Request for authors not articles

[SarahS]

Hi

There is a current request for authors and subjects but not for a specific article. How do we proceed with this?

Thanks
Sarah

[Celeste Stewart]

Sometimes requests are vague with just a broad topic given. Is it for the sports writer (football, golf, cricket) request by chance? If so, and if you're comfortable writing in the UK style, I'd go ahead and write an article on one of the topics. I actually love it when the topic is broad and little direction given because there's more room to find your own unique angle. Take golf for example. I'll use American examples to illustrate my point because I have no clue about East Anglia or UK golf topics.

You could write about:
The US Open
How to become a golf pro
The top ten golfers in the world
The most beautiful golf courses in the world
The most challenging golf courses
Golf course design
Golf club innovations
Legendary golf courses in the UK
The birthplace of golf

Alternately, you could contact the customer through the message and ask if she's looking for current golf coverage (such as golf tournament results, upcoming tournaments, the latest gossip about Tiger Woods) or evergreen topics like those suggested above. At this point, if you're in the UK, you could also briefly highlight your location (if applicable) and knowledge of the topic. YOu could even suggest topics that you think might be a good fit. As always, use care when messaging customers. In this case, since the wording is vague, I think asking questions is appropriate.

[SarahS]

Thanks Celeste

I haven't tried writing for a request yet so I wasn't sure how much contact we could have.

[jak]

I got the impression that the customer is looking for a local East Anglian theme. So you'd probably need to work that in to any article. I could be a good little earner with regular private requests for some author, but you need to be UK based, and it says as close to East Anglia as possible. I'm not near there so won't be a contender.