Unbeknownst to you, your own website may—right now!—be looking like a bad bowl of alphabet soup: text indecipherably tiny, images disproportionately huge, menus misaligned and the contact form stretched out of bounds of a finger-tap. There goes your chance of that interested editor getting in touch with you for a possible commission or that writers' group wishing to purchase your book in bulk for their next reading project!
With more people buying smart phones every day, you need...
Read the full article in the October 2015 issue of Funds For Writers
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Hello Devanyi,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to introduce myself to you as a new reader of yours thanks to the newsletter, Writing-World. You may become a distant mentor to me as Writing World ceases publishing after this year.
-I'm an older American, nearing retirement age, blind from infancy and trying to find my niche as a freelance writer either general articles of interest, or health articles. Thankfully, I have piano skills to fall back on and currently play semi-privately earning a modest income. My hope is to do the same in freelance writing. How does one move from the content mill where work is sporadic to finding a writing opportunity with some permanence to it?
I am taking a couple online writing courses through Education To Go, in particular a medical writing course. Also, blog on blogspot as well about faith issues or life issues.
Thus far, I have one published novella and one published general interest article to my credit which is in a circular called thumbprint news, www.thumbprintnews.com.
I am not ready to earn big bucks for articles, but would like to earn at least $50 a week in American currency.
Thank you for giving my comment your time, and us writers collectively your mentoring.
David Russell
Blog URL
http://www.graftedinandonthejourney.blogspot.com
Dear David,
DeleteThanks for getting in touch and sharing your story! I think you're absolutely on the right track: taking one or two writing courses to polish up your writing skills, and practicing regularly on your blog, both of these are two concrete positive steps towards reaching your goal of becoming a professional writer. You have also published a novella, which is great!
I don't know about mentoring :) but I can suggest a couple of strategies to take your writing to the next level:
1. Subscribe to the following newsletters which contain loads of markets looking for freelance material:
freelancewriting.com
writingcareer.com
fundsforwriters.com
writersweekly.com
erikadreifus.com
2. Pitch! Pitch! Pitch! You can't get published if you don't submit queries, so just sit down and start pitching your work to markets that sound like a good fit. You may get a lot of rejections to begin with (we all do!) but eventually you will be able to understand what editors are looking for and how you can tailor your work accordingly. From there to acceptance is a short step (and just a matter of a little luck and good timing!)
3. Read as much as you can.
4. Participate in an online discussion forum like http://www.writers-online.co.uk/talkback or writersbeat.com or any of the tens of similar ones. Here you will meet a vibrant community of writers of all levels who will support you and guide you and be fun to interact with! If you have a local writers' group, you could take their membership and benefit from a face-to-face critique, too.
I hope you're able to give your writing career the impetus you'd like. Good luck!
Best wishes,
Devyani
Hello Devanyi,
ReplyDeleteI am a new reader of your column as a result of your wisdom in "Writing World". As brief as possible, I am an older American (retirement age) earning income as a musician, freelance writer for a content mill, and have a spouse who works.
My difficulty is in moving from the general human interest article published for free, regular blog posts here at blogspot, (free of course), to an actual column or gig that pays something regularly. I am subscribed to some career notice emails but find most to be hit-and-miss.
My limitations put me in a position where working remote, from home is best. I am on LinkedIn, but as stated - feel stuck between home-plate and first base. Any tips toward moving forward to income would be appreciated.
Kind Thanks,
David Russell
http://www.graftedinandonthejourney.blogspot.com