A market I come across states it wants poetry, so I sort through my collection of unpublished poems and find one or two to submit. The same goes when I see markets requesting essays or short stories; I usually have one matching their need.

Opportunities for more sales await the writer who writes a variety of content. There’s no guarantee each submission means a sale, but it can, at least, open doors to more markets to submit work to.

If you want to have these opportunities as well, consider becoming a writer of assorted types of content.

Two things are required in order to get started on this path:

1. Being the kind of writer capable of writing a variety of work
2. Having a collection of work ready to submit

To achieve that first requirement, start writing other types of content that you don’t normally write. Poetry, essays, short stories, articles and blog posts. If you don’t know how to write them, books and online courses available to help you get started, not to mention reading those writers already successful in these areas.

Take some time to learn how to write different kinds of content, and write it well, but once you start selling your work, you’ll see how the effort was time well spent. You’ll become a diverse kind of writer who can submit a variety of work with a better chance of an acceptance – plus a nice payment.

Write these other kinds of content as often as possible. Got an idea for a poem? Write it. An idea for a short story? Write it. Even if you feel you won’t be able to sell it, write it and hold onto it. You can always revise it later when you sense you’ve found a home for it.

After time spent writing these other kinds of work, you amass a small collection. Keep them organized and easily found for the next time you come across a potential market. Make sure you are certain the work has not already been sold elsewhere. I usually make notes on files if an item has been published somewhere. I also keep track of where work has been submitted, and whether or not it was accepted or rejected. C. Hope Clark keeps a spreadsheet for her submissions to avoid sending a piece to more than one market at a time or sending a duplicate to the same market.

In order to find the markets for your work, subscribe to newsletters that provide this information. FundsforWriters is just one such newsletter with markets and publishing opportunities. You can also get markets through Duotrope, Authors Publish Magazine and The Writer’s Job Newsletter. Twitter is also a great resource for finding markets, calls and writing jobs. Follow accounts such as @job_writers, @Mediabistro, @FreelanceWJ and @jobs_content for such tweets.

If you can’t find a market for your work, save it. I have had poems and short stories I couldn’t find a home for right away – but I found somewhere to submit them later. When rejected on one piece, don’t despair; another market will come along. An essay I wrote was rejected on one day, but I found somewhere else to submit it the next.

Once you develop the habit of writing a variety of content, you will find that this kind of routine keeps you busy. There are hundreds of markets out there eagerly accepting submissions from writers, and with a variety of content at your disposal, you’ll be one of those writers constantly finding homes for your work.

Being the kind of writer who writes a variety of content won’t hurt your ability to write one particular kind of work. In fact, it just might strengthen your skill as a writer. You’ll write better, faster, and acquire more work ready to submit.

BIO – Dawn Colclasure’s poetry, essays and short stories have appeared in newspapers, magazines and anthologies. She has been writing for over two decades, garnering credits in magazines such as SUCCEED and WRITERS’ Journal. She is also a ghostwriter, having written many ebooks for clients, as well as a book reviewer and content writer. You can check out her work at her website https://www.dmcwriter.com/ and follow her on Twitter @dawncolclasure or @dawnwilson325. She lives in Oregon with her husband, children and fur babies.