by Rachel Smith
29 August 2018
I’m new to freelancing and writing in general (having come from another industry and job altogether). I’m managing to get a nice flow of work but I do struggle sometimes to find experts and sources, and specific case studies I need for stories. Can you help? Anon
There are lots of places to find experts and sources for stories, locally and overseas. I’m guessing you are based in Australia and are looking for local suggestions, so here are are a few great ‘call-out’ outlets to get you started! I also recommend starting a file of case studies and experts, which can save you a lot of time if you write on similar topics a lot. (Shameless plug: we have an expert tracker in our Toolkit which may help if you did want to start your own mini database of people you can access quickly.)
ExpertGuide.com.auGreat for locating academics and PR departments based at universities. There are thousands of experts on this site and you can search multiple ways and pluck the expert out of a list (if they’re on there, you’ll get a link straight to their profile with contact details). If you’d prefer to do a blast out to experts in a certain field, like economics and finance, innovation or childcare, you can do it via the ‘Ask An Expert’ feature. You’ll also find links to specific unis where you can search for experts if you google ‘Find and expert’ – pretty much every university in Australia has an expert database you can search.
A great tool started by veteran PR professional Bec Derrington, Sourcebottle can be invaluable for finding experts and case studies FAST. They do two newsletters at day – at 10am and 2pm – so get your call-out in there before those times and you’ll have responses almost immediately. Be warned, though, call-outs on some topics can also clog your inbox with irrelevant offers and requests to write your story for you (!) as one journo warned me. Hasn’t happened to me personally, but be aware!
Social DiaryThis subscription site sends out daily newsletters to its thousands of PR members and is happy to list ‘Editorial Opps’ for journalists. I’ve used it with great success to find everything from products for a parenting guide, to health case studies. Only hassle is you can’t list it yourself on the site, you have to send them an email.
PR guru Linda Reed-Enever started Media Connections years ago as a way to connect journos with PRs. You just click on ‘send a call-out’ to post to the database – it’s good for interviews, photo opportunities, products and more.
If you’re a travel writer, you can send a journalist alert on TravMedia for assistance with trips. I haven’t done any travel writing for a little while so I haven’t used it recently, but this is a very solid network and a great resource for travel journos.
Press LoftThis site is packed with brands and PRs and is great for lifestyle journos and particularly, those who specialise in interiors. You can place a ‘journalist request’ to source experts, images, products and more in a range of categories from beauty to parenting, tech to fitness, fashion, mens and women’s interest and more.
If you’ve got a decent following, it never hurts to do a quick post saying you’re writing X and looking for Y. I’d always throw it on Twitter and LinkedIn and then see if my FB friends could help. You can also look for specific Facebook groups as well – say, if you’re writing a piece on vintage cars, you’ll find at least three groups with thousands of members. Always worth going via admin with your request though, as some have strict rules about journalists / media requests.
Sending an email to your nearest and dearest can be a great way to drum up case studies for various stories.
Hope that helps!
Listers – have I missed any? Feel free to share your favourite ways to source experts and case studies in the comments.
I use Flaunter (flaunter.com) too, which is similar to Press Loft, but with different clients and more of a fashion focus. Both of these sites are great because you can use them to source product images, which is getting more and more common when supplying copy to both editorial and marketing clients.
Hadn’t heard of that one Lynne – thanks! I’ll check it out. There’s also Women’s Network Australia which has a great database of female entrepreneurs you can do call-outs too, but their new website doesn’t have functionality to do it anymore, so I’m just finding out how they accept call-outs (I’m guessing by email).