WMA A.S.K [Advise - Support - Know]

Plan and prepare to be a Freelance writer in the UAE

To become a successful freelance Journalist in the UAE you will need to equip yourself with:- 

x 10 planning and preparation 

x 20 in patience

x 30 in courage

x 40 in persistence and tenacity

x 50 in dedication

All garnished with a sprinkle of realistic expectations and achievements!

 I am a great believer without being too cliche that you can achieve anything you want, BUT to do it you might have to roll your sleeves up and put in quite a bit of elbow grease! Pardon the pun, unless you are born with a silver spoon in your mouth nothing comes easy in life.  Everything takes time and effort and all the hard work will eventually pay off with a bit of planning, preparation and lots and lots of patience.

Planning and preparation is key! 

Being a creative and aspiring writer is not enough, in this competitive market editors don't have the time to correct copy! They expect a writer to have the necessary skills.  At the WMA Academy we were taught and practised the techniques to write articles to meet the requirements of newspapers and magazines in the UAE.

The WMA brought in lecturers from Gulf News  & 7 Days  to name a few! The latter provided helpful tips to identify the different newspaper and magazine styles which help maximise ones chances when pitching stories.

  

Specialist not generalist is name of the game!  

Being  a jack of all trades no longer pays off! newspapers and magazines are looking for FIELD EXPERT writers.  Francis Matthew, WMA lecturer and editor at Gulf News kept insisting that as students we needed to take time and pick a field of expertise and become a 'know it all' on the topic we chose.   By doing so, it would certainly increase our chances of being sought out by magazines or newspapers when they were looking for expert opinions.

         

A bucket load of Research is required!

Once you have picked your field of expertise start by researching all the newspapers and magazines that cover this topic.  Take a look at the magazine style and bear that in mind when preparing your article.  Find out the contact details of the editors you want to reach out to and personalise your pitch.  No  'Dear Sir or Madam!' A pet peeve of journalists..

Network!  Put yourself out there! 

Watch this space! Networking is so important that it warrants it own post! 

COMING SOON FOLKS!

Comment or write to us on wmastudentdubai@gmail.com we would love to hear from you.