While Rob McGibbon is not writing books or developing other projects, he is busy working as a freelance journalist. Since leaving The Sun in 1990, he has written countless articles on a breadth of subjects for a range of publications – from broadsheet newspapers such as The Daily Telegraph to the News of the World and The Sun.
Rob has principally concentrated on celebrity interviews and has profiled a cross-section of leading stars from the worlds of film, television, sport and music. He has also gained widespread coverage for various human interest stories.
Although Rob has worked for quality newspapers and magazines, he has developed a strength for writing high profile celebrity interviews for the tabloids. This market is widely considered the most sensitive for any celebrity, but Rob has earned a reputation for safely bridging the gap between the subject and the publication.
Rob says:
“Being a freelance journalist is great because you have an open brief. I can write about anything that holds my interest, but I wouldn’t say it is an easy job. There is always a degree of insecurity because you are self-employed, but I balance that with the freedom it gives. The key is self-motivation and I maintain a disciplined work code. If I didn’t keep to that, I would be lost.
“I enjoy having two dimensions to my work – books and freelancing. I spent all of the 1990s writing celebrity books and had some very good successes. I developed a knack for picking the groups that would be big long before anyone else had heard of them. I have decided to move away from that area now and I am developing other book ideas.
“With newspaper and magazine interviews, I always look at the long game. I want to maintain contact with a celebrity and interview them many times, not just once. The only way to do that is to earn their trust by doing a good, honest job. I always aim to write an article that gives the celebrity good publicity with no problems and one that also gives a newspaper a worthwhile story to publish. This is not as easy as it sounds!”