If you have writing skills and want to use your skills to earn some revenue for yourself and families, we offer a few tips here. You can get some good opportunities from your local area and from Internet.
Your novel sits unfinished, waiting for a burst of inspiration to send it out to be typewriter and right to the top of the best jobber lists, right? You are not alone. Thousands of would-be writers are waiting as well. But a few successes under your belt will make the possibility of looking your photograph on the dust jacket in the bookstore window seem less remote. Freelance writing can replace self-doubt with self-confidence and put money in your pocket at the same time.
Just as all doctors are not neurosurgeons, all writers are not novelists. A look into the field yields categories you might never have imagined. Magazine articles, greeting cards, business writing, newspaper reporting-these are areas in which freelance can add do make money. Writing provides an opportunity to earn with very minuscule expenditure. A typewriter with along supplies, a flair for writing and the discipline to stick with a agenda and meet deadlines can start you on your way.
Stringing
Many local and regional newspapers, unable to say enough full-time staff to adequately cover ever meeting or event of significance to the populace, will assign determined stories to stringers, or freelance reporters. Assignments may vary as widely as exterior a church circle meeting for the weekly religion page to reporting on a town council meeting in a neighboring village. The editorial staff will tell you what they want, when they want it and what you can expect to be paid. Stringers are paid by the word, by the line or by the column inch, and while rate varies from one newspaper to another, it is a set fee which cannot be negotiated.
Building a good association with your editor through good writing, dependability and exact adherence to deadlines may enable you to successfully put forth your own ideas for highlight stories and articles. You may be able to negotiate a higher rate of pay for these pieces. Don't forget to ask for a by-line. Part of the thrill of freelance writing is looking your name in print.
Greeting Cards
Visit your local card shop. There are hundreds of cards, many expressing the same sentiments. Each one is different, and somebody earned money for each of them. The greeting card commerce relies heavily on freelance submissions. Each business has its own style; it is futile to fire off ideas randomly hoping to hit pay dirt. Clubs will send writer guidelines to those who accompany the request with a self-addressed, stamped envelope (Sase). This basic checklist will tell you the subject matter of preference (some Clubs may deal solely with inspirational messages while others want only adult humor studio cards), the exact method of presentation, length of time should wait for a response and the pay range for appropriate ideas. You don't have to be an artist. Greeting card Clubs want your ideas and captions, although suggestions for along artwork will be appreciated. Remember, what may be unsuited to one company's needs could be deemed irresistible by another. Don't throw away any ideas in discouragement after one rejection. Submit, submit and resubmit should be your credo.
Magazine Articles
Thousands of extra interest and trade publications are sold every year. Each is filled with articles, many of them written by freelancers. The trick is to find the right magazine for your article, and tailor your record for that magazine.. If you're a whiz at coupon redeeming, refunding and rebating, reconsider sharing your expertise with others in an record in Supermarket Shopper. No matter what your area of interest, there's a publication waiting to let you tell it all.
Like greeting card companies, magazine publishers will send you guidelines together with style and subject matter as well as pay scales. Don't waste your time sending an record on the joys of a New England vacation to a publication specializing in recreation opportunities in the Ozarks. Guidelines firmly in mind, come up with an idea favorable for the singular publication and effect up with a query letter.
Many publications will not accept unsolicited manuscripts. Even those that would rather read a well-written, creative letter outlining a proposed record than wade through a 2,000 word piece to find it acceptable. Your query letter can be open the door that might have been slammed in the face of your unreviewed work-especially if it is an example of proficient writing and piques the editor's interest in your subject and the angle you're planning to use.
While many magazines will not accept manuscripts currently being determined by other publication, you may wish to send query letters to any at the same time. If you are fortunate enough to have more than one acceptance, you can always write two articles with dissimilar slants from the same research.
The time it takes for your manuscript to be determined seems interminable. One way to avoid hovering over the mailbox with hope, dread and anxiety fighting for dominance is to keep the mailbox working for you. Don't send off one record and wait for the verdict. Send query letters, greeting card ideas, filler items and articles out constantly, never waiting to hear from one before sending the next. If you receive a rejection, move along to the next prospective publisher for that item, dash off a new cover letter and shoot it out again. You can't sell what's sitting in a reject pile--only what's manufacture the rounds on the market.
Publishers guidelines will give you exact instructions for manuscript preparation. Regardless of the differences from one business to the next, remember that neatness counts. Use typing correction paper or fluid to fix typographical errors. Strike-overs and hand done corrections appear messy and unprofessional. Each page of your manuscript should have the title of the record and your name, as well as consecutive page numbers for all but the first page.
Independent Projects
Newspaper stringing, greeting cards and magazine articles are established fields for freelance writers. Your communal library will have books and magazine listing Clubs seeking freelancers for all things from crossword puzzles to innovative messages for telephone answering machines. But you may wish to observe some areas on your own. Either you live in a small town or a metropolitan area local organizations and businesses can contribute fodder for an impressive client list.
Perhaps the local historical community would be interested in your offer to study and write a history of the area. For a fee. The high school alumni association may be looking for a class gift to the old alma mater. A school history, researched and written by a pro freelance writer, would be an handsome addition to the school library, and purchases by class members of yore would add a fund-raising feature. Is you local hospital making ready to celebrate a founding anniversary? a ready history of the institution, from one-room dispensary/infirmary to today's 200-bed unit would be a astounding communal relations tool for them an a frightful writing job for you.
Local businesses and organizations have assorted writing needs. Grant proposals can be written for a flat fee or on a ration basis. Buyer relations pieces such as new aid or goods introductions and range letters, each year reports, in house or consumer-aimed newsletters all contribute grist for the enterprising freelancer's mill. Even organizations with communal relations or Buyer relations staffs sometimes farm out work on a periodic basis.
Unlike established fields, where prices are determined in advance, independent projects such as these want you to payment by the word, by the page, by the hour or on a completed scheme basis. No matter how you quote your fee, assessment your time as accurately as possible. Time spent in research, talking to and interviewing people and organizing material for writing is as leading as time spent at the typewriter. Remember to payment enough to cover expenses in addition to time. Typewriter ribbons, paper, postage and envelopes cost money-so does the gasoline you'll use when study involves travel.
Serious freelancers also have to reconsider the cost of overhead (heat, water, electricity and a quantum of rent or mortgage payments to say an in-home office), equipment depreciation and general worker fringe benefits such as guarnatee and communal protection payments when pricing their services. After all, the boss is startling to pick up the tab for these extras. As a freelance writer, you are the boss. And that's a fringe advantage nobody else can give you. More good news is that you can get more writing opportunities by visiting http://www.elance.com where a lot of Internet business owners are looking for writers to get their job done quickly.
Writing For Dollars -- A Freelancer's Guide