Deez Interviews: Meet the writer / reporter / researcher parlaying freelance work into an apprenticeship on what it takes to really publish a book

Happy Friday, Deezers! For those of you new to the fam, we publish a Q&A with a young professional working in the media each week, so we can get nosy about what their jobs are ~really~ like.

This week’s interview is with Michelle Delgado, who will be your new inspiration to finally jumpstart that freelance hustle. Buckle up!

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The interviewee: Michelle Delgado (follow her @mdelgadia)

The current hustle: Content developer & marketer at Clutch.co, as well as freelancer extraordinary and the creator of the supremely fascinating Scavenger newsletter

You’re like a media Renaissance woman: freelance writing on entertainment, politics, and maple syrup on spaghetti; writing for a B2B audience at Clutch.co; as well as working in live events, social media and scholarly research in the past. (Seriously, check her website out here!).

So my first question about your media diet! What are you reading/listening to on the regular?

My current favorite magazines are California Sunday and Lucky Peach (RIP // pro tip: you can buy up old copies on Amazon for around $10 each!). For podcasts, I love Scott Carrier's Home of the Brave, Baby Geniuses, Reply All, and Longform.

I used to crush books when I was an English major in college, but lately I seem to fall asleep after a page or two (which I know is pathetic and makes me feel a LOT older than 25). But, I just started David Grann's totally engrossing Killers of the Flower Moon and so far, so good.

Also, I don’t believe in guilty pleasures, so I watch a decent number of teen soap operas.

You offer your freelance services for researching, fact checking and copy editing as well. Tell us about how you manage it all!

Ha, the honest answer is that every week is a triage based on deadlines, where my priorities are full time job > paying outlets/clients > personal projects. I've never figured out #selfcare, and it's starting to take a toll, so my big goal for 2018 is to figure out some daily or weekly rituals.

I finally started therapy for the first time in the fall, and it’s a game changer. If you have health insurance/can afford therapy, I think it’s worth it.

Lately I've been getting smarter about waiting to pitch things (even if I'm really excited about them!) if there's too much on my plate already. But hey — does anyone else have this figured out?? If so, can you let me know?

For freelance research and fact checking specifically, it can really depend on the project. I worked on Vince Beiser's The World in a Grain for 5-15 hours every week for nearly a year. It was predictable and steady. When I worked on Timothy Denevi's Freak Kingdom, he was very close to the deadline and needed some help, fast. I put in a full weekend and maybe 4-6 hours a day on top of my day job for a few days to get the work done. The third book I’ve worked on was in college, and that was a 30 hr/week internship.

Overall, when you’re juggling a lot of projects, you need to have a calendar system and a realistic sense of how much time you need to accomplish each task. Lately I’ve been using a bulletin board with index cards for each project, Trello, and a Moleskine agenda to keep track of everything. I email myself reminders a lot, and use my phone’s notifications app. Also, when I have intense periods of work, I try to be strict about taking a weekend to hibernate, even though that’s hard for me.

More on freelance fact checking and researching. What does that actually entail?

It really depends on the author and what they need! In general, being helpful means doing the time consuming, boring work so that the author can focus on writing and thinking. So: building giant databases in Google spreadsheets, reformatting thousands of citations, or crunching dry scientific reports down into quick bullet points. It’s sometimes the opposite of the fun stuff I do when I’m reporting and writing my own work, but it feels good to help.

I've been paid hourly, in a lump sum, out of pocket, from academic grants — anywhere from $11-15/hr to just a bunch of money all at once via PayPal. In general, my freelance income goes straight into a relatively high interest savings account. At the end of the year, the government gets ~ 30% back for taxes, so it's good to earn as much interest as possible before that happens.

My primary goal with these gigs is to learn as much as possible. I want to write a book and am slowly starting to take steps toward that goal, so getting to pitch in on these projects really helps me understand how it all works.

How can people know if they’ve got what it takes to do that kind of work?

The same freelancing rules apply: Show up on or before deadline, have a good attitude, and come correct with your facts and research.

As an assistant, your goal is to make everything as easy and digestible as possible. That means breaking things down into a scannable format (like you'd use for a study guide!) and being accurate. Also, it goes without saying, but pay a lot of attention to what the author is actually looking for, especially if you're being paid hourly.

Also also, don't be shy about asking what your client would prefer. I personally do not like Word docs, but one of my clients prefers them, so I write everything in Google docs and then just send my work over in Word when the time comes.

It’s good to be pretty up front with people about the work you're doing and the work you'd like to do. I think a lot of people get nervous about networking, but if you’re genuinely excited about the work, don’t worry, it won’t come across gross! You never know when someone is going to say “Hey, that's actually what I'm looking for right now!”

Your newsletter, Scavenger, publishes weekly deep dives into strange & obscure histories, like the one about the most accomplished chef in America, or the one about giant record stores in Texas.

Are these the kinds of stories you come across during your other work, or is it more of a product of personal rabbitholes?

All of the above! Generally, Scavenger stories work well if they are niche-y, have a small narrative arc, and come with vivid details.

For example, the other day I was listening to Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Turns out, Crosby gave up his son for adoption and the two met when his son turned 30 — and then they wrote a bunch of music together! I was adopted and met my birth mom when I was 23, so I thought that was fascinating. I’m still not sure if it would work for Scavenger, but it’s fun to do random Googles.

And finally, what are three of your fave past editions of Scavenger?

I really enjoyed writing about an incredible woman’s miniature houses transformed forensic science and finally getting to the bottom of what a bergamot is.

Also, an oldie but a goodie: Leeches are the only live animal the FDA has approved as a medical device.

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Don’t forget to subscribe to Scavenger here, and have a great weekend!

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