I did look at your website, espresso, and I'm afraid it's far too vague to give me any indication you can deliver the goods.
2012 is a great year for politically inclined writers with not only a presidential race, but state, local and Congressional races as well. The Internet has created an expanding market starved for fresh content, but also made it increasingly harder to find publishers willing to pay for that content.
You are in a highly crowded and competitive field. There are veteran journalists with years of experience blogging, writing sporadically and hustling for assignments. They have established track records. What do
you have?
In a field where "show, don't tell" matters there isn't anything on your website that shows me what you can do. You have a blog, but you don't have any of the stories you've written published there or any links to them? That's not helping me much if I'm looking to see if you're as capable as you say you are.
You give an e-mail address to be contacted at, but it's not a direct link so I'm going to have to write it down and then put it in an e-mail? Who's got time for that?
Are you on Facebook? Do you have a Twitter account? What about Linkedin? Once again, you say you are "Internet/Social Media Savvy" but you are making a prospective employer hunt for the evidence rather than present it so they can see for themselves.
Espresso, I don't doubt you are sincere when you say you know your stuff, but you have to
show your stuff. Editors are busy people and they don't have time to write you, wait for you to acknowledge their message and provide them with what they need to make a decision. They need to see the steak and so far you haven't even provided the sizzle.
This is not to be harsh or critical. This is to tell you as someone who is a politics junkie himself and has written for newspapers, magazines, websites and appeared on radio and television because of my knowledge about politics, you must step your game up in order to stand out.
Start contributing to your local newspaper. Even its nothing more than letters to the editors you can establish you know your stuff. There are still small community and weekly alternative papers looking for writers. Most don't pay all that much if at all, but you're trying to build your brand and your brand is
you. Look at the publications and sites you enjoy and figure out how and whom you need to contact with your best pitch.
Work your social media. Post essays on Facebook and use Twitter to promote them. Create a Linkedin account. Get a G-mail account for professional purposes. Republish articles on your blog and/or create new content for it. Word Press has various tools to help you publicize your blog and create traffic for it. Explore online opportunities such as
Patch, becoming a
Yahoo! Contributor or
Open Salon.
The opportunities are out there. But you have to go looking for them. They won't come looking for you and especially not if they don't even know you're out there.
Whether you're looking to get published and/or get paid, the first thing is to get your work out to as wide an audience as possible so when you tell an editor how good you are, they can see for themselves and realize you're not just blowing smoke.
The paying gigs are out there, but you have to give them the reason to write your name on a check.
Best of luck.
