By C. Hope Clark The shortest, most blunt email anyone receives from me is “The guidelines are on the website,” and I send that email many times a week. The online guidelines at www.fundsforwriters.com/submissions clearly ask for articles on spec. Or if a writer isn’t sure, they can pitch ideas, and if one is selected, they […]
Making a Living as a Life Story Writer
/ 2019-01-25A business card left at a coffee shop that garners a $50,000+ writing gig. Same card, different coffee shop, that results in a feature story in a local publication. No, it’s not the card that’s magic, but the profession it advertises: life story writer. Those were only two of the many strokes of good luck […]
Ghostwriting: A Lesser Known Career Path that Pays Big
/ 2018-12-22Graduating with an engineering degree, I had no clue I would end up being a freelance writer. I chose to be one, as it best suited my life during the recession period back in 2009. Like many other writers who get stuck with low paying content mills like Elance (now Upwork), I started my career […]
Five Tips to Promote Yourself as a Newbie Freelance Writer
/ 2018-12-22It can get hard to get off the ground while starting your freelance writing business. This is especially true if you have quit your day job and you’re yet to get your first assignment. The pressure can be extremely agonizing. All you need to do is leave your worries aside and get down to business. […]
House-Sitting Puts Ink in the Travel Writer’s Pen
/ 2018-11-30Staying for extended stretches in exotic and culturally rich places for free? Then being paid for pieces you’ve written about your stay? Sounds unreal, but the reality is anything but: over the past several years I’ve spent one- to two-month periods in Hawaii, Mexico, Panama, the Bahamas and St. Vincent and the Grenadines with my […]
Multiple Submissions of Freelance Material
/ 2018-11-30A reader asked me to address this topic. She had an article to query to publications and didn’t want to wait for one answer at a time. Could she pitch to several markets at once, she asked. The answer isn’t a simple Yes or No. It’s actually Yes AND No. And I have my own […]
Tapping into Local Businesses for Writing Work
/ 2018-11-02Here’s an optimistic thought: writing is a necessary part of every business. You read that right. Every business – big and small – has the need for written language. More good news: most businesses don’t have a full-time or even part-time writer on staff. Hint: here’s where you come in. Local businesses need your skills. […]
Writing for Hobby and Leisure Activity Magazines
/ 2018-10-19When I began my freelance writing career in 2007, I would never have believed I’d end up writing dozens of articles for hobbyist magazines. But today, my bylines include more than 20 special interest magazines for hobbies as diverse as gardening, gold prospecting, ham radios, four-wheel drive vehicles, classic cars, art and sculpture, wine tasting, […]
Writing for the Health Markets
/ 2018-09-14In case you had not noticed, America is getting older. And while that might cause alarm for some people, for freelance writers, it is time to dance a jig. Why? Because with the so-called “graying of America,” the opportunity to write for health markets has “exploded and reached an all-time high.” And it will continue […]
The Ins & Outs of Corporate Ghostwriting
/ 2018-03-21While I’m known as a journalist, writer and editor, I’ve also done a lot of corporate ghostwriting behind the scenes. It’s a potentially lucrative market for writers who don’t mind skipping the by-line. Here’s how to track down your clients. Defining Corporate Ghostwriting “Corporate ghostwriting” can include website content (blog posts or static pages), press […]
Five Steps to Blogging for Businesses You Frequent Anyway
/ 2018-01-27Even successful freelance writers find themselves in lulls at times, their pitches readily declined. By making some simple choices, however, writers can access long-term clients without competing with a large pool of freelancers on a job board. By following these five steps, you can gain clients by showing them how your services will benefit them […]
The Good Ones: Hitting the Higher Paying Markets
/ 2017-12-01By Alex J. Coyne One of my first high-paying features sold to The Investor for $170 (Six String Stocks, October 2015). I’ve sold others since, including a piece for Catholic Digest that earned $500. I sure didn’t think it was possible when I started out with $20/article rates. Here’s how I got to higher rates […]