Our 7 steps is a proven process for researching, writing, and submitting professional feature articles that meet editors’ needs and further your writing career
How to Become a Fiction Writer
The market for fiction has no middle ground. It’s either too safe or too elitist. What does this mean for fiction writers first entering the market?
How to Write for a Dance Magazine
If you are a freelance writer who has an interest in dance, writing articles for specific publications offers a great opportunity for you to earn extra cash
How to Write for Nostalgia Magazines
There are a number of ways you can construct your writing for nostalgia magazines to make it appealing. You could get together some old pictures and write a story around them. If the pictures are your own – great
Writing For The Spiritual Market
The last decade or so, we’ve seen a huge surge in spiritually based books. They’ve sold so well (both fiction and non) that most of the big houses have some sort of spiritual imprint, running the gamut from Christian Fiction to Buddhist texts to New-Age works a la Hay House, etc. I’ve seen a host of such manuscripts.
How to Write For Women’s Magazines
Although many women’s magazines say that they don’t expect good old-fashioned boy-meets-girl kind of storylines, this type of story is still a favourite. Most stories are quite simple – after all, you just haven’t got time in 1,000 words
Five Tips to Turn Your Writing Into a Business
Considering your writing as a home BUSINESS is a mindset. Let’s look at how you can develop that mindset, and develop your writing into a thriving business.
The Secret To Grant Proposal Writing Success
In my position working in programming for one of the country�s major foundations, I reviewed many many grant proposals.
10 Ways to Take Writing Humor Seriously
It has often been said that everyone likes humor and laughter on our planet. Well maybe not everyone, but almost every person who is normal will like humor
The Struggle to Become a Freelance Writer
A year later, things are dramatically different. All the hours and hard work paid off, and I effectively make a minimum of $50.00 per hour for all of the new client work I take in. On a rare occasion, I discount that rate to $25.00 per hour for those clients who started out with me and remained loyal to my services.
Basic Structure for a Three Act Movie Screenplay
Three act movie screenplays are the most popular structure of screenplays written today. So, the good news is that you need not write something as complex as the structure of a five-act
3 Common Mistakes to Avoid With Online Writing Jobs
If you want to make money online, writing for the Web can be a rewarding career option. There is little startup cost involved, you often get paid very quickly, and you can see your work published far more quickly than print freelance writers do in many cases.
3 Mistakes Freelance Writers Make and How to Avoid Them
When you’re just getting started as a freelance writer I guarantee you’re going to be tempted to make the following mistakes. Don’t do it! No matter what your potential client tells you, doing any of the following will NOT help your business.
8 Tips For Writing an Excellent Travelogue
Spin a beautiful picture so as to make the reader want to visit that place. If you could get a picture of it then you can take its help to give an apt description. So, giving a photographic description will make your travelogue that much more appealing.
Tips From a $50K Per Year Part-Time Freelance Writer
While the dot com boom days are long gone, there are plenty of writing opportunities for writers on the Web. You may not find a site that will pay you to write the number of articles that John wrote in the late
The Truth About Freelance Travel Writing
Free trips! Exotic vacations! First-class travel, everything paid for! Ah, the life of a travel writer. All you need to do is bang out a few words about it and you’re part of the besotted brotherhood of pampered travel journalists.
Using Character Sheets in Fiction Writing
For fiction, you need the right combination of plot, action, description and character development to bring your story to life for your reader.
5 Ways to Use Flashbacks in Your Fiction Writing
Most people use flashbacks to provide more information about the main character’s past – thereby using this technique as a means to explain why certain events are happening, or how / why a character is acting or responding in a particular way.
Vacation Planning For Freelance Writers
If you want to balance the demands of freelance writing with parenting and vacationing, here are a few things you can try. First, get a laptop if you don’t already have one.
What Do Great Headlines Have In Common With Lingerie?
Since the age of 9, I’ve been a writer. I wrote secret stories, secret newsletters, and secret novels about solving mysteries with Nancy Drew during my first year of writing.
6 Tips For Keeping Your Diary Private
Here are six ways that people who keep personal journals and diaries have handled the issue of privacy. See if you can combine these ideas
The Basics of Technical Writing
Technical writing is purposeful and usually intended to solve a problem for a specific audience.Learn about the seven principles of technical writing.
Finding Age Appropriate Words When Writing For Children
Writing in general can be a tough business; writing for children is even tougher. Writing for children requires you to use words that are age appropriate.
Who Wants to Be a Screenwriter?
Do you love the idea of writing a screenplay? Being a screenwriter requires dedication and perseverance. Learn if the art of screenwriting is right for you.
Why Web Copywriting Is Like Plastering
Like plastering, there are a few tricks of the trade when it comes to copywriting. Here are five reasons why you should hire a professional web copywriter.
Why Dont Magazine Editors Like My Article Ideas?
Use this list of 10 common reasons for rejection as a tool for crafting article queries that make it hard for editors to respond in any other way than ‘yes!’
Why Freelance Writing Clients Should Hire You
Do you know how to convince prospects to hire you for a freelance writing job? Here are 8 tips that you can use to pitch yourself to potential clients.
Why Ghost Writing Is Ethical
Hiring ghostwriters who know how to transform a collection of ideas into cohesive messages should no longer be deemed unethical.
10 Tips For Better Proofreading
The title in this article should grab your attention for one of two reasons: you are interested in being a proofreader or you notice the language is inappropriate.
Why Social Media is the Most Convenient Way to Market Brands
In social media marketing, communication and collaboration with the Internet users plays a vital role in marketing ones brand. Some important tools of communication and collaboration in social media marketing are as follows.
5 Easy Steps to Become Your Own Best Editor
For many writers, getting that first draft down can give them a rush of excitement. The words flow freely, the ideas come at lightning speed, the book seems to be coming together just as they had in their head.
Story Ideas From the 4 Seasons
So regardless of what season you are in, it’s important for you as a writer to make note of the details and nuances of that time of year. Observe your responses to weather or weather-related incidents/activities, as well as the reactions and behavior of people around you.6
Succeeding as a Health and Fitness Writer
Whether you want to (or already do) write health or fitness articles for your local newspaper, a widely popular national magazine, your website, or all of the above, consider these tips for ensuring your writing success
Teaching a Memoir Workshop: Easy is Usually Not Best
In leading memoir writing workshops, the teacher’s task is to help individuals to go through and beyond two kinds of barriers to their writing: the technical and the psychological blocks that keep them from success.
Technical Writing Exercises to Help You Sell it
A product has two basic qualities. It has features, and it has benefits. As Elmer so rightly realized, a consumer buys a benefit, not a feature. It doesn’t matter that the shoes you’re selling are made of genuine wombat leather.
7 Low-Tech Technical Writing Jobs That Pay Well
There are a lot of non-profit organizations out there looking for writers to prepare and submit a grant proposal on their behalf. The same goes for for-profit corporations
Technical Writer to Fiction Writer: The Process
Successful writing (fiction or non-fiction) is in the process. No process, no product. Let’s look at a process you probably already use as a tech writer, analyst, programmer, etc.
Technical Writing for Non-Technical Readers
When you write for your peers, you can use as many technical and esoteric terms as you like. Why? You know they will understand what you’re saying; you don’t need to explain what, to you, are everyday concepts.
9-Point Checklist: Is a Technical Writing Job For You?
If you are just starting out on your professional career or thinking to make a career change, you might want to use the below check list to see if technical writing would be a correct choice for you.
10 Laws of Great Storytelling
Before you begin your story, take a moment. Look at your audience and smile at them. Only after you have got their attention do you begin to even introduce yourself and your topic. You will be able to observe many things about your audience in these few moments
10 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask About Freelancing
Freelancing occurs when someone offers his or her services for an agreed period in return for a fee. Freelancers (also known as contractors or service providers) are independent of the businesses or individuals that hire their services.
10 Reasons To Be A Freelance Journalist
There are, of course, many more than 10 good reason to become a freelance journalist and writer, however, the ones selected for this article are of particular importance for anybody who is seriously considering this vocation
10 Smart Moves For Getting Published in Top Magazines
Freshen up perennial topics. Some magazines revisit the same topics again and again because relationships, or toilet training, or camping in national parks lie at the core of the magazine’s mission.
10 Steps for Writing a Magazine Query
A query letter is a sales pitch: your goal is to convince the editor that your article idea is of interest to her readers and that you are the best person to write it.
10 Words to Avoid When Writing
Writing is a combination of art and craft. The art comes from lots of reading, talking, thinking, dreaming, and writing. The craft is primarily technique.
5 Ways To Nurture and Defend Your Muse
Arrogance has a bad rap. We think of arrogant people as unpleasant to be around, full of themselves, and incapable of taking an interest in anyone else. However, when applied to one�s own writing, a certain measure of well-placed arrogance can be a useful tool
The Art of Writing a Business Report
Can you imagine life without the printed word? Regardless of your profession, you frequently use documents and reports to base important business decisions
10 Essential Qualities For Success in PR
The world of public relations is a lot like the world of advertising — the more creative you are, the more successful you will be. Of course, more often than not you will be using fairly standard techniques such as press releases to promote your client. However, if you can inject some of your own personal creativity into these tried-and-tested methods
The Freelance Writer’s Marketing Plan
2009 has to be the year for you to make money! But wishing is really not enough. What you need is a kick-ass marketing plan
The Ghostwriting Contract: Everything you need to know
A ghostwriting contract is in place to protect both ghostwriter and client and are usually non-negotiable. Read this article to find out more.
The Hero Journey Motif As a Tool for Reading and Writing
Quite often teachers in middle school and high school find themselves teaching the grade level language arts curriculum from a conservative and sometimes minimalist point of view. What that means is that many follow generic lesson plans devised by a team, a textbook company, or themselves that cover only the very basic or minimal reading comprehension and writing skills.
The Many Paths to Plotting
As a writer, I can’t help but see the similarity between my experience as a reading teacher and what writers go through with plotting. You can read six books on plotting and come up with six different methods
Test Your Proofreading Skills: Complete This Exercise
Many proofreading exercise make the mistake of confronting the trainee proof reader with errors in abundance. Every other line contains a spelling error, grammatical gaffe or stylistic slip-up. In reality, however, you’re unlikely to find more than two or three errors
Proposal Writing Samples Don’t Tell the Whole Story
Proposal writing samples or examples you find in a web search seem to offer a quick and easy way to prepare a proposal
5 Major Pros and Cons of Freelancing
In today’s economy, with the gas prices being as high as they are, having to get up and commute 20+ minutes to work sucks.
How To Make Your Memories into a Memoir
Why should you consider creating a memoir of your personal experiences for publication?
The Purpose of the Science Fiction Novel
Where fantasy goes into uncharted territory, the kind of story that couldn’t exist, science fiction, a term made famous by the likes of Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, and Robert Heinlein, goes into charted territory.
Queries vs. Articles: Which is best?
Even if you do write the article first, however, that doesn’t mean that you should ignore the query process. Think of the article as your product — and a query letter as the marketing tool
How to Write the Best Query Letter
If you plan on submitting an article for publication, the query letter is your new best friend. Written more frequently than any paying piece, this short letter is your chance to shine to the editor.
How Your Query Letter Can Land You The Assignment
Before you ever send a query letter to an editor, you need to first READ the magazine. If you’re writing an article about mountain climbing don’t send it to a writer’s magazine or a tech magazine.
Don’t Fall Into a Query Letter Quandary!
He wrote the book on how to write killer query letters. In this interview, author John Wood shares his knowledge based on 17 years of working as an editor.
How to Write the Perfect Pitch!
If you are reading this then you are either looking for information on how to write a query letter or your curiosity has been exited by the heading
Should You Quit Your Job for a Freelance Career?
Between writing articles, researching new assignments and invoicing for completed work, it will be well past midnight before you can even think of going to bed. How much longer can you keep this up, you wonder?
Reasons Why Shakespeare is Called “The Bard”
William Shakespeare is also referred to as ‘The Bard’. The term bard originally meant a friend who likes writing poems indeed Shakespeare gained many friends through his plays
Report Writing Made Easy
Without enough planning, a report can seem unclear and uninformed, and it shows little understanding of the client’s needs.
Screenwriter’s Guide: Concept and Logline
So you finally have representation, you’ve got your ear to the pavement and you know what’s selling and what studios are looking for. So what’s next?
Scriptwriting: The Five Key Points of Story Structure
One thing is true of all stories. They all have a beginning, middle and end. Film scripts typically run from 100 to 120 pages with each page representing about a minute of screen time
How to Sell Your True Life Story
Popular magazines each have their own policy for accepting real life stories. Some offer a flat rate to everybody who has a half way decent tale to tell regardless of the importance or uniqueness of the situation.
Ghostwriting Tips: Selling Yourself in a Virtual Market
One of the most important skills you need as a ghostwriter selling yourself in a virtual market is strong computer skills. You need to know more than the most popular word processing programs, you need to know additional software programs
SEO Article Writing 101
SEO writing is very different from content writing, article writing, story writing and news writing.
SEO Writing Can Make You Rich as a Freelance Writer
SEO writing involves writing keyword-rich articles to rank the client’s website higher in search engines and generate more website traffic.
5 Types of Companies to Approach for SEO Writing Jobs
Any good SEO company will need to be involved with content writing at some point if they are going to get high rankings for their clients. In many ways content is at the heart of search engine optimisation, because it can be utilised to build backlinks and improve the search engine friendliness of a website.
How to Use Weather to Set the Scene
The weather is so much more than how wet you’re getting. It’s amazing how many writers overlook the weather as a useful tool in both setting and also in telling the story
The 7 Deadly Sins For Non-Fiction Writing
Even the most compelling writing and subject can fail if you let the small irritations get in the way of that connection with your reader. Make your writing worth reading and take it from good to great by avoiding these seven pitfalls.
Top 7 Ways to Attract New Clients For Your Freelancing Business
Although there are many perks working on the Internet, getting the word out and generating a steady supply of target traffic and potential new clients to your Internet door is not the easiest process unless you have the budget to outsource some of the actual marketing to an agency.
How to Submit Your Article
Do you know the difference between simultaneous article submissions and multiple submissions? This is something that trips up new writers, and some more seasoned individuals.
How to Go to Sitcom Heaven
Creating a saleable sitcom is rather like creating a decent meal. Assemble the correct ingredients and there’s a good chance of some tasty fare.
Slow-Paying Clients: Advice and Options For Freelancers
It’s the freelance circle of life-you pitch the job, you get the job, you do the job, you bill the job, and you get paid for the job.
How to Become a Healthy Lifestyle Writer
Freelance food writing does not always have to be exclusively about food, though. Other related topics such as exercise, aging and physical health can also be discussed, as well as other topics that have something to do with nutrition.
6 Steps to a Good Low-Budget Movie Script
Give the character some depth. He or she is a human being you are creating. They have a past, dreams, failures and successes just like every real person does. This all needs to be fabricated but credible
The 3 Most Lucrative Freelance Writing Jobs
Making a living as a freelance writer can be difficult. Especially for the beginner, where online content and article writing is the easiest place to break in
6 Important Tips for Magazine Article Writing
Make sure to choose a topic that you’re an expert on or you feel interested in. You’ll most likely to produce high quality magazine articles if you choose topics that are included in your areas of expertise and areas of interest.
How to Be a Home-based Magazine Writer
Review the magazine counter at your local shop. Select a number of magazines you think you would be able to contribute to and study the content. Which ones suit your taste and talent best?
Magnetic Marketing Copy: Writing From a Position of Partnership
Do you ever feel sleazy or inauthentic when you write marketing or sales copy? Like you’re pushing people, rather than pulling them in? I know I have.
How to Make Metaphors Work For You
Include the metaphor in your leadership-language. It allows you to make the unfamiliar more understandable. To make the complex more simple.
10 Steps to Managing Your Finances as a Freelance Writer
As a freelance writer, you sell your time, talent, energy, and skills in the marketplace; and you expect to be paid for those things.
Medical Writing – How Much Should I Charge For My Freelance Projects?
If you are wondering how much you should charge for your medical writing freelance writing, this article will run you through all the factors to consider.
Memoir Writing Help, Memoir Writing Ideas
Here are a few prompts to stimulate your memory and to encourage your creativity…of which you have plenty to work with and to share.
Hey, Just A Minute, Buster! My Memoir Is More Tragic Than Yours!
The memoir. For years a former agent of mine – who happened to represent one of the country’s most commercially successful memoirists – had been after me to write mine.
News Writing Bloopers: 4 Common Journalism Mistakes
News writing is supposed to be the embodiment of perfectly produced prose. However, the reality is that it is the source of more grammatical, contextual and typographical mistakes
A Writing Career: Newspaper vs. Magazine Work
One of the great things about being on the newspaper’s features staff is the latitude you have; you have a beat to cover, sure, but you can basically write any feature story you want, with your editor’s approval.
9 Steps to Write the Best Short Story
Whenever I begin a short story, I remind myself of two things: to try to get in touch with readers’ senses as much as possible by writing something to see, hear, touch, smell, taste, and feel (emotionally), and to try to keep nine points, specifically, in mind when writing my story in hopes of composing a tightly-written story that sticks in readers’ minds. Those nine points are as followed
Oil and Gas Writers: 4 Secrets For Success
Writing for the oil and gas industry is different than typical marketing or business writing for the following reasons:
Generating Passive Income Through Your Writing
Earning passive income on-line can be a trying and difficult process. even for some of the best writers around. Just the shear quantity of writing that is required in order to generate true and substantial income can be overwhelming to most. Insurmountable for many.
Pick a Writing Niche, Any Writing Niche
Unless you’ve been working in a small town, doing bits and pieces of different types of legal work for everyone, it’s quite likely you’ve become a specialist of some sort
Plotting in Storytelling
And if there are no rules, why on earth would anyone want to write about the writing process? If there are no rules, what is the point in scripting an article such as this one?
6 Reasons Prose Writers Should Attempt Poetry
As part of my MFA program, I was told I had to take a class outside of my comfort zone, which happens to be in fiction. I signed up for a poetry class not expecting to like it
Power Writing Skills: What’s Your Readability Score?
You may write fine memos, reports, or literally any other kind of document. But, if no one reads what you�ve written, there is no chance you�ll get your audience to respond
4 Guidelines to Power Social Brand Building
Public relations specialists were among the first few to understand the power of social media, making them leaders in the social space. Along with handling website content, more and more PR pros are responsible for their company’s and clients’ social media presence.
How to Prepare Email Queries
While some editors still prefer paper queries sent by surface mail, an increasing number prefer e-mail queries.