Published on October 10, 2012
As a freelancer, I’m always looking for the next big gig. It’s easy to come up with topics I’d like to explore, but finding a fun angle for an idea is sometimes challenging. I’ve found the best way to sharpen my hook is to use prompts in my target publication. Let’s say I want to write about list making, because I think lists are useful tools people can use in to enhance productivity and minimize stress. Before I sit down to draft a query, I need a clear sense of direction. Without a hook, my pitch will ramble aimlessly. I want it to pop off the page as a saleable article idea.
Published on October 3, 2012
We were SO excited on Monday because October had FINALLY arrived! We LOVE everything Halloween and we’d already decorated the inside of our house. Once October was here, we could set up all our offensive yard decorations, too!
Published on October 3, 2012
bookstores
About once a week (sometimes more), we hear complaints from authors about misinformation and downright lies they’ve been told by bookstore clerks and managers. Just today, I received this one from a Print on Demand (POD) author…
Published on October 3, 2012
I don’t know what I would do without your experience and advice. I have recently lost my job and am working very hard to get my writing to pay my monthly expenses. Not an easy journey.
-M
PUBLISHER’S RESPONSE:
M.,
There are lots of paying markets for writers here:
https://www.writersweekly.com/markets_and_jobs/summary.html
I’m also giving you a free, one-year subscription to The Write Markets Report.
Good luck! 🙂
-Angela
Published on October 3, 2012
Have you ever equated your writing projects to a line of pots on a simmering stove? The more you looked at this stove, the more you realized that the one good meal you envisioned to spring from those pots has not happened. Sure, you may have a satisfying dish, but there are so many others left unattended, burning, because you simply have too much going on.
Published on October 3, 2012
I work with a not-for-profit company, writing materials for them such as volunteer handbooks, procedures and policies. I am a contractor, and I submit monthly invoices to them. I did not have a contract until now, and now they are asking me to sign something which includes the lines:
“All Copyright in all works, (including those works originating prior to the signing of this contract) procedure, policy, training materials, discovery, invention or process made, designed, drafted or discovered by you whilst engaged by the Organization will be the property of the Company…”
I’m not okay with this at all and I’ve mentioned to the CEO before that these documents are my intellectual property. It wasn’t work for hire. They were paying for my time in constructing these materials. Do I have a right to the materials I have already written? I want to keep working with the organization but I feel they’re making a huge assumption here. I have also written an extensive groundbreaking document for the organization that I wish to draw on in future works. I’d appreciate any advice you can give, I’m so confused.
Published on October 3, 2012
“Why should I work with you?” is a typical question most people will ask when stumbling over one’s products and services for the first time. What people really want to see when they are thinking “are you a good fit for me?” is if your “story”, and why you do the work that you feel you’ve been called to do, really fits into their “why.”
Published on September 26, 2012
After Mason (age 6) asked me two days in a row where babies come from, I could no longer avoid the inevitable. I pulled up a lovely (ahem) graphic of a uterus on the Internet, and explained in very basic terms about how the baby grows in there.
But, that wasn’t good enough for Mason. Tapping the pink uterus cartoon on my computer screen, he said, ” But how does the baby get IN THERE?!”
Published on September 26, 2012
Awhile back, I found some of our original paying market listings for writers featured on the The Markham Village Writers’ Group website, markhamvillagewriters.com. Below are copies of my exchange with the founder and moderator of The Markham Village Writers’ Group website, Donna Marrin. I have paraphrased the responses by Donna Marrin below. Needless to say, we were pretty shocked that someone running a website for writers thought it was okay to pluck original content from other websites!
Published on September 26, 2012
I am looking for a writer. Can you help?
-Ricardo
ANGELA RESPONDS:
Please send your ad to me at angela -at- writersweekly.com. The ad must state the amount you plan to pay the writer.
