Service features: How-to article

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Service features How-to article

• Chapter 13
• (Professional Feature Writing Bruce Garrison)

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What do they do?

• Articles other content help readers
• to make better decisions as consumers
• to take better care of themselves
• to improve relationships
• to make things and cope with realities of
  everyday life, and not matters of cataclysmic
  importance

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How do they help?

• Can change the way readers think/ act
• Alter the way they spend time/ money
• Influence style, eating habits, travel plans
• Improve relationships
• Diminish biases

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Forms of service articles

• The how-to article
• Listings
• Art-of-living
• Chronological case histories

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Listings

• Sports sections and sports-oriented magazines
  offer lists of records and interesting trivia as
  regular features for readers. Business and
  finance-oriented publications often run lists of
  top business, executives top salaries, real
  estate transactions, etc

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Art-of-living articles

• Teach us how to get more out of life
• Often inspirational articles
• Sometimes called self-help articles
• Include subjects as retirement, love, family
  relationships, making tough decisions

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Chronological case histories

• Teach us about something by looking at a
  particular example in depth.
• Readers are served by the lesson learned from the
  case history. These can include descriptions of
  purchasing a house, curing a medical problem, or
  resolving a conflict between neighbors

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How-to-article

• Explains how something is made, built, cooked,
  protected, purchased, or otherwise accomplished
  by an expert on the subject

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Basic approaches

• Writer-as-expert perspective
• Someone-else-as-expert perspective
• Writer as source or generator of informational
  graphics devices

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Choosing best subjects

• Easiest ways to break into print
• Subjects readers want to learn about
• Everyday how to live better subjects
• Personal health care, fashion, car and home
  repair and care, home and office decoration,
  gardening, food preparation, money and finance,
  shopping, arts, crafts

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Writing authoritatively

• Helps to have first-hand experience
• Helps to have great interest in subject
• Seeks experts for specific descriptions,
  subject-bound terminology, concrete examples,
  expert facts

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Ways to be instant experts

• Brainstorm for sources, Find mentor to help you
  find sources, Let one expert source lead to
  another, Be wary of self-serving experts, Use
  clip files, Ask editor for suggestions, Use trade
  and professional publications, Find a dissenting
  view, Use experts who are paid to study subjects,
  Use references, consult PR directories and public
  affairs coordinators

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Caution against

• Make certain you are not presenting opinions
  instead of facts. Multiple sources help filter
  out opinion
• Present the facts and instruction as yours, not
  someone elses. A number of interviews with
  different sources lead you to certain conclusions
  of your own and make this easier to do, you can
  become an authoritarian

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Tips for boxes

• Keep it simple - Give information, not literature
• Make it lively - Material should be inviting
• Graphics should be legible
• Display material prominently, dont bury it

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Tips for boxes

• Be accurate - Check facts. You cant afford to
  lose the readers trust
• Avoid giving the readers too much. Be selective
• Stick to one style.
• Coordinate with art department who produce the
  artwork

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Three distinct parts

• Lead First few paragraphs where you get readers
  interested and entertain them at the same time.
  This is the portion of the article where the
  stage is set. The introduction tells what the
  story accomplishes. It contains a paragraph that
  is a statement of purpose/ it helps the reader so
  he or she does not have to struggle with your
  article to figure out what will be gained from
  reading it.

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Three distinct parts

• Middle Start with decisions about the main
  points/purpose. What are you trying to do? How do
  you accomplish that? Step-by-step portion of your
  article follows. Take readers through the process
  to their goal. Detailed. Explain all steps.
  Assume they dont know certain basic points about
  process.

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Three distinct parts

• Ending Recapping. Some repetition is important
  here, on significant points. Conclusion can offer
  bit of final advice. Tips for trouble-shooting,
  setup, or maintenance.

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Best sources

• Craftsworkers, mechanics, artists, technicians,
  authors, inventors, investors, the Internet,
  builders and contractors, carpenters,
  electricians, gardeners, horticulturists, chefs,
  culinary experts, consumer advocates, scientists,
  decorators