Content and Print Writers: How to Earn More Money by Spinning Off Ideas

Just as every human being has a twin, every article idea has another spin. Don't waste your time pumping out one highly-targeted, labor-intensive article after another when you can come up with a central theme and mine lots of ideas from that single source. Duplication, duplication, duplication!

Writers conjure up an article idea which they research, interview people for, then write. Then they're off to the next idea, and the process starts all over again. That's just wrong, yet that's what most writers do. It's why most can't make a living wage from their writing.

Try to relate your writing life to other things in your life---like your kitchen. Have you ever noticed how the sink, stove and refrigerator get laid out in kitchens? Most often, they form a triangle. That's for efficiency, so the cook can take items from the fridge, wash them in the sink, then prepare them on the stove. It cuts down on time.

The fruits of your writing career should come off looking like a Thanksgiving Day feast rather than a frozen dinner. You can cook more words if you learn to do it efficiently. Here's how:

Develop the main idea. Whether you work in print or for online content, start with that original idea that popped into your head. This is your central story that you'll pitch to the most appropriate place.
Then start spinning!

Develop questions to ask during your interview that will help you to sell a spin-off idea elsewhere. If you are doing a profile, some questions seem like fluff for the original idea, but they'll be the backbone of the spin-off article. Standard things that come up in a personality profile are: hobbies, jobs, family life, civic involvement, church involvement, and the like. All of these things can become articles on their own, band you'll be getting most of the information from the one interview. You're following the adage: work smart, not hard.

Hobbies: Pilates, antiques & collectibles, model airplane making, quilting, civil war re-enactments? Even if there's not a magazine dealing with the particular hobby, you can bet a local newspaper would be interested in a local citizen who is pursuing an interesting hobby as that can generate advertising from antiques stores, hobby shops, gyms and the like. An online site can use a round-up article based on the hobby. Find a few more hobby enthusiasts and you've created another way to use a lot of the same material you dug up for the initial article.

Job: Secretary? Magazines like Working Mother or Parents may want to know more about your interview subject. For online, ask your profile subject for her best tip on balancing a family and a job. CEO of a plant that makes widgets? There's a magazine specializing in widgets. For online, what's her best advice for hiring good employees? Convenience store operator? Look to the trades for publications dedicated to C-Stores, as they're known. For online, find out the top five things people spend their money on at convenience stores, and you have another article idea by just stretching your profile information a bit further.

Family life: Are his kids on the pageant circuit or in Little League? You have a spin-off idea. For online, what are the top five tips for keeping your little girl grounded when she's taking home one trophy after another?

Civic involvement: Kiwanis, Lions, Elks, Moose, Toastmasters. All of these have publications, and if that's not a fit, again a local newspaper would look forward to a local person doing good things for the community, especially if it involves a local organization as well. For online, find out how to get the most out of being in one of these organizations.

Church involvement: Most denominations have several publications associated with them. For online, how about an article on the importance of feeding your spiritual side even if you are a busy executive?

So, how many articles do you count here based off of one main interview? You'll save time on extra interviews-think of it like one-stop shopping, and you'll make more money. It doesn't get better than that. If you spin hard enough, you're bound to end up with some valuable silk.