5 Studying the print market
Grace is given of God, but knowledge is bought in the market. (Arthur Huw Clough, 1819–61)
It is normally best to offer ideas and wait for a commission before you write a feature. But if you’re a beginner you may find editors slow to commission on the basis of a proposal (until you have a reasonable track record), or even reluctant to give you a ‘we’ll have a look at it but no promises’. You’ll find it hard to get an editor jumping at the idea of you doing a piece about getting lost in the Brazilian jungle and being mistaken for an Indian, or about your life-after-death experience, or about your wanting to describe a child’s first day at school from the child’s point of view, in the child’s language. But if you ...
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