1. Editorial Training
with Janet Murray and Lucy Jolin
www.lastwordgroup.com

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Outline of the day
 Session 1: Defining your audience (and why it matters)
 BREAK
 Session 2: Commissioning quality content
 LUNCH
 Session 3: Selling your content (effective cover lines)
 BREAK
 Session 4: Effective writing and editing

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Say it in 140 characters…

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Say it in 140 characters…
Janet Murray @jan_murray
Education journalist for @guardian & others, director of @lastworduk media
training. Amateur singer, pianist, runner. Professional shopper

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Activity 1: Defining your audience
Working in pairs, look at two alumni magazines. What do they most
remind you of from the following list?
- A Sunday supplement magazine
- A supermarket magazine
- An advertising brochure
- A local council magazine
- An airline magazine
- A free ads publication
You might want to think about: content, subject matter, intended
audience, pictures/images, layout and design.

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Activity 2: Defining your audience
Write a profile of your typical reader:
You might want to think about: name, age, marital/relationship
status, job, what they have for breakfast, the paper they
read/internet sites they use, favourite TV show, what's on their
smartphone (pics of kids? music? games? good for gauging lots
of stuff about status), what time they go to bed & so on…

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Activity 3: developing regular
features/slots
 Do you already have any regular features/slots in
your magazine?
 What are the advantages of having regular
slots/features?
 Could you develop any/more regular features/slots?

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Activity 4: writing an effective
commissioning brief
 Are you currently using any kind of commissioning
brief/outline? How is it working?
 What works well with these examples?
 What doesn’t work so well?
 What do you think you need to take into considering
when commissioning writers (internal or external?)

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Activity 5: Commissining check list
Working in pairs, brainstorm ideas for a
commissioning check list

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Commissioning checklist…
 Working title
 Word count
 Deadline
 Audience and purpose
 Contacts and interviewees (including anyone not to speak to)
 Style and tone – first person, second person etc
 Any special instructions e.g. start with a story
 Structure: box outs, case studies etc

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Activity 6: Cover lines
Pick out three cover lines from the
magazines provided. Which do you think
are effective/ineffective in terms of
persuading you to read what’s inside?

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Effective cover lines…
 Short
 Catchy
 Dramatic/compelling
 Mysterious
 Don’t give the whole story away
 Make people care

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Ingredients of effective copy…
 Human faces
 Simplicity
 No selling
 ‘Zoom in’

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For more writing
and pitching tips…
www.lastwordgroup.com/training