This FAQ is a primer on freelance writing. All comments welcome.
Copyright 1995, 1998 Marcia Yudkin. Electronic redistribution
allowed so long as you make no changes in the file. Please address
questions and comments to Marcia Yudkin at mailto:marcia@yudkin.com
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?
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, *Writers' 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.
top
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."
top
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.
top
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.
top
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.
top
II RIGHTS AND OTHER LEGAL STUFF
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.
top
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 using the contact info at the end of this FAQ.
top
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.
top
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.
top
III COMMON WORRIES
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.
top
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 *Writers' Market* before writing or calling to inquire about the
status of your query or manuscript.
top
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.
top
4 How
do I get interviewees to talk to me?
I've never tried to get an exclusive with Madonna, but in 14 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.
top
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."
top
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.
top
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.
top
IV FREELANCE WRITING AS A CAREER
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
top
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.
top
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 *Writers' Market*, or sell
the column to other papers on your own, which is called self-syndication.
top
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.
top
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.
top
V FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
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, Freelance Writing for Magazines and Newspapers: Breaking In
Without Selling Out, HarperCollins (autographed copies from marcia@yudkin.com;
617-266-1613)
top
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
- National Writers Union: 873 Broadway, Suite 203, New York, NY 10003;
212-254-0279; nwu@netcom.com
top
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
* alt.journalism.moderated
* misc.writing
* rec.arts.books.marketplace
In addition, each of the major online services has at least one forum devoted
to writing:
America Online: Writers Club
CompuServe: Literary Forum; Writer & Editors section of
Working from Home Forum
Delphi: Writers SIG
GEnie: Writers Ink RoundTable
Prodigy: Books BB; Media/Publishing section of Office BB
top
4 And
who are you, anyway?
I'm the author of hundreds of articles in magazines ranging from the New York
Times Magazine to Cosmopolitan and of nine books, including Writing Articles
About the World Around You; Freelance Writing for Magazines & Newspapers;
Six Steps to Free Publicity; and Marketing Online. For more information: http://www.jobshow.com/markmin/MM_promo1.html
direct praise and criticism to marcia@yudkin.com.
top