How to Make Money Freelance Writing, Step 3: Writing articles (and submitting them)

If you’ve read my previous articles about making money from freelance writing, Step 1: Finding Freelance Writing Opportunities and Step 2: How To Get Ideas, you have already taken two important steps to becoming a freelance writer. The next step is to actually write an article – and submit it. If this is your first article it may seem daunting but it’s really a step by step process.

Read the guidelines

You know all those guidelines you found when you followed the advice in Step 1: finding Freelance Writing Opportunities? Read them. This is a really simple one. Read the guidelines, and follow them. If they want a query, send one. If they want to see a finished article, send one. If they want a cover letter send one. If they only accept email, or snail mail, or brown paper packages tied up with string, send one. Don’t end up in the slush pile or wastepaper basket because you didn’t follow basic guidelines any idiot can find on the publication’s website.

Query letter or finished article?

Some editors want to see a brief covering letter with a finished article. Others prefer a query. They will let you know in the guidelines. Writing the perfect query letter is an art in itself. Read this great post about writing good query letters and then pop over here to read about how one writer earned $6,000 from one query letter.

Editors are really short of time, and, to be honest, not that interested in you, except as a potential (valuable) contributor to their publication. A query or covering letter needs to be succinct, covering everything that is going to help the editor make a decision and nothing irrelevant.

Including clips

Writers still use the word clips to refer to examples of previously published articles. It used to be that you literally clipped out a copy of an article you’d had published and sent in with your snail mail query. These days you’re more likely to query by email and include a link to your online work. If you want to include a clip of work published exclusively in a print publication you can scan it and attach to the email (but check those guidelines again – some editors refuse to accept/open attachments or require attached documents to be saved in a particular format).

If a publication doesn’t ask for clips they’re not needed. Again read the guidelines carefully. If you want to link to an online piece of yours that will strengthen your case, make it a natural part of your query letter.

What if the only clip I have is on a content mill? Different writers have different ideas about this one. I’ve read comments in forums claiming that editors despise content mills so much that you would be better off not sending a clip at all. I have to say my own experience contradicts this opinion. I used to write for a well-known content mill at the start of my writing career (I don’t any more, and I don’t advise other writers to, either). However my first ever (well-paid) magazine article was the result of content mill clips. If the clip shows you can write well, with authority on the topic you’re pitching, it could land you the commission.

Optimize your email signature.

It can be awkward to include a link to your personal blog or Twitter profile in the body of your email, but if they might help you get the work, feel free to include them in your email signature. The editor may or may not check them out, but if he does and sees that you have thousands of followers on Twitter to tweet your article to, or that you maintain a well written, professional looking blog, if might sway things in your direction.

Blogs can be a great place to showcase your attention to detail. If it’s your own blog, you have to produce and edit the content, and if it’s well written and error free the editor may feel more confident in your ability to deliver high quality work that doesn’t need editing.

Writing the Article

If an editor responds to a query expressing an interest (or if they don’t require a query first) go ahead and write the article. Every writer has their own way of doing this. Here are some strategies you might find useful.

#1 If you have been approved to write an article based on a query, write with that query, and the editor’s reply, in front of you. Make sure you write the article you originally proposed, and incorporate anything extra the editor asked for.

#2 If you’re not writing to a query, start by mind mapping your topic. Decide what different aspects of your topic you will include and which you won’t. Focus in on a specific angle. (Anything you don’t include can always be used in future articles on the same topic.)

#3 Dive straight in and write the ‘meat’ of the article first (add an introduction and conclusion afterwards).

#4 Consider a tightly formatted article such as a list or how-to article, if the publication uses those types of articles.

#5 Include a quote from an expert. You don’t even have to get it direct. You can use a quote from a book or previous article as long as you quote your source. Consider opening the article with a direct quote.

#6 Include some facts or statistics. Again you can quote from another source (perhaps a recent survey or article on your topic) as long as you make it clear where you got your information from. It’s fine to say “According to a recent survey by the XYZ Research Institute...” and state the findings of the survey. Or “According to a recent article in XYZ publication” and state a fact from the article.

#7 Use a personal anecdote that illustrates your point, but don’t rant or get off topic. Keep it short, concise and relevant.

#8 Edit thoroughly and proof read carefully. Check facts, spelling and details like addresses or website urls. If you’re submitting to an online publication and you’re including links, make sure they work.

Email or snail mail?

I’m aware that some readers will never have bought a stamp in their life and wouldn’t know where the nearest post office was if you drew them a map. (They’d need the zip code to plug into their GPS.) But you still occasionally come across publications that want you to submit a hard copy. Crazy, but true. If they want a hard copy give them one, or choose to pitch a publication that has dragged itself into the 21^st century. Don’t email an article to a magazine that states ‘we require all submissions as a hard copy”. They won’t read it.

Following up

Most writers’ guidelines will give you an approximate response time. DO NOT contact them before that ‘to just check whether or not they’ve had time to look at your submission’. You will risk looking amateurish, or even desperate.

Responding to a response

If you’re lucky you will get a response that says “What an excellent piece. I want to publish it as is and here’s a big bag of money.” If you do, enjoy the thrills of publication and have fun counting your money. It’s also possible (and more likely) that you will get a response with conditions.

The editor is always right, and even if they’re not, it’s their publication and they call the shots. The following are all possible responses all of which myself or my writer friends have received some variation of over the years.

“I like your writing style but hate/don’t like/don’t agree with your idea(s).

Pitch them another idea (or several). Pitch the original idea(s) to someone else.

“I like this but want you to edit it”.

Edit it. Work with the editor. Ask them for instructions and try to match their idea of what the piece should look like.

“I like this but I want to edit it”.

Proceed with caution. This is normal. Most articles need some editing, either to fit in with house style or for SEO reasons. BUT remember the finished piece will have your name on it so you have a right to ask that if a heavy edit is done by someone other than you, you get to give the piece a final proof read and make sure you’ve not been misrepresented.

“I’ve changed your title.”

Again, quite normal, especially for SEO reasons. Try not to get too attached to your title.

“I need a short bio and picture of you”.

Normal, and a good sign.

“Do you have illustrations for this article?” OR

“I need you to find illustrations for this article”.

I’ve been asked both question before and they’re not my favorites. I’m still working on getting my photography to the stage where my pictures are good enough to be used for publication. Always help an editor find pictures if possible. For travel articles a good source is the official press office of the area you’re writing about. Also consider stock sites such as iStock and photo sharing sites such as Flickr. If you’re involved in sourcing photos make sure you have the right to use them and that the editor has the correct information about who they should be attributed to.

“We pay on acceptance”.

Great where’s my check?

“We pay on publication.”

Not so good. Keep records and regularly check that you’ve been paid when you should have been.

“We pay at the end of the month following publication and require an invoice for every article”.

Getting worse, but still not unusual. Just go with it. We writers don’t particularly like creating invoices, keeping payment records and chasing payments but writing is a business. We have to do stuff we don’t like sometimes.

When dealing with editors the most important thing to remember is that they are human too. They’re more like you than you realize. If, as many writers do, you ever run your own website or blog and accept articles from other writers (or even just guest posts) you will find yourself on the other side of the process and realize that being there doesn’t make you a power-mad ogre or a scary person, just a business owner who is trying to get the best and most relevant content up on your site.

And the last step in the process:

Repeat, and then repeat again. In fact, repeat until you are making a decent living as a freelance writer.

Questions? Please ask them in the comments section. I promise I’ll reply.