Submitting queries and manuscripts nowadays is as easy (and cost-effective) as a single keyboard click. But while programs like Submittable keep a list of e-submissions sent to certain sites, not every publisher uses such a program. Without it, can you pinpoint exactly where and when you sent out every piece, query or pitch in the last five or ten years? I can, and so can you. Starting out as a writer, my submissions, a huge paper chase of labels, letters and receipts, and it could get expensive. It also could get confusing trying to keep track of what I sent, when and where I sent it, and whether it sold. Often sales were “payment upon publication,” with a dangling future, and once I forgot about a promised check, unable to recall if I had gotten paid or not. After an embarrassing phone call where I was informed I had been paid months before, I developed my system. A good tracking system is even more critical today. Because electronic submissions are easy and inexpensive (reading fees, when applied, are still cheaper than postage), we tend to submit a greater volume of work to a greater number of publishers. That increase means More
The Race to the Bottom
/ 2020-05-03The problem with freelance sites where you compete for work is that the low price usually wins. Same goes for pitching to magazines and customers . . . the lower you value yourself, the more likely you’ll get stuck with that price. Not only will you get paid for less than you are worth, but you get labeled as someone who works on the cheap. The problem with racing to the bottom is that you might win. You do not have to lowball your value in order to work. Unfortunately, in the publishing industry, we seem only to think we can either be the cream rising to the top or the lowball, scrambling for quantity instead of quality. You can ride the middle ground, always striving to rise, but starting at the very bottom, working for pennies, means you have further to go to reach a respectable wage. Why do that to yourself? Why compete with third-world companies where engineers and doctors are freelance writing to make ends meet and are satisfied with writing 2,000 words for $10? You compete against way more competitors at the bottom. That’s where way more people underestimate themselves and hang out. You compete against More
Backing Into Large Publications
/ 2020-04-24Freelance writers have to be motivated to reach for the brass ring. To some of us, that means publishing in a major magazine or national newspaper, a difficult achievement even with a substantial number of clips. A plethora of authors vie for the top spots, and once they’re in, they hold onto them. Fortunately, there is a back door to many of the major publications that offers a way to at least get your foot on the bottom rung of the ladder. Vox, The New York Times, Writer’s Digest, The Writer’s Chronicle, Good Housekeeping, and even The Boston Globe offer opportunities for writers to submit low word count essays or blog posts about personal experiences, your writing journey, and even career advice. Writer’s Digest looks for 600-word essays for their 5 Minute Memoir about the writing life, and the payment is $300. The guidelines are specific, including the email subject line, so be sure to read them before you submit! It can be difficult to pry open the door to Vox, as it’s one of the premier websites for explaining the news. Fortunately, they are looking for first-person narrative essays. They don’t have a word count listed, but they do More
Trident Media Group Literary Agent Mark Gottlieb on Overcoming Panic in Publishing During the Pandemic
/ 2020-04-17“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me.” –Frank Herbert, DUNE Fear has taken hold of the minds of many people in trade book publishing during the pandemic brought on by COVID-19 and rightfully so: Scholastic temporarily laid off over 100 employees, Rowman & Littlefield has ceased paying salaries to their entire company, Markus Dohle released a company-wide letter to Penguin Random House that everyone at the company will have to tighten their belts and Macmillan closed the imprint Thomas Dunne Books while laying off a number of employees… Publishers have gone as far as to push publication dates out, and authors that are having books published during these current troubled times are having to turn away from live book tour events, to online media. Outside of publishing, the world seems even scarier, and we must all remind each other that we are in this together—more than ever, we all need to treat one another with kindness. Even with that in mind, we must respect that some hold onto the view that things look grimmer than More
Nine Unusual Ways to Make Money from Writing
/ 2020-04-10Look beyond blogs and ghostwriting for unusual assignments that may be a match for your skills. Editing stories of popular writers on Medium You can make money by writing posts as part of the Medium Partner Program, but in this fascinating article , writing coach Nico Ryan describes how he makes more by fine-tuning the posts of Medium contributors whom he considers to be rising stars. He gets paid partly on a performance-based basis, so a piece that gets loads of traction will earn him more – and his client too, of course. Writing verse and jokes for greetings cards There’s a whole industry of artists and writers who supply the fresh jokes and verses that are always needed for greetings cards. Though the word count is deceptively low, there’s a real knack to coming up with good fresh material, and the pay for successful writers is more than you might imagine. Find out more here and here. Writing dating profiles Yes, this is a thing and it’s not hard to see why. If you’re not a great writer, but you’re keen to meet that special someone, why wouldn’t you seek some professional help to present yourself to best effect? Writing jokes Some radio and TV shows (such More
The Fear of Writing Poorly
/ 2020-04-03Just as a good man forgets his deed the moment he has done it, a genuine writer forgets a work as soon as he has completed it and starts to think about the next one; if he thinks about his past work at all, he is more likely to remember its faults than its virtues. Fame often makes a writer vain, but seldom makes him proud. ~W. H. Auden You might be surprised at how often an author fails to go back and revisit their prior works. If I wasn’t reading them into the Talking Book Services for the blind at the South Carolina State Library, I probably wouldn’t read my work again either. Like the quote above, reading old work opens an author’s eyes to the faults rather than the strengths. I cringe at word choices, phrasing, comma choices, and so on, wondering how many people read those spots and scowled. Every writer does it. But for some, the thought of those scowls and regrets stops them from publishing in the first place. Yet, for others, they write a first draft, correct the grammar, and publish, neglecting the layers of edits required in between. Then there’s the majority who worry where they More
Ten Lessons from Entering Hundreds of Short Story Competitions
/ 2020-03-28Do the Obvious Stuff Follow the submission guidelines. Get the formatting right. Make sure the story is anonymised if it has to be. Check you haven’t left any details in the doc from a previous contest requirement. Don’t send a 500-word bio when they want 75 words max. Look for Author-Competition Fit Contests typically change judges every year, but you still can learn the sense of story flavour that seems to do well. Some competitions will have a better fit for your work than others, so consider re-entering competitions where you’ve been successful before. Use Competitions to Free You from Creative Blockage Story contests get you writing again when you’ve been blocked. Choose one with a soonish deadline and an interesting prompt – and get cracking! Work That Title We all know the importance of starting strong, but judges wish more attention was paid to titles. An original title helps a story stand out, and too many have very similar titles, e.g., “The Visit” or “An Affair.” Also, with a very common title, if the shortlist is published without the authors’ names (as is often the case), you’ll have the agony of waiting to see if that story is really More
How to Mine a Dozen Articles from a Single Topic
/ 2020-03-20As a content writer or freelance journalist, a little learning can go a very long way. In the course of your career, you may become quite expert in a particular topic(s), perhaps because of a job you once had, or because you once had to do a lot of research or interviews in that area, or just through first-hand experience. To get more bang for your freelancing buck, you want to spin that knowledge and experience out into as many commissions as possible, so helping you save time and maximise your income. Here are a few examples of how you might do this, illustrated by reference to two very different topics: crowdfunding a novel and stress. Write a Case Study Tell a story from my own or a contact’s experience, e.g., “How I’m Crowdfunding My Novel” or “How I Went from Burnout and 18-hour Days to a Decent Work-Life Balance.” Top Tips Offer some practical pointers on a topic. Think “Top Tips for Crowdfunding a Novel” or “Managing Stress: Dos and Don’ts.” Jump on a Topical Hook If your topic is in the headlines, now’s the time for a spot of newsjacking. For example, this article detailing research that suggests More
Ten Reasons Why Editors Ignore Our Pitches
/ 2020-03-13Tired of brainstorming new ideas and pitching to publications only to hear crickets? Ever wondered why these editors ignore our ideas? Editors are intensely busy people. Their inboxes stay packed with pitches from writers like us. That’s why they select only the cream of the crop and neglect pitches that show the following bad traits. Boring Subject Lines The first words an editor reads. If irrelevant or dull, your pitch ends up in the trash. Keep the subject line short and to-the-point like: Request for Guest Post Submission or Freelance Writer’s Query No Name for the Editor Never address the editors as Dear Editor or even worse To Whom it May Concern. Instead, use their first names, or Mr. or Ms. last name. No Evidence of Research Almost every publication accepting guest posts provides guidelines for submissions just like Hope has hers here. Study them carefully and know exactly what the editors seek. Editors can tell when you have or have not read the guidelines. Unattractive Headlines You might have crafted a brilliant manuscript. but your headline failed to grab the editor’s attention. Consider reading these 9 Proven Headline Formulas by Dean Rieck to craft juicy headlines. Too Much Self Talk More
Finding Time to Write
/ 2020-03-13Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you. ~Zadie Smith You find the time to write by discarding something else in your life. I mean, I have to assume you think your day is full, right? Isn’t that what we tell everyone? We fuss about not having enough hours in the day, so we must excise something to ensure we have the time to write. I never go to a conference, and I mean that in the most absolute sense, without someone telling me they are waiting to write their story, their book, their anything. They are always waiting until after the daughter’s wedding, Christmas, school is out, retirement. I used to try to convince them that they are making a mistake. That writing can be done today, now, during any day. Of course that is assuming one is taking writing seriously. Some are beginners, but that still doesn’t mean that putting in those hours of writing practice work isn’t taking writing seriously. It’s necessary to hammer out the bad words and define bad habits before writing something for keeps, but we cannot mistake practice More