Successful Freelancer Spotlight: Kristine Hanson

Good morning readers!

Today, I’m shining the spotlight on Kristine Hanson, a freelance writer, author, and seasonal worker on an organic/biodynamic vegetable farm. She specializes in writing about food, drink, and how to live a “greener” life.

Since 1999, Kristine has contributed to a wide range of publications, including Wine Enthusiast, Yoga Journal, American Way, The Onion, Audubon, Budget Travel, Backpacker, Town & Country, Midwest Living, Time Out Chicago, and the eco-living Web sites, Idealbite.com and Grist.org. She also has written for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee Magazine, and The Business Journal of Milwaukee.

Kristine also is the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Coffee and Tea (Penguin/Alpha Books, 2006), a book in which she coaches readers in how to make quality cups of coffee and tea at home. She also writes for the industry in the pages of Fresh Cup Magazine.

How long have you been freelancing full time, and how did you get your start? What did you do prior to freelancing?

During the summer of 2005 I took the plunge and made this a full-time career. I’d been freelancing part-time since 2000, and kept it up even while editing a regional home and garden magazine. The challenge of breaking into specific magazines and earning money while doing it was something I couldn’t turn off. I was actually inspired by one of the contributors to the magazine. One day as she was discussing some of her other projects for other magazines, I thought, ‘Hey, I could do that!’ Being on staff at the magazine and being in a position to accept and review freelancers’ ideas, and notice the manner in which they pitched, gave me new energy and perspective about what an editor expects from writers.

Can you talk a little bit about how you combine your interests in travel, food/drink, green living, and design in your stories?

I learned early on that if I was going to succeed as a freelancer that I would have to think more dimensionally about article ideas. Writing a story about the best beaches in O’ahu probably isn’t going to excite many editors, so what I pitched instead is a piece about art galleries in a small surfing town on the island.

Also, I just published a story about Slow Design (sourcing home décor from local artisans and sustaining the economy), which combines my interests in living “green” and design. I’ve had a lot of luck getting these hybrid topics into inflight magazines, because they are about much more than travel. For instance, I’ve  sold stories about lightweight hiking boots (because who wants to give up precious suitcase space to a clunky pair, or have to unlace them at security?) and leak-proof coffee thermos to take on the plane (obviously this was before current airline rules).

Do you find that combining your interests leads to more story assignments?

Definitely. I have a lot of interests—professionally and socially—and one of the aspects about writing that I find so amazing is when they come together into one article. That’s a reflection of how we are as individuals. Rarely does someone have just one hobby—no, they have several, and at times they merge. Also, combining my interests often results in a quirky, off-beat story pitch and isn’t that what editors want in the first place?

This is a tough economy for many freelancers. What has your experience been in recent months? Are you noticing a slowdown as well?

Many of the markets I contributed to—for years even—have had to decline my pitches because of a shrinking budget. Other markets have folded altogether. As a result, I’ve had to think outside of the box. Instead of approaching magazines that are 100 percent dedicated to food and drink, I’ve looked into general-lifestyle magazines and business magazines. For travel stories, I’m thinking broader than a consumer audience—what about the meetings and event-planning industry, for example? Finding new homes for my story ideas has been the biggest challenge. But as soon as I started to do that, new (to me) editors responded and I realized that I could continue working as a freelance writer —but for different clients. Any person in any career right now needs to think outside of the box to not only adapt, but succeed.

To combat the economic slowdown, are you pitching more or less of certain types of stories? What strategies are working for you right now?

Like a lot of writers, and in response to markets drying up, I’ve had to stray outside of my comfort zone and pitch on topics that I either don’t have as much expertise in or have less passion for than I do my specialties. Last week this was a magazine for realtors and a magazine for people suffering from arthritis.

A good idea can be retooled for a completely different market if it’s got “meat.” At first this was frustrating, but when I realized that the real safety net in this economy is having the skill and not the expertise, I felt better. That I can sit down with a magazine for the first time and be able to think critically about what kinds of topics the readers are interested in, that’s more valuable than knowing the quality of wines coming out of the Douro Valley in Portugal, for instance.

Based on your years of experience in this business, what are the top three pieces of advice that you would offer to other freelance writers?

1. Pitch ideas regularly. I cannot stress this enough. Above all, it’s a numbers game. Ideas get turned down for a variety of reasons that you cannot control and not even because it was a bad idea. Find a way to keep track of all your ideas because they definitely seem to come at inopportune times (while driving, chatting with friends over wine, etc.).  I carry around in my purse one of those mini notebooks sold at drugstores. Even just a five-word description of the story, and which magazines I plan to pitch, is enough to jog my memory later.

2. Network with other writers. Attend conferences and workshops geared towards writers. Recently, a fellow freelancer and I put our heads together and formed a group in our city. There’s only about six of us but that’s just enough to provide a boost and some networking power.

3. Follow your passions. I believe that the strongest story proposal you can send is the one that you are most excited about. I know I’m not likely to get excited about profiling an NFL player, so I don’t pitch that kind of story.

Do you find that specializing helps bring in more work as a freelancer? Are there areas that you would advise freelancers to focus more on/ less on right now?

That I wrote a book about coffee and tea (The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Coffee and Tea, Alpha Books/Penguin 2006) and contribute to Fresh Cup (the industry’s trade magazine) has either reinforced my pitches on those topics or turned editors on to the fact that I know these topics well. I’ve received a few assignments because the editor knew I could bring expertise on coffee and tea.

You recently took a trip to Belize. When you travel, do you pitch stories before or after your trips? How many stories came out of your Belize trip? Can you talk a little bit about how you developed these ideas?

If it’s one of my regular markets, I’ll put a feeler out to the editor, a ‘Hey, I’m going to be traveling to this region and what aspect of that region do you feel would interest readers?’

This way I can keep my eyes open for aspects of the trip that could nail an assignment. When you’re traveling, the schedule is frenetic and all of the senses are involved, so I’ve found that having some kind of structure or idea of what to research better ensures I’ll get work out of the trip. With tighter focuses on travel, such as a new hotel or a restaurant, I have been able to score an assignment before departure. But for a destination feature, that’s tricky. You really need to have experienced the city before claiming to an editor that you understand it well.

How long have you been writing about green living topics? How did you break into this market? Was it difficult?

I’ve been an environmentalist for as long as I can remember. I grew up in a household that was frugal and conscious about money, and those values stayed with me even when living “green” became a trend.

Any other helpful advice that you’d like to pass along to freelancers right now?

Even though the economy has suffered, it’s not over for your freelancing career. Send out more queries and think about expanding your topics into other markets and you’ll do fine.