Hey, I hear you’re looking to get into writing about lacrosse this spring. Well. Not really. Most of you know better than to engage in such a foolish errand. However, on the off chance that there are some budding wordsmiths looking to break into the smallest industry in sports, I have decided to give you some pointers.
Most of these tips will help you with any freelancing endeavor, but all of them will help you get some extra scratch in a few months to help justify your lacrosse addiction.
You can also send articles to me to edit and post here but only do that if you’re really sure you don’t want to follow the second recommendation below. In that case, the payment is feedback from me, also for free, about what you can do to improve and submit to another outlet.
Get the piece in on time
Listen. Writing is hard. But what’s harder is when you spend so much time and care on a piece only to turn it in late. When you do that, you make an enemy out of the editor.
Many editors will be like, “Oh, no, that’s fine. Just don’t let it happen again.”
Let me translate for you: “Don’t worry about the curse I just put on your entire family and the extra two weeks it will take for me to file the necessary paperwork to get you paid.“
When you turn things in late, it triggers a Pavlovian urge inside of an editor - one that innately wishes for your doom.
Don’t.
Submit.
Late.
Agree on your rate before you write one word
I originally worded this point in a giant font that said “DON’T WORK FOR FREE, YOU IDIOT.” But it came off a bit combative on the re-read.
Look, not a lot of places pay for freelance writing work in lacrosse. That being said, the days when you can basically only work for Inside Lacrosse or Lax Magazine are over. There are places that need content that isn’t just pictures and videos - although, those are more coveted - because those things need context. You know what puts things into context? Words. Yeah, how you like that, video nerd?
Obviously, you can try writing for those big two. You can pitch to me at New England Lacrosse Journal. You can find a number of online lacrosse websites and publications. You can seek out the pro leagues. There are plenty of places that are looking for more contributors, even if they’re not openly asking for them. Persistence is your friend.
I’m not going to tell you what to ask for in terms of compensation, but if anyone tries to sell you on a “hit count” bump for payment they’re selling you snake oil and you need to run away screaming. Get a flat or a per-word rate if you can.
Do your own research
This is a nice way of saying don’t crib from another article. It’s okay to get ideas from other places - that’s how ideas work - but you cannot base your entire thesis on something that someone else has posited. It’s like dudes that only Quote Tweet someone else’s take just to set it on fire or agree.
That is weakness.
Do you want to be a quote tweeter your whole life? Make an original point. Develop it. Finish it. Submit it on time.
Don’t change the piece you promised
Most of the time, writing is about conveying information. You can add a few flourishes or some asides - maybe even an adverb of a simile if you’re lucky. But the mission is always about the information. You turn that information into a story. Once you forget to serve that first purpose, you lose focus.
So, for example, let’s say that you have been asked to write up a profile on player X. However, player Y on the same team is more interesting to you. Maybe the quotes from your interviews line up better for player Y. Doesn’t matter. You produce the feature on player X. Should you ask to write up player Y as well? Absolutely. But the person who tasked you will probably say no.
What’s the solution? Pitch a story on player Y to another outlet. I did this all the time when I was freelancing. It’s a good way to get multiple pieces going and chuck more money into your coffer.
Double-check names, teams, and hometowns
Imagine that you put an entire week’s worth of work into a feature only to realize that you spelled the main subject of the article’s name wrong for the entire thing. Have I done this? Yes. More than once? Also yes. Names are hard.
Which is why they need to be double and triple-checked. Mistakes do happen. But you should do everything in your power to minimize them.
There was an article that came out in the offseason that previewed a top conference in lacrosse. That article had misspellings, profiled players that had graduated or transferred, and missed the addition of critical changes in the teams. Instead of absolutely annihilating it - as everyone else on Twitter did - I called and messaged around to people I knew that were connected to the company that published the article. I helped to get it taken down.
Why did I do that?
Because bad articles poison the well. Lacrosse is a small sport. It doesn’t need more mediocrity; it needs people who want to do great things. Sometimes we forget that.
Sometimes I forget that.
So, go out and write awesome stuff. Get compensated for it fairly. Then do it again. We need you.