Friday, August 24, 2007

August: Finding New Markets

I. Paid to Write

You never know when you'll stumble across a new market for your work. I once got a thirty minute writing job while attending a national sales convention. I was working in the business center on a presentation handout for my boss, and another manager came in, read what I was typing over my shoulder, and asked me some questions about it.

I explained the effectiveness of a handout when addressing a large group, and how unobtrusively product information and business cards could be distributed along with the handout to everyone in the room versus trying to hand out cards and flyers during mix-and-mingle moments. I must have impressed him, as he immediately offered me a hundred bucks if I would compose and type up a similar handout for his presentation.

I was in luck; I knew his product line very well (it was a paper industry convention, and at the time I worked for the second-largest manufacturer in the country.) So I accepted, he gave me his notes and I returned a handout to him in about thirty minutes. He was very happy with the end result, and I had a nice bonus to take home and put in the bank.

While it doesn't sound like a lot of money, think about what else you'd have to do at a convention that rates $200 an hour.

II. The New Market Hunt

As a writer, you can't expect new markets and job opportunities to drop into your lap on a regular basis. You need to get out there and look for them. A new market is any place that publishes written material, is open to outside submission, and does not charge you a fee for the privilege of getting into print.

While there is no guaranteed payment scale for writers, you should know what your work can sell for. For example, rights to publish articles and short pieces are generally sold per word or flat fee per piece. A trade magazine might offer you five cents a word, which sounds like a lot until you multiply it by the 500 word maximum length for submissions in their guidelines. That means the most you can get paid for any submission to this magazine is $25.00.

Novel markets or markets for book-length fiction usually pay by advance against a percentage of sales, or royalties. This means the publisher will pay the writer a sum in advance, which is then subtracted from the writer's share of subsequent sales. A typical book deal is $5,000.00 advance, with 6% royalties on a $7.99 paperback. That advance doesn't sound like a lot of money, but at least 11,000 copies of this book will have to sell before the writer pays back that advance (assuming there are no returns, and there are always returns.)

Specialty, private or non-traditional markets can pay anything and do. I've seen writing jobs being offered for less than migrant workers make picking oranges ($1 an hour), and for more than most writers will make in their lifetime ($250,000.00 per book for an ongoing series.) Generally these jobs tip more toward the migrant-worker end of the pay scale, but enough pay very well to be worth checking out.

While you're looking, always remember the #1 rule of the working writer: We get paid to write. We do not pay anyone else to write.

III. New Markets in Trade Magazines

1. The Writer Magazine -- probably the best source of new market info in print; subscribers get free access to their online database of over 3,000 publishers, publications, contests and agents which they claim to update weekly. You can get a free trial issue and gain instant access to the database here (scroll down.)

2. Writer's Digest -- If you scroll down on Writer's Digest Contest page, you'll find a section devoted to their monthly "Your Story" contest (you write a short story, 750 words or less, based on their prompt.) Submission is open and free (electronic subs only), and the winner receives $100 in WD books, but the publication credit is really the valuable prize here. Caution flag: because Writer's Digest does not screen their advertisers, I was nearly scammed by Edit Ink, via one of their phony agents who ran an ad in WD. Based on my experience, I strongly recommend avoiding any market or job offered in this magazine's classified section in the print issues.

3. Writer's Journal -- has lots of contests, unclassified ads (most are not offering writing jobs), and a brief market report and some listings in every issue.

IV. Market-Focused Bloggers and Websites

1. Along with her writing blog, Angela Booth publishes a free weekly writers e-zine, Fab Freelance Writing, which gives great tips on how to freelance your way to success. This is more an advice source than a markets list, but it's good for those who are looking for new market ideas and motivation.

2. Finding new markets can be as simple as visiting your local online classified ads. Craigslist always runs job listings for writers; when I looked this morning at the listing in my region I found want-ads for copywriters, freelance editors, web content writers and writer-for-hires, and Craiglist has more writing job listings for every major city and urban area in the U.S. Caution flag: Always check out anyone who advertises writing jobs thoroughly before you sign on with them, and get the financial terms up front. For example, that writer-for-hire job I linked to only offers a $2K flat fee for the work, which frankly isn't much for a book-length job and the expertise required.

3. I occasionally list sub ops here at PBW, but Deborah Ng posts long lists of writing jobs every week at her Freelance Writing Jobs blog. She also gives advice on getting published and the professional writing life. One thing I appreciated about this blog is the little notations of how much $$$ is offered by the market and if they have any restrictions such as location; you can quickly skip the ones that don't work for you.

4. Ralan.com: if you write horror, SF, fantasy or humor, you should be visiting this site at least once a month. By the way, August is fund-raising month at the site, and I can't recall ever seeing Ralan asking for donations. I find about half of the sub ops I post on PBW there, and he certainly deserves the support for all he does to keep his market listings online and updated, so I sent him a few bucks along with my thanks. If you are one of the 11,000 people who visit the site every month, and you're able to, I hope you'll do the same.

5. Writers Weekly's Market and Jobs section is updated weekly, they also have a search page for jobs that welcome new writers.

V. Market Writing Strategy

Some final thoughts before you start your new market hunt:

Know thy market. If there is anything that pisses off an editor, it's when a writer submits something that 1) violates their submission guidelines, or 2) is inappropriate for their market. Simply put, if you want to sell your 300K epic highland Scottish historical romance, you do not submit it to the earth science editor at Popular Geek Magazine, because he's looking for 1500 word essays on water purification in third world countries. Don't send it. Not even if you have a love scene that takes place next to a pond of semi-brackish water in Chapter Twenty-Four.

Be persistent, not obnoxious. It's one thing to send a half dozen different submissions to the same market, and quite another to submit the same piece that you've rewritten a half dozen times over and over. When someone says no, they usually mean no. You can always send them something else, unless they ask you not to. Which they will, if you keep subbing the same thing to them.

And one more thing: when you're rejected, accept it gracefully and professionally. Don't write anything back to the editor to inform them of how stupid they are for passing over your masterpiece. Don't rip the editor to pieces on your blog. Don't even respond to them if they behave ungraciously and/or unprofessionally toward you. Save it for the end-of-the-career expose, take the hit and move on.

Don't sub yourself into oblivion. It's ridiculous to try to sell to every market out there; research the markets where your work has the best chance to sell, and then submit to the ones that pay the most.

Related links:

Two excellent articles about the realities of freelancing: Freelance feast or famine? by Amber McNaught, and Michele R. Acosta's Starting a Freelance Writing Career (or How I Sifted Through the Muck and Found My Way)

Is Blogging a Good Way to Make Money? by Chris Garrett

Before you write up your publishing credits, check out Frank Giudice's article Writing a Resume That Works for You

How to Find Foreign Writing Markets by Gary McLaren

Tina Samuel's article Freelance Writing Ideas: Where to Write for Music Markets.

That's it for the biz post this month. To test out the topical suggestions for the New and Improved Friday 20; any questions out there regarding new markets and how to find them?

13 comments:

  1. You know, I was a paralegal for a long time. I made exhibits much like the handouts you're describing to give to the jury and to put up on the board, etc.

    And yet, while delivering lunch for my lawyers, the defense lawyer pulled me aside and said that, as I had a very pleasant speaking voice (don't ask me how he'd heard me talk because I wouldn't say a word in the courtroom), he'd pay me $50 to read testimony into the record on another of his cases. You know, get up on the stand and read the deposee's responses as the lawyer read the questions from the deposition.

    Needless to say, that next week, I made an extra fiddy bucks.

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  2. Anonymous2:23 AM

    You've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating on the "persistent but not obnoxious" idea. Remember that editors and agents change jobs frequently and talk to each other constantly. The more memorable you are, the more people will hear the story.

    This tendency can also work in your favor. If you are consistently polite and professional, word will get around about that, too.

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  3. I don't have any questions, but I did notice an absence in your 'new markets'. I usually use Duotrope (www.duotrope.com) when shopping for markets for shorts. They seem pretty good. (As with anything, though, people reading this comment should do alternate research of any given market before submitting their work.)

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  4. Anonymous7:53 PM

    I'm very interested in ghost writing, but as I've never been published, I'm wondering what my chances are of landing something. Not even looking for the big bucks. Just a stepping stone.

    And for some strange reason, ghost writing sounds like fun.

    Cheers,
    Erin K.

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  5. Gutterball wrote: ...the defense lawyer pulled me aside and said that, as I had a very pleasant speaking voice (don't ask me how he'd heard me talk because I wouldn't say a word in the courtroom), he'd pay me $50 to read testimony into the record on another of his cases.

    Not bad for a little reading. :) Having a good speaking voice is a significant plus for an author, you know -- there are so many with bad voices in the biz who still insist on reading their stuff that you'll be swamped with grateful listeners.

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  6. Katherine wrote: If you are consistently polite and professional, word will get around about that, too.

    Amen. Not every editor is a jackass, either; many know what we have to deal with from some of their colleagues.

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  7. B.E. wrote: I don't have any questions, but I did notice an absence in your 'new markets'. I usually use Duotrope (www.duotrope.com) when shopping for markets for shorts. They seem pretty good. (As with anything, though, people reading this comment should do alternate research of any given market before submitting their work.)

    Thanks for the reminder -- I completely forgot about them, and they are a great resource.

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  8. Erin wrote: I'm very interested in ghost writing, but as I've never been published, I'm wondering what my chances are of landing something. Not even looking for the big bucks. Just a stepping stone.

    It's a bit more difficult for new writers to land WFH jobs because they usually don't have the publication credits to put on the resume. However, there are WFH jobs advertised as open submission (meaning anyone can audition for them), and the clients are often only interested in seeing a writing sample versus a full-blown resume and references.

    The only way to pick up SFH work without an agent is via advertised, open-submission clients. So I'd check out every WFH job and apply for those that interest you. I had no experience at all when I landed my first WFH client (and they were looking for experienced ghost writers) but they hired me because they loved my writing.

    And for some strange reason, ghost writing sounds like fun.

    Working with the right sort of client, it can be. I've had some great experiences, and produced some wonderful books that I'm very proud of (even if my name isn't on them and I can't tell anyone about them.) The work is often challenging, and requires a lot of self-discipline and patience, but I think it helps broaden your range as a writer, too.

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  9. Erin, that SFH up there should be WFH. :)

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  10. Anonymous6:14 AM

    (Probably I'm just stupid, but I don't get the acronym "WFH".)

    A lot of great advice though, as allways.

    I just wanted to thank you guys here, who are extremely generous with advice and links to some truly helpful sites.

    Just by reading this page I managed to:
    1) Land a (genre) bookdeal (HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, JOY, JOY, JOY, JOY... Release in november for anyone who wants to participate in the party, close to the North Pole (Sweden)).
    2) Double the traffic to my blog.
    3) Had multiple ideas for contests and whatnot, ultimately by just tweaking a thought presented here.
    4) Got so much inspiration so that I could take up my next writing project.

    You guys are awesome. And Lynn - you rule!

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  11. Mackan, WFH = Work For Hire. You're not stupid at all. It's a common acronym, but if you haven't seen it before, how are you supposed to know? You ask. Probably fifty other people reading were wondering and are now thanking you for speaking up.

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  12. Anonymous5:56 AM

    Thanks.

    Not at all unfamiliar with the concept of ghost-writing, but since english is a second language for me (Swedish, the language of vikings and heroes is my first) I hadn't seen the acronym before.

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  13. Anonymous10:44 PM

    Thanks! Extremely useful post.

    ReplyDelete

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