This summer has been one of making decisions, determinations, about my career as a writer. I've written past posts about what I think of writing online content after a year of trying it, another entry about writing regularly for a only a few publications, simplifying my life, and most recently, about how I've determined to place working on my novel as top writing priority, relegating article writing as something to do to deal with fiction writing block.
So I'm still basically sticking with those decisions, but with a little tweaking. OK, I do confess, I've not written as much on my novel as I wished. But I've also found I cannot write exclusively on only it. For me, writing such a long work of fiction takes a lot of mulling time. I don't always know the next step for my characters; I have to let them tell me (and they're not always revealing immediately). Also, I'm becoming increasingly aware of mood and atmosphere, and until I've decided on the mood I want to create in a scene, I can't write well. So I need other writing projects to work on while I let the novel simmer.
I've written a lot of new articles, though I told myself not to. However, I've made a smart, less-risky change in what I write: I am now writing in answer to call outs, rather than writing what I want and then doing the grueling work to find a magazine who hopefully might want to publish on that topic, from my point of view, and with my style. (This takes a blessed long time, as my post about it taking 13 months to sell one article. But that's not even the whole story--that was simply the first post I could write about the long-term nature of the business; I have other articles I've been trying to sell even longer--I've just not written about how long they took yet because I have yet to sell them!)
So now I'm writing on given topics or themes that publications say they are looking for. Since August, I've done everything from listing ideas for summer family fun for Thriving Family magazine to personal essays about buying a house and how positive thinking affects health for Chicken Soup anthologies. Obviously, my work is better targeted. I don't have the time though to search out these opportunities--that'd mean looking on the website of every publication in the Writer's Market monster book! But I've found a great website done by someone who loves to share all the market info she gathers. She posts, almost daily, what she finds, and her interests match mine pretty well, so I've found many call outs that I've been able to answer pretty easily. Also, some info is the kind that the public is not privy too--it's insider info that is known only to writers who've already been published by the publication.
This change really does impact the kind of writing I'm doing though--I'm writing fewer 3rd person magazine articles, and many more first-person experience kind of essays. That is an attractive change; it is easier in my current employment as stay-at-home-mom: not so much research!
Success rate: While it's too early to tell in most cases--I've done this only 6 weeks--I already got word back from one that my essay will be published, and is also in contention for one of the cash prizes as one of the top essays. For more data, I just have to wait.
Online articles I've published:
Veggie-loaded Meals Kids Like
Pampers' Myths and Facts Page About Environmental and Health Impacts: A Critique
Zucchini for Breakfast, Dinner and Dessert: Five New Ways to Use Up Summer Squash and Zucchini
How Much Genetically Modified Food Do You Eat?
Lyme Disease and Autism Patients Prescribed Diets Free of Genetically Modified Foods
http://www.christwriters.info/index/burning-the-midnight-oil-poetry-contest-sep-19-2011-7-06-35-pm-35
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
A Change in Direction: Stop Looking for New Markets!
Today I turned in my first assigned article for a local publication. It marks a transition n my writing goals, and has left me with some mixed feelings. It's helping me refine the big question I've had all along--should I try to build a freelancing career or whole-hog be putting my time into my novel?
I'm not under pressure to make a lot of $ right now--it's nice but not necessary. When else in life might I have time to work on my novel, getting it to the place I could try to publish it? But on the other hand, if I can build a freelancing business, that could be more reliable than trying to publish fiction.
I've been struggling with what direction to go, and so, I've spent over a year dividing my time, not just 2 ways, but even more ways, by trying to write for parenting magazines as well as devotionals, as well as online content stuff, trying to feel my way around which way I should commit to.
But when I line up my options (neither certain or predictable) with my goals and priorities for my family, kids and life, and my mission, I think I see a path emerging.
Funny I had mixed feelings about not needing to cold-query tons of publications anymore--because if I focus on a few publications that like my writing and have more work for me, the hunt is no longer necessary. At first I felt saddened by that--maybe because I hadn't achieved what I'd wanted to, getting published in certain big national publications, etc. But my main goal wasn't landing in big national publications; I guess it was getting to the place where I could get paid to write what I like to write about, and I'm there, for the moment.
So my new path is to focus on those 3 markets, and I'm trying to discipline myself to not write any new articles for other untried markets--except that I will keep trying to sell articles from the past year that haven't yet found a home... My hope is to then take the time I used to spend cold-querying publications and spend it working on my novel. I'm giving myself a deadline for the first full draft. A lofty goal, and yet I think I can do it.
A sample of my online articles:
Job Search: How to Make Your Application Climb to The Top of The Pile
I'm not under pressure to make a lot of $ right now--it's nice but not necessary. When else in life might I have time to work on my novel, getting it to the place I could try to publish it? But on the other hand, if I can build a freelancing business, that could be more reliable than trying to publish fiction.
I've been struggling with what direction to go, and so, I've spent over a year dividing my time, not just 2 ways, but even more ways, by trying to write for parenting magazines as well as devotionals, as well as online content stuff, trying to feel my way around which way I should commit to.
But when I line up my options (neither certain or predictable) with my goals and priorities for my family, kids and life, and my mission, I think I see a path emerging.
Funny I had mixed feelings about not needing to cold-query tons of publications anymore--because if I focus on a few publications that like my writing and have more work for me, the hunt is no longer necessary. At first I felt saddened by that--maybe because I hadn't achieved what I'd wanted to, getting published in certain big national publications, etc. But my main goal wasn't landing in big national publications; I guess it was getting to the place where I could get paid to write what I like to write about, and I'm there, for the moment.
So my new path is to focus on those 3 markets, and I'm trying to discipline myself to not write any new articles for other untried markets--except that I will keep trying to sell articles from the past year that haven't yet found a home... My hope is to then take the time I used to spend cold-querying publications and spend it working on my novel. I'm giving myself a deadline for the first full draft. A lofty goal, and yet I think I can do it.
A sample of my online articles:
Job Search: How to Make Your Application Climb to The Top of The Pile
Friday, July 22, 2011
13 months to sell an article--the long journey of one eventual success
What is typical for the cold-querying freelancer? I'm not sure yet, but I can share my first long-term shopping-an-article story. A few of my experiences are shorter, better. Most are still in progress, and I don't know yet if they will succeed or fail. But all I'm learning is teaching me being a freelance writer is akin to being a marathon runner.
May 10, 2010, I sent out a story about toddler tantrums entitled "Changing my heart to change my son's angry outbursts." I sent this article, part how-to, part personal experience, to a Christian publication targeted to families. I received a response the very same day! The editor was very interested, but said it'd be a few weeks to see if they could fit it into a magazine issue soon or if they would want to use it online, perhaps on their facebook page. I followed up months later, to inquire of the status, and was told they hadn't found a place for it, would like to hold it for a year to see if they could find a use for it, and added that I was within my rights to shop it elsewhere in the meantime. So I did.
When you're starting freelance writing, you hear often about resending--if one place says no, you just resend it--keep the articles in circulation! However, as I learned, it's not that simple. I had a 1200+ word article that may or may not be printed in a year; I decided I should try other publications, but those with the same audience wanted articles no longer than 600 words.
"Just re-sending it" was not "just so simple." I put hours into splitting that article into two different articles--one's a third-person sort of how-to article on dealing with preschool temper tantrums, and the other a first-person experience story of what I tried with my child. In July I sent one to the premier Christian magazine for moms of preschoolers, and the other one I sent to an online family magazine available by subscription only.
In September, I received a favorably reply from the preschooler-centered magazine, but I heard a similar disclaimer--they weren't sure when they could use it as their themes didn't quite fit it, but they'd like to hold it for a year, and I had rights to shop it around in the meantime.
By December, having heard nothing more from any version of the article I'd sent out, I tried my 4th market. This time it was a secular parenting magazine, though a smaller national one, and one where the editor had written me back about every query I'd ever sent her--she was very atypical. I decided to send the query letter first, not the article, because I'd have to rewrite it significantly, taking out the Bible verses and such that were a core part of my articles at that point. I figured it was better to know if the editor was even interested in the topic before putting any more work into this project unnecessarily.
To my surprise, the editor of that magazine, for the first time, never responded. Then, juggling and writing twenty-some other articles, I forgot about this one for a while. But I never did hear anything from two magazines who said they wanted to buy it, but were waiting for the right timing.
So April or May 2011, a year after my first send-out, I wrote a query letter on the idea to the editor of a parenting magazine in England which had published an article of mine last winter. I thought the topic might appeal to that editor, because one small piece of my story was in using breathing techniques to calm my son down, and in a recent issue of the magazine, had seen those very techniques mentioned, but as new ideas, yet undescribed. I figured, if the editor were interest, I could rewrite the article to put more emphasis on that.
Within days, maybe even the same day, the editor said she was indeed interested in seeing the article. I sent it to her, with more time put in to rewrite it, and within a few weeks, she wrote back that she was seriously considering it for the August issue, and was taking it to the meeting for the final decision. A few weeks after that, she wrote to say she wanted to buy it for that issue, officially.
But I still wasn't done with the work. I put in perhaps an hour more on it, making side bars, as I had suggested I could, to better give instructions on the breathing exercises I mentioned.
All said, I finally sold that piece--one of my best, in my estimation. I received the printed magazine in the mail the other day. But I've lost track of the hours I put into it, through the multiple rewrites, not to mention the marketing side of it. I made a little over $200 for it. I wasn't likely to make much more than that for any magazine I'd sent it to, but the amount of time and work it took me to get it there--well, I might be scared if I found out how much I really made on that one, per hour.
This certainly is a business you do only if you really love the writing.
Samples of my work online:
Omega-3 Fatty Acids Protect Against Obesity?
High Fructose Corn Syrup: Thirteen Reasons to Avoid It
Fire Retardants Found in Babies' Umbilical Cord Blood Associated with Developmental Delays
Whole Wheat Bread with Honey or Molasses, for a Bread Machine
Lyme Disease and Autism Patients Prescribed Diets Free of Genetically Modified Foods
May 10, 2010, I sent out a story about toddler tantrums entitled "Changing my heart to change my son's angry outbursts." I sent this article, part how-to, part personal experience, to a Christian publication targeted to families. I received a response the very same day! The editor was very interested, but said it'd be a few weeks to see if they could fit it into a magazine issue soon or if they would want to use it online, perhaps on their facebook page. I followed up months later, to inquire of the status, and was told they hadn't found a place for it, would like to hold it for a year to see if they could find a use for it, and added that I was within my rights to shop it elsewhere in the meantime. So I did.
When you're starting freelance writing, you hear often about resending--if one place says no, you just resend it--keep the articles in circulation! However, as I learned, it's not that simple. I had a 1200+ word article that may or may not be printed in a year; I decided I should try other publications, but those with the same audience wanted articles no longer than 600 words.
"Just re-sending it" was not "just so simple." I put hours into splitting that article into two different articles--one's a third-person sort of how-to article on dealing with preschool temper tantrums, and the other a first-person experience story of what I tried with my child. In July I sent one to the premier Christian magazine for moms of preschoolers, and the other one I sent to an online family magazine available by subscription only.
In September, I received a favorably reply from the preschooler-centered magazine, but I heard a similar disclaimer--they weren't sure when they could use it as their themes didn't quite fit it, but they'd like to hold it for a year, and I had rights to shop it around in the meantime.
By December, having heard nothing more from any version of the article I'd sent out, I tried my 4th market. This time it was a secular parenting magazine, though a smaller national one, and one where the editor had written me back about every query I'd ever sent her--she was very atypical. I decided to send the query letter first, not the article, because I'd have to rewrite it significantly, taking out the Bible verses and such that were a core part of my articles at that point. I figured it was better to know if the editor was even interested in the topic before putting any more work into this project unnecessarily.
To my surprise, the editor of that magazine, for the first time, never responded. Then, juggling and writing twenty-some other articles, I forgot about this one for a while. But I never did hear anything from two magazines who said they wanted to buy it, but were waiting for the right timing.
So April or May 2011, a year after my first send-out, I wrote a query letter on the idea to the editor of a parenting magazine in England which had published an article of mine last winter. I thought the topic might appeal to that editor, because one small piece of my story was in using breathing techniques to calm my son down, and in a recent issue of the magazine, had seen those very techniques mentioned, but as new ideas, yet undescribed. I figured, if the editor were interest, I could rewrite the article to put more emphasis on that.
Within days, maybe even the same day, the editor said she was indeed interested in seeing the article. I sent it to her, with more time put in to rewrite it, and within a few weeks, she wrote back that she was seriously considering it for the August issue, and was taking it to the meeting for the final decision. A few weeks after that, she wrote to say she wanted to buy it for that issue, officially.
But I still wasn't done with the work. I put in perhaps an hour more on it, making side bars, as I had suggested I could, to better give instructions on the breathing exercises I mentioned.
All said, I finally sold that piece--one of my best, in my estimation. I received the printed magazine in the mail the other day. But I've lost track of the hours I put into it, through the multiple rewrites, not to mention the marketing side of it. I made a little over $200 for it. I wasn't likely to make much more than that for any magazine I'd sent it to, but the amount of time and work it took me to get it there--well, I might be scared if I found out how much I really made on that one, per hour.
This certainly is a business you do only if you really love the writing.
Samples of my work online:
Omega-3 Fatty Acids Protect Against Obesity?
High Fructose Corn Syrup: Thirteen Reasons to Avoid It
Fire Retardants Found in Babies' Umbilical Cord Blood Associated with Developmental Delays
Whole Wheat Bread with Honey or Molasses, for a Bread Machine
Lyme Disease and Autism Patients Prescribed Diets Free of Genetically Modified Foods
Monday, June 27, 2011
Being Too Busy, Having Too Many Deadlines
I'm perhaps the busiest I've ever been, with a to write list of 10 items long for actual articles people are planning to pay me for, on spec, or at least good odds of being chosen to publish (due to prior publication in that market) . All are due by the first of next month. I sent one article on spec out this afternoon; 9 to go...
My last blog talked about the interview form heaven and the possibility to get a lot of assignments from one source, and i can already see the challenge in success. I'm still a stay at home mom with limited writing time. I sensed today already my rising level of frustration with my kids because i have a lot of articles filling my head and looming deadlines. This is perhaps the biggest battle. I love writing, but if it becomes too problematic for me to handle it and still be a good stay-at-home mom, it'll have be truncated or axed. Today was just an inkling of it but it reminds me to recommit myself to my priorities. I tend to put more pressure on myself than anything external. Yes, if I have one deadline in a week posed by someone else, it's my tendency to give myself three more, just as my own personal goal, to send out to magazines that wouldn't care if I sent next week or next year. I'm quite talented at being driven, focused and ambitiously workaholic. That's why I've got to tame the ambition. It's great if my priority is to have a soaring writing career. But that's not my top priority--my kids are, and writing is something that fits in when and how often I can fit it.
Something has to give. I know already it's going to be the online stuff I do. It's a no-brainer--it's the lowest paying of all the writing I do (at least so far; it takes months/years to know how much an article will earn....). Funny, that publishing company is having some perks for writers producing quality stuff right now, but never mind. Being practical, their little bonus is still monetarily far below anything else I could get paid for. SO probably until my social -conscious drive to produce service writing online just for the benefit of people getting new info, I'll probably cool it on that front.
A sample of articles I published:
Sunburn Prevention: Take Off Those Sunglasses!
Nutritious, No-cook Summer Lunch Ideas
Cell Tower Radiation of No Concern for Pregnant Mothers or Childhood Cancer?
Medical Treatments for Vulvodynia: Throwing Darts in The Dark?
When Food Producers Mislabel The Food You Buy; What Labels Can You Trust?
My last blog talked about the interview form heaven and the possibility to get a lot of assignments from one source, and i can already see the challenge in success. I'm still a stay at home mom with limited writing time. I sensed today already my rising level of frustration with my kids because i have a lot of articles filling my head and looming deadlines. This is perhaps the biggest battle. I love writing, but if it becomes too problematic for me to handle it and still be a good stay-at-home mom, it'll have be truncated or axed. Today was just an inkling of it but it reminds me to recommit myself to my priorities. I tend to put more pressure on myself than anything external. Yes, if I have one deadline in a week posed by someone else, it's my tendency to give myself three more, just as my own personal goal, to send out to magazines that wouldn't care if I sent next week or next year. I'm quite talented at being driven, focused and ambitiously workaholic. That's why I've got to tame the ambition. It's great if my priority is to have a soaring writing career. But that's not my top priority--my kids are, and writing is something that fits in when and how often I can fit it.
Something has to give. I know already it's going to be the online stuff I do. It's a no-brainer--it's the lowest paying of all the writing I do (at least so far; it takes months/years to know how much an article will earn....). Funny, that publishing company is having some perks for writers producing quality stuff right now, but never mind. Being practical, their little bonus is still monetarily far below anything else I could get paid for. SO probably until my social -conscious drive to produce service writing online just for the benefit of people getting new info, I'll probably cool it on that front.
A sample of articles I published:
Sunburn Prevention: Take Off Those Sunglasses!
Nutritious, No-cook Summer Lunch Ideas
Cell Tower Radiation of No Concern for Pregnant Mothers or Childhood Cancer?
Medical Treatments for Vulvodynia: Throwing Darts in The Dark?
When Food Producers Mislabel The Food You Buy; What Labels Can You Trust?
Monday, May 9, 2011
Who ever heard of an interview for freelance writing?
Who ever heard of an interview to write freelance articles for a magazine? But this is what I was offered when I followed the advice mentioned in my previous post "Stop Writing") I'd re-sent this pitch, and the reply from the editor was that she really, really liked the pitch, and could I come for a short interview and paperwork? This was a local magazine, so I wondered if they interviewed writers simply because it was geographically possible.
So I went to the interview, and it was like no other print media interview I'd ever experienced. Many years ago when I'd been trying to get an entry-level position, my experience at this one would have been a dream. It was clear the editor wanted me to write for her. In fact, I didn't even feel like I was being interviewed as much as I felt like she was trying to sell the company to me. And then, halfway through the interview, she asks if i"m interested in an assistant editor job because one just opened up. As a stay-at-home mom, I am not looking for that kind of job right now, but goodness, my younger self was so jealous. Ten years ago, I was desperate to find an open door, and couldn't, but wait ten years and walk in with more age and some freelance articles under your belt and you can write your own ticket? This was astounding to me.
There were some surprises though that have given me pause. The magazine is operated more like a newspaper in some aspects, as it is tied to a newspaper. Part of it is that they buy all rights to the articles, meaning I cannot resell them to other publications, as is the norm in magazine freelancing. And that really matters, considering the low, low pay. Seriously, I thought I'd known of the lowest paying gig around, but this really bottomed that one out. The only consolation is that the article length is shorter. The biggest perk is that the opportunity is there for me to create a niche for myself and get a lot of assignments, if I want them. The reasons for the interview is that it's required for anyone to write for any of their 5 publications, and getting okayed for one is getting okayed for all. Bylines could appear in multiple newspapers, not just the magazine too. And she likes to play to the strengths of her writers and take their ideas for stories. She said one of the things she really liked about me was my pitch and that it had tenacity; she invited me to pose all my ideas. That suits me because as a SAHM, I can write only the stories that I can access easily. I can't drive around the city interviewing scads of people on any given topic. But if I can pitch my ideas that I know I can cover in my situation, then that is the kind of writing I can handle right now.
Another surprise was my education in local print media politics; I learned that I could not write for certain other publications and write for the one interviewing me as well; I'd have to choose because whichever one i wrote for first would cause the other to not use me as a freelancer. Who knew?! The weird thing is, the editor of the main rival publication had actually been talking to me in the past 2 weeks about an article.
So now I'm very busy. I don't think I'll be writing much online stuff, such as these:
100% Whole Wheat Bread with Honey or Molasses, for a Bread Machine
How to Determine If Your Child is Ready to Begin Kindergarten
Why is The United States Reacting Differently Than Other Governments to Cell Phone Risk Study Results?
Transferring Your Values About Sex to Your Kids: Timing and Definitions are Key
So I went to the interview, and it was like no other print media interview I'd ever experienced. Many years ago when I'd been trying to get an entry-level position, my experience at this one would have been a dream. It was clear the editor wanted me to write for her. In fact, I didn't even feel like I was being interviewed as much as I felt like she was trying to sell the company to me. And then, halfway through the interview, she asks if i"m interested in an assistant editor job because one just opened up. As a stay-at-home mom, I am not looking for that kind of job right now, but goodness, my younger self was so jealous. Ten years ago, I was desperate to find an open door, and couldn't, but wait ten years and walk in with more age and some freelance articles under your belt and you can write your own ticket? This was astounding to me.
There were some surprises though that have given me pause. The magazine is operated more like a newspaper in some aspects, as it is tied to a newspaper. Part of it is that they buy all rights to the articles, meaning I cannot resell them to other publications, as is the norm in magazine freelancing. And that really matters, considering the low, low pay. Seriously, I thought I'd known of the lowest paying gig around, but this really bottomed that one out. The only consolation is that the article length is shorter. The biggest perk is that the opportunity is there for me to create a niche for myself and get a lot of assignments, if I want them. The reasons for the interview is that it's required for anyone to write for any of their 5 publications, and getting okayed for one is getting okayed for all. Bylines could appear in multiple newspapers, not just the magazine too. And she likes to play to the strengths of her writers and take their ideas for stories. She said one of the things she really liked about me was my pitch and that it had tenacity; she invited me to pose all my ideas. That suits me because as a SAHM, I can write only the stories that I can access easily. I can't drive around the city interviewing scads of people on any given topic. But if I can pitch my ideas that I know I can cover in my situation, then that is the kind of writing I can handle right now.
Another surprise was my education in local print media politics; I learned that I could not write for certain other publications and write for the one interviewing me as well; I'd have to choose because whichever one i wrote for first would cause the other to not use me as a freelancer. Who knew?! The weird thing is, the editor of the main rival publication had actually been talking to me in the past 2 weeks about an article.
So now I'm very busy. I don't think I'll be writing much online stuff, such as these:
100% Whole Wheat Bread with Honey or Molasses, for a Bread Machine
How to Determine If Your Child is Ready to Begin Kindergarten
Why is The United States Reacting Differently Than Other Governments to Cell Phone Risk Study Results?
Transferring Your Values About Sex to Your Kids: Timing and Definitions are Key
Monday, May 2, 2011
Stop Writing: Latest Advice to the Freelancer
Stop writing. That's what I need to do to succeed as a freelancer. No, this isn't someone's way of saying that I or any other freelancer isn't a good writer or should quit. I've read, and reread, from those who know the business of freelance writing that a big part of my job is resending, marketing, resending. It's been over a year now since I started, and my Word file of all articles I've sent out for publication (whether complete articles or the query letter positing the premise) numbers 61. I color-code them so I can tell at a glance where in the process they are. Blue is for published, black is for "waiting to hear," and red is for "take action--the first attempt got a no, so try again ASAP!" The list is overwhelmingly red. There are articles I should have resent 6 months ago. It's a shame really--every minute I spend writing new articles is delaying the time I might get another already-written one published and paid! And this is just in one category of things I write: print magazine articles. I need to do this with devotionals that I write too.
So I just need to quit writing and get to my homework of resending. So today I accomplished 1.5 of a my list of perhaps 10 that I should have done yesterday. I rewrote my query letter for an article on simple back strengthening exercises that can be done in minutes a day, even while multi-tasking. I'd first pitched it to a local parenting magazine (one I've referred to in a previous post as "Fort Knox." Seriously, the national Parents magazine editor writes me back personally, but the tiny local parenting magazine never gave me any response to that query or the previous five...) I rewrote the query to market the article to a how-to magazine for women. The editor at that magazine wrote me back after my last query, but I never heard from her again, so this is my second try there.
Secondly, I edited a revamped article and was trying to get everything ready for a snail mail to American Baby--it's a lot of work to do it the old-fashioned way. But as I wrote in a previous post, it is really benefiicial to a writer to call the magazine and get direction on which editor is best to address the submission to, based on the topic. But both attempts today led to an answering machine at the editor's desk. I know she does answer her phone--I've talked with her before, and she helpfully furnished the information I needed. I guess I'll try again tomorrow...
Tomorrow I should do the same thing--not write. Maybe I should not write all week, but just do the business of readying submissions to resend...
Articles I've published online:
Power Your Electronics with Your Body's Own Movement? The NPower PEG, The First Kinetic Energy Recharger
Lyme Disease and Autism Patients Prescribed Diets Free of Genetically Modified Foods
What I've Learned After a Year Writing for Triond Sites
Waterbirth Lowers Group B Strep Risk Better Than Antibiotics?
How to Avoid Nutrient Depletion Caused by Your Prescription Drugs
So I just need to quit writing and get to my homework of resending. So today I accomplished 1.5 of a my list of perhaps 10 that I should have done yesterday. I rewrote my query letter for an article on simple back strengthening exercises that can be done in minutes a day, even while multi-tasking. I'd first pitched it to a local parenting magazine (one I've referred to in a previous post as "Fort Knox." Seriously, the national Parents magazine editor writes me back personally, but the tiny local parenting magazine never gave me any response to that query or the previous five...) I rewrote the query to market the article to a how-to magazine for women. The editor at that magazine wrote me back after my last query, but I never heard from her again, so this is my second try there.
Secondly, I edited a revamped article and was trying to get everything ready for a snail mail to American Baby--it's a lot of work to do it the old-fashioned way. But as I wrote in a previous post, it is really benefiicial to a writer to call the magazine and get direction on which editor is best to address the submission to, based on the topic. But both attempts today led to an answering machine at the editor's desk. I know she does answer her phone--I've talked with her before, and she helpfully furnished the information I needed. I guess I'll try again tomorrow...
Tomorrow I should do the same thing--not write. Maybe I should not write all week, but just do the business of readying submissions to resend...
Articles I've published online:
Power Your Electronics with Your Body's Own Movement? The NPower PEG, The First Kinetic Energy Recharger
Lyme Disease and Autism Patients Prescribed Diets Free of Genetically Modified Foods
What I've Learned After a Year Writing for Triond Sites
Waterbirth Lowers Group B Strep Risk Better Than Antibiotics?
How to Avoid Nutrient Depletion Caused by Your Prescription Drugs
Friday, April 15, 2011
When a New Editor Takes over a Magazine, Take Note!
I recently referred to a certain local parenting magazine as "Fort Knox" to a couple of other writers, as my way of saying they seem to be impossible to break into as a writer. For over a year, I've sent the editor queries to possibly six different story ideas and never got any sort of reply. And in every issue, I see the same few freelance writers with multiple stories published. I know there are many factors, but I began to wonder if the editor gave new writers a shot at all. I've written before about how the advice to "start locally" hasn't worked for me, and I got published first in non-local publications. But a few days ago, I noticed this local "Fort Knox" magazine underwent a change in editorship, and I wondered if a new editor might grant me a different response.
Well, a mere day after I sent a query yesterday, the new editor did indeed write back! She found my idea intriguing and asked a couple of questions about how I envisioned writing it, as well as my payment requirements. I answered her today; we shall see what comes of it!
The down side is the pay. Their maximum payment is truly is lower than I've been paid by any other traditional publisher. But if I could get into writing for this magazine regularly, it could equal more money in th bank for my time when considering how long it takes me to cold-query other higher paying magazines, hoping to eventually get a sale.
Articles I've published recently:
Job Search: How to Make Your Application Climb to The Top of The Pile
Lyme Disease and Autism Patients Prescribed Diets Free of Genetically Modified Foods
How Much Genetically Modified Food Do You Eat?
Prostate Cancer: Nutrients for Prevention and Defense
Well, a mere day after I sent a query yesterday, the new editor did indeed write back! She found my idea intriguing and asked a couple of questions about how I envisioned writing it, as well as my payment requirements. I answered her today; we shall see what comes of it!
The down side is the pay. Their maximum payment is truly is lower than I've been paid by any other traditional publisher. But if I could get into writing for this magazine regularly, it could equal more money in th bank for my time when considering how long it takes me to cold-query other higher paying magazines, hoping to eventually get a sale.
Articles I've published recently:
Job Search: How to Make Your Application Climb to The Top of The Pile
Lyme Disease and Autism Patients Prescribed Diets Free of Genetically Modified Foods
How Much Genetically Modified Food Do You Eat?
Prostate Cancer: Nutrients for Prevention and Defense
Monday, March 14, 2011
How to Get the Right Magazine Editor's Attention
Yes, writing a good query letter is essential, and I think I'm doing this fairly well, based on the fact that I've gotten responses. And I thought I was doing all I could. But I just upped my game.
I hate using the phone. I'd much rather rely on printed information in writers' market books. But I've read many times how success is better met as a freelance writer if I have a name of an editor to direct an unsolicited manuscript to, rather than just addressing envelopes and query letters with "Dear Editor."
I just found this great free resource: http://www.marketlist.com/. I never gave the Market List much mind because its tagline said it was for genre writers--but I found out accidentally that it also has listings for everyday magazines too! I looked up my parenting magazines, American Baby and Parents, and was given accurate phone numbers for editorial offices. (I've found magazine websites don't like to provide numbers unless for subscription purposes, and the printed Writer's Market info was outdated...)
So today I made 2 calls, and so far, they've paid off in at least saving time. In both cases, the person answering the phone asked what my manuscript was about, then recommended an editor's name. In one case, I was asked if I preferred email or regular mail. And this was for a magazine that doesn't publish email addresses and asks writers to send everything via snail mail. I asked how the editor preferred to receive submissions, and the woman told me email was good. So that saved me time and postage, plus it went directly to an editor who has a say on what gets published in the section I was hoping to break into.
I cannot know yet how much of a difference it'll make. In some weeks or months, I may be able to report what difference if any it makes, because I can compare it to a year ago, when I sent manuscripts to the big magazines without calling first.... I got nowhere. So this new tactic certainly can't lessen my odds of publication!
Update #1: the very next day, I got an email from a health editor at Parents magazine, asking me for more information. That's the first time I've gotten any response from the big national magazines.
Update #2: March 28. I had just been fearing I'd probably heard the last about the story, though the editor had inquired about it. But tonight, I just received another email from the editor, promising that she hadn't yet carefully read my response, but she was going to. So far, I'm saying I'm not sending another unsolicited manuscript until I call the magazine and get advisement on which editor to send it to!
I hate using the phone. I'd much rather rely on printed information in writers' market books. But I've read many times how success is better met as a freelance writer if I have a name of an editor to direct an unsolicited manuscript to, rather than just addressing envelopes and query letters with "Dear Editor."
I just found this great free resource: http://www.marketlist.com/. I never gave the Market List much mind because its tagline said it was for genre writers--but I found out accidentally that it also has listings for everyday magazines too! I looked up my parenting magazines, American Baby and Parents, and was given accurate phone numbers for editorial offices. (I've found magazine websites don't like to provide numbers unless for subscription purposes, and the printed Writer's Market info was outdated...)
So today I made 2 calls, and so far, they've paid off in at least saving time. In both cases, the person answering the phone asked what my manuscript was about, then recommended an editor's name. In one case, I was asked if I preferred email or regular mail. And this was for a magazine that doesn't publish email addresses and asks writers to send everything via snail mail. I asked how the editor preferred to receive submissions, and the woman told me email was good. So that saved me time and postage, plus it went directly to an editor who has a say on what gets published in the section I was hoping to break into.
I cannot know yet how much of a difference it'll make. In some weeks or months, I may be able to report what difference if any it makes, because I can compare it to a year ago, when I sent manuscripts to the big magazines without calling first.... I got nowhere. So this new tactic certainly can't lessen my odds of publication!
Update #1: the very next day, I got an email from a health editor at Parents magazine, asking me for more information. That's the first time I've gotten any response from the big national magazines.
Update #2: March 28. I had just been fearing I'd probably heard the last about the story, though the editor had inquired about it. But tonight, I just received another email from the editor, promising that she hadn't yet carefully read my response, but she was going to. So far, I'm saying I'm not sending another unsolicited manuscript until I call the magazine and get advisement on which editor to send it to!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
After a Year of Writing Online Content...My Review
As of March 4, 2011, I've officially been writing online content for a year. It's a crazy experiment, really, that grew out of my eagerness to write and impatience waiting to hear from print magazines about manuscripts I sent out.
So was it worth my time to write articles on which I get paid based only on performance, related to how many times they're viewed? Here's my write up: What I've Learned After a Year Writing for Triond Sites
So was it worth my time to write articles on which I get paid based only on performance, related to how many times they're viewed? Here's my write up: What I've Learned After a Year Writing for Triond Sites
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
What's smarter? To do what you're told or to take a risk?
Okay, this may have been really gutsy, or really smart, or both. I'm not sure. I couldn't exactly find any professional advice on this at the moment. I just went against protocol; instead of sending an article query to the editor listed as the person to send things to, I sent it to the editor who replied back to me on a previous occasion. I've certainly read that a writer should always utilize any positive interactions with editors to try to get published again, so I'm hoping that trumps the other things I've read: do what a magazine asks.
I won't name the magazine, but it's known as one of the glossies in Christian publishing, and though I was not in fact published by them yet, an editor who read my pitch last summer wrote back within a day or two, saying it made her cry and she wanted to know more. She took my query to a staff meeting, and unfortunately, not everyone agreed to go with my story. What I didn't know then was that the magazine really is one I really had no business trying yet--most of its writers are authors of books or on the speaking circuit. I am amazed the strength of my story alone got me, a starting freelance writer with little credit to my name, the time of day.
So yes, trying them again, and to that editor I impacted before directly, may be pushing it. But maybe it will lead somewhere good. And I just couldn't shake the feeling that my article fits directly what they want to publish on the topic and I haven't yet figure out another magazine that might be interested...
So only time can tell (up to 8 weeks, the magazine says) if that was a wise strategy or I just annoyed the editor.
Articles I've published:
Because I've been writing for over a year now, here are some links to some of my stuff published last March:
Is Lyme Disease Lurking in Your Unexplained Symptoms?
Baby Food: Save money by Making Your Own
Potty Training: Cloth Diapers vs. Disposables
Cloth Diapers Versus Disposables: Switching Systems
Treating Depression with Natural or Alternative Medicine
I won't name the magazine, but it's known as one of the glossies in Christian publishing, and though I was not in fact published by them yet, an editor who read my pitch last summer wrote back within a day or two, saying it made her cry and she wanted to know more. She took my query to a staff meeting, and unfortunately, not everyone agreed to go with my story. What I didn't know then was that the magazine really is one I really had no business trying yet--most of its writers are authors of books or on the speaking circuit. I am amazed the strength of my story alone got me, a starting freelance writer with little credit to my name, the time of day.
So yes, trying them again, and to that editor I impacted before directly, may be pushing it. But maybe it will lead somewhere good. And I just couldn't shake the feeling that my article fits directly what they want to publish on the topic and I haven't yet figure out another magazine that might be interested...
So only time can tell (up to 8 weeks, the magazine says) if that was a wise strategy or I just annoyed the editor.
Articles I've published:
Because I've been writing for over a year now, here are some links to some of my stuff published last March:
Is Lyme Disease Lurking in Your Unexplained Symptoms?
Baby Food: Save money by Making Your Own
Potty Training: Cloth Diapers vs. Disposables
Cloth Diapers Versus Disposables: Switching Systems
Treating Depression with Natural or Alternative Medicine
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Dealing with Criticism and Taking a Break with Fiction
I'm dedicating the next week to working on my novel. I do have a bit to finish on a magazine article, but I've run out of ink, so until I can get to a store, I cannot print it out to send in the mail yet anyway. I've written lately about my new strategies to find time to write, and this week's altered schedule for my family may lead to a bit more time.
Secondly, I'm taking this break to work on my novel as a measure to heal. Last week was a tough one in my freelance non-fiction writing life, due to criticism. I see this pattern emerging, starting with when I was editing my high school newspaper for 2 years: my senior year, I started an underground literary magazine to balance out the journalism that kept me awake nights, in tangles with school board members, parents of school students, teachers and even my parents' friends. It continued in college, where I abandoned the newspaper altogether and instead set my sights on editing the literary journal, which I did by my senior year there. Creative writing is much safer, in my experience, and I use it as a salve to the exploits that writing nonfiction can lead to.
About 9 months ago, I wrote a blog entry about some significant controversy my freelancing led to (Lessons in Stress and Controversy), and it was the 2nd such skirmish since I began writing a year ago. And here I am again, and incidentally from the same source of criticism as one of the last two times. It doesn't get easier with time and experience. And it still remains that those closest to you can be the hardest source of criticism to deal with. Simply because it has more weight than some stranger's.
So here's to a week of trying to focus in my novel. I've got some interesting ideas and some details to strengthen the mystery in the book. All writing is a pleasure, and I don't particularly take more joy in fiction--maybe it's that my novel has yet to see light of day, so it's quite safe...for now. But should it ever get published...I'm sure it'd lead to some anxiety and criticism too!
in case you wondered what led to the criticism and conflict last week, it was the publication of Are Antibiotics During Labor Effective at Preventing Group B Strep? A friend who is a midwife told me I needed thick skin to publish about things in her world, and she was right.
Other articles I've published lately:
Power Your Electronics with Your Body's Own Movement? The nPower PEG, The First Kinetic Energy Recharger
Harnessing The Power of Waves--a Cheaper, Greener Solution to Energy Crisis
Doctor Finds Nutrient Depletion Causes Depression
Miscarriage Labor and Delivery
An Antioxidant in Chocolate Found to Help Neurological Damage after Stroke
Secondly, I'm taking this break to work on my novel as a measure to heal. Last week was a tough one in my freelance non-fiction writing life, due to criticism. I see this pattern emerging, starting with when I was editing my high school newspaper for 2 years: my senior year, I started an underground literary magazine to balance out the journalism that kept me awake nights, in tangles with school board members, parents of school students, teachers and even my parents' friends. It continued in college, where I abandoned the newspaper altogether and instead set my sights on editing the literary journal, which I did by my senior year there. Creative writing is much safer, in my experience, and I use it as a salve to the exploits that writing nonfiction can lead to.
About 9 months ago, I wrote a blog entry about some significant controversy my freelancing led to (Lessons in Stress and Controversy), and it was the 2nd such skirmish since I began writing a year ago. And here I am again, and incidentally from the same source of criticism as one of the last two times. It doesn't get easier with time and experience. And it still remains that those closest to you can be the hardest source of criticism to deal with. Simply because it has more weight than some stranger's.
So here's to a week of trying to focus in my novel. I've got some interesting ideas and some details to strengthen the mystery in the book. All writing is a pleasure, and I don't particularly take more joy in fiction--maybe it's that my novel has yet to see light of day, so it's quite safe...for now. But should it ever get published...I'm sure it'd lead to some anxiety and criticism too!
in case you wondered what led to the criticism and conflict last week, it was the publication of Are Antibiotics During Labor Effective at Preventing Group B Strep? A friend who is a midwife told me I needed thick skin to publish about things in her world, and she was right.
Other articles I've published lately:
Power Your Electronics with Your Body's Own Movement? The nPower PEG, The First Kinetic Energy Recharger
Harnessing The Power of Waves--a Cheaper, Greener Solution to Energy Crisis
Doctor Finds Nutrient Depletion Causes Depression
Miscarriage Labor and Delivery
An Antioxidant in Chocolate Found to Help Neurological Damage after Stroke
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Problems Getting Paid in British Pounds!
Note to self: Don't get paid in British Pounds!
After making multiple phone calls to my bank, and waiting for them to check with superiors and call me back, I was told the tellers at my local branch could handle cashing my check issues by a British magazine, payment for an article I wrote. The only thing was that I had to be there in person.
So I did that. But the teller did not have any idea what to do. I waited until one of the personnel in a private office was done with an appointment She said she just had to make a couple calls, but it could be cashed, after a fee. But then, before all was said and done, she said I had to wait until April to cash it! It was issued with a date of "4/1/2011." I explained that that is the way Europeans write out dates--day of the month first, followed by month. In Europe, that's Jan, 4, though to us it looks like April 1. The bank employee said she did understand that, but their machines would not be able to get around reading that date and would reject the check.
My choices: Ask the magazine to reissue a check with the date written the "American way" or just wait until April first to cash my check.
Note to self: avoid this, and the processing fee, in the future; see if magazines can issue checks written in American dollars.
After making multiple phone calls to my bank, and waiting for them to check with superiors and call me back, I was told the tellers at my local branch could handle cashing my check issues by a British magazine, payment for an article I wrote. The only thing was that I had to be there in person.
So I did that. But the teller did not have any idea what to do. I waited until one of the personnel in a private office was done with an appointment She said she just had to make a couple calls, but it could be cashed, after a fee. But then, before all was said and done, she said I had to wait until April to cash it! It was issued with a date of "4/1/2011." I explained that that is the way Europeans write out dates--day of the month first, followed by month. In Europe, that's Jan, 4, though to us it looks like April 1. The bank employee said she did understand that, but their machines would not be able to get around reading that date and would reject the check.
My choices: Ask the magazine to reissue a check with the date written the "American way" or just wait until April first to cash my check.
Note to self: avoid this, and the processing fee, in the future; see if magazines can issue checks written in American dollars.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
How to Find More Time to Write
I was just reading a book where a writer talked about finding 9 hours a week to write (beyond his full-time job and family responsibilities), just by utilizing 15-20 minute segments here and there. It sounds nice, but it's hard trying to get my writing muscles to work under such constraints!
In my previous post, I talked about how much of the time I used to write has disappeared, but I've been slowly rearranging my life to find more time, and this post is about what success I've finally managed in finding time.
Back in September, my husband requested I get up early with him so we could do breakfast together, alone. As much as I hate early morning, I also found it gave me a bit of writing time after breakfasting and showering. But lately, as my situation has changed, I've been utilizing the early mornings to the max:
1) I put off the shower for another time during the day and instead start writing as soon as my husband leaves for work. Some days the kids sleep for an hour after my husband leaves; other days they don't.
2) I designate it as TV time when they wake up early, instead of letting them watch TV later in the morning as I used to, just to let me finish whatever I was in the midst of.
3) I prepare breakfast casseroles at night for my kids' breakfasts that I simply heat in the oven the next morning, or put steel-cut oats on the stove, letting me write while it cooks itself!
4) I've made nap time writing more predictable (after a series of weeks when my preschooler awoke after merely 45 minutes) by using a sleep training clock for him. He's now able to tell, for himself, if it's time to get up yet or whether he needs to stay in his room, try to sleep more, or quietly read a book until the clock's monkey's eyes open. This way, I've been getting one hour and forty-five minutes to write in the afternoon, sometimes shortened or interrupted by my youngest's early waking, but having to deal with only one child's early waking is much easier than two. It equals more days of writing afternoons!
5)I need to start taking an evening every couple weeks to go off by myself and write--but it's not been possible lately cuz with birthdays, Valentine's day, my writer's meetings and book club meetings. I've been gone once a week from the house already, using relatives as babysitters. Maybe after things calm down in a couple weeks, I can start writing 2 evenings a month. I very much need to get out of the house to do some of this work. My husband got me a gift card for a bookstore cafe as a Christmas gift, and I've not even used it yet!
Some weeks I ordain my morning writing segment for my novel alone, or for short articles for content websites, saving the afternoon time for magazine articles. Other times, if I have some sort of deadline, I work on only that piece until it's done. Here are some articles I've accomplished writing in my early mornings, with my new strategy for writing for content websites:
Harnessing The Power of Waves--a Cheaper, Greener Solution to Energy Crisis
How to Avoid Nutrient Depletion Caused by Your Prescription Drugs
Natural Family Planning: Success and Reliability?
Milk's Health Benefits: Highly Protective Against Diabetes and Best Sports Drink
Pregnancy Due Date: Why Do So Few Women Deliver That Day?
Harnessing The Power of Waves--a Cheaper, Greener Solution to Energy Crisis
How to Avoid Nutrient Depletion Caused by Your Prescription Drugs
Natural Family Planning: Success and Reliability?
Milk's Health Benefits: Highly Protective Against Diabetes and Best Sports Drink
Pregnancy Due Date: Why Do So Few Women Deliver That Day?
Monday, February 14, 2011
When All Your Time to Write Disappears...
I started freelance writing a year ago when I had some measure of predictable writing time. But the pattenr of my life has changed:
1) A dear relative used to come almost weekly, leaving me free to leave my napping children under her care so I could go to a library or bookstore and write. 2-3 hours of uninterrupted research and writing time is the only way I ever got started! I found I couldn't start any new big project with the intermittent interruptions of a waking baby or child, etc. But I could edit and rewrite during nap time after I'd been able to start the project alone one afternoon. I no longer have the visits of that relative to give me writing time each week.
2) I used ot write at night, after the kids were in bed, because my husband was sometimes traveling. But he's not traveling as much, so a big chunk of writing time is not accessible anymore.
3) I used to write for many hours, late into one weekend night--because my husband took our one son ot his favorite sporting event in the spring, summer and fall. But since October, that time to myself has also become obsolete.
Goodness, writing these changes down, I'm surprised I've managed to keep any momentum writing at all this winter!
I thought I'd found a partial solution when a friend wanted to do a kid swap--one day every other week, she wanted me to watch her kids while she worked, and on the other weeks, she'd watch my kids for the morning so I could write. That was only half the time i was used to, but it was certainly better than no time! But on my first turn, she had to call me to return early because it seemed my youngest was sick. And then her babysitting needs to accommodate her part-time job changed and the swap dissolved.
Since Christmas, (7 weeks) I've had one afternoon to myself to go write. I'm feeling it in my brain fog, and in feeling overwhelmed with various projects I can't finish fast enough. I feel my output is half what it used to be.
An obvious effect is that I've simply not produced as much. For other reasons as described in other blog posts about my disappointment with the results of writing content website articles, I really cut down on that kind of writing, using the precious time I had for more lucrative, or more meaningful or lengthier projects.
My next post explores ways I've tried rearranging my life to eek out more writing time--some successful.
Here are some articles I did write online recently, after not producing much for a couple months or more:
Fun Valentine's Treats for Kids: Artificial Food Dye Free!
Power Your Electronics with Your Body's Own Movement? The NPower PEG, The First Kinetic Energy Recharger
Psychiatrist Treats Depression with Nutritional Supplements
An Antioxidant in Chocolate Found to Help Neurological Damage after Stroke
Hormone-free Milk: Dairy Companies Pledging Not to Use Artificial Bovine Growth Hormone
Fertility Drug May Prevent Conception
1) A dear relative used to come almost weekly, leaving me free to leave my napping children under her care so I could go to a library or bookstore and write. 2-3 hours of uninterrupted research and writing time is the only way I ever got started! I found I couldn't start any new big project with the intermittent interruptions of a waking baby or child, etc. But I could edit and rewrite during nap time after I'd been able to start the project alone one afternoon. I no longer have the visits of that relative to give me writing time each week.
2) I used ot write at night, after the kids were in bed, because my husband was sometimes traveling. But he's not traveling as much, so a big chunk of writing time is not accessible anymore.
3) I used to write for many hours, late into one weekend night--because my husband took our one son ot his favorite sporting event in the spring, summer and fall. But since October, that time to myself has also become obsolete.
Goodness, writing these changes down, I'm surprised I've managed to keep any momentum writing at all this winter!
I thought I'd found a partial solution when a friend wanted to do a kid swap--one day every other week, she wanted me to watch her kids while she worked, and on the other weeks, she'd watch my kids for the morning so I could write. That was only half the time i was used to, but it was certainly better than no time! But on my first turn, she had to call me to return early because it seemed my youngest was sick. And then her babysitting needs to accommodate her part-time job changed and the swap dissolved.
Since Christmas, (7 weeks) I've had one afternoon to myself to go write. I'm feeling it in my brain fog, and in feeling overwhelmed with various projects I can't finish fast enough. I feel my output is half what it used to be.
An obvious effect is that I've simply not produced as much. For other reasons as described in other blog posts about my disappointment with the results of writing content website articles, I really cut down on that kind of writing, using the precious time I had for more lucrative, or more meaningful or lengthier projects.
My next post explores ways I've tried rearranging my life to eek out more writing time--some successful.
Here are some articles I did write online recently, after not producing much for a couple months or more:
Fun Valentine's Treats for Kids: Artificial Food Dye Free!
Power Your Electronics with Your Body's Own Movement? The NPower PEG, The First Kinetic Energy Recharger
Psychiatrist Treats Depression with Nutritional Supplements
An Antioxidant in Chocolate Found to Help Neurological Damage after Stroke
Hormone-free Milk: Dairy Companies Pledging Not to Use Artificial Bovine Growth Hormone
Fertility Drug May Prevent Conception
Monday, January 31, 2011
First Publication in a "Glossy" and the 3-fold Encouragement of Success
So apparently, the bigger named national magazines are called "glossies," I presume from their glossy, colorful paper. Receiving my copy of my first article published in a such a magazine was really cool! The Green Parent is a UK publication I'd never seen before, but it is a big glossy that looks like O or Natural Health.
I was surprised to find my article called a "Main Feature." I didn't know it'd be that either.
I've noticed a neat feature to the game of rejections and acceptances you play when you're a freelance writer: yes, every rejection or silence from a publication I've submitted to is a bit of a downer (that becomes less significant over time), I've noticed the three-fold buoyancy of an acceptance. First, I got word that a piece was accepted for publication, which boosts my confidence. Then later, I get the magazine in the mail, and that really boosts my confidence. Then, thirdly, I get the check. That amounts to a 3:1 ratio of positive effects. It's a kindness, really, in a profession where rejections and silence are notoriously plentiful. It's great to have three separate expediences to feel good about a success; that ratio can help keep a writer from despair!
And the knowledge of, the sight of, and the payment for my first "glossy" publication has given me a lot of motivation to start sending stuff to more glossies, now that I've got a good clip of that caliber.
Articles I've published online:
How to Avoid Nutrient Depletion Caused by Your Prescription Drugs
Pregnancy Due Date: Why Do So Few Women Deliver That Day?
Governments Issue Warnings and Restrictions for Kids' Mobile Phone Use
Sleeping Tips to Give Your Child Restorative, Restful Sleep
I was surprised to find my article called a "Main Feature." I didn't know it'd be that either.
I've noticed a neat feature to the game of rejections and acceptances you play when you're a freelance writer: yes, every rejection or silence from a publication I've submitted to is a bit of a downer (that becomes less significant over time), I've noticed the three-fold buoyancy of an acceptance. First, I got word that a piece was accepted for publication, which boosts my confidence. Then later, I get the magazine in the mail, and that really boosts my confidence. Then, thirdly, I get the check. That amounts to a 3:1 ratio of positive effects. It's a kindness, really, in a profession where rejections and silence are notoriously plentiful. It's great to have three separate expediences to feel good about a success; that ratio can help keep a writer from despair!
And the knowledge of, the sight of, and the payment for my first "glossy" publication has given me a lot of motivation to start sending stuff to more glossies, now that I've got a good clip of that caliber.
Articles I've published online:
How to Avoid Nutrient Depletion Caused by Your Prescription Drugs
Pregnancy Due Date: Why Do So Few Women Deliver That Day?
Governments Issue Warnings and Restrictions for Kids' Mobile Phone Use
Sleeping Tips to Give Your Child Restorative, Restful Sleep
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Colin Beavan, the No Impact Man, and me.
Colin Beavan, the No impact man, and me. That's right, I saw my name next to that of Colin Beavan, an interesting New Yorker who blogs, writes books and features in documentaries about striving to make no or little environmental impact. He's an interesting fellow, and it was cool to see my name next to his in a magazine editor's list of writers to thank for contributing to that issue.
I may not be famous (nor do I really wish to be), but there is some thrill in sharing pages with someone famous and interesting. By some measure some writers use, I'm succeeding. And that's pretty cool. It also marks my foray into writing for a publication that focuses on environmental issues. That's pretty cool too.
Recent things I've written online:
Hormone-free Milk: Dairy Companies Pledging Not to Use Artificial Bovine Growth Hormone
Fertility Drug May Prevent Conception
Fight Breast Cancer with Salmon, Not Pink Cupcakes (And Other Cancer- Fighting Tips)
Fast Food, Junk Food and Obesity Subsidized by Federal Government
Cloth Diapers Versus Disposables: Switching Systems
I may not be famous (nor do I really wish to be), but there is some thrill in sharing pages with someone famous and interesting. By some measure some writers use, I'm succeeding. And that's pretty cool. It also marks my foray into writing for a publication that focuses on environmental issues. That's pretty cool too.
Recent things I've written online:
Hormone-free Milk: Dairy Companies Pledging Not to Use Artificial Bovine Growth Hormone
Fertility Drug May Prevent Conception
Fight Breast Cancer with Salmon, Not Pink Cupcakes (And Other Cancer- Fighting Tips)
Fast Food, Junk Food and Obesity Subsidized by Federal Government
Cloth Diapers Versus Disposables: Switching Systems
Friday, January 7, 2011
Freelance Writing: Start Local?
Every resource I've checked has suggested that a new freelancer trying to break in should start with local publications. And to break into specific magazine markets, say parenting magazines, the key is to establish yourself in local publications first in order to get clips to earn your right to go to progressively larger markets (cuz most of the big national magazines require you provide a clip from another national magazine--a chicken/egg kind of conundrum, huh?)
I'm not here to dissent that the advice is wrong, but it did not work for me. In fact, in my nearly ten months of earnestly trying to get freelancing off the ground, most things have not gone in the order or progression that is typical, advised or expected.
Where I live, there are few local publications it's reasonable to even consider myself a food candidate for freelancing. I interned at Central PA when I was in college; I have ties there--it should be the easiest publication for me to start with, right? Well, except that the kind of stories they're looking for aren't really things I could easily write about. I'm a "naptime writer"--I am a stay-at-home-mom to two small ones and I have to write what I know. I don't have the time or resources to go places for interviews or to seek out stories. In nearly a year of trying this freelancing thing, I've not thought of a blessed thing to offer them. The second local publication, which is up my alley, is a parenting magazine. However, I've gotten nowhere sending pitches. I've noticed the same few freelancers write everything in nearly every issue. To me, this magazine, though small and local, has been as much of a brick wall as the national Parents magazine. I've sent query after query and have heard as much back as if the editor were dead or the email address were nonfunctional. Other parenting magazines that I'd call mid-tier (not as big as Parents, yet national) actually have gotten back to me--I've received polite and specific "not interested" responses, as well as once an on-spec assignment, and most recently, a sale of an article, to be published next month, from an absolute cold-send of an article.
I've always read too that networking was so important, but so far, I can't say any of my success has come from any such connections. For instance, when I was an intern, the man who was the managing editor then is now an editor at another small, local-ish publication--and yet there too, I cannot see a way to make use of that connection. We got along well--in fact, when he was a senior in college, and I a freshman, we were on the literary magazine staff together, and we had a good working relationship. However, a style magazine for the perhaps upper-crust middle-aged women just isn't a publication I can readily conjure an idea to pitch. (Not to be rigidly uncreative or anything, but again, I know that right now I have to stick with what I know and can write from my living room)
Over the year, I've received a slim newer local magazine in the mail. It's free to every woman in South Central PA, and while it was at first quite simple, it's blossomed in quality and depth in recent issues. It describes itself as a local how-to magazine for women, hoping to offer something akin to what Real Simple and Martha Stewart offer. I have nursed an idea I could pitch to them for a number of months, but because it is seasonal, I've waited until now. I sent the pitch today for a story on how to make a whimsical herb-scape (herb garden in a pot, designed to look like a miniature park, fairy forest, etc.) Within hours, I heard back from the editor, asking if I wanted to freelance for the magazine. I just need to send a resume and clips, including something written from objective 3rd person point of view. Who knows where this will go, but getting a response so swiftly is certainly already leagues better than my experiences with the other unnamed local publication I've mentioned!
My actual scaffolding, in my hopefully upward projection, is as follows:
Midwifery Today, a national/international trade publication that doesn't pay writers, yet this magazine gave me a great clip to prove to other editors that I can/do write.
You and Me: America's Medical Magazine. This is a paying market, and the publication has also been useful because i can include the link in email queries.
Not yet in print, but soon to be, a story in a Chicken Soup book and an article in The Green Parent (UK). (Also, I've been writing in the Christian Devotional market, as well as online content writing, but for the purposes of this article, they're not applicable or part of the scaffolding.) I expect each to be a good clip to establish credibility for me in certain markets.
Who would have thought--I'd get published in a national magazine and a UK parenting magazine before a local publication, which is purportedly easier??
Articles I've published online:
What is a Disposable Diaper Made of Anyway?
Pregnancy Due Date: Why Do So Few Women Deliver That Day?
Stay-at-home-parenting: Who Can Afford It?
Fight Breast Cancer with Salmon, Not Pink Cupcakes (And Other Cancer- Fighting Tips)
Fire Retardants Found in Babies' Umbilical Cord Blood Associated with Developmental Delays
I'm not here to dissent that the advice is wrong, but it did not work for me. In fact, in my nearly ten months of earnestly trying to get freelancing off the ground, most things have not gone in the order or progression that is typical, advised or expected.
Where I live, there are few local publications it's reasonable to even consider myself a food candidate for freelancing. I interned at Central PA when I was in college; I have ties there--it should be the easiest publication for me to start with, right? Well, except that the kind of stories they're looking for aren't really things I could easily write about. I'm a "naptime writer"--I am a stay-at-home-mom to two small ones and I have to write what I know. I don't have the time or resources to go places for interviews or to seek out stories. In nearly a year of trying this freelancing thing, I've not thought of a blessed thing to offer them. The second local publication, which is up my alley, is a parenting magazine. However, I've gotten nowhere sending pitches. I've noticed the same few freelancers write everything in nearly every issue. To me, this magazine, though small and local, has been as much of a brick wall as the national Parents magazine. I've sent query after query and have heard as much back as if the editor were dead or the email address were nonfunctional. Other parenting magazines that I'd call mid-tier (not as big as Parents, yet national) actually have gotten back to me--I've received polite and specific "not interested" responses, as well as once an on-spec assignment, and most recently, a sale of an article, to be published next month, from an absolute cold-send of an article.
I've always read too that networking was so important, but so far, I can't say any of my success has come from any such connections. For instance, when I was an intern, the man who was the managing editor then is now an editor at another small, local-ish publication--and yet there too, I cannot see a way to make use of that connection. We got along well--in fact, when he was a senior in college, and I a freshman, we were on the literary magazine staff together, and we had a good working relationship. However, a style magazine for the perhaps upper-crust middle-aged women just isn't a publication I can readily conjure an idea to pitch. (Not to be rigidly uncreative or anything, but again, I know that right now I have to stick with what I know and can write from my living room)
Over the year, I've received a slim newer local magazine in the mail. It's free to every woman in South Central PA, and while it was at first quite simple, it's blossomed in quality and depth in recent issues. It describes itself as a local how-to magazine for women, hoping to offer something akin to what Real Simple and Martha Stewart offer. I have nursed an idea I could pitch to them for a number of months, but because it is seasonal, I've waited until now. I sent the pitch today for a story on how to make a whimsical herb-scape (herb garden in a pot, designed to look like a miniature park, fairy forest, etc.) Within hours, I heard back from the editor, asking if I wanted to freelance for the magazine. I just need to send a resume and clips, including something written from objective 3rd person point of view. Who knows where this will go, but getting a response so swiftly is certainly already leagues better than my experiences with the other unnamed local publication I've mentioned!
My actual scaffolding, in my hopefully upward projection, is as follows:
Midwifery Today, a national/international trade publication that doesn't pay writers, yet this magazine gave me a great clip to prove to other editors that I can/do write.
You and Me: America's Medical Magazine. This is a paying market, and the publication has also been useful because i can include the link in email queries.
Not yet in print, but soon to be, a story in a Chicken Soup book and an article in The Green Parent (UK). (Also, I've been writing in the Christian Devotional market, as well as online content writing, but for the purposes of this article, they're not applicable or part of the scaffolding.) I expect each to be a good clip to establish credibility for me in certain markets.
Who would have thought--I'd get published in a national magazine and a UK parenting magazine before a local publication, which is purportedly easier??
Articles I've published online:
What is a Disposable Diaper Made of Anyway?
Pregnancy Due Date: Why Do So Few Women Deliver That Day?
Stay-at-home-parenting: Who Can Afford It?
Fight Breast Cancer with Salmon, Not Pink Cupcakes (And Other Cancer- Fighting Tips)
Fire Retardants Found in Babies' Umbilical Cord Blood Associated with Developmental Delays
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Taking Personality Tests as Your Fictional Character and Other Tips for Writers
I just took the Myers-Briggs Personality test for my main characters in the novel I'm writing. (Yes, this is a blog about someone upstarting a freelance career, but the reality that this post can attest to is that my fiction writing is threatening to hedge in on those efforts--and I'm not sure which to give priority. That's something I guess I'll explore as I blog...)
Anyway, it was quite fun, and perhaps a bit schizophrenic. I love personality tests and the theories of typing, but it's also a very useful thing to do. I'm trying to make sure I have distinct characters who are themselves, not just reflections of me. I want to make sure my characters are also consistent with themselves--sometimes I'm not always clear on how a character should react to a given situation--that means I don't know them well enough. If you've never tried this for seeing how much you know about your character, you should try it. here, I'll put the link for a free Myers Briggs personality typing test. I was surprised that I really did know my characters well enough to answer all the questions--in fact the test made me see how intuitively I really do understand them. What's also nice is that at the end, there were two written descriptions about how this personality type generally operates with others, and at work, etc., and even in romance.
I recently attended a talk by novelist Joyce Magnin, author of The Prayers of Agnes Sparrow which is now the beginning of the Bright's Pond novel series. (She's being hailed the "Queen of Quirk" and that's something I really like about her work, as well as hearing her speak. She's very funny!) Anyway, she talked about how to get to know your characters. She talks about keeping a journal as if she were her main character. That's an awesome idea but I haven't the time. And I just don't know how to find it. But its' fabulous. But I've also go 4 main characters who take turns narrating. It's really tough to get to know 4 people so thoroughly that you can develop a distinct voice for each of them. I'm not writing in first person--I know that'd be so demanding. I can't really manage, at this point, the diction each would have, each distinct form all the others. So writing in 3rd person, I'm trying to still figure out how each POV can be distinct in voice... Knowing my characters really well as at the heart of so many aspects of writing the novel. I want to say "I'm just focusing on getting the plot down" as I tell my online critique group. But I'm finding it's hard, if not impossible, to figure out the plot when I don't know my characters well enough to know how they'd react to events that fuel the story!
In taking the personality tests tonight for my characters, I realize two are almost identical--father and son. I have often thought how their wives are quite similar, but they turned out, in test results, to be rather distinct--more than I thought. I am disappointed though that the Jung marriage test application isn't free anymore. I've used it before for free, but tonight I couldn't find it... You can plug in the percentage numbers of each person's type and it
I was surprised by a couple things (granted, I know typing descriptions aren't fool-proof--there are exceptions in real life, so there can be in my fictional characters too) that were dissonant with the character I created. For instance, the character who is my most unreliable narrator, Maizy, the mother in the story, was described as "more in touch with reality" than many of the other personality types. And yet, that's not true for her at all!
Anyway, it's a good exercise for a novelist. If I ever get around to the journaling idea, I'll print out these personality descriptions and put them in the journal for reference....
Nonfiction articles I published when I was being good about last year's goal:
Pregnancy Due Date: Why Do So Few Women Deliver That Day?
Fight Breast Cancer with Salmon, Not Pink Cupcakes (And Other Cancer- Fighting Tips)
Fire Retardants Found in Babies' Umbilical Cord Blood Associated with Developmental Delays
Is Lyme Disease Lurking in Your Unexplained Symptoms?
Anyway, it was quite fun, and perhaps a bit schizophrenic. I love personality tests and the theories of typing, but it's also a very useful thing to do. I'm trying to make sure I have distinct characters who are themselves, not just reflections of me. I want to make sure my characters are also consistent with themselves--sometimes I'm not always clear on how a character should react to a given situation--that means I don't know them well enough. If you've never tried this for seeing how much you know about your character, you should try it. here, I'll put the link for a free Myers Briggs personality typing test. I was surprised that I really did know my characters well enough to answer all the questions--in fact the test made me see how intuitively I really do understand them. What's also nice is that at the end, there were two written descriptions about how this personality type generally operates with others, and at work, etc., and even in romance.
I recently attended a talk by novelist Joyce Magnin, author of The Prayers of Agnes Sparrow which is now the beginning of the Bright's Pond novel series. (She's being hailed the "Queen of Quirk" and that's something I really like about her work, as well as hearing her speak. She's very funny!) Anyway, she talked about how to get to know your characters. She talks about keeping a journal as if she were her main character. That's an awesome idea but I haven't the time. And I just don't know how to find it. But its' fabulous. But I've also go 4 main characters who take turns narrating. It's really tough to get to know 4 people so thoroughly that you can develop a distinct voice for each of them. I'm not writing in first person--I know that'd be so demanding. I can't really manage, at this point, the diction each would have, each distinct form all the others. So writing in 3rd person, I'm trying to still figure out how each POV can be distinct in voice... Knowing my characters really well as at the heart of so many aspects of writing the novel. I want to say "I'm just focusing on getting the plot down" as I tell my online critique group. But I'm finding it's hard, if not impossible, to figure out the plot when I don't know my characters well enough to know how they'd react to events that fuel the story!
In taking the personality tests tonight for my characters, I realize two are almost identical--father and son. I have often thought how their wives are quite similar, but they turned out, in test results, to be rather distinct--more than I thought. I am disappointed though that the Jung marriage test application isn't free anymore. I've used it before for free, but tonight I couldn't find it... You can plug in the percentage numbers of each person's type and it
I was surprised by a couple things (granted, I know typing descriptions aren't fool-proof--there are exceptions in real life, so there can be in my fictional characters too) that were dissonant with the character I created. For instance, the character who is my most unreliable narrator, Maizy, the mother in the story, was described as "more in touch with reality" than many of the other personality types. And yet, that's not true for her at all!
Anyway, it's a good exercise for a novelist. If I ever get around to the journaling idea, I'll print out these personality descriptions and put them in the journal for reference....
Nonfiction articles I published when I was being good about last year's goal:
Pregnancy Due Date: Why Do So Few Women Deliver That Day?
Fight Breast Cancer with Salmon, Not Pink Cupcakes (And Other Cancer- Fighting Tips)
Fire Retardants Found in Babies' Umbilical Cord Blood Associated with Developmental Delays
Is Lyme Disease Lurking in Your Unexplained Symptoms?
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Results of Breaking From Writing Online Content
So I experimented. I didn't publish any new articles on content websites for a month. And nothing much changed. What I earned stayed the same. I got approximately the same number of views: between 550 and 600.
I did cave in after a month and wrote two articles on the topic of breast cancer, one decrying the sale of pink cupcakes for breast cancer awareness and another listing foods/supplements known to help treat or prevent breast cancer, simply because I felt the need to get info out there. After those two, I took another month off. The results? I got about 100 fewer views and made approximately half the amount of revenue. I can't know, however, whether that difference was only because I wasn't outputting anything new or if it was largely due to the holiday month--I know I didn't take the time to read the stuff I normally do online--I was too busy baking and sewing.
Now, I could take that as encouraging--doing nothing for a month, and then another I was still earning residual income on articles I wrote in the past. But because the sum is so low, I can also look at that and see the futility in writing more. (Granted, I do understand that those ramifications would show up later on down the road, not necessarily right now.) Either way, with both those outlooks, I've not been greatly prodded to produce more writing for that publishing venue.
Some day when I have time, I want to look over my list of 50-some articles and do the quick math of seeing which ones are the most viewed/highest earners. I did a quick perusal the other day and was surprised.
One thing I've also noticed--though I'm roundly disappointed with how well these articles are circulated, I am earning twice as much as I used to per number of views. My viewing numbers went down in November, but my earnings stayed generally the same because the articles I've published more recently, using the SEO info I've learned, earn twice as much than the older ones (on average).
I took a break from content writing, first to put more effort into writing for print publications, and second to take advantage of a novel critique group. I just published one online article, Pregnancy Due Date: Why Do So Few Women Deliver That Day? I guess I'm still just observing, re-evaluating....
Articles I've published:
Stay-at-home-parenting: Who Can Afford It?
Fire Retardants Found in Babies' Umbilical Cord Blood Associated with Developmental Delays
Breast Cancer Less About Genetics Than We Used to Think
What is a Disposable Diaper Made of Anyway?
I did cave in after a month and wrote two articles on the topic of breast cancer, one decrying the sale of pink cupcakes for breast cancer awareness and another listing foods/supplements known to help treat or prevent breast cancer, simply because I felt the need to get info out there. After those two, I took another month off. The results? I got about 100 fewer views and made approximately half the amount of revenue. I can't know, however, whether that difference was only because I wasn't outputting anything new or if it was largely due to the holiday month--I know I didn't take the time to read the stuff I normally do online--I was too busy baking and sewing.
Now, I could take that as encouraging--doing nothing for a month, and then another I was still earning residual income on articles I wrote in the past. But because the sum is so low, I can also look at that and see the futility in writing more. (Granted, I do understand that those ramifications would show up later on down the road, not necessarily right now.) Either way, with both those outlooks, I've not been greatly prodded to produce more writing for that publishing venue.
Some day when I have time, I want to look over my list of 50-some articles and do the quick math of seeing which ones are the most viewed/highest earners. I did a quick perusal the other day and was surprised.
One thing I've also noticed--though I'm roundly disappointed with how well these articles are circulated, I am earning twice as much as I used to per number of views. My viewing numbers went down in November, but my earnings stayed generally the same because the articles I've published more recently, using the SEO info I've learned, earn twice as much than the older ones (on average).
I took a break from content writing, first to put more effort into writing for print publications, and second to take advantage of a novel critique group. I just published one online article, Pregnancy Due Date: Why Do So Few Women Deliver That Day? I guess I'm still just observing, re-evaluating....
Articles I've published:
Stay-at-home-parenting: Who Can Afford It?
Fire Retardants Found in Babies' Umbilical Cord Blood Associated with Developmental Delays
Breast Cancer Less About Genetics Than We Used to Think
What is a Disposable Diaper Made of Anyway?
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