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Copyright 1995, 1999, 2001 Marcia Yudkin. Further information below this article.
This FAQ addresses the following questions:
I. MAKING CONTACT WITH
EDITORS
1. I've written an article -- how do I find
someplace to publish it?
2. What's a query?
3. Can I fax or E-mail a query?
4. Do I need to enclose an SASE?
5. Should I try to find an agent?
II. RIGHTS AND OTHER
LEGAL STUFF
1. Do we need to bother with a contract?
2. What do "first serial rights,"
"all rights," "one-time rights," "electronic
rights" and "work for hire" mean and why should I care?
3. What's a "kill fee"?
4. Can I deduct writing expenses for tax
purposes, and if so, how?
III. COMMON WORRIES
1. How do I prevent people from stealing my ideas?
2. How long do I normally have to wait for a
reply?
3. What if I've never published anything
yet?
4. How do I get interviewees to talk to me?
5. Can I ask an editor for more money?
6. Are multiple submissions OK?
7. Why do I keep getting rejection letters?
IV. FREELANCE WRITING AS
A CAREER
1. Can one make a living as a freelance writer?
2. What about publishing fiction?
3. How do I sell a regular or syndicated
column?
4. How can I get those first clips?
5. How do I break in to big-time magazines?
V. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
1. How can I find out more about freelance
writing?
2. Are there organizations for freelance
writers?
3. How about freelancing resources on the
Internet?
4. And who are you, anyway?
I. MAKING CONTACT WITH EDITORS
1. I've written an article -- how do I find someplace
to publish it?
Writing an article and then casting about for someone to
publish it is not the efficient way to get published. There may in fact be no
publication anywhere that can use an article with exactly that focus, length,
voice, kinds of sources of information, etc. You have a much better chance of
success if you send off queries before you write your article and then tailor it
to the preferences of an editor who has expressed interest in seeing it or
buying it.
However, if you have already written the article, out of
inspiration or naivete, research appropriate markets via the library's
periodical bookshelves, newsstands and the old standby, Writer's Market,
available in most bookstores and libraries. Send it in to a specific editor
along with a short cover letter stating what you're enclosing and who you are.
2. What's a query?
A query (also called a query letter) is a one-page proposal in
business-letter format offering to write a specific piece for a specific
magazine, addressed to a specific editor there by name. This is the basic sales
tool of professional and aspiring freelance writers.
Ninety-five percent of my queries that have resulted in
assignments to write the article have used the following format: first, a lead
paragraph that could double as the first paragraph of the published article;
second, a description of the focus or angle, content, format and, sometimes,
sources for the proposed article; third, information about myself and why I'm
the person to write this article; and finally, anything else that the editor
needed to know about timing, photos, etc. I print this out on a very plain
letterhead that includes my name, address and phone and fax numbers.
You can also use a conventional business-letter approach,
starting off, for example, "I am writing to propose an article
about..." Whichever approach you use, though, the query must be articulate
and interesting, and perfect in spelling, punctuation, grammar and usage. You
want the reader (the editor) to finish the letter and think, "Yes -- here's
an article that would work for us and a writer we can trust to write it
appropriately and professionally."
Like anything you send to people in publishing, the printing
of a query must be "letter-quality."
3. Can I fax or E-mail a query?
Unless you already know an editor, or unless an editor has
indicated somewhere an openness to receiving queries by fax or E-mail, it is
safest to send a query letter by mail. That also gives you an opportunity to
enclose "clips" -- a sample or two of your previously published
articles.
4. Do I need to enclose an SASE?
If sending a query by mail, it is customary to enclose a
self-addressed stamped envelope for the editor's reply. Omit this only if you
already know the editor well or if the editor has specifically requested
material from you. Some editors will toss out your queries if you do not enclose
an SASE. Across national borders enclose International Reply Coupons --
available at most post offices.
5. Should I try to find an agent?
Because reputable agents work only on commission, very few
will handle submissions to magazines or newspapers -- it's just not worth their
while. Thus until you have written a book proposal, there is no point in looking
for a literary agent.
Back to Top
1. Do we need to bother with a contract?
A contract doesn't have to be a formal document filled with
legal mumbo-jumbo. Any time an editor phones you to assign an article, ask,
"Will you be sending me a contract?" If the answer is no, prepare a
business letter that describes the agreed-upon terms of the assignment, such as
content, length, due date, fee, rights to be purchased (see next question),
etc., ending with, "If this properly represents what we agreed upon during
our telephone conversation of [date], please sign one copy and send it back to
me and retain the other copy for your files."
Either a formal contract or a signed agreement letter protects
both of you from misunderstandings and gives you more options if the assigning
editor leaves the magazine, the magazine goes bankrupt or is sold, or the
magazine just doesn't honor its side of the deal. Unfortunately, practically
every experienced freelancer has encountered one of these sorts of problems at
one time or another.
If you don't like the terms contained in a formal contract
sent to you by the magazine, negotiate. Usually there is leeway for bargaining
and negotiation, particularly when you carry on in a businesslike manner.
2. What do "first serial rights," "all
rights," "one-time rights," "electronic rights" and
"work for hire" mean and why should I care?
When you sell your work to a publication, you are not selling
the manuscript itself but the right to publish it -- and then the question
arises, the right to publish it how many times and under what circumstances?
The fairest deal in most situations for writer and publication
is "first serial rights," which means that the magazine buys the right
to publish the piece first in any periodical anywhere. This is often modified by
a geographical adjective, such as "First North American serial
rights," or by a linguistic descriptor, such as "First
English-language serial rights."
Once the magazine to whom you have sold first serial rights
publishes the piece, you own it completely again. You can sell the exact same
piece to another magazine, which would then be buying "second serial
rights" or "reprint rights."
"All rights" is usually a bad deal for writers. It
means you sell the magazine the right to publish the article as many times as
they like, to resell or to license the rights to a movie or computer database or
audio publisher without paying you another dime, ever.
"One-time rights" comes up mainly with newspapers,
which generally don't care whether another newspaper across the country also
published the same piece. They thus buy the right to publish the piece once,
irrespective of priority.
But they may request that the purchase be exclusive to their
circulation area, which means that you couldn't also sell it to a newspaper
whose circulation overlaps with theirs.
"Work for hire" is even worse than "all
rights" -- you are also selling your copyright and any claim on your piece
of work forever. Unless you are an employee of that publication, a work for hire
agreement must be signed by both parties to be valid. This usually amounts to
out-and-out exploitation of writers; avoid it wherever you can.
"Electronic rights" is the big battleground in the
magazine and newspaper world today. As publications begin to make past and
current issues available online, some are illicitly republishing in electronic
form contributions for which they only acquired one-time or first serial rights.
Other publications are demanding writers sign "contracts from hell" in
which they give up electronic rights for no additional compensation. All the
major writers organizations are active on this front. For more information,
contact the Authors Guild, the American Society of Journalists and Authors or
the National Writers Union.
3. What's a "kill fee"?
When an editor assigns you a piece to write, the terms of the
agreement will often also include you getting a certain percentage of the
purchase price for the article if you write it unsatisfactorily. This percentage
is the "kill fee," and may be 10 percent, 25 percent, 33 percent, 50
percent or 100 percent if you're really lucky. After a publication pays you a
kill fee, you own the rights to the piece and are free to sell it elsewhere.
4. Can I deduct writing expenses for tax purposes, and
if so, how?
Consult a qualified tax advisor about your specific case, but
in the United States you would use a Schedule C and can deduct such expenses as
paper, postage, computer equipment, fax machine and extra phone lines, dues in
writing organizations, books and magazines necessary for research, seminar fees,
and travel and long-distance phone calls that are strictly necessary for your
freelance work.
1. How do I prevent people from stealing my ideas?
In fact, ideas are very rarely "stolen" in the
freelance world. Beginners often jump to the conclusion that this has happened
because they don't understand how common it is for writers to separately and
independently come up with the same idea and submit it to the same publication.
The best way to prevent an editor from taking your idea and
assigning it to another writer is to write your query so that it's obvious that
you already know a great deal about your subject and-or have special sources of
information that you'll use in preparing the article.
Note that one cannot legally copyright an idea, only the
specific expression of an idea. Anything you write is automatically covered by
copyright law the moment you fix it in tangible form. You do not need to place a
copyright notice on it, and many editors therefore take such a copyright notice
on unpublished work as a mark of an amateur.
2. How long do I normally have to wait for a reply?
Four to six weeks is typical. Be sure to wait at least the
amount of time reported in Writer's Market before writing or calling to
inquire about the status of your query or manuscript.
3. What if I've never published anything yet?
Never state in a query or cover letter, "I've never
published anything before." It inevitably sounds apologetic and
unconfident. Just write as well as you can, and be ready to do your best if an
editor asks you to write a piece "on spec" -- that is, on speculation,
letting them see it without any promise or obligation to buy it.
4. How do I get interviewees to talk to me?
I've never tried to get an exclusive with Madonna, but in 18
years of freelancing, I've found people surprisingly willing to be interviewed
for articles or books. To maximize the chances for cooperation, I always call
and introduce myself as a writer working on a such-and-such for so-and-so, and
say that I would like to interview them. I always add an estimate of how long I
think the interview would take, so they know that I respect their time. Only a
handful of people have ever refused.
5. Can I ask an editor for more money?
Most editors have some discretion in how much they can pay for
each piece, and you'll never know if they'd use that discretion in your favor
unless you ask. Be business-like in asking for money, as in, "Can you do
better than $200? It will take me a week to research and write the piece."
6. Are multiple submissions OK?
Multiple queries are usually fine, so long as you know what
you'll do if more than one publication wants your article. Multiple submissions
of completed articles, however, can lead to trouble. I know two people who each
had a completed article simultaneously accepted for publication and typeset at
two competing magazines. The respective editors got very angry at the
freelancers, even though the editors should have notified the writers for
permission before getting ready to publish the articles.
7. Why do I keep getting rejection letters?
If you're not yet receiving what I call "nice rejection
letters" -- those with some or complete personalization for you -- you're
probably doing something fundamentally wrong.
Hire a professional to look over your queries. The problem
might be vague or too-generic ideas, inappropriate markets, poor writing or
sloppy execution. Or perhaps you're aiming only at the most competitive markets
without something special to offer.
If you are receiving personalized rejection letters, write
back to those editors quickly and you will soon begin to develop a relationship
with them that will eventually culminate in work if you are persistent and
professional enough.
Back to Top
1. Can one make a living as a freelance writer?
According to a 1995 survey of American writers by the National
Writers Union, of journalists with an average of 14 years in the field, only 17
percent were making more than $30,000 a year. Of the writers I know (including
myself) who make more than that, most have followed one or more of these
strategies:
- Develop relationships with magazines that use their work
regularly
- Cultivate related sources of income, e.g. from teaching,
consulting, writing for businesses
- Write books
2. What about publishing fiction?
One can't query for fiction, but all the rest of the above
applies. Short story writers can still negotiate rights with editors, build
relationships with editors, etc.
3. How do I sell a regular or syndicated column?
If you dream of becoming the next Dave Barry or Abigail Van
Buren, start local. Make your column an unquestionable success in one paper and
then either approach established syndicates, which are listed in Writer's
Market, or sell the column to other papers on your own, which is called
self-syndication.
4. How can I get those first clips?
When editors look at samples of your work, they are primarily
interested in your writing style and mastery of the craft, rather than where the
sample was published or how much you were paid. Therefore valuable first clips
can result from offering to write for an organizational newsletter, your
community newspaper or any other small-circulation publication that is desperate
for decent work.
5. How do I break in to big-time magazines?
Even if you've never been published before, you have a chance
to catch the attention of a major magazine if you can provide something more
experienced writers can't: your personal experience; access to inside
information about a subject of interest to the magazine's readers; professional
expertise that you can communicate at the readers' level; a local story that the
national press hasn't covered; or a unique voice or quirky perspective on
ordinary events.
1. How can I find out more about freelance writing?
- Lisa Collier Cool, How to Write Irresistible Query Letters,
Writers Digest Books (1507 Dana Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45207; 800-289-0963).
- Gregg Levoy, This Business of Writing, Writers Digest Books
(1507 Dana Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45207; 800-289-0963).
- Marcia Yudkin, Writing Articles About the World Around You,
Writers Digest Books (autographed copies from marcia@yudkin.com;
617-266-1613)
2. Are there organizations for freelance writers?
- American Society of Journalists and Authors: 1501 Broadway,
Suite 302, New York, NY 10036; 212-997-0947; 75227.1650@compuserve.com
- Authors Guild: 330 West 42nd St., New York, NY 10036;
212-563-5904; staff@authorsguild.org
- International Women's Writing Guild: Box 810, Gracie Station
New York, NY 10028; 212-737-7536; iwwg@iwwg.com
- National Writers Union: 873 Broadway, Suite 203, New York,
NY 10003; 212-254-0279; nwu@netcom.com
3. How about freelancing resources on the Internet?
The following are a few Usenet newsgroups aspiring freelancers
may find useful:
- alt.journalism.freelance
- alt.journalism
- misc.writing
In addition, the following sites enable you to research
magazine and newspaper markets worldwide:
http://www.ecola.com
http://www.newslink.com
4. And who are you, anyway?
I'm the author of hundreds of articles in magazines ranging
from the New York Times Magazine to New Age Journal and of ten
books, including Writing Articles About the World Around You, Freelance
Writing for Magazines & Newspapers and Six Steps to Free Publicity.
I've spoken at more than 50 writers' conferences nationwide and coach writers
one-on-one. For more information about my public writing seminars, coaching
services, books and audiotapes, visit http://www.yudkin.com, call 1-617-266-1613
or e-mail marcia@yudkin.com.
Copyright © 1995, 1999, 2001 Marcia Yudkin. All rights
reserved.
If you're beyond beginner stage and interested in growing your
magazine writing by leaps and bounds, check out the new home-study course, Breaking
Into Major Magazines.
This FAQ is a primer on freelance writing. All comments welcome. Copyright 1995,
1999, 2001 Marcia Yudkin. Electronic redistribution allowed so long as you make
no changes in the file. Please address questions and comments to Marcia Yudkin
at marcia@yudkin.com.
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