To “be” a writer, you must write. All those great ideas bumping into your head won’t get you any closer to authorship until you put them down on paper. And of course don’t give me the excuse, “But I can’t write well.” I’ve heard enough that it doesn’t affect me. You can’t write well if you don’t write at all!
A freelance writer gets more than a dedicated, say, press position in a newspaper. You don’t work on deadlines unless the current proposal says so, and you don’t have a boss breathing down your neck telling you to write more. But you have yourself, your computer, and the desire to eat.
So what do you start with? Hold your breath and focus right on – the whole world is good for you to play. The more you do every day, a couple of hours at a time, the better your writing becomes and the more income you can get.
Your computer is hooked up, you’ve learned the basics of your word processor, and maybe even had a couple of edits. Now you’re connected to the Internet, so you’re ready to take on the world of writing… but do you know how many options are actually open to you? are?
There are quite a lot of freelance writing jobs on the Internet that if you just log in and write every day, you’ll have a steady stream of income. Here is a list of major jobs in freelance writing online: you will find a list here:
Magazines
As long as you breathe, you have advantages in certain areas. Maybe you’re an avid birdwatcher, or maybe you spend every weekend exploring the depths of caves at the end of a caver’s rope. The trick is to publish in magazines, or pick a topic or two that you really enjoy, know something about, and want to learn more about. As your skills and interests grow, you’ll be able to expand on your topics to a wider audience. In other words, when you first start out, don’t rush out and try to publish everything at once. Explore the magazine-rack in a couple of supermarkets and buy the ones you think look like something you could write about. Check out writing and the topics that the magazines carry for two months. When you’ve got a good idea of what you’re looking for, and I’m confident you can provide it, sit down at your computer and pen a coin or two. Look online and see if the magazine you are writing for has these submission guidelines – more often than not, these guidelines will point you to the right editor for with their submissions and many magazines you will receive your work by email, saving you time and money.
Some magazine markets to look at:
LISTEN, http://www.listenmagazine.org
55 West Oak Ridge Drive
Hagerstown, Maryland 21740
Contact: Céleste Perrino Walker, Editor.
Email: [email protected] Tel: (301) 393-4082.
The monthly magazine was primarily aimed at teenagers, encouraging the development of good habits and overall physical, social, and mental health. . The editor’s primary philosophy of drug prevention is based on total abstinence from tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. He does not accept articles and stories with an external emphasis on religion. Length: 800 to 1,000 words. Submissions: send questions or complete articles. Pay: approx. $0.12 – $0.15 per word in acceptance. PRINCIPAL DIRECTORY:
http://www.listenmagazine.org/listwinner/var_pages/guidelines.asp
RELEVANT MAGAZINE, http://www.relevantmagazine.com
PO Box 951127
Lake Mary, FL
Contact: Kim Won, Managing Editor.
Email: [email protected]
A bimonthly Christian magazine whose tagline is: God. Life
Progressive Culture. The 20 savvy cultural shields are things that seek purpose, depth, and spiritual truth. Featured sections include God, Life and Progressive Culture (music, movies, TV, books). Submissions: Query first by email. To be considered as a writer for the print edition, send an email stating your intention to write specifically for the print edition, with three copies of your work attached. Pay: $0.10 per word.
PRINCIPAL DIRECTORY:
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/editorial/guidelines.php
MADISON MAGAZINE, http://www.madisonmagazine.com
W. 7025 Raymond Way;
Madison, Wisconsin 53719.
Phone: 608.270.3600.
Fax: 608.270.3636.
Editor: Neil Heinen.
Monthly living and business publication. Editor’s content is divided into: Your Town, OverTones, Habitat, Fine Dining, Features section, Madison Business Watch and Health.
Submissions: Submit a query or article on spec. Pay: varies. Kill fee of 33% on assigned shares. Important: Any story published in Madison Magazine will be considered for publication on madisonmagazine.com, Channel3000.com, or wisbusiness.com. For in-line rights, please refer to the author’s consent.
PRINCIPAL DIRECTORY:
http://www.madisonmagazine.com/jobs/MM_writer_guidelines.pdf
Magazine and Newspaper Fillers
In the beginning, you can have more success in writing magazine pages by breaking out the fillers. These can be really fun work in addition to being quite good – jokes, paying opinion pieces, short lists, surveys, news events; and other short pieces are all called “fillers. Most publishers are always on the lookout for quality fillers, so you have a great chance to dig into print if you spend some time coming up with individual pieces. From there, it probably won’t be long until your work is on the pages find envelopes.
Some Forums Filler to look at:
READER’S DIGEST, – http://www.readersdigest.com
Go ahead – let’s laugh! It’s got a funny story of all. What is yours? Believe it or not, we actually pay readers to like us. Send us your hilarity now, and if you publish it in Reader’s Digest, you’ll laugh all the way to the bank. Here’s how it works:
~ 300 for true, never-before-published stories, we print them in Life on HiUnited All in a day’s work, Humor in Uniform or Virtual Hilarity.
~C$ we sit as the first contributor of the former or prototype printed in Risus, Optima Medicina; in Quotable Quotes; or as a short item used at the end of an article.
Instructions: http://www.rd.com/common/submitjoke_01.jhtml?channelId=6
FAMILY HANDYMAN – http://www.rd.com/familyhandyman/action.do?siteId=1111&categoryId;=6003
Buys: handy hints & great goofs, workshop tips.
Let’s pay $ 100, plus tips for the workshop
FAMILY CIRCLE – http://www.familycircle.com/home/homepage.jsp
(Click on “Reader Tips” people)
Buy: Helpful tips, vacation tips, family and personal pet tips.
Paid: $50
Greeting cards and all related paraphernalia (such as scrolls and maps) are one of the biggest sellers today. Literally, it’s a billion dollar deal. Despite popular belief, breaking into the greeting market is not easy. It can take a long time for greeting companies to respond (usually at least one month), and even longer before your work. you will see it printed. Why are you even trying? Because it is one of the best paying writing markets available. In short, you can earn several hundred dollars in well-crafted coins. The best way to go here is to spend some time reading online greeting cards (not paper, unless you want to write what you want) and try your pen as a greeting whenever you need a break from your regular work or spare a few hours – once you start, I guarantee you won’t want to stop.
Some Greeting Card markets to look at:
BLUE MOUNTAIN ARTS, http://www.sps.com
Editorial Department
P.O. Box 1007
Boulder, CO 80306
Email: [email protected]
There is a demand in the review of writings for publishing suitable for greeting papers. Looking forward to highly original and creative submissions about friendship, family, special occasions, positive food, and other places one person would like to share with another. Submissions may also be considered for inclusion in book anthologies. Foreign submissions are also accepted, but only in English. Submissions: by mail or email. No email attachments or web links. No phone calls. Pay: $300 for all rights and $50 if your song is used in the anthology only.
Guidelines: available by sending a blank email to [email protected] with “Send Me Guidelines” in the subject line.
OATMEAL STUDIES
Helena Lehrer
P.O. Box 138W3
Rochester, VT 05767 USA
It pays $75 per idea. The guidelines are available on our website at: http://www.awoc.com/guidelines.cfm
Salutation
Christopher Allen
P.O. Box 308
Franklin Park, IL 60131 USA
Web: http://www.gallantgreetings.com
Send 20 ideas per batch
Humor, Gags and One-Liners
You always wonder how those idiots made that bumper sticker? Writers are usually the masterminds behind these catchphrases, and they can be paid as much as $50 per word. Hey, I don’t have any credit other than salary, but sometimes…could you care less? This is another market that is not easy to break into, and you need to submit batches of ideas at the time, but if you can come up with some funny stuff, this would be a place for your leisure in .
Some Humor & Take a look at the market’s one-liners:
ROCKSHOTS, INC.
Bob Vesce
632 Works
New York, NY 10012 USA
Phone: (212)420-1400
Fax: (212)353-8756
Send an SASE to the guidelines. Do not submit more than 10 ideas per batch. He pays $50 per joke line.
Western Graphics
Production Department
1117 California
Dr. Burlingame, CA 94010 USA
Adult humor, send 20-30 ideas per batch. It pays $60-$100.
Send SASE for writer’s features/market list.
Report:
- Writer of the Week – A weekly newsletter that offers a free listing of the free-to-pay market. www.writersweekly.com First Writer – Offering a database for Agents, Publishers, Competitions, and Magazines. www.firstwriter.com Worldwide Freelance Writer – Another weekly newsletter, this site offers a ton of stuff between the two freelance writer forum databases and a full-featured member database. www.worldwidefreelance.com
