Freelance Writers Who Succeded Without The Internet | The WM ...

Last week we read the stories and tips of freelance writers who became successful without the help of courses or books?even if they were available at the time. Experiences shaped their lessons, and and they learned well.

I decided to feature three stories of freelance writers who learned and grew without the aid of any of the instant communication and efficient transportation devices we have today. Why?

It?s more than an attempt to show you that if they could do it, you could certainly do it. It?s not just a ?look back.?

Lick a stamp or two. Meet an editor in person. Hustle your way from 1-year intern to 17-year veteran.

When you read these stories, you?ll find tips and practices that are just as successful now as they were then?and perhaps moreso, since they?re becoming just rare enough to give you a unique head start.

I sold my first article in 1977, when I was a senior in college, and loved being paid $1 a word. My first ?client? was? my eye doctor, who sent me a follow-up thank-you letter that was so terrible I told him I could do much better. He paid me $100 to write three letters for his business. Soon after that I joined a local networking group. I was the only woman in?the group, but by the time I moved from Houston, I had worked with and for each one of them, and they had referred me to others.

Bit by bit, I began branching out and seeking out other businesses and clients who needed to improve their communications. A friend of mine edited a women?s magazine and offered me a few assignments, so when those were published I had clips to send to other magazines with queries, which led to many articles and opportunities.

I?ve received letters from many writers through the years in response to short notes I?ve sent them complimenting them on their work. Frequently those ?fan letters? have led to writing assignments. I interviewed a Grammy-winning composer after singing one of his pieces and writing him a letter. The article was published in Chorus America. I met and interviewed a well-known screenwriter and novelist after reading a book of his that I loved; that piece was published in a literary journal and is cited among the several works written about his career.

Finally, my former husband (also a writer) and I are co-authoring a book on parenting after divorce. I have already published the first chapter, ?The Ten Commandments of Co-Parenting.? We have an agent.

I?learned that there is a market for good writing about anything. A successful freelancer will become an expert in one thing and write for many markets about that person/subject or branch out and experience many things, writing and publishing about them whenever and wherever possible. That?s how a small business is built.

Colleen Plimpton: Coming Face-To-Face With?The Dream?Editor

I write regularly for Hearst?s Fairfield County and Albany, New York areas. My column appears twice a month, and my gardening articles appear once a month in their regional magazine, Life @ Home. As a result, Hearst hires me to conduct gardening lectures at local nurseries. I also write formany other gardening and home publications.

As a direct result of my freelance work, I?ve had success with my first book, and have just acquired an agent for my second book. My lecture business has grown by leaps and bounds, and I have all the work I want!

When I started out, I didn?t have a class or a book when I started freelancing, but what I did have was determination and a game plan. I sent queries by snail-mail, and missives on letterhead stationery to prospective lecture venues. I selected the areas to write about in which? I was most knowledgeable & enthusiastic. For me that was gardening and public speaking.

My first paid magazine writing gig was for GreenPrints magazine, about garden diaries. I sent that piece in cold. I?d researched garden magazines, and discovered that the editor/founder of GreenPrints had been a honcho at The Mother Earth News, of which I?d been a hippie, back-to-the-land devotee in the 70?s. So I sent him a personal letter referencing that fact, enclosed the article I?d written for a writing class, and and he took it!

Before it was published, I arranged to ?run into? the GreenPrints editor, at a Garden Writers Symposium in Pennsylvania.?I was attending as a newbie, but when I heard he was there, I had someone point him out. He gave me a big smile, and from his backpack pulled a freshly-minted copy of the issue bearing my article. What a thrill!

In pursuit of publication for Hearst, I repeatedly sent in paper copies, complete with real photographs, for several years, through several editors of our newspaper, the Danbury News-Times. No response.?Finally, I met the new editor in person at a community gathering. I introduced myself, handed him my card, told him how I?d like to write for him, and voila! He gave me the name of the person to pitch. We started communicating by phone, and the rest is history. I?ve been writing my paid column for 3 years now; it goes to 4 newspapers, (over 133,000 homes), and recently Hearst expanded my reach into their regional magazines. Yippee!

A few tips I?ve used successfully: Since I?m good at setting a scene, I generally start my queries there, complete with sensory detail and dialogue if possible. Once an article appears, I always jot a note of thanks to the editor, or whomever I?ve worked with on the piece. In my thank-you note, I often mention an idea for the next article; this sometimes gives me a head start.

Joanne Cleaver: Mrs. Cleaver?s Steps To Freelance Success

Back in 1981, I graduated with a master?s in journalism from Northwestern?s Medill School 6 months pregnant. In my lemon-yellow jumper and white cotton blouse I went to talk with the editors at Crain?s Chicago Business, proposing that I take my 12 months? total experience as an intern at a financial trade association magazine and use that as a springboard to covering Chicago companies.

I wrote one story for Crain?s in August, had my baby on Sept. 5, and in late October, got a call from the editor: Was I ready to come back? Pretty decent of him, considering I?d barely been there to begin with! That was the start of a 17-year run writing weekly for Crain?s. I had the longest, most gradual ramp-up in freelance history, because I kept having babies, too.

By 1989 I had three kids, was writing for national trade magazines like Advertising Age, and had written my first book: Doing Children?s Museums, a national guide to kids? museums. Now an expert on kids? museums, I started getting approached by editors at national magazines to write on that topic? and then about family travel? and then about moms and careers.

I now advocate for freelancers as director of freelance growth at Ebyline.com, a virtual newsroom platform that makes freelancing friction-free for both contributors and publishers. Ebyline enables freelancers to connect with a community of editors who are actively looking to assign stories and develop their networks of writers.

I continue to manage major research projects; write books?my latest, ?The Career Lattice: Combat Brain Drain, Improve Company Culture, and Attract Top Talent,? comes out in spring from McGraw Business; and run a strategic communication firm that specializes in messaging and media training.

Here are the steps that got me where I am today:

1. Own a topic. My big lesson from my first decade is to find a niche with growth potential and own it. Become the writer who has the most inside knowledge, the best contacts, and the greatest breadth of understanding of that topic.
2. Win assignments?for that topic. Step 1 enables you to use that platform to pitch editors at a wide variety of outlets about that topic. Once you use your ?expertise? topic to wedge your foot in the door, you can then pitch that editor on related topics.
3. Establish a relationship with the editor. Once the editor reaches a comfort level with your work, you can start expanding the actual topics.
4. Win additional assignments on new topics.
5. Own another of those topics. That?s how to get from, for example, a technical topic (your core expertise) to travel writing (not your core expertise and highly competitive).
6. Repeat!

Photo credit: Myles Grant, courtesy Flickr, CC 2.o.

Source: http://wmfreelancewritersconnection.com/2012/02/freelancers-who-succeded-without-the-internet/

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