Try challenging fifty mostly unpublished members of a writers guild by giving them three months to write, revise, and submit from one to three 1500 to 2500 word stories, and commission an artist to design and produce an original cover in time to meet a goal of publishing a 250-300 page anthology within ten months. Do that and the book world will look at you like someone who has sniffed too much print head cleaner. …
People like to read about places they know. I discovered this to be true when I recently published my first mystery novel, Murder on the Prairie: A North Florida Mystery. The book is being received with an unexpected degree of enthusiasm for the setting, Gainesville, Florida - home of the University of Florida - the nearby Paynes Prairie State Park Preserve, and its Visitors Center in Micanopy. Reader comments and book sales have reflected this enthusiasm. …
Fifteen years after I first began to work as a writer, I decided that it was time I looked for an agent to sell my work to overseas publishers. At first I emailed writer friends, asking them to suggest agents who would be receptive to new clients. When nothing came of that, I visited my favorite writing websites and followed their market links. As expected, there were links to agents…
Imagine you have written a book, say, about wine, or business, or how to get your cat through college. It really makes no difference what you have written, someone can use it. But there are limits. …
While watching the evening news with my husband, there was a segment on NASA's mission to collide with a comet. I turned to my husband and said, "Oh, I'm interviewing one of the NASA experts on this subject next week". He gave me the strangest look, and replied, "How'd you get that?" "I just asked." …
More and more in my position as editor of an online newsmagazine I come across what I'm calling e-mail English and spelling. Grammar mistakes are rampant, words are mangled, and punctuation is non-existent. In a recent letter to the editor, I chastised the writer for his use of our language and his retort was, "who cares if it's spelled right, you know what I mean." …
Like public speaking or bungee jumping, negotiation is something that gives most people at least a little anxiety. When you're dealing with payment for your services, you don't want to seem greedy and obnoxious, and you don't want to be seen as a doormat, either. But whether you're haggling at a yard sale or buying a car, a little self-confidence and some carefully chosen words can go a long way. …
Each weekday brings a pack of mail from banks offering me and mine low introductory rates that are meant to pull us in so we'll commit ourselves, right before the rates go up. …
Would you like to get an abundance of article assignments without writing a single query letter? By getting sub-contact work from public relations agencies, I wrote over 100 newsletter articles, a professional column in a monthly trade publication, and a chapter in a travel guidebook. Sub-contract work gave me the opportunity to write for large, prestigious companies such as Bell & Howell, Grant Thornton, LaSalle National Bank and many others. …
A few weeks back I was especially busy in my communications consulting business. One late evening, as I pondered how I'd get everything done in the brief time available to me, I made a note to visit the Yellow Pages the next day to find a transcription service. I write a lot of feature articles for the employee newsletter of an insurance company, and most assignments involve interviews with executives whom I quote for the stories. …
When I first heard an editor mention my article had a good hed/dek, my first reaction was to offer her a throat lozenge. My second reaction was, what the heck is a hed/deck? …
You've always wanted to stay at home and write, but can you really survive on an "eat what you kill" plan? That depends on your determination to succeed. If you have tenacity, you're in good shape, and, if writing is your passion, you can make decent money online. First, you need a clearly written daily planner so you will be motivated to move ahead each day. …
In-flight publications are a unique breed in the magazine industry. Geared toward the flying public - which is a fairly broad demographic - they offer a wide range of articles, essays and shorts on everything from travel and food to politics and current events. Given this diversity, each publication is still very specific when it comes to their editorial needs. …
As a starving writer in New York City; you're supposed to say you're a writer even if you earn your keep shelving books at Barnes & Noble on Union Square. So okay, I'm a writer. It's just that I write direct mail, not books, for a living, even though I've published quite a bit. Hardly a household name, my essays and poems have appeared in inspirational anthologies, obscure literary journals, upbeat writers' e-zines and alternative monthlies nobody's ever heard of outside of western Pennsylvania, San Juan, Toronto and parts of South Africa (and I'm not making that up). The exceptions are a couple of paragraphs about the Chartres Cathedral that ran in Glamour - one of those "our readers write about their fab vacations" things for which I was not paid - and a piece at Salon.com which earned the distinction of "soft-porn pap" in a famous columnist's blog. I was thrilled; at least he read it. …
I couldn't have been more excited when my query made its way through the slush pile last fall to be accepted by an editor at Budget Travel. I was even more elated when that same editor accepted my second query on the spot a week later. That this editor took the time to send me a hand-written note, praising my writing prowess on the first story, was icing on the cake. I was all set, to paraphrase Casablanca, to begin a beautiful writer-editor friendship. I was just in the middle of preparing a flurry of new queries for this editor when I received the dreaded news. As soon as he finished editing my second story, he would be moving on to other things, things that didn't include Budget Travel. I wouldn't have been as disappointed if this editor had transferred to a different magazine, as I could have followed him there, but he was leaving to become a freelancer so where did that leave me? …
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." …
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. …
There are a few steps you can take which will turn your great idea into a fantastic query letter, and, hopefully, a well-written, attention-grabbing article. …
Attention all you editors: That is NOT a typo in the above headline. I did mean "singing," not "signing." But if it's any consolation, the term "Book Singing" and the book marketing concept it represents did originate from a simple typographical error. …
Ah, good old writer's block. Those moments of utter frustration, when you are stumped for ideas. Can't write a ******* thing. If you tell a fellow writer that you are suffering from a case of writer's block, chances are you will get your hand held. Sympathy follows. Then, tips galore on how to overcome your dreaded block. I rarely suffer from writer's block. I suffer from something far more insidious. Something I call it "writer's brick". …
The more thought you put into your book-signing the greater the chance of profitable results. At my last signing, I sold all 100 copies I'd arrived with. Angela asked me to share my hints with WritersWeekly.com readers. Here are quick tips for turning your next book-signing into a successful event. …
Seeing my name in print gives me a boost to keep writing and to keep pitching. On a whim, several months ago, I Googled my own name along with the words "Rome" and "Italy" to see if anything I had written was still online. I lived in Rome for two years and most of my published work has come from that experience. When two unsold entries popped up in two different publications, I was shocked, then furious. My work had been stolen! …
I'd held onto the brief guidelines for Landscape Magazine for months with the intention of dreaming of …
I've been practicing the power of saying "No!", no to low paying markets, unfair deals and crazy time constraints and work loads. …
The wisdom that rests behind checking a publication's guidelines is self-evident. One is more likely to encounter success by following a publication's stated rules and meeting its declared requirements than not. Sending a completed manuscript by e-mail attachment when the guidelines clearly state that only postal queries are welcome is an excellent strategy - if your goal is to dramatically reduce your chances of freelance success. …
Whenever the 'P' word -- PAYMENT -- gets a mention, writers are frequently up in arms. There appear to be two camps of thought: those that think we should all write for free, 'because it is our art', and those who want to get paid what they are worth as a writer. Of course, you yourself, might fall somewhere in between where you prefer to get paid, but will write for free for good causes or if it is to promote yourself. …
Kids and history often don't mix, especially when it comes to getting history into their heads. But that doesn't have to be. Though it may surprise most parents and teachers, kids actually do like history. …
One of my favorite lifelong non-writing excuses has been, "But I'm not cooked yet." Although I showed promise as a poet, humorist and playwright as early as age 10, and had some essays published in my twenties, I largely delayed my writing career until after 40. …
There are many advantages to writing with children in mind. For one, they and those who assist them, are often seeking advice. Parents, especially of young children, are usually very inexperienced when it comes to caring for a family. What should they look for in a good family doctor? What activities, books, magazines, or music will best entertain and educate the very young? And where can potential writers of children's fiction go to get help honing their talent to meet the needs of grade-schoolers? …
Your book title is very important. It encapsulates the essence of your book in just a few words. Like choosing a name for your child, selecting a title for your book is a critical decision. Just as your child is known by his name for a lifetime, your book will be known by its title for its entire publishing history. Even before you sell your book, its future title can help attract the interest of a literary agent or publisher when you include it in query letters. It will also appear on the first page of your book proposal. It's never too soon to start creating a possible title for your book. …
When our family relocated from Tennessee to Vermont, I was confident I could keep landing assignments from my southern editors. I wasn't so sure, however, if I could successfully continue teaching creative writing to homeschoolers-something I had been enjoying for five years. By asking myself the 5 W's and the H, I found answers that not only satisfied my itch to teach, but also met a legitimate need in my new community. …
Award-winning novelist Jeffrey Marks is the newest instructor at WritersWeekly University. His class, Intent To Sell - Marketing Genre Fiction Works In Today's Marketplace, helps first-time novelists create the materials they need to start marketing their works. In today's article, Jeffrey details his introduction to marketing genre fiction. …
One day last year, I had an hour left of writing time but wasn't getting anywhere. Instead, I spent about 20 minutes jotting down a 'reader tip' I'd had inside my head. Without further thought, I mailed it to a magazine I frequently read, and called it a day. Several months later, I was surprised by a call from the magazine saying they'd like to print it, and soon received a check for $75. Not bad for 20 minutes of work on a dry day. …
