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The question asked most of me is: How do you organize your day to accomplish what you do? I probably never answer it the same any two times. There isn’t an A-B-C or step-by-step response to that. However, I will try to list how I get things done and see if you can find some semblance of takeaway value in the middle of it all. Deadlines come first. However, if they are big project deadlines, you must create little deadlines to break it up since it can’t be accomplished in one sitting. A novel, for instance. I have a deadline for it, but to create 95,000 words I write 1000 per day. The FundsforWriters newsletter goes out every Friday. A freelance publication I write for likes 3-4 articles every six months. Another would like 304 every quarter. A lot of times just having deadlines prioritizes things. Paid gigs take priority over unpaid ones. Enough said. I write for free for one publication for personal reasons, but they don’t always get their articles as early as the paid gigs do. Write daily. You can develop a calendar or habit or prioritize your writing assignments if you don’t know that you’ll be More

In my job I write emails on behalf of businesses to try and generate leads from other businesses. Here are some things I’ve learned that we could apply to writing query emails and subs… Make it easy for the recipient  When emailing an editor or agent, remember the relationship is asymmetrical: the message matters far more to you than to them. Therefore, make everything you can easier for the other person. Make it difficult for them to discard your query because you’ve been so spot on with your inquiry. Pretty much every other tip here circles back to this one. Keep it short and simple Write a clear subject line so the recipient knows instantly what they’re getting, and can easily retrieve it from their inbox later should they want to. Make your message about one thing. Write short, clear sentences, no more than one or two per paragraph, no more than three or four paragraphs in total. Include an explicit call to action spelling out what you want them to do. E.g.. ‘Let me know if you’d like to see the full manuscript.’ Don’t be too salesy  My company recommends writing short, downbeat subject lines (SL) that don’t go More

In the early days of my freelance travel writing career I realized how difficult it was to earn enough money to travel to all the places I wanted to visit. Magazine pay rates vary tremendously from as little as 10c/word to $1/word. Thus, travel perks became important to defray my travel costs. Travel writing perks are complimentary press trips, accommodations, transport, meals, tours, cruises, and entry to tourist attractions. Guides are often provided too. How do you land these “comps?”  Think of assignments as your currency for getting the comps. When seeking comped travel, you need to produce an assignment or two up front before you approach the tourist agency PR/media rep at your destination. The important thing is to have assignments in hand—and the more assignments, the better. Media reps translate your assignments into advertising dollars. They look at your assignments and the publications and give a value to each publication since not all assignments (or publications) are created equal. Prestigious glossy travel magazines carry more weight than a small local newspaper, and print publications tend to carry more weight than online websites and blogs. The media reps will want to know these magazines and websites, often asking for More

I recently read an essay by an author who earned out her $20,000 advance in two years, which is amazing. What does that mean? They paid her a $20,000 advance when the book was sold to a traditional press, which meant she received no royalties until her advance earned itself out with sales. She did it. A lot of writers don’t, by the way. https://electricliterature.com/my-book-earned-out-in-two-years-and-nothing-happened/ The problem is, she thought in doing that she would have done something. She would have become a household name and become someone that agents and editors were interested in for subsequent books. In fact, nothing happened. It was nothing but a spreadsheet note on someone’s computer ledger at the publishing house. Nobody, and I mean, nobody, is going to open doors for you. Few things in this business just happen without you having paved the way for it to happen. Opportunity happens to those who are fighting to be there when it happens. In this author’s case, she busted her butt to sell 11,000 books with a self-imposed goal of two years to earn out the $20,000. In the end, hoping someone would applaud her and and she’d somehow earn a reward. Nobody cared. More

My 17-year travel writing journey mantra is, “presell your travel stories before you visit your destination.”  Many travel writers go on trips without assignments. Then they’re faced with the uphill grind of selling their ideas after they return. I’m always surprised at this random approach, because it’s not good business. It’s difficult to sell stories after you travel. Instead, travel writers should snag assignment letters in advance. Additionally, I believe in preselling as many travel articles as possible. Here’s How to Presell Your Travel Stories Before You Travel  1.Select destinations that interest you. Destinations you’re passionate about will provide plenty of story ideas. You’ll enjoy doing your research before the trip, and the trip itself will be more enjoyable. I often turn down invitations for press trips to destinations that aren’t appealing. I know what I write best. 2.  Research your destinations.   Use the Internet and guidebooks to read about the place in advance. You’ll naturally generate, identify, and presell more story ideas. 3.  Remember where you’ve already published. Think, “Could I match up this destination with any of my outlets?” They already know your work. 4. Write query letters and fire them out to appropriate publications and websites More

By Orrin Konheim Considering I’ve devoted a significant portion of my life to writing about entertainment, I’m especially agog at the prospect of getting to meet a celebrity face-to-face (or on zoom or the telephone or whatever) and pepper them with questions. Even if I didn’t care about the cult of celebrity, interviewing a famous person pays off in numerous ways. The ability to get an article greenlit, to get page views on an article, or to up your profile are all enhanced with a famous name. Still. as a sensible reporter with a finite bandwidth to pursue my writing goals, I have to be pragmatic. If I see an actor like Nicholas Cage in a film and think “gee, I really want to interview him,” I think twice. Hollywood personalities are extremely busy with very narrow time windows. While high level celebrities give hundreds of interviews as part of their contractual obligations, they rarely have the desire to do more. Aim within your range and specialties. What dictates whether to invest the effort is my level of enthusiasm for the material and the demand for the interview. If you are enthusiastic enough about the subject, you might be able More

We put a lot of attention into being very visible through logos, brands, websites, and book covers. Rightfully so, to a point, because a bad first impression is pretty permanent, especially with all the competition out there. Introductions are important. We might want someone to be attracted to our bright lights and spin, but that isn’t what makes you a success. What is even more important is reputation. Do you deliver? How high is your repeat factor? Can you repeat that quality someone appreciated in your first book, that first article, that first gig? That’s where your stick factor comes from. That’s where you gain traction and create a name. When do you get to the point someone looks for you, by name, by title, by reputation? Seth Godin, American author and a former dot com business executive, says you want readers to focus not on the SEO search in finding someone like you (i.e., mystery author), but on the more precise human search (i.e., C. Hope Clark). Your goal is to have people looking for you, not something like you or looking for something like what you do. First and foremost, be the quality resource that people would seek. More

It took me many years to give in to the idea that I was a writer, and a few more to discover the secret to my success. The first happened for me on an auspicious occasion: passing the hours beside my husband’s hospital bed. He was on a respirator after a massive heart attack, and at the time the extent of his recovery was unknown. As I listened to the beeping and whirring of the machines keeping him alive, a lightbulb clicked on in my brain. If I wasn’t going to write now, then when? During his recovery, (his disabilities don’t limit his quality of life, thank goodness) I tried writing at home and found the environment full of distractions. Therefore, my first nine books were written via coffee shop hopping. This shop on Monday, that shop on Tuesday, etc. My virtual calendar worked like a well-oiled machine of lattes and iced teas. That is, until the pandemic hit. Suddenly, there were no coffee shops or public spaces to write. Without a home office or any private rooms, I was left trying to further my newly-chosen career between conversations about toilet paper and loads of laundry. My goals went from More

A website shows who you are, where you’ve been, and what you offer to make someone’s life sweeter. Many writers think that having published someplace validates them. Some think that promising the moon will entice someone to hire them. You’ve got to give them something to study about you, and without a website or a very solid social media presence, your promises to do a good job appear rather diluted. You need a website: To show that you take your writing seriously. To demonstrate what you’ve achieved. To show your efforts moving forward. To post examples of your work. A lot of writers think publishing an article is a one-way street, or that writing material for a client is just about the job. They believe that submitting something that ticks the boxes ought to work and merit payment. They hope that including a link or two where they’ve published before will work. You have to show your success. Why? The publication or client that hires you also wants to piggy back on your platform and your reach and your success. It is a two-way street. What if you’ve never published anywhere before? You can still have a website that shows More

Starting my freelance career writing for content mills instilled the mindset that I had to say yes to every job and put up with anything my clients threw at me. Now after three years, I see the benefits of saying no and the opportunities this can lead to. It was frightening at first, but here are the signs I’ve become familiar with, telling me when to ditch a client. The workload keeps expanding Being approached on LinkedIn by a client asking if I wanted to write dating articles was an ego boost. However, the workload went from writing articles with light research and inserting keywords, to extensive research, quotes and sources, and a complex system that even my client couldn’t explain. Despite the increased workload, the pay stayed the same. Each time they took longer to pay, and I gave them several chances, knowing delays can happen sometimes. However, I eventually ditched the client since they issued more work without addressing any of my concerns. I now had more time to send pitches and respond to opportunities, and I achieved my first by-lined articles and regular freelance work from a client who offered a rate I was happy with, as More