How do you Break into this profession?

crazywritingmom said:

So I am not a writer by trade. I am a musician, entrepreneur etc. though I think I have a shot at writing.

I am not the primary breadwinner of my home, so I don't need to make millions...just a couple hundred dollars a month.

How do I start? I have some blogs, etc. but nothing professional yet.

The freelance writing market seems to be my style. Help!

(and I am truly sorry if I posted something that has already been asked. This place is HUGE!)

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Let me qualify this by saying I'm not going to pretend to be an expert. I am not a writer by trade either. I did, however, just complete my first book and I have accepted an offer from a publisher. It won't make me rich, but I already have a nice income from my day job, so money was not my priority.

Sooo...what type of format are you thinking about? Short stories, novellas, full-length novel, etc?

What genres do you like to read? Many authors write the types of stories they enjoy reading.

What is your motivation to write? Do you have characters wandering around in your head demanding to have their story told (or maybe that's just me)? Do you have personal demons you need to get rid of and want to use writing as an outlet (many writers do)?

For me, I've had stories running through my brain for a long time. I just never had the discipline to sit down and do something about it until recently.

Answers to some of the questions above might help others who are much, much more knowledgeable than I am point you in the right direction.

Freelance writing typically means non-fiction and work for hire.

Is that what you're interested in?

If you are a good writer, it isn't impossible to get non-fiction work for hire. Though with the death of journalism and the internet expanding, it's harder than it was when I tried it. (I'm also a serious writer of fiction, and for me, it took away from that, so I didn't do it more than a year.)

I asked around my writing buddies, and they'd say "such and such a mag is looking for writers" and I'd send a letter with a clip and say I was available, and they'd call me. It was that easy. The first clip could be a little article on any little thing in your local free arts weekly or one of those newspapers that mostly runs ads. Write an article called "making the most of your ad," send it to them, tell them it's free, they have permission to reprint it as often as they like. Then it's printed, and you have your clip to show paying markets.

That's the very basic intro to the world of freelance article writing. There are entire books on this topic at your public library.

Interesting you say this, because I play guitar and piano alone at home and I was thinking of becoming a professional musician--nothing much, you know, just 200 bucks worth of gigs a month.

A good crow bar and stamina...

Learn to write a good query, and send out a bunch of them. When I freelanced, I always sent a dozen or so queries per week.

And a good way of breaking in is to write fillers, and to write for departments or open columns. Many magazines have these, and they often go to freelancers. And unlike features, many of these require completed manuscripts, rather than queries.

While it's generally something you can do very well or not at all, being able to write humor also helps tremendously. Humor is also often taken without a query because it's so subjective, and many magazines can't get enough good humor.

I would set a goal. One that I like is to do 30 submissions in 30 days. That could be a combinations of poems, stories, completed articles, queries... For me, the only rule is that they have to be actual publications and not content mills. Though they can be online publications. As a beginner, you will likely get at least one thing accepted, and then it snowballs. I would personally do this every month until you have several pieces published.

I did this a few years back. Then I diverted and focused on blogs and those content mill sites. Now, I am still blogging but have eliminated ghost writing and content mills from my schedule because I don't like them. So, I am doing the 30 submissions in 30 days thing again. First time I ever did it I got two pieces accepted. The success rate goes up each time.

For me, content milling pays the bills. It's not glamorous work, but it's fast and easy and steady. I do want to start breaking into magazines, but it's very intimidating. I have a hard time feeling like any of my ideas are good or original enough for magazines -- everything I feel qualified to write about seems very obvious to me.

Maybe I'll try a 30/30 and see what happens...

Jamesaritchie said:

And a good way of breaking in is to write fillers, and to write for departments or open columns. Many magazines have these, and they often go to freelancers. And unlike features, many of these require completed manuscripts, rather than queries.

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You are at least twenty years behind the times.

tlbodine said:

For me, content milling pays the bills. It's not glamorous work, but it's fast and easy and steady. I do want to start breaking into magazines, but it's very intimidating. I have a hard time feeling like any of my ideas are good or original enough for magazines -- everything I feel qualified to write about seems very obvious to me.

Maybe I'll try a 30/30 and see what happens...

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Content mills paid the bills for me for a while, but I just can't do it anymore. I just logged into one of them because I need to pay a bill soon, and literally couldn't do it.

So, that is why I am doing the 30challenge because I am passionate again about writing. I got SO burnt out. I believe I will eventually make money and this is better in the long term.

Most of my ideas are unoriginal too but after a few rounds of 30challenge I get into a groove and my ideas get more original.

kohuether said:

Content mills paid the bills for me for a while, but I just can't do it anymore. I just logged into one of them because I need to pay a bill soon, and literally couldn't do it.

So, that is why I am doing the 30challenge because I am passionate again about writing. I got SO burnt out. I believe I will eventually make money and this is better in the long term.

Most of my ideas are unoriginal too but after a few rounds of 30challenge I get into a groove and my ideas get more original.

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It sure beats the soul-crushing call center work I was doing for 3 years before, but I can see what you mean. I imagine once I get a taste of "freedom" it'll be harder to go back.

Clearly I just haven't read enough magazines recently to remember what their articles look like. Time to take a trip to ye olde newsstand and see if I can sneak a peek...

For breaking into anything, I find a pick, a crowbar and some dynamite useful... if it is a particularly difficult thing to break into, you may need some C4. Just make sure you have a good wheelman and you are careful not to leave fingerprints or DNA traces.

Writing is no different. It is a lot of hard work and a lot of disappointment and a lot of perserverence. You can sometimes manage it with a big explosive entrance - something fantastic that grabs attention - but you are more likely to need to work hard, chipping at the industry until something hits.

Everyone's methods will differ. My strategy is to work through shorts - getting them out to as many publishers as I can to try to get them published.

If you want to move into the non fiction market, can I suggest you think about getting a blog where you can discuss your own specialist subjects? As someone said earlier, journalism is becoming more and more based on the web and on blogs* If you have a blog presence, you can showcase what you can do - use it as a portfolio of writing examples until you get some actual samples of published work to use.


*One reason a friend of mine left the profession and became a blogger... it doesn't pay anything but he enjoys it more than working for a newspaper.

tlbodine said:

It sure beats the soul-crushing call center work I was doing for 3 years before, but I can see what you mean. I imagine once I get a taste of "freedom" it'll be harder to go back.

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In that light, I see what you mean! I worked at a bank and if content mills existed back then, I would have quit that job in a heartbeat to make money at these sites. I guess it's a matter or perspective. There was a time when I thought they were fine, as well. But things change I guess.

I worked at a call center once too...yes, 'soul crushing' is right! My co-workers were great, but working at an employee-benefits call center around 9/11 and so many people going nuts to file claims or bitching about how they can't move stocks around in their 401(k)s got insane.

kohuether, pardon me if i missed something but do you include personal blogging in your 30/30? Or do you mean things like online magazines, print magazines or blogging as part of larger website? It sounds interesting, so I'd like to know more about it.

I'm currently blogging for pay on some women's interest blogs, but I no longer own the rights to the work. I just can't get into it lately for some reason...Frankly, it's boring as hell and gets like, 2 readers. I want to branch out and would like to get paid to write things I actually *like* that people would actually *read*! It's not a lot of money, but I only need the couple hundred a month like you all mentioned. I have my own blog, but I don't update it much because I don't have time, what with the pay blogs. I don't like content mills much either, but I would be glad to read anything you all have written!

Do you recommend looking for freelance work on websites such as Craigslist or something, or going directly to the website of the magazine you want to work for? I've gotten one article published on ReligiousTolerance.org* this way, and I love comparative-religion websites like that! They are a non-profit and might work differently, though.


*Wanna read it? Please?-http://www.religioustolerance.org/richey01.htm

The call center gets double points because it was a claims center for an insurance company. I can't even count the number of times I've been screamed at because somebody didn't actually have coverage for their accident. On the bright side, insurance is an exceptionally profitable content-mill niche that I can pretty much dominate anywhere I go, so I make decent cash -- about $120-150 a day -- milling. YMMV

I'm always shopping for new gigs on Craigslist, Problogger and FreelanceWritingGigs. I've applied at several and have landed a few, but I still get better pay from my direct-order clients on Textbroker than I do any of theother gigs I've landed that way.

I did, however, discover while writing some blog entries for someone that you can get points at www.RecycleBank.com for free magazine subscriptions. I can't think of a single thing that would be more useful to a bunch of freelance writers than a whole bunch of free magazine subscriptions!

tlbodine, yes that was the *worst*! I had one guy get mad that I couldn't move his 401k stock funds around because the market was closed..."I wouldn't have put my money in that fund if I'd known the market was going to be closed for four days!" Well, sir, I'm sure there are a few thousand people who wouldn't have gone to work that day if they'd known some freak was going to fly a plane into their office building!

Do you have to pay anything at Problogger and FreelanceWritingGigs? I've gotten some jobs through Freelancer.com but they charge $5 every time you land a job...I guess that's their right but I'm not sure if that is par for the course, so to speak.

Clear your schedule of any social functions for the next several years. Send wife and kids, if you have any, to live with relatives or on an extended trip to Italy. Invest in a good coffee maker, and load up on junk food. You will need it. I also suggest getting rid of any pets so they do not disturb your concentration.

Once you have peace and quite, sit ass in chair and open an artery on the opposite arm of the hand you write with. This is what a writers use for ink. If you get light headed during this process, rest for a an hour or two to build back your blood supply while eating lots of spinach.

Once you feel better, tap into a new vein or artery and continue. If you bleed easily, it sometimes helps to have a supply of your type of blood for quick transfusions. This helps to eliminate the need to rest and you can get more writing done. Rest is over rated anyway.

When you are finished with the first book, trunk the novel and start another, and then another.

After several years you should be ready for the submission rounds and we can then discuss how to use one of your kidneys in this process. Do not worry, you only need one and the pain is minor...

Ugh, tell me about it. That entitled attitude is probably the worst thing about the human race.

But, no, you don't have to pay anything or even subscribe. The site just lists paying gigs and then it's up to you to contact the people. It's pretty hit-or-miss, but it's not like Guru or oDesk where you're trying to bid against people in India. Ugh.

ShannonR. said:

tlbodine, yes that was the *worst*! I had one guy get mad that I couldn't move his 401k stock funds around because the market was closed..."I wouldn't have put my money in that fund if I'd known the market was going to be closed for four days!" Well, sir, I'm sure there are a few thousand people who wouldn't have gone to work that day if they'd known some freak was going to fly a plane into their office building!

Do you have to pay anything at Problogger and FreelanceWritingGigs? I've gotten some jobs through Freelancer.com but they charge $5 every time you land a job...I guess that's their right but I'm not sure if that is par for the course, so to speak.

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Ugh yeah. While I've had good luck with bidding (knock on wood), I can see how that could be frustrating.

Like most things in my life, I fell into freelance writing accidentally. Took a class in Journalism taught by the editor of the local paper. He asked if I wanted an unpaid internship. Got a fair amount of experience there and met the publisher of a regional business magazine. Mentioned something about a computer fair (early 1980's) and he asked if I would write something about it for his journal. He paid my mileage and gave me a press pass and I was off.

I've made a sideline on and off over the years of writing for various publications and my best strategy so far has been scanning their editorial calendar for topics six months out and pitching them something directly in their interest. I usually do the 500-1,000 word articles. My best pitches have always been "7 ways to..." or "The top ten..." type articles.

It never gets easier either. I get two kinds of rejections (They're both at least gentle), the "We just accepted a similar article..." rejection and the "WE like your article but have decided on a different editorial direction..." rejection. For the size article I write, I almost never do a query.

I never make much. I make even less now. One magazine I published an article in back in the mid 1980's still pays the same as they did then. Several even pay less. I used to do newspaper articles that I could sell for $20 but I'd sell them to twenty papers. That never happens anymore, newspapers have died out as a market for me.

I've had little luck getting paid for online articles, you don't even get contributor copies. I reviewed computer games for a while, at least I got free games. But my non-fiction book contracts all came through online activity (tech books, tech forums and blogs).

Good luck.

Jeff

If you want to write for content mills, be prepared for soul-crushing hours and not a lot of money. It's frustrating, sweat-shop style labor, usually brainless, and with a high turnover. A lot of writers start there, but they don't have to.

For magazine work, I always recommend two books. First Jenna Glatzer's "How to make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer". I'm serious, read this one FIRST. It will teach you about how, ideally, to run every aspect of a magazine freelance business. THEN read The Renegade Writer by Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell, which will teach you which corners you can cut and which rules to break. It may seem like a time-saver to just read the second book, but they're both fantastic and it really does help to hear how things would work in a perfect world before you learn the cheats.

If you have more specific questions I can help (I freelanced for magazines for about 5 years before giving my fiction a full-time chance), but you need to know more about the business before you even know what you don't know. Check out your local library or better yet BUY the two books I suggested, and read them with a highlighter - I did.

The best tips I can give you are to overdeliver if possible, and keep to your word count and deadline when you have an assignment. You WILL get repeat work this way if you're even halfway decent as a writer because, shockingly, so few people bother to do those things.

ShannonR. said:

Do you have to pay anything at Problogger and FreelanceWritingGigs? I've gotten some jobs through Freelancer.com but they charge $5 every time you land a job...I guess that's their right but I'm not sure if that is par for the course, so to speak.

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Does Freelancer.com charge this $5 up front when you get the job? Or can you take it out of your earnings once you've completed it? I'm kinda afraid to bid on jobs until I know, as the risk of losing my $5 actually worries me. (I've looked on their site, btw, for some indication of the whole process, and I've simply come to the conclusion that their help section is badly designed, they are being coy about their fees, or a combination of the two.)

4. Working on my memoir as often as I can.

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Save this for when you are famous...