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.Many General Interest, Men's and Women's publications also publish articles in these areas" (p.607).Howto audiotapes and videotapes are also popular, with these evolving from articles and books on personal development subjects (exercise and stress management), sports subjects (golf and tennis), and personal finance (real estate and stock market investments).Page 349Lists as Service FeaturesIt is not unusual to find standalone lists in contemporary newspapers, magazines, and newsletters.However, you can enhance your service feature by combining the best of the narrative article and a listing.The listing thus becomes a sidebar or remains a major portion or purpose for the article.These approaches are often given titles such as "10 Richest Women in the State" or "Five Steps to Losing Weight Overnight." Newspapers such as USA Today have capitalized on the curiosity aroused in readers by such lists.Combining the USA Today staff talent for inviting graphics, these lists often are provided as a visual feature for readers.To be successful at listings, you have to have a creative energy for research.Compiling lists often requires multiple sources in different locations.At other times, information may be found in one place.Listings must also be current and timely.To provide the service to readers, they must be given the most recent and current information available from the most authoritative sources.Therefore, your list is also the most accurate.Newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and online publications that publish listings are often considered authoritative sources on their own and find their published lists cited and reproduced elsewhere.The Chicago Tribune, for example, has recently placed more emphasis on kidsoriented feature content in the newspaper.Editors are aiming at the "tween" ages of nine through 14 in particular.Each Monday, the newspaper devotes a portion of every major section of the newspaper to kids' news.As part of this coverage, kidsoriented articles explain current events, offer advice, provide lists of information, and provide a number of other services not found elsewhere in the newspaper.Among the lists commonly used are those that give readers, both young and adult, ideas for things to do during the week.List information is used in many different ways.Readers like to keep them, turning them into "refrigerator features" that are clipped and stuck on the refrigerator door with a magnet or piece of tape.Some lists can become publicity sources for the publication, too.For example, many morning drivetime radio program announcers like to pick unusual listed feature information out of their local newspaper or news magazine to read to their audiences (e.g., David Letterman lists, best or worstdressed lists, and topattended movies of the past weekend).Most standalone lists are short and to the point.These are usually a top 10 or top 12.Too much information is usually not retained norPage 350read in listed form.Thus, a brief list of the top 10 busiest airports might be appealing, but a top 100 becomes useless and overly thorough unless it is part of a major project or a complete list of all the elements in a group and the detail is necessary.Most published lists are presented in tabular form.Tables are quick and easy to read.Paragraphed information of the same kind is just not as easily skimmed and understood.ArtofLiving ArticlesArticles such as selfhelp or selfimprovement are part of a broader category of service articles called artofliving articles.These have been made popular by their regularity in widely read publications such as Reader's Digest.Artofliving articles can be an easy market for beginning feature writers, says Reader's Digest senior staff editor Philip Barry Osborne (1987).These articles include features that are inspirational narratives and essays, inspirational essays on faith and religion, and selfhelp articles.Inspirational and motivational features are also a type of humaninterest feature and were discussed at some length in chapter 6.As you may recall, inspirational narratives and essays tell stories with a message to readers.The main difference is in approach.Narratives are chronological, whereas essays are in essence dealing with philosophy and ''feel." These are "good" stories about people that make readers feel better after finishing them.Inspirational essays on faith and religion are not always sermons; these are, instead, articles on worship, personal revelation, prayer and meditation, and love.As Osborne points out, these can vary greatly in length as much as in topic.Osborne offers five tips for artofliving articles:1.Guard against overwriting.Do not get too ornamental or exquisite in your writing."[T]hink more in terms of creating a small, delicate watercolor, rather than a giant oil painting," he advised (p.22).2.Steep yourself in what you're writing about.Simple themes, he says, require much more than simple or superficial research.3.Pinpoint your lesson or message.This is a fundamental requirement, so give the article what Reader's Digest editors call a "takeaway"—some theme that readers can take with them upon finishing the article.Page 3514.Sharpen your eye for the telling anecdote.These articles are about people, so use anecdotes.In fact, anecdotes can become the entire basis for an article.5.Don't be afraid of ghosting.Writing under someone else's name is acceptable at Reader's Digest because artofliving stories are best told in first person.Thus, write for experts who cannot do it themselves, he says.Chronological Case HistoriesYou can often learn easiest from example.This is where chronological case histories—some writers also call them "case summaries"—enter the category of service feature writing
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