My first exposure to ASJA happened more than a decade ago, when I was asked to speak on a panel. The topic of the panel was “Spin-off Success.” (I would later go on to write a story for Writer’s Digest on a similar subject.) At that point, I had been freelancing for less than five years but had already managed to amass a fairly striking list of credits. While there were some big names like Family Circle in there, my list was mostly impressive due to the number and interesting variety of the publications/websites it contained.
My credits ranged from a magazine focused on low-carb living to a website devoted to custom-built “chopper” motorcycles. Frankly, there were some quirky ones among the mix—like the site devoted to the art of Polynesian tattoos.
At the time, I was just eager to get as many assignments (and the paychecks that came with them) as possible. I would scour the listings in Writer’s Market, looking for any outlets that might somehow relate to anyone or anything I wanted to write about. I also loved learning all of the little details about people’s lives, and had a knack for remembering trivial details.
All these factors combined to create the perfect storm for spin-off success. Many people are very familiar with the term spin-off as it relates to a TV show. One of the best known examples is Happy Days, which spawned several spin-off shows including Laverne & Shirley.
In writing terms, a spin-off refers to the strategy of creating numerous articles from one central topic or idea, by approaching it from as many angles as possible. Writers have different terms for this—sometimes they refer to it as re-slanting a story, or expanding a topic from different angles.
However you describe it, you look for ways that something related to your central theme/subject might interest a variety of different outlets. This often involves digging for little details that might spark some ideas as to other ways to use or expand upon the initial material.
This is a terrific way to get the maximum ROI (return on investment) for the time you spend on interviews and research. You get additional paychecks for doing just a slight bit of extra work.
Profiles and interviews are often a goldmine for this strategy. I’ve come up with a standard list of “ice-breaking” questions that I ask also almost everyone I interview. Things like where they went to school, various places they’ve lived, oddball hobbies they may have. I then consider if there’s an opportunity to pitch specifically-focused features or Q&A’s with that person to, say, an alumni publication or hobbyist website.
Another effective approach involves regional publications, or those devoted to specific trades/industries. If you come up with an interesting parenting-related topic, you might be able to sell it to numerous regional family-focused publications across the country, perhaps adding a few local details to each one. Likewise, a story on a general business topic such as email marketing could be re-slanted to focus on the specific needs of business audiences in a variety of industries.
This requires a little extra legwork, and some research to identify additional markets. You also need to be diligent about studying your contracts, to ensure that nothing in an agreement you sign with one publication might prohibit you from doing a different-yet-related story for another publication. You also need to use some common sense. Obviously, you’d never want to pitch two similar stories to competing publications, even if the angle is slightly different.
The good news is, today there is a publication or website (many of them, most likely) for virtually any topic or hobby you can imagine. So no matter what trivial tidbit or specific detail you uncover, you can almost surely find an outlet that would be interested in letting you write about it. As most of us know, pay rates can vary widely, especially in the online realm. I generally approach potential spin-off stories with one “main” market in mind, ideally one that pays well. After that, I view all of the subsequent income I can get from that initial work to be gravy.