Last week, I published an article on selling advertising space in books. Unfortunately, only one reader responded to my call for individuals’ experiences with this type of revenue stream. But, I liked her story so much that I bought it to run in this week’s issue. To read how one author has successfully sold ad space in her books, see this week’s Freelance Success Story.
This Week:
Playwright and novelist Saul Bellow once said, “I discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, “To hell with you.”
My secret to selling ads in my books is to write about a specific locale and to then sell ads to businesses in that area.
On Saturday it was in the 90’s here. Ug! We’ve been in Maine long enough to become de-acclimated to hot weather. So, while cleaning out the garage that day, I was positively melting and had a heat headache for hours afterward. When Sunday rolled around and it hit the 90’s again, Richard and Zach, resigned to their fate after listening to me whine for 24 hours, went into the attic and started the annual, laborious job of dragging down all the horribly heavy window unit air conditioners. It took another hour or so to get them installed (I was outside, dying once again while working in the yard). By the time it was all done, a big cloud came over the horizon. It was a fast-moving cold front and, on Monday morning, we actually had to turn the heater on!
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Don’t you wish companies would offer you money to include an ad about them in your next book? Most of us would love such an infusion to our writing income. A question about this coveted practice arrived in my in-box just this week.
Hi Angela,
Thank you, thank you and (just one more) thank you. I read your article about pay-per-click websites as I started to subscribe to a couple of them. To be fair – I don’t know yet how ethical they are but I’ve placed a piece of work with each, so patience will be a virtue in this case.
I wasn’t aware of their impracticality until I started to consider your points. I’ll be subscribing to WritersWeekly.com shortly and hopefully find a reasonably rewarding site or two. I’m a university student at the moment, so a summer income would be welcome.
Thanks again,
Paul B.
Are you a pizza connoisseur? An expert cookie maker? Maybe you’ve visited a winery, know the best diners in 10 states, or your town hosts the world’s largest strawberry festival. Even if the extent of your food expertise lies only in your grandmother’s recipe box, you have an angle for an article. You just need to know where to sell it.
A monthly magazine’s Articles Editor expressed a liking for my submission, and–saying there was no immediate need for it–saved it in her “Someday” file. Since then, nearly four months have elapsed.
1. Would it be wise to write her to ask if she intends to buy my article in the foreseeable future?
2. Would it be wise to write her to ask if she minds if I submit it elsewhere?
3. Should I feel free to submit it elsewhere without notifying her?
Thank you very much.
I was a successful technical writer, but even with freelance work I never thought I was a true “writer.”
I am a red-haired, Barry-Manilow-loving mom of two. I also have bipolar disorder. Full-time tech writing and coordinating a post-9/11 letter writing campaign worked me into a relapse of the disorder and I fell apart. I lost my job, went on disability, and was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (I couldn’t use some forms of verbal and written communication) after receiving electroshock.
