“You’re going to end up selling your typewriter so you can eat!” was the warning Margaret Snyder’s parents gave her when she told them she was going to pursue a career as a writer. That was over 30 years ago, and Margaret is happy to report that while her career has taken some interesting turns, she has always found a paying writing project waiting around the next corner.
“I’ve been really lucky,” she says. “I’ve been given incredible opportunities.” Margaret explains that early in her career, she worked for Western Publishing in Racine, makers of Little Golden Books. Her work at Western led her to make contacts in a number of children’s entertainment companies like Disney, Lucasfilm, Mattel, Warner Brothers and Children’s Television Workshop. “When I left Western, these companies reached out to me to write stories for them. For a big part of my life, I was writing about three children’s books a month.”
Margaret says that a few things led her to get out of children’s writing and move into advertising. “For one, my kids grew up and it became harder to stay current with all of the new children’s programming. The second thing is, many of my clients started asking me to focus more on new product development and writing packaging and marketing copy.” That’s when Margaret discovered how much she loved the challenge of developing copy and concepts for print ads. “I believe that a good print ad is like a form of art. When you can choose just the right words and just the right image to create an emotional reaction in seconds, it’s unbelievably satisfying,” she says.
That interest in creating emotional pieces is what led Margaret to join Saturn Lounge in late 2019. She says that while she enjoys writing marketing copy of all kinds, she feels happiest writing pieces directed at consumers. “Saturn has a great mix of B2B and B2C clients,” she says. “I typically have more fun with the consumer pieces and that balances the research and discipline I often have to put into materials for B2B.”
Here’s a quick Q & A with Margaret, so you can learn a little bit more about her.
Q: What’s the funniest thing that happened to you in children’s publishing?
A: I was working with Stevie Wonder’s team on a Sound Book that featured him as the main character, but as a young boy. I was asked to write a fictional story about an adventure he had with his friends. Somehow, I managed to forget he was blind, and I had him riding a bicycle throughout the story.
Q: And how did that turn out?
A: It was great. Although it was embarrassing for me, he wasn’t mad. He said people didn’t typically forget he was blind, so we laughed about it, and he just had me edit the story to put him on the back of a tandem bike with a friend.
Q: What is your super power?
A: Concentration. People laugh when they see me when I’m absorbed in writing. Hours can pass, and I never look up.
Q: Do you have a favorite writer?
A: I do. I love to read anything written by one of my kids. That view into how their brains work and knowing I had some role in shaping them makes me incredibly happy.
Q: You’re known in the office as someone who likes snacks. Do you have a favorite?
A: There are so many! Red licorice is definitely at the top.
Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
A: I honestly hope to be living in Maine either full-time or part-time. And I hope I’m still writing, just not as much. If things worked out perfectly, I’d be hiking half the day and writing the other half. That would make for a really nice balance.