Are You Interested in Print Publication? Listen UP!
I you want to write for print publication and not for the Web, you need to get a start in the business, and that’s not easy folks!Most of us think that fiction writing is where it’s at. I did, too, until I realized that the market was flooded with fiction writers. Editors don’t need more fiction. They pick only the best of the best and usually, fiction from writers who already have a name in the business.
What’s a writer to do?
Consider writing nonfiction. Oh, I know… it seems horribly boring. But trust me, it’s not! If you like to learn, writing nonfiction could open worlds for you that you never thought you’d want to enter. I know that’s how it happened for me. I mean, did you ever hanker for learning the secret ingredient in yak butter tea? (Hint: It's yak dung.)
I was lucky to have fiction published right away, well, after FOUR years of trying. But a short story in Guide magazine is what started it all for me. That $75 check was so precious to me that I had to run right over to my mom's house to show her that I could make a living with writing. Har.
Six months later, I was still waiting to sell something else.
Feeling rather discouraged one day, I picked up a free women's newspaper and while perusing, found an ad that the paper wanted writers. I had only one piece published, but I thought, What the heck? I sent a meager resume with my one published clip, plus a piece I had written for a writing class on Gold Rush Women (which you can still see online today). It was the only piece of nonfiction I had.
No one was more surprised than me when the editor called and asked me to write an article. That started my fascination with nonfiction. I've written about everything from education to medicine, to computers and the Internet, and a lot of stuff online, like member guides, blogs, doorway pages, autoresponder series and such. I learn so much!
But I also realized that nonfiction is MUCH easier to sell. Why is that important? Because if you are serious about a writing career, you need clips of published work. You need a resume. The easiest way to get one is by doing some nonfiction writing first. Then, when you have a name, even if only one or two published pieces, editors tend to take you more seriously because other editors bought your work before. You're then a proven commodity.
And we're talking print publishing here. I'm sorry to say that most of the writing you do online will be discounted by print editors. Unless you write for some of the premiere magazines, they won't take into consideration that you have 50 articles or stories at a place like iSnare.
If you can't imagine what to write for articles, think about your hobbies. What interests you is liable to interest others, too.
posted by Pat Marcello @ Saturday, November 25, 2006
0 comments
