triangleareafreelancers.org Blog

Freelancin’ Blues

Freelance writers: your world is an up and down mixed bag of responses from pubs nationwide. There will be rejection, but as I’ve been told many, many times, “Don’t take it personally.” If you are producing quality work, have queried regularly, and followed all publication submission guidelines, your time WILL come. But editors, please do writers the courtesy of at least being upfront about things. I once queried an editor who was not interested in my story idea. He sent me a very nice email saying something to the effect of, “Thank you … not at this time … but please query again.”

And so for months, I continued to send story ideas his way. When one really great idea came across my desk, I immediately queried this editor, certain in my heart and soul that this story could not be turned down. His reply? “Thank you for the offer. Unfortunately, we don’t have it in our budget to pay freelancers. That said, I’d welcome anything you’d like to submit but am unable to reimburse you for it.”

It was an unexpected speed bump. That’s the kind of information that should have been put forth upfront. And unfortunately, it’s not in my budget (or anyone else’s I know) to work for free.

But I didn’t take it personally. I pitched the same story idea to an online publication and they were thrilled. Being in the right place at the right time really does have its benefits. And in this business, perseverance is everything.

-Kristy

[Previously posted at www.kristystevenson.blogspot.com - June, 2008.]

Elaine, Part Three – The chicken or the egg

Remember when you tried to get your first job out of school? More than likely, you were told you needed experience, but you couldn’t figure out how you were supposed to get that experience without a job.

The publishing world works much the same way. You can’t get published without an assignment, but you can’t get an assignment without being published first. What to do?

Now, more than ever, there are solutions, both in print and online.

Most newspapers accept Point of View pieces from readers for their Op-Ed pages. If your newspaper has a community column section, you can submit an essay in the hopes of becoming a guest columnist. Magazines such as Writer’s Digest run regular contests where they ask you to write based on a prompt, and publish the winning entries. There are a number of non-paying print magazines, such as Reminisce, which will publish your story if it is accepted. Some writers’ groups publish anthologies of their members’ short stories or essays.

Online there an endless number of websites that need content—it’s just a matter of matching up what you want to write about with someone who wants to publish on that topic. One way to get started is to post material on a “content” site, such as Constant-Content.com. These are basically auction sites which allow you to offer your work to the highest bidder, but they do allow you to post free content, which may get picked up by a website with a small budget.   

Many startup e-zines are non-paying at first and then graduate to becoming for-pay sites once they gather enough advertisers and readers.

Writing sites which cater to specific genres, such as HumorPress.com, run bi-monthly contests and offer publication and small monetary prizes to the winners.

If you like to write book reviews, you can submit them to online review sites such as Blogcritics.org or BloggerNews.net.

With the proliferation of blogs, you might want to offer to be a guest blogger on a friend’s site. Or you can create your own blog for free on places like WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal or OutBlogger. The current issue of Writer’s Digest magazine (December 2007) compares the features of these sites.

Finally, you can create your own website using free services such as Geocities.Yahoo.com.  

Once you get a few publications—print or online—under your belt, you’ll feel more confident about writing queries in order to get paying assignments. If you’re a good writer, and you’re professional, it’s just a matter of being persistent. It will all be worthwhile when you get the first “Yes” from an editor!

-Elaine Luddy Klonicki

Elaine, Part Two – What’s unique about you?

Beginning writers are often told, “Write what you know.” This is because what you know—and especially what you feel passionate about—will roll off your tongue (and on to your computer screen) more easily than a researched topic. If you write about an area in which you have some expertise, your depictions will feel more authentic to the reader, and your words will ring more true.

Some aspects of freelancing are counterintuitive. It might seem to make sense to write about topics with general appeal in order to attract the greatest number of readers. In fact, it’s better to create a market for yourself by writing about what other people aren’t writing about.

This is one of the joys of freelancing. It gives you license to indulge your obsessions, to embrace your inner nerd, so to speak. The most quirky topic or hobby may prove to be the most interesting to a potential editor.

Think about what’s unique about you. What fan clubs do you belong to? What online forums do you contribute to? What hobbies do your friends tease you about? Try writing about your favorite episode of The Waltons, the best Clay Aiken concert you’ve attended, or the farthest place you’ve traveled to attend a Star Trek convention.

As News and Observer columnist Don Vaughan says in his April 20, 2007,column (www.newsobserver.com/nrn/vaughan/story/565896.html), “Don’t be ashamed – be proud! Stand up and let the world know. By admitting your passion, maybe, just maybe, you’ll open the eyes of someone who has never before experienced that particular joy. And that’s a wonderful gift to share.”

Don happened to be referring to his life-long interest in comic books. I would reveal what my personal obsession is, but I can’t right now. John-Boy’s coming on TV.

- Elaine Luddy Klonicki

It’s not the end of the world

I love what I do for a living, but I’m the first to admit that freelancing can be stressful and anxiety-ridden. No matter how well you plan a project, there’s always something that can muck up the works: a lack of appropriate sources, an important source who won’t get back to you, life’s constant, niggling problems that eat away at your writing time. And through it all, the clock continues to tick away, every passing second bringing you that much closer to your deadline.

Last week I found myself in such a situation. An editor wanted revisions on a feature that required input from a source in Canada, a source with whom I had communicated only by email and for whom I did not have a telephone number. My editor gave me a week to get the extra info and revise the manuscript.

Oh, and she was going on vacation that week, so she wouldn’t be accessible.

(Cue Mission Impossible theme song)

I immediately contacted my source and waited for him to respond to my questions. Every morning I logged on to my computer in the desperate hope that the info I needed would be waiting for me. Nada.
Days passed. So, with my deadline fast approaching, I sent one last follow-up note to my source and…he responded! ‘I’ll get the info to you by the weekend,’ he promised, and he did.

This story has a happy ending, but what would I have done had my source NOT gotten back to me? I had a contingency plan — I would rewrite the article using info from news and journal reports and hope for the best. There was nothing else I could do.

Things like this happen. It’s the nature of the beast. What you have to remember is: it’s not the end of the world.

A lot can go wrong with an assignment. Most of the time it’s not your fault, and editors understand that. Do what you can to make things right, but even if the assignment falls apart at the last moment: it’s not the end of the world.

I suggest you make that your mantra. It’ll save you a lot of anxiety and heartache.

Trust me, I know.
– Don

On editors, good and bad

I’ve worked with dozens of editors over the course of my writing career, and likely will work with dozens more before I push the send button for the final time.

I’ve had great editors, good editors, mediocre editors and some truly bad editors. Of the latter group (thankfully small in number), the one that comes to mind most vividly is the female editor of a popular men’s magazine who accused me of ‘falling in love’ with one of my sources because that individual had received the lion’s share of words in an article. I gently explained that said source was prominently featured because he was the primary focus of the feature, but this editor would have none of it. We went round and round for a while, and by the time we were done I had found the experience so unpleasant that I simply decided not to write for her anymore. (She did run the article, I’m happy to say.)

Later, I found out from others within the organization that this editor was a dominatrix in her personal life, and crazy to boot. A two-fer! Luckily, she didn’t last very long in that editorial position and I soon returned to the fold under a nicer, less insane individual.

A good editor is one who shepherds her flock in a positive, productive, understanding way. She knows what she wants, is clear and concise when making assignments, easy to communicate with and willing to work with her writers to the mutual benefit of both parties.

If you serve under one of these, consider yourself the luckiest freelancer in the room.

A bad editor (aside from possibly being a dominatrix and/or insane) is wishy-washy when it comes to making decisions, difficult to communicate with, often self-serving and underworks or overworks the articles that cross her desk.

If you serve under one of these, you have to ask yourself if the money is worth the aggravation.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: it’s easy to fall in love with an editor. I’ve developed mad crushes on several editors over the years because they were so wonderful to work with.

From my experience, you’ve probably crossed the line if most of your conversations are about personal matters rather than work; you find yourself thinking, “she hasn’t called today; I hope she isn’t mad at me”; you send her a card on Valentine’s Day or, after accepting a really great assignment, you impulsively propose — despite the fact that you’re already married.

It’s okay to have a friendly, social relationship with an editor. A certain degree of camaraderie makes it easier to land assignments and work together to fine-tune your articles. But it’s important to keep in mind that, at the end of the day, yours is a business relationship.

So try to keep the stalking to a minimum.

– Don