Samantha keeps it simple

Subscriber Samantha Page has just sold her first article, thanks to a lead she found in a Writers’ News market report.

A feature by Gillian Thornton in the April issue of WN, about recent editorial changes at Practical Family History magazine, inspired Samantha to approach the publication: ‘I requested a copy of the writers guidelines and went to work on a suitable article which I thought very relevant, titled “Genealogy – Keeping it Simple”. I came up with the idea for the article after making a start on my own family tree. After trawling through websites and realising that many require payment or require you to subscribe to their site, I noticed the time ticked by quickly and I had not actually discovered a thing – apart from my mailbox becoming full with spam. I found this very frustrating, so shut down my laptop, found myself a pen and paper and started to write what I knew about my family.

‘The article is the first I have submitted to any publication, therefore I was over the moon when I received an e-mail a couple of weeks later from acting editor Karen Clare saying that they would very much like to publish it in a forthcoming issue of Practical Family History.’

Samantha has recently completed a BA degree in literature with the Open University, which has inspired her to consider further study in the near future. ‘My Open University degree is a tremendous help with my freelance writing, in both terms of research and the actual writing of articles, particularly the level two creative writing course, which helped me to understand what publishers look for in an article. I plan to continue with my studies by starting advanced creative writing in the near future. My ultimate goal would be an MA in Literature.

‘In the meantime, I am working on a follow-up article to explain what steps need to be taken next to expand your family history knowledge once you have completed your initial basic research.’