Excerpt
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Sidebars
Not all magazines
require sidebars, but the majority do. Most editors love them.
If you don’t know
what these are, grab any magazine and look at one of the feature
articles.
See the boxes
filled with information? They’re sidebars.
They give the
reader additional information about the story they’ve just finished
reading, and details on where they can find the businesses quoted in
the body of the story, other businesses of interest, helpful
websites etc.
Sometimes a sidebar
might be a list of things related to the article. For instance, for
an article about fitness and ways to get active, the sidebar could
include (say) ten ways to get active on the weekend, and another six
ways to get active during the week.
It may include
things like:
Riding your
bike
Turn on the
music and start dancing
Go for a picnic
then bushwalk afterwards
Take the stairs
instead of the elevator
I once wrote an
article about the Barossa Valley in South Australia for an American
magazine. The sidebar was information about Australian wines that
would be released soon in the US. Since I’d sourced information from
several high profile wineries for the article, I asked them to
supply information about the wines that fell into this category, and
requested graphics of them. In addition, I provided the magazine
with facts about the Barossa Valley:
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Barossa
Valley Facts:
There are
approximately 80 different wine producers in the
Barossa Valley
Almost 11,000 hectares
are devoted entirely to wine production
Harvest time is late
February to late April
Over 65,000 tonnes of
grapes are grown in the region each year
Tastings are available
at the majority of the wineries
The main varieties
produced are: Shiraz, Grenache, Cabernet, Mouvedre,
Merlot, Riesling, Semillon, and Chardonnay
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Sidebars can also
be essays, but they must be brief. Sidebars are not usually very
long, and more often than not are just there to give the reader a
little extra information.
They can also be in
the format of quizzes. Flick through any magazine and you’re sure to
find at least one example of this.
Remember those
teenage magazines you used to read? Get X number of points for
specific answers, then see how you scored at the end? They’re a
perfect example of quizzes for sidebars. For more information about
writing quizzes specifically for sidebars, check out this article:
http://www.writing-world.com/freelance/quizzes.shtml written by
Kelly James-Enger.
I generally use
sidebars as leverage to get help with my research. I tell the
business involved that I will include them in the sidebar (and
always do), and also quote the circulation of the magazine, if
known. They’re usually more willing to help out if they’re going to
get ‘free publicity’.
The editor will
always let you know if you need to supply sidebars.
You can find
another sample of a sidebar in the appendix.
What Sidebars are Not
Have you ever seen a quote or text
pulled out of an article, then highlighted or made bigger? Like
this:
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The quick
brown fox jumped over the lazy dog who then chased the
fox. He was hot on his tail, until a pack of wolves
appeared on the scene.
“You can be certain I’ll be checking the area before I chase another
fox!”
When
interviewed later, the dog said “I have no idea where
they came from. They literally appeared out of
nowhere.” He then added, “You can be certain I’ll be
checking the area before I chase another fox!”
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The above is a
crude example I know, but the point is, that’s not a sidebar. It’s
simply text that’s being used to help pull the reader to the story,
and get them reading it.
It is really
important to understand sidebars completely, and the variations of
them, which will ultimately help boost your freelancing income.
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When I
think about sidebars, I think two words: summary and
meat. If I’m reading this article on the go and have to
stuff it away in a hurry, the sidebar should give me a
flavor of what the article wants me to know.
Beth
Morrow, Freelance Write |
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