Recipes are directions, and in most cases, directions on how to create food. One of my relaxing pastimes is reading recipes, collecting them, and dissecting them on what makes them easy, unique, or particularly mouth-watering. I ponder how to alter them, improve them, add to make the flavor better. I imagine the type of setting I’d serve it at. I play with matching it with others. And I enjoy thinking which platter, bowl, or serving piece to use to show it off. A recipe that captures a reader is not just about the ingredients, like any story isn’t just about its components. So many people have come to me at conferences, saying how good a story they have. They are all about the plot or the research involved. One character or how it ends. I never hear about the whole. But when I ask them how much they have written, I usually get a brief version of “it isn’t written yet,” or “I’m mulling it over, but I know how it will read.” Or if part of it is written, it’s been ongoing for years. They often say they know where they are going, or are almost there. A recipe More
Five Reasons Your Magazine Pitches Get Rejected
/ 2020-09-11So you’ve written your hundredth magazine pitch only to be rejected again. This is where most writers quit, but smart authors know that a successful pitch goes beyond a clean essay and a flashy idea. You need content that not only compels the editor to inquire for more but also provides a definitive point of view that will appeal to readers for years to come. But in pursuit of this delicate balance, many writers unknowingly commit a series of sins that equal rejection before the editor finishes the first sentence. Here are five of the most common mistakes. You don’t do your research. Review the tone and style of each publication on your wish list. How long are the articles? Are submissions limited to certain subjects? Familiarize yourself with the magazine’s content, and discover if they’ve already published articles similar to your pitch. One way to do this is to Google search their website using “site: publication.com [plus your pitch’s keywords].” This should bring up any material already written about the topic so that you don’t rehash old ground. You don’t know your audience. For example, if you’re crafting a pitch for Bustle, they look for lifestyle, fashion, beauty, and More
You Cannot Write for Everyone
/ 2020-09-05If you sit down in a pizza place and order sushi, neither you nor the manager will be happy. The manager hasn’t served your needs, and you stay hungry. . . unless you decide to settle for pizza. But what are the odds that your craving for sushi will be satisfied with pepperoni and cheese? Switch that scenario to writing. You flip into a magazine site on Southern gardens, hoping to to sell a piece about rural Montana. The editor loses precious minutes they can never get back by simply opening the email, and all but throws the proposal against the wall. You, however, hope that this editor might know another editor who could use the piece. In reality, odds are you alienated that editor abusing their time. You write a book on primary school-aged child development then pitch it to a press that handles purely fiction. The editor has lost precious time in their day by opening your proposal. You were refused (assuming you received an answer at all). The editor is thinking “What the heck was that author thinking?” The author is thinking “Maybe they know somebody who wants my book. After all, it’s for children.” First of More
How to Deal with a Bad Payer Without Giving In to Anger
/ 2020-08-28Some months ago, I finally, finally received a modest payment for a couple of articles I’d written for a well-known outlet. It took me almost a year from submitting the first piece to getting paid, and the whole process involved endless emails, chasing different people, lots of silence, and false dawns – a great deal of frustration and wasted time. The irony is that the venue in question prides itself on being a resource for writers! Many a time I would stew on the situation, planning sarcastic emails in which I deplored the publisher’s hypocrisy, bemoaned the complacency and the inaction of the editors involved, threatened to demand that my articles be taken down, and imagined myself broadcasting the whole sorry saga all over social media. In the end, I did none of these things. I managed to refrain from selecting the nuclear option, and eventually the payment came through. The identity of this payer is not important – I’ve had several such experiences over the years, and it’s often the very biggest companies that are the worst at paying. But what was interesting for me here was learning how to deal with a bad payer that I still very More
How to Run a Short Story Competition
/ 2020-08-21Writers love competitions. There’s the creative stimulus of an interesting prompt, the promise of kudos, validation if you do well, and, of course, publication and prizes. Running your own competition is fun, too. It can develop your network and author brand, and may lead to other offers of work such as reviewing or webinars. Best of all, anyone can start one, and it’s pretty easy to do. Here are a few pointers. Goals. Competitions are great for building your profile, supporting other writers, and networking. Better to focus on goals like these, rather than money-making or direct sales. Partner. Your competition will need the oxygen of publicity and the reach of a ready audience, so look to your network for a partner with a mutual interest. A publisher or magazine might offer some goodies, as well as the all-important reward of publication. If you have a blog or a website that could publish the winning stories, well and good, but the bigger the platform, the better. Judges. You may choose to be the judge of the competition, especially if tying it in with a new book of yours, but a panel of two or three judges, especially if they have More
Start Local and Move Out
/ 2020-08-21We’re stuck at home and sick of Zoom. How do we tell the world we are open for business as commercial or freelance writers or editors? We start at home and work out from there. Meaning, we start with who knows us, who lives near us, and who understands where we come from. This is an election year. People need copy for websites, social media, speeches, and advertisements. Start with your local school board, mayoral, or town council candidates. Let them know you are a hometown person, and you like what you see. Offer your services. Offer to write something for them, then after that, offer to write for pay. Do a remarkable job for them, and the campaign manager will remember you for other candidates. . . maybe in this, the same election cycle. There’s a lot of virtual learning out there. Offer your school district, schools, or teachers to write whatever they need, of course, knowing the platform from which they will teach. If the district isn’t interested, contact homeschooling and online entities. You can discuss potions ranging from writing curriculum to tutoring students in writing and English. With all these hybrid and virtual educational configurations going on, More
A Letter to a Friend and Fellow Writer
/ 2020-08-15Tom – Let’s put this into perspective. Yes, it’s difficult to sit across the table from your friend and be exposed to his success while you struggle. Hearing how much he pays for editors and the travel he’s able to do is difficult. But your friend didn’t start off hiring line editors for $7,000 when he entered the business. You are not at his level. And you have to think about why you are writing. Yes, the world is crazily glutted with books. Self-publishing and Amazon upset the apple cart and upended the entire business. Competition is incredibly difficult and keeps getting worse. Thinking about being a writer isn’t enough. You have to hunger for it. It used to be that one could write a book as a hobby and post it out there, maybe with a blog or mediocre online presence, and make a few thousand dollars with minimal effort. Now it’s a very feast or famine environment. Platform is everything. There are too many writers and not enough readers, and the writers themselves hardly ever read. Self-publishing pioneers are eating their young, in my opinion. Literary agents are snobbier than before. And publishers are running in circles wondering More
Becoming A Writer for A Digital Marketing Agency
/ 2020-08-07I’ve been working as a content manager, freelance writer, and editor for the Barcelona-based digital marketing agency Vime Digital for over four years. In fact, there are dozens of agencies out there and they’re all eager to recruit new writers. Read on and learn how to make your bones in the agency world. Let’s quickly define what a digital marketing agency is, so we’re all on the same page. A digital agency is a business entity that provides online marketing services for external clients (they’re called “accounts” in the agency lingo). These services include blog and news-related content writing and publishing, with a major focus on search engine optimization (SEO). What do clients expect from an agency like this? They want higher levels of traffic on their websites and top positions for specific keywords in search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. How is this achieved with your help? You’ll need to write articles for a variety of blogs and news outlets, and link them up to your employing agency account’s website using a specific anchor text. This is called a “link building campaign” or “sponsored posts campaign,” and to be successful at it, you need to have a solid understanding of SEO, in More
What If You Were the First?
/ 2020-08-07Black authors’ work is surging, which is a great, great thing. Long overdue. Not long ago, LGBTQ authors made a comeback, and their work came into its own. Harry Potter taught the world that Young Adult was important for all, not just kids. All the books labeled with GIRL or WOMAN over the last three or four years have shown us that women can be incredible protagonists as well as remarkably deep antagonists. FIFTY SHADES brought erotica out from behind plain covers. In the publishing industry, each publisher or agent wants to discover the next best fill-in-the-blank, and usually it involves a cause or an underrepresented group. Then typically a myriad of up-and-coming writers shadow that great discovery because they want to be part of something bigger as well. Not just a story, but a piece of a cause. Why can’t we just write a story that gives a reader a chance to escape? I’m trying to say: 1) Not all black writers have to write about racism. 2) Not all LGBTQ authors have to write about their physical/sexual affiliation. 3) Not all YA authors have to write fantasy. 4) Not all female books have to have GIRL or WOMAN More
How to Get Two (or More) Assignments Out of One
/ 2020-08-01Building a career as a freelance writer takes more than talent and tenacity. While editors seek superbly written articles and essays, it’s what you do after publication that can make the most impression, leading additional assignments or acceptances. I have a strategy that has worked for me for the past year. These five easy steps have given me the opportunity to write more than one article for the same publication and have also opened doors to other publications. 1. Share published work with your social media network. While publications have built-in audiences, you should also do your part to reach readers in your own sphere. Make sure to tag the publication so they’ll know you actively promote what you’ve written. Additionally, if you have a website, you should also list your publications. I have been asked for a list of previously published articles and having it prepared came in handy. 2. Pay attention to social media comments. My most recent publication about having an invisible disability stirred up a hornet’s nest and brought out strong opinions on the topic. After studying the comments, I immediately pitched a follow-up article to the publication that would allow me to address the issues. The article More