Writing? Get started!!!
Getting into angling writing can be a tough job, but if you are prepared to work at it, the rewards are there.
Before we start, I have NO journalistic qualifications, but I am good at written English, although I guess a qualification would be beneficial!
I first got started about 3 years ago after I attended the 'Go-Fishing' show at the NEC and met Kev Green who is the editor of Improve Your Coarse Fishing magazine. IYCF were running a competition to find a new contributor and I was invited to try out. Out of over 400 applicants, I got down to the last 4 before losing out to Julian Chidgley who now works for FOX (Grr!). However it got me interested so here's the story.......
I used to write a newspaper column for the local press about my job as a fireman; somehow, it won an award and Julian Grattidge, editor of www.northwestcarp.co.uk who read my column and knew I fished, asked me to write a short piece for his website which was subsequently published. I did a couple of others which were also used before Julian put me onto a chap called Elton Murphy who owns www.anglersnet.co.uk who also had a few pieces off me. Elton was a bit of a break if I'm honest, he introduced me to Terry Doe who was releasing a magazine called Carp and Coarse Angling and they took two 5 page spreads off me which meant a little more exposure for me. Up to this point, none of my work had been paid for, but I had received a few free tackle bits from Elton and Julian.
It was time to take the bull by the horns; I emailed a few magazine editors to enquire about contributing. Many of the mags have their own team who do ALL the writing and these are very difficult to break into so you need to look elsewhere at other publications. I emailed Paddy Webb at Carp-Talk who offered me a 3 month trial doing the NW report each week, more importantly, it was paid! At this time, I'd been submitting a variety of products reviews to Elton and Julian, but also copied in the manufacturer so they knew ...
