How to Find the Best Sources

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about sources lately, so I thought I’d post this article I wrote for Writer’s Digest a few years ago. One resource I don’t talk about in the article is Help a Reporter Out (HARO) because it didn’t exist when I wrote this piece. HARO is another good resource.

You landed an article assignment from a women’s magazine, and you need to interview moms in their thirties who have anecdotes about dealing with their children’s gymnastics coaches — oh, and the moms have to be ethnically and geographically diverse. Or you’re working on an article for a pet magazine and need to find a vet in Montana who specializes in holistic medicine for parakeets. Sheesh…the editor may as well as you to interview an interplanetary being (female, in her 20s, with at least two kids and living within twenty light-years of Sirius).

It’s a real conundrum (that’s Latin for “annoying writing problem”): Good quotes can make an article, but it can be difficult — especially for beginning writers — to find sources to interview.

Don’t toss that keyboard out the window just yet. Here’s an inside look at the places where the best sources hide out.

* Associations

Y’know that Yellow Pages ad that goes, “If it’s not in here, it probably doesn’t exist”? Well, if there’s not an association dedicated to it, it probably doesn’t exist, either. From the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor to the Thumb Wrestling Association, if more than three people have done it, they’ve most likely formed an association for it.

It’s the job of associations to promote its industry and members, and many keep lists of media-friendly members who can serve as experts. As someone who writes often about nutrition and fitness, I’ve gotten plenty of sources from the American Dietetic Association and the American Council on Exercise. When I wrote an article about sleep snafus, I found my expert through the National Sleep Foundation. When I was working on a piece that included information about salt, I contacted the Salt Institute.

To find these groups, do a Google search on “association” or “organization” plus the topic you’re working on, such as “automobile.” You can also search the directory on the American Society of Association Executives Web site: www.asaenet.org. When you find an appropriate association, call and ask for the media relations or public relations department; be aware, though, that some smaller associations may not have these departments. In that case, you can ask the receptionist who would be the best person to help you.

* Expert Source Sites

Yearbook.com and ProfNet are sites whose mission is to connect journalists with experts. Yearbook.com lets you search for sources by topic and is a quick, easy resource. ProfNet does the same, and it also lets you send out a call for sources (what ProfNet confusingly calls a “query”) to its thousands of members, which include hospitals, think tanks, businesses, government agencies, PR firms, and more. The only drawback is that to use ProfNet, you have to register (it’s free) — and to register, you have to be a published journalist.

Don’t forget that experts and PR people are regular joes, too, and that they can be good sources for people-on-the-street anecdotes. I once sent out a ProfNet query requesting women in their 20s through 40s who had a diet problem they’d like solved — and ended up with two excellent sources.

* Newspapers and Magazines

When you’re browsing newspapers and magazines, keep your eyes open for sources who can serve as experts for your own articles. After I sold an article on perfectionism, I ran across an article on the same topic in another magazine. One of the sources had just come out with a book on the topic, so I contacted her and scored an interview. If I hadn’t read that article, I would probably never had heard of the author. Just be sure that the source isn’t over-exposed in the media — you don’t want to interview someone whose smiling face is beaming out of every other magazine on the stands.

* Amazon.com

Book authors make great sources, and you can find many of them on Amazon.com. For example, when I was writing an article on resilience, I searched on Amazon.com for books with different permutations of the word “resilience” in the title, such as “resilient” and “resiliency.” Score! I ended up interviewing two book authors I found this way.

Once you find an author you’d like to interview, try searching on Google for the author’s name — you may turn up her Web site, which will likely include an e-mail address. Many writers register their own names as Web domains, so try surfing to www.authorsname.com as well. Contacting the author directly is often faster than going through the publisher.

If your searching turns up zip, contact the publisher of the book, which you can usually find online. Ask for the PR or media relations department, and tell the rep that you’d like to interview author X. As a bonus, he may send you a copy of the book gratis!

* Universities

Universities are teeming with experts whose heads are bursting with all sorts of facts and figures. Need a doctor? Try Harvard Medical School. Have a question about public policy? Try the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. To contact universities that can help you, visit the Newswise Contact Directory and use the pull-down menu to select a subject ranging from agriculture to technology.

* Online Discussion Groups

Somewhere, online, are groups of people who gather to talk about the very topic you’re covering. A quick post can net you a bunch of willing sources. For example, if you’re looking for a mom to interview, you can post on a forum catering to mothers. Need a teen with Type II diabetes? Try an online diabetes support forum.

You can also e-mail individual posters who look like they would make good sources for your article. My husband, for example, has e-mailed members of the online forum BoardGameGeek.com and the Yahoo! group Spielfreaks for articles he’s written for Games and Knucklebones magazines.

To find these groups, try doing a Google search on “discussion” or “forum” plus the topic you’re researching, such as “fitness.” You can also seek out e-mail discussion lists on Yahoo! Groups and Google Groups.

One caveat: Some groups don’t look kindly upon journalists who pop in to ask for sources, and you may be flamed into oblivion if you try. Check to see if the group has a special section for off-topic or media-related posts. If not, e-mail the list or forum owner and ask his or her permission to post your request.

* Online Writers’ Groups

Recently I needed to interview a podiatrist for a martial arts magazine. I contacted several associations and clinics, but apparently I didn’t rate a response. Desperate, I posted on the Freelance Success Forum (www.freelancesuccess.com/forum), which plays host to a large group of professional writers. Within a few hours, my fellow writers had sent me contact information for three media-friendly podiatrists.

Another writers’ group that encourages the sharing of sources is the Absolutewrite.com Water Cooler. Freelance Success costs about $90 per year; AbsoluteWrite is free.

* Your Inner Circle

Your neighbors are helpful when you need to borrow a cup of sugar, and friends and family come in handy when you need someone to watch Fido while you’re on vacation. But did you know that your inner circle can be a goldmine of experts as well? If they don’t fit the bill for your article, chances are they’ll know someone who does.

A few years ago, I needed to talk to an appliance expert for an article for Woman’s Day. It just so happened that my mom had worked in the appliance department of Sears for 15 years, and she steered me to someone there who could help. And recently, I was seeking women who tend to soak up other peoples’ emotions for a self-help article. I sent a mass e-mail to all my friends and acquaintances, and within a day or so I was in contact with friends-of-friends who could relate.

Build your list now, before you’re desperate for a source. Include the e-mail addresses of your friends, acquaintances, family members, and fellow writers. When you’re in frantic-search mode, you can zap off a mass e-mail describing what you’re looking for. Just be sure not to e-mail too often — you don’t want to be a pest — and use the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) function on your e-mail so the recipients’ addresses stay private.

Follow these tips and you’ll soon become such a source-sleuth extraordinaire that you won’t even blink when an editor asks you to interview a 42-year-old deer-hunting vegetarian who collects stamps. (Think it won’t happen? Just wait.)