Creating an Expert File
by Kathryn Lay
I had a great idea for a cave story. It was about a boy with
claustrophobia and the creative way he dealt with it while
spelunking. As I'm afraid of all things creepy and crawly, I've
been in very few caves and knew next to nothing about caving.
But the father of one of my daughter's friends did. He'd traipsed
through nearly every cave in and around Texas. He was more than
willing to answer my "what if" and "how" questions. I wrote the
short story and sold it to Spider with only a few changes.
When working on a short story about a girl who decided to run
away from the circus, I went back to an interview I'd done with a
circus family years ago. Their information helped me delve into
the feelings of my character and the realities of circus life.
The story sold to Hopscotch.
I was thrilled to be given the go-ahead to do an article for
Woman's Day about a variety of safety issues, and spent a
summer researching and interviewing experts. Many of those same
interviews, or later interviews with the same experts,
subsequently netted me other safety articles that were sold to
Kiwanis, Healthy Childcare, and regional parenting magazines.
Like many writers, I don't enjoy spending hours searching for one
fact that is necessary to make a 900-word story believable. When
an idea comes, I just want to get it down on the computer. And
when I'm working on a nonfiction piece that requires information
or quotes from an expert on the subject, I don't want to spend
weeks finding the right person to interview.
To handle these research challenges, therefore, I began creating
an expert file. This "Expert Box" has helped me many times in
both fiction and nonfiction writing. My experts come from many
places; by putting that contact information in one place, I can
easily find them when I need them. My expert file also gives me
new ideas for articles and stories.
You know experts too! Here's how you can turn your contacts into
your own "Expert Box."
Who do you know?
First, I made lists of experts I knew: family, friends,
co-workers, family of my friends, friends of my family, my
husband's co-workers, parents of my daughter's friends. I was
surprised at how many different experts I came up with and the
variety of information they could provide.
On 3 X 5 cards I wrote down their names and contact information,
and what they were experts at, whether it was their job, hobby,
or interest. My brother is a mail carrier. My sister-in-law is a
travel agent. A friend of a friend raises horses. A fellow writer
raises bees in her spare time. Sometimes, they became
multi-experts, such as a computer technician who is also a storm
chaser. He has come in handy with tornado information and loves
to talk about storms.
If those experts have other contacts, add those to their cards.
My storm chaser friend knows expert meteorologists whom I can
contact by using his name. Because of their hobbies or fields of
expertise, your experts may also know of publications that cater
specifically to readers of that topic, which can help you find
additional markets.
Read the newspaper
My next resource is the newspaper. I watch for stories on local
people who are profiled because of their hobby, ability,
interest, job, or area of expertise. A small story of a man who
collected civil war memorabilia became the perfect subject for an
article for an antique magazine. If I need information pertaining
to that era, he will be a good expert contact as well. I often
cut out stories of possible experts and tape them to a 3 X 5
card, ready for that article or idea for which they'll be the
perfect contact.
Create a network of professionals
For nonfiction articles, I am often in need of an expert quote or
source of information. One of my best sources has been ProfNet
(http://www.profnet.com). Here a writer can ask for help on a
specific topic, such as "I am writing an article on swimming
safety" or "My article topic concerns children and bullies."
Every day topics are sent out to the many experts and PR people
subscribing to this resource. These experts will be happy to
grant you an interview for a chance to promote their own book,
cause or organization.
I usually end up with a dozen or more responses and am only able
to use one or two. The other names and their areas of expertise
are added to my expert files. Once I've interviewed the ones I
choose to use at that moment, I ask if I can use them or their
information again. If they agree, they also become a part of my
Expert Box. A safety expert from the Red Cross or National Safety
Council, for example, will be a big help for information that
involves bicycle, swimming, or other safety issues children
encounter.
Go Back to College
Writer Rebecca Rohan turns to the PR/Marketing department of a
nearby university to see if there are any appropriate experts on
staff. "The nice thing about using college professors is that
they are easily reachable by email." Nor do you need to limit
yourself to local colleges or universities; through the Internet,
you can contact experts at colleges throughout the country.
Your local community college may also offer a continuing
education course in a topic that you need to know more about.
For example, if you are writing about a character who is a
professional photographer or cook, it could be helpful (and fun)
to take a course on the subject and become an "expert" yourself!
Read a good book
Another way to find an expert is by searching Amazon.com by
subject for a book on your needed topic. You can check for the
author's website or contact the publisher to set up an interview.
The author will love having the book mentioned in your article
and you will obtain up-to-date, helpful information.
Host an "experts exchange" party
Try having an expert party with your writers' group. Bring
information on your experts to share with your friends. Make a
note on the card where you got the information, and if it's
through a friend or another expert, make sure to mention their
name when contacting the expert. Imagine how many experts you can
include in your Expert Box if you get together with six writers who
have twenty experts each!
Don't become a pest with your experts. When you have a question
on a topic, plan ahead so that you won't take much of their time.
If you're not in a hurry, they may prefer to have the questions
mailed or emailed so they can have time to think about the
answers.
By having experts lined up ahead of time, you have ammunition for
your queries. Editors are delighted to receive queries that
specifically list the expert sources that will be used for your
article. By creating an expert file, you don't always have to
spend hours searching through stacks of dusty tomes to find your
information. Just pick a card.
Copyright © 2004 Kathryn Lay
Kathryn Lay has had over 1000 articles, essays, and short stories published in magazines and anthologies such as Woman's Day, Cricket, Guideposts, Chicken Soup, and more. Her first children's novel for ages 8-12, Crown Me!, is out from Holiday House Books. She is also the author of The Organized Writer is a Selling Writer, which can be purchased through her website at http://www.kathrynlay.com.
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