|
Changing newsletter hosts?
Our newsletters are delivered via
Aweber.com, a reliable, spam-free newsletter service. If you are considering a
new newsletter host, please click above, and tell them Hope sent you.
VistaPrint is the supplier of FundsforWriters
business cards and postcards. Very simple and inexpensive for quality products.
Use this link to order and receive a discount offer.
Our new ebook release - Agent in Your Pocket
- 140+ agents and lots of agent-finding advice. PDF format
A new ebook release - Short Story Writer -
240+ paying markets for your shorts. and tons of writing advice - PDF format
| |
Making It Pay
By Christine Venzon
I confess. I broke the first commandment of writing: Thou
shall not write for free.
Like most sins, mine was one of weakness. My cash-cow client
had just closed its doors, on very short notice. Heady with
an uncharacteristic burst of confidence, I decided to take a
chance and explore my first love: food history. While emailing
some respected food writers for advice, I got an offer to
submit articles to an encyclopedia, to be published by a
well-known academic press. It would involve researching
food ways, comparing recipes, talking to other foodies. In
short, everything I wanted in a project-except pay.
I was led into temptation, not exactly kicking and screaming.
At first it was great (sin is like that). Not charging for
my work, I spent hours, guilt free, tracking down the most
minute of minutiae. But eventually my conscience, and my
checkbook, started niggling at me. I couldn't back out: I
wanted to make a good impression on these people. And such
nice people. Everyone I contacted was supportive and helpful,
with their own sob stories of encyclopedia writing. I felt I'd
been initiated into a select society. The few, the proud, the
food historians.
Divine intervention came to my aid. A website that had already
paid me for an article accidentally sent me a second check.
When I notified the editor, she suggested that rather than
return the check, I earn it by writing another story. I'd been
grumbling that somehow I was going to make this work pay. Here
was a golden chance.
I suggested an article with updated, healthful versions of
traditional ethnic recipes (casually mentioning my exhaustive
research on the subject). She thought it was a great idea and
told me to run with it. I fine-tuned some recipes I'd been
experimenting with (my family is fully recovered, thank you),
reworked another that the editor had raved about, and had
myself a sale.
After that, I started looking at this project with two eyes:
one on the article I was writing, the other on the articles I
was going to write.
It soon paid off. Barely had I signed the contract on my
ethnic recipes story when I saw that an upcoming theme in a
children's magazine was life in ancient Greece. I felt like
I'd lived the last six months in ancient Greece. I Googled
topics in Greek cooking, learned the names of the authorities
in the field, and compiled a bibliography of their books. The
encyclopedia editor kindly agreed to supply some expert quotes
(like I said, helpful and supportive). Now I have a query on
professional baking in ancient Greece ready to go.
Speaking of children's markets, they're good venues for
"research derivatives." Respected, higher-paying magazines
insist on solid sources-primary sources when possible-but not
the depth required of articles aimed at adults. They also use
a wider variety of formats: puzzles, quizzes, recipes, crafts,
and fiction. I used what I learned about Polish Christmas
traditions for a short story for kids on the true meaning of
Christmas. For an adult market, I might have turned it into an
essay on the same theme.
The moral, in case you skipped to the last paragraph, is not
"don't write for free." You already know that. The moral is:
if you do, make it pay. We're writers; making stuff work for
us is part of the job. I think is was Garrison Keillor who
said, "Nothing bad happens to writers; it is all material."
Research and Reward
www.cobblestone.com and
www.cricketmag.com . Cobblestone and
Cricket are divisions of the venerable Carus Publishing,
producers of Appleseeds, Muse, and other children's magazines.
Each publication specializes in science, social studies, history,
or literature. While the focus is factual, the writing is
flowing and compelling-no dusty history or stale science here.
www.eatingwell.com . Are you a
foodie with a better-than-average
understanding of nutrition (or know someone who is)? Eating
Well accepts work from freelancers for features as well as
numerous departments.
www.herbcompanion.com . If you've
amassed a small library on
handling honeybees or the history of mustard, with recipes
(edible or medicinal) or tips on cultivation, query The Herb
Companion. The magazine's friendly, noncultist approach makes
it a good fit for the well-informed, green-thumbed writer.
BIO
Freelance writer Christine Venzon specializes in all things
food but pays the bills by writing for Christian teen
magazines, local newspapers and magazines, and high school
textbooks read by a captive national audience.
| |
The Shy Writer: An Introvert's Guide to
Writing Success - trade paperback and ebook - ISBN 1-59113-583-4
Time to order your 2008 Bylines Calendar - only
$13.95
Hope's Blog!
Not too long with a paying opportunity and a
tiny smidge of news and opinion. One of the most concise and informative blogs
for writers on the web. Voted one of Maria Schneider's 20/20 Blogs in 2007!
READ THE BLOG
Hope's Columns Elsewhere -
Your ad, book or service can be placed here.
See our
Ad Rates for both the web site and the
newsletters.
Paying contests, grant calls, agents and
publishers seeking submissions, writing jobs and markets listed in the
newsletters and on web site for no charge.
Send to Hope.
|
High Hope for the Freelance Writer