I've posted twice about how I need to write differently to succeed at website content writing and questioning the worthwhileness of writing for content websites because 6 months of doing so has not proven to earn much in way of compensation--in fact, I made less this month than I did my second month, disproving the theory that quantity is everything (considering that I now have 50 articles online versus a mere handful at month 2). And after a few days mulling a few things around in my head, I've come to a different take on the entire situation than my last 2 posts revealed.
My first reaction was to consider how I could get better results writing for Triond websites, where I currently write. But then it occurred to me that I could switch and write for another content website company. I did some research--just as I did when I began the whole enterprise. And again, I landed on Suite101 as a place of interest. I didn't go their route initially because I just wasn't confident that I could manage writing 10 articles every 3 months, their requirement. Now that I've been writing for over 6 months, I know I've output more than 10 in that time span, so I reconsidered.
What pushed me to consider other companies is page rank. I am not earning well on articles, despite serious change about how I do SEO research and am smart about keywords and tags. It all comes down to PageRank: Triond websites' are low--because they are not viewed as professional websites like Suite101, which has a good PageRank of 7. So all this time I've been writing articles that rarely ever showing up on the first page when anyone does a google search. I have improved where they fall in the list, but I've done all I can do; I can't compete any higher because of the PageRank of Triond sites. To become more findable on the web, I need to publish with a more reputable network of sites. And yes, this comes with more professionalism, more requirements, etc.
I almost applied to Suite101 the other night. But I hesitated. What's my goal anyway? Yes, writers on Suite101 do much better than Triond writers. But a reasonable expectation of making $1 a month per article is still not worth my time. Plus, I had to add in how much longer it'd take to write articles with more scrutinizing editors, more restrictive topic choices, and the style/length requirements. In the end, I'm not sure I want to be obligated to write 10 articles a month "their " way just to see if I make a little more $ than I currently am. And it's not smart to put myself into a contract like that when my reality is my one son went on a napping strike for a month this summer, during which I wrote very little. I am still in a very unpredictable land as far as my alone time goes.
Jumping ship and signing with a new publisher might be a good investment if I wanted to focus on online content. But my real goal is print magazines and their guaranteed fees (thought the process is so looong). What I like about writing for Triond is the freedom to write about whatever I want. I think I should stick with that--using online publishing as sort of my indulgence to write whatever I want, and then chance it that it'll get anywhere and maybe make some $ incidentally. Online content writing, for me, can't have attached to it the goal to make money, primarily. My niches just aren't money makers in the searchable sense, nor is my time enough to do better really well.
So time has proved not to change much, except to have refined my goals a bit.
Articles I've published recently through Triond:
Kids with Adequate Calcium Intake Less Likely to Become Obese in Adulthood?
Skirts for Trucks: More Than One Way to Increase Fuel Mileage
Governments Issue Warnings and Restrictions for Kids' Mobile Phone Use
Switching Systems: From Cloth Diapers to Disposables or The Reverse
Monday, September 27, 2010
How to Be a Better Match for Website Content Writing
Ok, in my last blog entry, I concluded that online content writing that pays through ad revenue isn’t the best match for me. I think I understand why now.
- Many of the articles I write are too well researched, and too time consuming to make it worth my while in this type of venue. My stuff on kindergarten readiness, the US school system's push to get kids to read before brain development is where it needs to be and learning issues as a consequence are examples of that pitfall.
2. Shorter is better in the online format. Many short articles earn better than one long one—you reach more people that way. Also, people getting articles thru social networking media, etc. aren’t likely invested enough to want to consume a lengthy piece of journalism. But it takes me LONGER to write a short article. Shortening my work to fit the online article consumer’s attention span takes me longer than I should really spend, and longer than I have, in the reality of my stay-at-home-mom life where writing is stuffed into the seams of my day.
So if I’m going to succeed and not just feel like the system abused me, taking many good, quality articles in return for chump change, I’ve got to change how I write for them.
- Cut down on the time invested in each article. It’s getting me just a little extra monthly income, so I should only be putting in a little extra writing.
- Write only what comes easily--I must if I am to use less time. If I need to do a lot research in order to write it, then it’s not an article I should publish through Triond or Xomba. If, however, I’m already learning about something, my brain is engaged, and the research is not “extra” and just for the purpose of writing the article, then I could write about it for a content website.
I think I recently did this successfully, twice. I read about two different topics in my interest zone, and seeing the info was not online already, but only in my grad school alumni magazine, I decided they were good topics others would be interested in: autism and green tea’s benefits. I did do a quick search on the CDC’s website for some statistics about Autism to write the one article, but otherwise, I did not put in any significant time into research.
- Leave it long or consider breaking it into two—but taking the time to cut it to be more concise is not always in my best interest. (Unless it is burdensomely long through lazy writing, in which case I should just cut my losses and leave it unpublished.) Shortening articles often takes me MORE TIME than writing it in the first place!
- If there’s something I really want to write and the effort it’d require goes against all my wise restrictions to guard my time and not sell myself out, I may publish it through online websites anyway if I really believe, altruistically, that the info just needs to be out there. I once realized an aspect of my writing was really becoming public service—like my article on when miscarriage turns out to be labor. I believe so strongly an article on that needed to be on the internet, because that is where I searched and searched for answers when it happened to me, and I could find nothing. For similar reasons, I recently wrote a series of articles on vulvodynia—how treatments were like throwing darts in the dark, what natural alternatives are available, how it destroys marriages, and how for so long it was treated as a psychiatric disorder. Because there just is not a lot of coverage on it, I felt the need to fill the gap.
Ok, maybe I'll give it another whirl, reducing the time I spend in this type of publishing, to give more time to traditional print magazines.
Some people say they do really well in this type of freelancing. Below is an article written by an online writer friend about all the different venues that pay to write. If it works, great, but I have to challenge myself to reevaluate constantly. When you get only a couple hours to write a day, the time is too precious to waste!
30 sites to write and earn: http://www.xomba.com/where_you_can_write_and_blog_30_sites_make_money_web
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Goodbye to Website Content Writing?
I’m revamping my strategy for trying to publish both in traditional markets as well as online content websites. I remind myself I started the online stuff just to fill time while I was waiting for responses from traditional print magazines—I just had so much energy, so much to say, and was getting impatient. Well, the circumstances that prompted me to write for the websites have changed.
Three or four months in, I thought I was beginning to see the potential for income that comes from viewers of the online articles clicking on ads (all revenue is solely based on advertising revenue). I saw how one article getting wide circulation really did add up to some cash. But now that I’d got a full six months and fifty articles under my belt, I’ve never seen that replicate itself with any other of my articles. I know it takes two years to really see whether it was worthwhile or not, as it take an average of that long for articles to garner enough views to be worth anything—but the skeptical side of me realizes that if views remain steady on my 49 articles as they have been, I’ll still be making less mere dollars per article! The optimistic side of me could expect other articles to take off, like my disposable diaper ingredients article, and get over 6,700 views (most of them in 2 weeks). But the painful truth is that as a writer, I have little to no power over that. Yes, I can find out in the research to choose the best tags and keywords that advertisers and web searchers are interested in, and I can create quality articles to keep people reading, but aside from that, I can’t duplicate what made one article of mine soar: post it inside private forums and other websites where people interested in that topic GO TO for information. If I do it, it’s called spamming, and highly lacking integrity, turning people off from clicking my link. When others do it, it’s magic. But a magic I have almost no control over manufacturing.
When I started getting somewhere with traditional magazines, and took a break from online writing to focus on other articles, I contemplated needing to divide my time between the two more appropriately. It occurred to me, that if I wanted to really know which was more profitable, I should write an online pay-from-ads article only as often as I write a query letter or article for a paying print magazine, then after two years, evaluate. True, it would be the way to go if my most important need was comparison. But in the end it isn’t. My most important need is to build a publishing resume in national magazines and get paid! My first paycheck for one magazine article paid me nearly four times what I’ve earned through all online ventures in six months. (But again I know it's not really fair--I can only guestimate what my online articles could earn over the next 2 or 4 years.)
A guiding principal I’ve used so far is what I think I’ll be falling back on: Write what you have the energy to write. (I heard that from a financial planner, who spoke of it in terms of doing whichever strategy gives you energy—if paying off student loans fast gives you more energy, then you’ll go further with that in the long run than if you started saving for retirement half-heartedly, unenthusiastically, and not committed enough to stick with it.)
Believe it or not, I’m trying to be “less disciplined.” I’ve realized I will likely do better in the end if I follow my instincts and interests. Yes, money is a motivator if you're trying to generate income, but I can't make it my only guiding principle. That even goes for choosing between writing for magazines that pay small or moderate fees versus ones that pay better. writing for lower paying markets, because if I churn out three articles I enjoyed writing, even though I am paid less on each, the total is better than groaning, plodding, to get through an article on something that pains me to write, but I discipline myself to do it just because it pays more.
So I’m going to apply this to my online content writing: if I really want to write about something, and it’s practically writing itself in my head as I shower, brush kids' teeth and drive to the grocery store, I should just write it and get it out of my system. (This is how a number of my articles came to be--they pestered me: one about new breast cancer research, all my articles related to Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, a rebuttal of Pampers' grossly misleading Myths and Facts page, and many others.) If I cannot find a print magazine interested in publishing it, then I can publish it online thru a content website. So yes, in some ways, the online content websites are sort of my default publishers (not always, but you can see how it is becoming so).
I’m definitely cutting back on the time I spend in the website content writing, and focus instead on the magazines. This is a change from a few months ago when I was pouring significant energy into the websites. But it’s just not worth it right now, and may never be (though it will truly take time to tell). But I want a portfolio and paychecks. Though it takes months, even years, to get articles through traditional publishers, I think this is the best route for me to focus on. So here I mark my shift of energy away from online to print writing.
PS I may also use website content writing as a way to deal with writer's block on magazine pieces!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
We Were Given Bodies; On Juggling Communication Media and Kids
I recently read a magazine article (Relevant) that kept applauding me at turns because I, part of this era of decreasing-attention-spans, had managed to stick with a print article that long. And I have to admit, with much sadness, that the writer's tactic worked--I did keep reading because it was almost a dare and I wanted to prove to myself that I was not one of "those" people always rushing, preferring all their information in tidy, truncated bites, with the inability/lack of desire to read what was once a standard article-length.
I tell myself I scan and only partially read media these days because I am a writer myself and I don't have time to read anything unnecessary if I am ever to get to writing myself! I tell myself I speed-read, especially anything online, because I prioritize my real life time (time with my family, friends and my time writing and reading books). But however I rationalize it, it's still true. I am just the type of consumer who's shrinking attention span is changing (and has been changed by) technology and online reading in general.
I started reading the article because the title and thesis interested me--the question about what our online time is doing to our lives. It's increasingly dividing us--into a body and a mind. Our bodies occupy a space, with our kids, significant others, friends or co-workers, and yet we are not present with them--or at least not entirely. Our mind is somewhere else, interacting with a computer screen, phone or other handheld media device.
I've read articles before about how it affects kids when a parent is constantly interfacing with some technology instead of giving the attention in the place and time their body exists in. But never had I thought of it in this very philosophical light. That overuse and addiction to communication media and social networks divides us in two--to the tune of a worldwide phenomenon.
This is a constant struggle for me, trying to work from home as a freelance writer. I began, saying staunchly that I'd write only when the kids were napping or sleeping. But in the mere 7 months since I've begun, sleeping patterns of kids have changed multiple times, as well as the schedules of my husband or myself. My writing time, as once strictly defined, sometimes disappears and I start stealing more and more online time for research, or writing time, during times of the days when I think my kids are otherwise engaged. And then too it becomes a crutch--a favorite video can give me time to write, etc. It's a slippery slope and then you realize you've been online, at least intermittently, all day, your kids are still in pajamas and you've not once been outside on a warm summer day.
I love writing. That's my problem. I consider it a great privilege to be a stay-at-home mom. I consider it a privilege too that what I do is something that can be done, at least very part-time, from home. But I think it will always be a struggle. Launching into writing has made me use social networking sites as part of my marketing and publishing. I've been drawn into that whole thing much more than I ever expected to be. It's a constant struggle to draw and then redraw boundaries for myself. I strive to continually make the unapologetic choice to put raising my kids first, and writing always has been something I do if I can fit it in.
I have to remember God gave me a body for a reason. He made me to be corporeal and limited to particular physical space because HE INTENDS ME TO BE THERE and interacting. We were made for relationship. No matter how much good I see come from relationships built and strengthened through social media, no matter how much good it gives anyone to read something I wrote, the primary relationships, for which no one else or any media or technology can never compensate, are the ones with the people in my house!
I'm not willing to trade my kids' first years in to daycare workers to go to work, as long as I have a choice. I do not then want to trade their first years in to the tv, loneliness, neglect at the hand of the facade of a mom who glances at them, distracted, glassy-eyed and glued to a screen. And all because she wanted to write "just a little bit longer."
I have cut back on writing, as daily facebook-visiting-friends may have noticed. What I have published is really stuff I wrote weeks/months before and only now just published, such as:
Governments Issue Warnings and Restrictions for Kids' Mobile Phone Use
Sleeping Tips to Give Your Child Restorative, Restful Sleep
I tell myself I scan and only partially read media these days because I am a writer myself and I don't have time to read anything unnecessary if I am ever to get to writing myself! I tell myself I speed-read, especially anything online, because I prioritize my real life time (time with my family, friends and my time writing and reading books). But however I rationalize it, it's still true. I am just the type of consumer who's shrinking attention span is changing (and has been changed by) technology and online reading in general.
I started reading the article because the title and thesis interested me--the question about what our online time is doing to our lives. It's increasingly dividing us--into a body and a mind. Our bodies occupy a space, with our kids, significant others, friends or co-workers, and yet we are not present with them--or at least not entirely. Our mind is somewhere else, interacting with a computer screen, phone or other handheld media device.
I've read articles before about how it affects kids when a parent is constantly interfacing with some technology instead of giving the attention in the place and time their body exists in. But never had I thought of it in this very philosophical light. That overuse and addiction to communication media and social networks divides us in two--to the tune of a worldwide phenomenon.
This is a constant struggle for me, trying to work from home as a freelance writer. I began, saying staunchly that I'd write only when the kids were napping or sleeping. But in the mere 7 months since I've begun, sleeping patterns of kids have changed multiple times, as well as the schedules of my husband or myself. My writing time, as once strictly defined, sometimes disappears and I start stealing more and more online time for research, or writing time, during times of the days when I think my kids are otherwise engaged. And then too it becomes a crutch--a favorite video can give me time to write, etc. It's a slippery slope and then you realize you've been online, at least intermittently, all day, your kids are still in pajamas and you've not once been outside on a warm summer day.
I love writing. That's my problem. I consider it a great privilege to be a stay-at-home mom. I consider it a privilege too that what I do is something that can be done, at least very part-time, from home. But I think it will always be a struggle. Launching into writing has made me use social networking sites as part of my marketing and publishing. I've been drawn into that whole thing much more than I ever expected to be. It's a constant struggle to draw and then redraw boundaries for myself. I strive to continually make the unapologetic choice to put raising my kids first, and writing always has been something I do if I can fit it in.
I have to remember God gave me a body for a reason. He made me to be corporeal and limited to particular physical space because HE INTENDS ME TO BE THERE and interacting. We were made for relationship. No matter how much good I see come from relationships built and strengthened through social media, no matter how much good it gives anyone to read something I wrote, the primary relationships, for which no one else or any media or technology can never compensate, are the ones with the people in my house!
I'm not willing to trade my kids' first years in to daycare workers to go to work, as long as I have a choice. I do not then want to trade their first years in to the tv, loneliness, neglect at the hand of the facade of a mom who glances at them, distracted, glassy-eyed and glued to a screen. And all because she wanted to write "just a little bit longer."
I have cut back on writing, as daily facebook-visiting-friends may have noticed. What I have published is really stuff I wrote weeks/months before and only now just published, such as:
Governments Issue Warnings and Restrictions for Kids' Mobile Phone Use
Sleeping Tips to Give Your Child Restorative, Restful Sleep
Saturday, September 11, 2010
My First "On Spec" Writing Assignment for a Magazine
Months ago I reveled in getting the editor of one of my favorite magazines, Mothering, corresponding with me! I sent a standard query letter for my idea on an article topic, and after two months, she sent back a reply that they were interested in the topic. I was given the first go-ahead for an "on spec' writing assignment. There was no guarantee they'd buy it, but I had gotten their attention.
Now this was not my first attempt--with that idea or with that magazine. I'd already sent a manuscript to Mothering about four months ago, a birth narrative essay, and the response was a gracious no; so I re-sent it out and Midwifery Today is publishing that essay in its next issue, which has since been published.
So I embarked on writing up the idea as I described and ran into a couple roadblocks. One, I found in writing it that I came to something of a different conclusion than I expected, which changed the flavor of the piece as I originally described it. Secondly, I became aware of two completely different ways I could handle it and wasn't sure which the magazine would prefer. I ended up writing it two ways--one as a more philosophical personal essay, and the second more as a typical collection of interviews from other moms sharing their stories on the topic. I wrote an email asking for a little more direction, and the response I got, after I'd already written my two drafts, told me the second approach was more what the editor was looking for.
I sent it in, and for a long time ( a number of weeks) just waited to hear if they likde it, if it's what matches their vision for the magazine, etc. I tried not to let myself second guess every decision I make, thinking with the lapse of time that maybe I should have been softer or harder on the view presented, if I should have structured it differently, if my voice should have been different, etc.
The final answer was no, a short, to the point decision with no explanation. I was quit brash and emailed a request, respectfully asking that if the answer was simple and short, if they could let me know if it was the content or style that influenced their decision (since I already knew the topic was of interest.) I didn't really expect a response, and I got none. I do know from the other side of the editing desk how pressed for time an editor is, and even as much as one might want to help a writer, the time to do so just slips away--no, is eaten away by a fierce pit bull! However, I now know it is harder to take a rejection on a "on spec" article than any other unsolicited manuscript--to have gotten so far in communication with an editor, knowing you've succeeded in getting their attention, it all makes it seem so much more possible--then the rejection is worse because you were so close to success. But I have a theory about rejection, a view of my own purpose as a writer, which helps me handle rejection pretty well I think.
As a potentially better ending to the article's story, I did send it to another magazine, and that editor asked if she could keep it on hand for four months, for consideration in the next issue. And after having fretted about my style being the cause for it's previous rejection, this editor said she "liked my style." That's encouraging.
Articles I've written which I really like (compared to my others):
Fast Food, Junk Food and Obesity Subsidized by Federal Government
When Miscarriage Means Labor
Governments Issue Warnings and Restrictions for Kids' Mobile Phone Use
The Cell Phone/cigarette Analogy
Breast Cancer Less About Genetics Than We Used to Think
Transferring Your Values About Sex to Your Kids: Timing and Definitions are Key
Now this was not my first attempt--with that idea or with that magazine. I'd already sent a manuscript to Mothering about four months ago, a birth narrative essay, and the response was a gracious no; so I re-sent it out and Midwifery Today is publishing that essay in its next issue, which has since been published.
So I embarked on writing up the idea as I described and ran into a couple roadblocks. One, I found in writing it that I came to something of a different conclusion than I expected, which changed the flavor of the piece as I originally described it. Secondly, I became aware of two completely different ways I could handle it and wasn't sure which the magazine would prefer. I ended up writing it two ways--one as a more philosophical personal essay, and the second more as a typical collection of interviews from other moms sharing their stories on the topic. I wrote an email asking for a little more direction, and the response I got, after I'd already written my two drafts, told me the second approach was more what the editor was looking for.
I sent it in, and for a long time ( a number of weeks) just waited to hear if they likde it, if it's what matches their vision for the magazine, etc. I tried not to let myself second guess every decision I make, thinking with the lapse of time that maybe I should have been softer or harder on the view presented, if I should have structured it differently, if my voice should have been different, etc.
The final answer was no, a short, to the point decision with no explanation. I was quit brash and emailed a request, respectfully asking that if the answer was simple and short, if they could let me know if it was the content or style that influenced their decision (since I already knew the topic was of interest.) I didn't really expect a response, and I got none. I do know from the other side of the editing desk how pressed for time an editor is, and even as much as one might want to help a writer, the time to do so just slips away--no, is eaten away by a fierce pit bull! However, I now know it is harder to take a rejection on a "on spec" article than any other unsolicited manuscript--to have gotten so far in communication with an editor, knowing you've succeeded in getting their attention, it all makes it seem so much more possible--then the rejection is worse because you were so close to success. But I have a theory about rejection, a view of my own purpose as a writer, which helps me handle rejection pretty well I think.
As a potentially better ending to the article's story, I did send it to another magazine, and that editor asked if she could keep it on hand for four months, for consideration in the next issue. And after having fretted about my style being the cause for it's previous rejection, this editor said she "liked my style." That's encouraging.
Articles I've written which I really like (compared to my others):
Fast Food, Junk Food and Obesity Subsidized by Federal Government
When Miscarriage Means Labor
Governments Issue Warnings and Restrictions for Kids' Mobile Phone Use
The Cell Phone/cigarette Analogy
Breast Cancer Less About Genetics Than We Used to Think
Transferring Your Values About Sex to Your Kids: Timing and Definitions are Key
First Success Writing "On Spec" after Query-letter Interest
published August 26 on old blog
It wasn’t the first time a manuscript or a query letter had gotten a magazine editor’s attention. It wasn’t the first time an editor had accepted an article of mine. Or even the first time I’d gotten to exchanging emails with an editor about an idea as I worked on a piece. But it was the first time I’d gotten an editor’s attention through a query letter, one of who-knows-how-many landing on his desk, and then actually sold it after he saw the manuscript. And I sold the story for my substantial sum!
I’ve had multiple query experiences lately, and even gotten to the point of writing on spec for more than one magazine—with no guarantee of course, that they’d buy the piece, just that the idea sounded good. One editor told me my query letter’s subject matter made her cry—she wrote to me within days of my query, and we batted emails around for about a week, until the editorial meeting concluded that the entire staff was not on board featuring my idea in the magazine. I was however encouraged to find a place to publish my “powerful story.”
A positive piece of knowledge is that I know that query letter was effective—I will send it out, to as many magazines as it takes, until I find the right place tp publish the piece. The success I started referring to at the opeing of this post actually wasn’t begun with a query. I sent a manuscript, and though the editor said they weren’t interested in publishing on the topic of breastfeeding at the time, he said they found my writing interesting and ASKED ME if I had any other topics I could write about for them. I felt like I’d been offered candy! I mean, I was just thinking, as I read their gentle turn-down, that if they liked my writing, it would be savvy of me to offer them other ideas and see if I could carve a place for myself. I was surprised, and honored, to have them offer outright!
I listed three ideas in reply, and the funny thing was, I almost didn’t add the third—because I recalled their writer’s guidelines saying they did not want any more articles on that particular topic of women’s health. As I listed that very “unwanted” thing, I didn’t know why I was doing so, yet left it in the list nonetheless. Against all likelihood, I got an email the next day, the editor saying he as in fact interested in that article from me. So I went back to the half finished file I’d begun and quit months ago, spruced it up, and sent it in a matter of days. Hardly more than 24 hours later, the editor mailed me a contract and told me to look for a check in 2-3 weeks!
The amount of that check surprised me too—this magazine had not published their typical payment-per-word, and it was higher than I expected. And the time frame? This was simply unheard of! Perhaps because this magazine, though having started as a traditional print magazine, has switched to an online format, they pay faster because they publish faster, more on their own terms than outside terms.
So because of this success, I try not to take too hard, or personally, the rejections I got the same week. I’m understanding that query letters have so mch to do with getting your foot in the door, but that it’s also about much more—a lot of which has nothing to do with how good I am at my craft. After making an editor respond with tears after reading my writing, I still got turned down cuz it wasn’t quite a direction the magazine wanted to go. So each article that got rejected last week (3), I’ll be sending right back out to other magazines I think may be a better fit. In fact, I already did that with one rejected mss on Friday.
And while I'm thinking how unlikely it was to get an article published on a topic that a magazine said they were expressly NOT INTERESTED in, I'm listing online articles I've written, but almost didn't, because I didn't think there'd be much interest:
It wasn’t the first time a manuscript or a query letter had gotten a magazine editor’s attention. It wasn’t the first time an editor had accepted an article of mine. Or even the first time I’d gotten to exchanging emails with an editor about an idea as I worked on a piece. But it was the first time I’d gotten an editor’s attention through a query letter, one of who-knows-how-many landing on his desk, and then actually sold it after he saw the manuscript. And I sold the story for my substantial sum!
I’ve had multiple query experiences lately, and even gotten to the point of writing on spec for more than one magazine—with no guarantee of course, that they’d buy the piece, just that the idea sounded good. One editor told me my query letter’s subject matter made her cry—she wrote to me within days of my query, and we batted emails around for about a week, until the editorial meeting concluded that the entire staff was not on board featuring my idea in the magazine. I was however encouraged to find a place to publish my “powerful story.”
A positive piece of knowledge is that I know that query letter was effective—I will send it out, to as many magazines as it takes, until I find the right place tp publish the piece. The success I started referring to at the opeing of this post actually wasn’t begun with a query. I sent a manuscript, and though the editor said they weren’t interested in publishing on the topic of breastfeeding at the time, he said they found my writing interesting and ASKED ME if I had any other topics I could write about for them. I felt like I’d been offered candy! I mean, I was just thinking, as I read their gentle turn-down, that if they liked my writing, it would be savvy of me to offer them other ideas and see if I could carve a place for myself. I was surprised, and honored, to have them offer outright!
I listed three ideas in reply, and the funny thing was, I almost didn’t add the third—because I recalled their writer’s guidelines saying they did not want any more articles on that particular topic of women’s health. As I listed that very “unwanted” thing, I didn’t know why I was doing so, yet left it in the list nonetheless. Against all likelihood, I got an email the next day, the editor saying he as in fact interested in that article from me. So I went back to the half finished file I’d begun and quit months ago, spruced it up, and sent it in a matter of days. Hardly more than 24 hours later, the editor mailed me a contract and told me to look for a check in 2-3 weeks!
The amount of that check surprised me too—this magazine had not published their typical payment-per-word, and it was higher than I expected. And the time frame? This was simply unheard of! Perhaps because this magazine, though having started as a traditional print magazine, has switched to an online format, they pay faster because they publish faster, more on their own terms than outside terms.
So because of this success, I try not to take too hard, or personally, the rejections I got the same week. I’m understanding that query letters have so mch to do with getting your foot in the door, but that it’s also about much more—a lot of which has nothing to do with how good I am at my craft. After making an editor respond with tears after reading my writing, I still got turned down cuz it wasn’t quite a direction the magazine wanted to go. So each article that got rejected last week (3), I’ll be sending right back out to other magazines I think may be a better fit. In fact, I already did that with one rejected mss on Friday.
And while I'm thinking how unlikely it was to get an article published on a topic that a magazine said they were expressly NOT INTERESTED in, I'm listing online articles I've written, but almost didn't, because I didn't think there'd be much interest:
Part 2: Writing from Personal Tragedy
published August 16 on old blog
Part 1 talked about how my miscarriage labor experience fueled me to start writing again, though it took four years after the experience. (Click here to read that part.) In this second part I talk about the different, unexpected ways its led me to writing opportunities.
There are so many angles to the stories of my miscarriage and birth experiences that I’m still producing articles on topics tangentially related. Perhaps the most unlikely was an article I wrote about my cat, sent to a publication about cats, because of the way she featured in the story of both my pregnancy losses, being my substitute baby of sorts. Another recently sent, in response to a call for articles on fertility issues, I tell the part of my story of how Levi’s existence is so miraculous, in part requiring the telling of how God granted his survival of the same thing that caused me to miscarry the second time.
I’m also really invested in getting an article published locally about how different local practitioners and birth facilities handle pregnancy loss—both miscarriages and stillbirths. Central PA is a perfect study in some very interesting comparisons illuminated by a Harvard anthropologist who wrote about how differing cultures handle pregnancy loss. I’ve got more than enough local women who are willing to share their stories in this article-- experiences covering the range of possibilities and situations. I realize my own experience is just one of many types. I tried to cover miscarriage labor more broadly in When Miscarriage Means Labor.
I’m tinkering, in my head, with another article on the importance of pregnancy classes and the different kinds available, illuminated by the stories of women who went into labor and found themselves unprepared or underprepared by the narrow focus of the type of class they chose. From the grief angle, I’ve been working on an essay about the difficulty of losing a child when your spouse doesn't share your world view, leaving you essentially to grieve on your own for a baby who’s father doesn’t even recognize her enough to mourn her. (The story has a good ending in real life, as my husband’s views changed over time, due to our experiences, and in credit to God’s amazing breakthroughs).
A fellow writer who hails from my alma mater Messiah College, Janel Atlas, also has published on the topic of pregnancy loss, after her experience of stillbirth. (Incidentally, she has a book on the topic coming out this fall from Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, entitled They Were Still Born.
I remember in one of her articles on dealing with the loss, she quoted her husband saying something to the effect that he didn’t get why she felt the need to tell everyone, even perfect strangers, about her experience. That resonated with me, because I feel that same push. Maybe at first it was just to be heard, recognized, understood, and then it was to find community—to locate the people who knew the experience first hand—like a bat sending out signals everywhere, just to sense the vibrations coming back from contact. But now, after I’ve processed through a lot of the attendant grief, I’m at a place where I feel driven to write about my losses and trauma from them because there’s a severe lack of useful information on the issues I had to live through without any preparation or anyone, even in the midst, offering any help or guidance.
Other writing I've published:
When Food Producers Mislabel The Food You Buy; What Labels Can You Trust?
Cell Tower Radiation of No Concern for Pregnant Mothers or Childhood Cancer?
Part 1 talked about how my miscarriage labor experience fueled me to start writing again, though it took four years after the experience. (Click here to read that part.) In this second part I talk about the different, unexpected ways its led me to writing opportunities.
There are so many angles to the stories of my miscarriage and birth experiences that I’m still producing articles on topics tangentially related. Perhaps the most unlikely was an article I wrote about my cat, sent to a publication about cats, because of the way she featured in the story of both my pregnancy losses, being my substitute baby of sorts. Another recently sent, in response to a call for articles on fertility issues, I tell the part of my story of how Levi’s existence is so miraculous, in part requiring the telling of how God granted his survival of the same thing that caused me to miscarry the second time.
I’m also really invested in getting an article published locally about how different local practitioners and birth facilities handle pregnancy loss—both miscarriages and stillbirths. Central PA is a perfect study in some very interesting comparisons illuminated by a Harvard anthropologist who wrote about how differing cultures handle pregnancy loss. I’ve got more than enough local women who are willing to share their stories in this article-- experiences covering the range of possibilities and situations. I realize my own experience is just one of many types. I tried to cover miscarriage labor more broadly in When Miscarriage Means Labor.
I’m tinkering, in my head, with another article on the importance of pregnancy classes and the different kinds available, illuminated by the stories of women who went into labor and found themselves unprepared or underprepared by the narrow focus of the type of class they chose. From the grief angle, I’ve been working on an essay about the difficulty of losing a child when your spouse doesn't share your world view, leaving you essentially to grieve on your own for a baby who’s father doesn’t even recognize her enough to mourn her. (The story has a good ending in real life, as my husband’s views changed over time, due to our experiences, and in credit to God’s amazing breakthroughs).
A fellow writer who hails from my alma mater Messiah College, Janel Atlas, also has published on the topic of pregnancy loss, after her experience of stillbirth. (Incidentally, she has a book on the topic coming out this fall from Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, entitled They Were Still Born.
I remember in one of her articles on dealing with the loss, she quoted her husband saying something to the effect that he didn’t get why she felt the need to tell everyone, even perfect strangers, about her experience. That resonated with me, because I feel that same push. Maybe at first it was just to be heard, recognized, understood, and then it was to find community—to locate the people who knew the experience first hand—like a bat sending out signals everywhere, just to sense the vibrations coming back from contact. But now, after I’ve processed through a lot of the attendant grief, I’m at a place where I feel driven to write about my losses and trauma from them because there’s a severe lack of useful information on the issues I had to live through without any preparation or anyone, even in the midst, offering any help or guidance.
Other writing I've published:
When Food Producers Mislabel The Food You Buy; What Labels Can You Trust?
Cell Tower Radiation of No Concern for Pregnant Mothers or Childhood Cancer?
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