. Always suggest a header. Outline details of interviews and quotes, plus an overall feel of the feature. A word of warning – do not overpromise!

8. Once you have a commission in the bag follow the brief to the letter, giving clear indications of ‘captions’ and ‘pull quotes’. Always ask for a really clear brief and seek clarification if necessary.

9. Always deliver neat copy! Your name should feature prominently. Make sure your copy is the required length. Font should be clear, copy double spaced with no indents. A word document is fine. Look at house style for credits/pricing etc.

10. If you are struggling with a feature call up and ask for guidance. A good commissioning editor will give advice – don’t suffer in silence!!

11. Do your stuff – make it exciting, informative and easy to read.

12. Always be pleasant to deal with and flexible enough to change copy. Be prepared for a bit of ‘give and take’.

13. Accuracy is vital. Nothing worse than late copy with its’ facts wrong.

14. Deadlines. At Livingetc they are short and fast – even though it’s a monthly magazine. “We rely on freelancers to be accurate. It’s our reputation on the line. If you’re running late - tell us. Always phone a couple of days before the deadline. Don’t use feeble excuses, just let us know…” says Suzanne.

15. It is ok to submit the same story for another publication – but make it different.

16. When pitching make sure that you get the title of the magazine right. Make each pitch unique each time you send it.

17. After you have sent copy it’s a good idea to email and check that it arrived. Ask for feedback – is copy ok? Let the editor know that you would love to do more work for them.

18. Suzanne explains that some of their most used freelancers keep in regular touch with the Livingetc team, - send postcards/Christmas cards – keep that dialogue between editor and freelancer flowing.

19. Be open to learning. Keep abreast of new ideas. “Pop in and buy us coffee – come and find out if we have new ideas that a freelancer could develop,” suggests Suzanne. Keep up with seasonal trends, look out for people behind the news stories – look at their lifestyle.

20. And last, but certainly not least – always be nice to our PA! It’s so good to be surrounded by people who are easy to work with.