In the spring of 2016, I sent a pitch for an article on an interesting autism program in my city to an editor at a local online magazine. I’ve written for this magazine before, so the editor accepted, and then turned the assignment into a comprehensive overview of autism services around the city.
In a search for new interview sources, I contacted the public relations person at the city school district. We did our interview and I submitted the article to my editor.
While she was a perfect resource for this article, the real value of the connection came after our phone call. After the interview, I sent a follow-up email to the district public relations person. In the email, I let her know I’d love to help her share any great stories with my editor for future articles. We had a follow-up conversation by phone.
By the fall of 2016, she had sent me three emails about events that resulted in two more assignments from my editor. Since I also provide workshops in schools, I asked her to share my marketing flyer with her contacts in area schools. It’s been an effective way for me to get great stories to my editor and increase my network without pounding the pavement!
Elizabeth Pagel-Hogan is a writing mom on the run. She lives in Pittsburgh, PA where things come in threes, like rivers, kids and sports like triathlons. She writes fiction and non-fiction for adults but her favorite readers are children. Her stories and articles have appeared in AppleSeeds, Odyssey and Faces. She is the 2016-2017 Fellow for Pen Parentis and a 2015 “Promising Writer” in the Western PA SCBWI chapter. Her self-published books, My Food Notebook & The Bumpy, Grumpy Road, are available on Amazon. When she’s not training for triathlons or testing her fears, she hosts school and community workshops. Chat about writing with her on Twitter – @OneSweetWriter.
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The Art and Craft of Writing and Editing
Writing is a constant dialogue between author and reader.
The craft of writing involves an interchange of emotions between an author and a reader. An author creates a story line, conflict, and characters, gives his characters words to speak, and then hands off these materials to a reader. This process results in a constant dialogue between the mental imagery produced by a reader and that proposed by the author.
Read more here:
https://writersweekly.com/books/6712.html
QUERY LETTERS THAT WORKED! Real Queries That Landed $2K+ Writing Assignments
Peek over the shoulders of highly successful freelance writers to see how they earn thousands per article! The query letter is the key!
In these pages, you'll find real query letters that landed real assignments for national magazines, websites, and corporations.
Also includes:
- Abbi Perrets' form letter that brings in $30,000-$45,000 annually
- Sample phone query from Christine Greeley
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