Tag Archives: 40 Freelance Writing Markets Paying $100 Or More (Much More)

New Year, new organizational system

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Out with the old, in with the new, as they say. It’s January 9, 2011, and I’ve identified a number of issues I’d like to solve in order to get my writing career back on track. The first and most important? ORGANIZATION.

This is one of every writer’s problems, as far as I can tell. I’ve been testing out a variety of software, websites and plain old-fashioned papers-in-files methods for keeping my manuscripts in order, in an effort to find the system that works best for me. So far, this is what I’ve discovered:

Purely digital systems get lost in the shuffle. Yes, it’s a lot easier to keep track of your stuff on your computer once you’ve got an idiot-proof system in place, but let’s face it: nothing is truly idiot-proof (and, hell, sometimes we can all act like idiots). I’ve found that while it definitely helps to name your files properly (i.e. with a common title/date scheme), and keep them all in one place on your computer (maybe under “PITCHED” and “ACCEPTED” and “REJECTED” folders?), it can also eat up hard drive space pretty quick. So, in addition to my digital notes, I always keep track with pen and paper as well.

Currently, I have a coffee can holding a list of my latest submissions, which are tracked by date on index cards. This way I can flip through them every once in a while and follow up with exactly the right editors, know what I sent them at a glance, and poke them with my Reminding Stick to see if they’ve read it and might be interested in doing something wild and crazy like publishing it sometime this century and paying me for the privilege.

Software should help, not hinder. Sounds obvious, but it’s kind of ridiculous how many programs I had to sift through before I found one I liked, and that actually made things easier rather than harder.

I currently use Manuscript Tracker by Mike Blaguszewski, which I like because it divides things up by Manuscript, Publisher, Contacts and Events. You can link your contacts at specific publishers to the Publisher field, and every time you submit something you can add that Event to both the Manuscript and the Publisher fields. It makes it really easy to see what you’ve got out, how long it’s been there, who the heck is reading it, and how much you should potentially get paid once it’s accepted.

It’s a bit time consuming to set up all these different contacts and publishers (it’d be handy if it could import entries from my address book somehow), but it’s definitely useful in the long run to have all that info in one place.

Tracking the money is as important as the submissions. This one is something I’ve just added to my system, after reading an article by Carrie Bailey on Peevish Penman. She describes her first week’s worth of attempts at making money as a freelance writer, and catalogues exactly how much she’s making per day on individual pieces that she’s writing for markets where she’s already got relationships set up.

I’ve added this concept to my repertoire by keeping track of potential payments whenever I pitch an idea or send a finished piece out, and have decided to make sure I pitch a minimum of $500 worth of ideas or finished pieces every day. Sounds like a lot? Maybe, but if you focus on the $100+ markets, you only have to send 5 pitches. (Of course, if you’ve got a success rate of 1 in 5, that’s actually only netting you $100 a day, but you’ve got to start somewhere, right?)

All in all, if you’re serious about making money from your writing, you’ve got to keep writing every day. Some of that writing should be pitches and queries to a wide variety of magazines, newspapers, websites and other markets, because if you don’t have a market lined up for your piece, then it can’t bring home the bacon. I’m editing my lists of markets, figuring out where I’d like to see my name, and keeping track of potential payments in order to boost my income from writing.

What are your organizational tricks and tips? Tweet me @originaloflaura to share!

I write a lot, but I need to write a lot more

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Several things have spurred me to write a lot more lately:

  • I’m sick of the crap payment I get from one of my usual gigs. Coupled with the company’s overall lack of respect for the work I do for them (and, by all the reports from other writers I know, the general lack of respect this company has for their writers), as well as the fact that I’ve been a freelancer there for two years now, but will never get a raise, direct deposit payments (?!), or better quality assignments from them, and it’s about time to be moving on. NOTE: This is a gig where my published works remain uncredited.
  • I read this great article by Debbie Ridpath Ohi Deb Ng called “40 Freelance Writing Markets Paying $100 Or More (Much More)” (which Debbie Ridpath Ohi had tweeted about, hence my confusion regarding its author) and started to investigate some of the higher-paying markets she mentioned. Some of them, like Wish, have unfortunately gone out of business, but there are some on that list that I have had on my “to do” list for a long time. I mean, I actually subscribed to The Sun about a year ago, with the intention of studying their freebie issue and then writing up a brilliant submission, but I still haven’t written anything for them! I keep telling myself I’ll get around to it, so it’s about time, don’t you think?
  • I actually wrote to an ex of mine who works at a local magazine, asking how the heck you get someone over there to pay attention to you, having written about 90,000 emails to various editors that have all gone unanswered. A few minutes after I wrote the note to him, the editor I’d last approached sent a response to my email. It was a rejection, but at least I got a response this time. Oh, and the editor said I should definitely pitch something else, so that’s another plus—and another reason to just get my computer implanted into my head somewhere, so I can be writing at all times.
  • I’ve been doing well on the 500 Words A Day Challenge, too! I took Monday off, but have kept up so far, even blasting way ahead on Sunday when I was suddenly inspired.
  • I need to become a famous writer so I can have crazy book jacket photos of myself that give David Sedaris a run for his money. You know, photos that are even cooler than this one:
    • David Sedaris breathes fire; he is really that cool.

    David Sedaris breathes fire, because he is awesome.

  • Finally, I just read a couple of articles about how NOT to write a story, which reminded me why I wanted to write fiction in the first place: because there are no limits! Lots of people writing books these days have no imagination; they are writing junk that breaks all of the rules of entertainment, and not in a good way. I know I can do better, because I don’t want to crank out books based on a formula. Art does not happen in a lab, or by colouring in the lines. Art is messy, dangerous, and crazy, and I’d much rather be an artist than a well-paid shill.

All of this adds up to me needing to put fingers to keyboard a lot more. And not on Facebook or Twitter, although those are certainly fun diversions. So basically, I just wrote this blog to say that I’m going to be holing up in my hermit hole and writing a lot more. If you see me out and about, I’m either a) researching, b) going to the post office to mail off my manuscripts, or c) getting a much needed caffeine transfusion—so don’t get in my way!