Yes, articles come from outdoor writers. There are a number of them that most bass enthusiasts know well. The common names are Louie Stout, Ed Harp, John Neporadny, Pete Robbins, Wade Bourne, and others. But the question is how do they get them together.
Different writers have different ways to get ideas for stories. Some are told by magazine editors what to do. Many send queries (story ideas in a paragraph) to editors and they choose which ones they want. Some writers even ask questions on forum web sites to get ideas of what people want to read. It is interesting to me how everyone has his or her different ways of doing that.
Once the writer receives the story, the work begins. Most writers have a number of pros they can call and depend on. You would be very surprised at the number of pros who don’t call back writers that want to use them in a story. Amazing!
Pictures are the trick. Getting pictures that pertain to the story can sometimes be the biggest challenge. Bassmaster and likely FLW have staff photographers that go around the tournaments and take tons of pictures on the water, at launch, and at weigh in. These are sometimes used but are mostly not specific enough to use in an article.
Writers’ conferences are the place. This is what it is called when one or more companies have their pro staffers meet at a place and then they fly in a number of writers. The hope is that the hospitality is converted into coverage and publicity for their brand or product. It makes it convenient for writers and pros to get together.
Photo Courtesy Chris Brown
About John Crews
