e is the same as the
purpose of a newspaper story--to tell a tale, to tell it directly,
convincingly, and interestingly.

Practical experience in the field of his specialty is of advantage in
familiarizing a writer with the actual conditions about which he is
preparing himself to write. To engage for some time in farming,
railroading, household management, or any other occupation, equips a
person to write more intelligently about it. Such practical experience
either supplements college training in a special field, or serves as the
best substitute for such specialized education.

WHAT EDITORS WANT. All the requirements for success in special
feature writing may be reduced to the trite dictum that editors want
what they believe their readers want. Although a commonplace, it
expresses a point of view that aspiring writers are apt to forget. From
a purely commercial standpoint, editors are middlemen who buy from
producers what they believe they can sell to their customers. Unless an
editor satisfies his readers with his articles, they will cease to buy
his publication. If his literary wares are not what his readers want, he
finds on the newsstands unsold piles of his publication, just as a
grocer finds on his shelves faded packages of an unpopular breakfast
food. Both editor and grocer undertake to buy from the producers what
will have a ready sale and will satisfy their customers.

The writer, then, as the producer, must furnish wares that will attract
and satisfy the readers of the periodical to which he desires to sell
his product. It is the ultimate consumer, not merely the editor, that he
must keep in mind in selecting his material and in writing his article.
"Will the reader like this?" is the question that he must ask himself at
every stage of his work. Unless he can convince himself that the average
person who reads the periodical to which he proposes to submit his
article will like what he is writing, he cannot hope to sell it to the
editor.

UNDERSTANDING THE READER. Instead of thinking of readers as a more or
less indefinite mass, the writer will find it advantageous to picture to
himself real persons who may be taken as typical readers. It is very
easy for an author to think that what interests him and his immediate
circle will appeal equally to people in general. To write successfully,
however, for the Sunday magazine of a newspaper, it is necessary to keep
in mind the butcher, the baker, and--if no