How Much Should I Charge For A Reprint?
A magazine wants to buy an article I already had published elsewhere. They told me to quote them a price. How much should I charge?
You Never Know Who’s Reading… – C.M. Saunders
Like most writers, I love what I do. I love the creative process, the research, the meeting and dealing with various people. If I didn’t enjoy it so much, I’d do something else. Over the past decade or so I have been moderately successful in terms of my output and published material, having contributed both fiction and non-fiction to over forty publications worldwide. However, my problem was that I didn’t make enough money from writing to actually support myself. This led to me taking a succession of manual jobs I didn’t really like, which I endured just to enable myself to make ends meet. I was a factory worker, a barman, and later an English teacher in China. All the time I dreamed of being a professional writer. I looked at writing as more of a hobby. A hobby which, if I was lucky, sometimes allowed me the opportunity to supplement my income…
Don’t Pull the Cap Off a Hot Radiator…and Other Life Lessons We May Have Forgotten to Teach Our Children
Somebody should really write a book about things you may have forgotten to teach your kids along the way…
Topic, Common Themes, and Winners of the WritersWeekly.com Winter, 2013 24-Hour Short Story Contest!
After reading the entries for each contest, we can see how difficult it is to come up with a unique plot when working with an assigned topic. But, inevitably, a few writers do manage to successfully break away from the pack…
GREAT IDEA!
Angela,
While proofreading my book “Notes Toward A New Rhetoric” before submitting it to BookLocker, I had my Mac read the entire book out loud to me.
I don’t know whether a PC can do the reading aloud. On a Mac, it can be turned on under System Preferences=>Speech=>Text to Speech. They give you a variety of voices to choose from. I like Bruce and Veronica.
Donald Stewart
NOTES TOWARD A NEW RHETORIC: 9 Essays for Teachers
Never Say Never to Your Dreams! – Dawn Colclasure
Writers dream of big things for themselves and their careers. When faced with rejection or roadblocks, however, some writers abandon their dreams. This doesn’t need to happen to you! If you want to make your dreams come true, you need to do what I did…
Success is a Bunch of Clips – Gail Kavanagh
I had nothing to offer retail or business. My qualifications for anything were so old they pre-dated the Vic 20. Even the local greengrocer, looking for a check out person, had a state of the art LED cash register that I couldn’t begin to understand.
But I was starting again after a failed marriage and desperately needed a job. All I had was a folder full of clips from my years of freelance writing. Could that get me a job on a newspaper or magazine? My job counselor thought so…”
Winter, Spring, Winter, Spring… Make Up Your Mind, Will Ya?
Last week, the heater in our house was running non-stop. Yesterday and today, Max and Mason were swimming in our pool. No, it’s not heated. On Thursday, it’s only going to be in the 60’s. Sure beats a blizzard!!
How to Compile and Publish an Anthology – Part I
I have compiled and published a few non-fiction anthologies over the years and they have all been successful, both from a research and publishing standpoint in the beginning, and a sales standpoint later. There is a right way and a wrong way to collect and publish a book of stories and/or chapters contributed by others. One way contributes to your professional image while the other can destroy it…
More on the Professionalism of Writers (or lack thereof)
Hi Ang:
As usual, I thoroughly enjoyed this week’s mailing. Regarding your response to that teenager (or are you tired of hearing comments on that post?) I wholeheartedly agree that your ‘tough love’ approach was the right one. I can always tell when graduation day is coming close for the public relations students at the community colleges up here in the Toronto area of Canada. In addition to my book and article writing, I also have a few small PR accounts that keep the wolf from the door (very few Canadian writers can make a living out of books and freelance writing) and my name is in several publications indicating I do PR work. Every spring, I get employment query letters from graduating students and I make a point of answering every one of them, telling them that I’m a one-person operation. I can’t recall one instance where I haven’t also had to point out that if the person is applying for a job in public relations, he or she should at least send out a query letter that isn’t riddled with typos and spelling mistakes. I recall one letter where the person suggested he just wanted a temporary job until he could get established as a “real writter”. And, by the way, I have NEVER received a follow-up letter thanking me for my advice.
I once taught Media Writing for a semester at one of the colleges. I knew from Day One that I wouldn’t be renewing the contract when one student, not atypical of the rest of the class, put up his hand and said: “Sir, I want to be a PR man. Why do I have to learn how to write?” When I asked him what he thought PR people did, he said: “Take people out for drinks!”
Cheers,
Tom Douglas
https://www.tomdouglas.typepad.com