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Freelance writing

13 replies

tralala · 08/11/2005 23:25

How do you become a freelance writer?

OP posts:
tralala · 09/11/2005 22:46

?

OP posts:
aloha · 09/11/2005 23:18

What do you do now? Have you any experience?

tralala · 09/11/2005 23:22

Before I had dd1 and dd2 I taught English. I was also in a weekly writers' group and wrote short stories. I am now a 'stay at home' mum.

OP posts:
aloha · 09/11/2005 23:22

Tricky. There are a lot of people out there with a lot of professional experience. What would you like to write?

tralala · 09/11/2005 23:25

Magazine articles, short stories, newsletters, book reviews, reports...

OP posts:
edam · 09/11/2005 23:26

If you want to write fiction, get a copy of the Writers and Artists Yearbook - that will give you contact details for outlets and tips on how to pitch your work. I don't think many mainstream magazines use fiction by unknown writers - it tends to be big names.

aloha · 09/11/2005 23:27

Too late to post now. I am a freelance journalist but came into via working on magazines. Will try to post some ideas for you tomorrow. Try bumping your thread too. Lots of writers on MN.

tralala · 09/11/2005 23:30

Thanks. I'd really appreciate that.

OP posts:
tralala · 09/11/2005 23:35

Thaks edam. Are you a writer?

OP posts:
edam · 09/11/2005 23:45

You could try small-circulation local magazines; you may have to approach a few before you find one willing to look at the work of a writer who doesn't have any professional experience of writing for publication.

Can you look at a variety of publications and come up with ideas for pieces that would be of interest to them? Look carefully at the structure and content of their articles. How would you research an article - how would you get the information you'd need? Do you have any hobbies - magazines for, eg. dolls house enthusiasts sometimes use stuff from people who really know the subject.

Don't be too ambitious at first and send stuff off to mainstream titles, because they will only look at stuff from people who really do know what they are doing (don't mean to be rude, but it's like any other trade, it's hard to get in without training).

Almost all freelance non-fiction writers are journalists who have trained and been employed before going freelance. Even people who have trained as journalists usually have to do unpaid work experience before they get their first job, and then have a job or several before they go freelance - it's a very competitive field. I'm not trying to put you off, just saying you have to be aware that it may well be difficult and you'll need a lot of persistence.

If you really, really want to do it, then it's worth a go but you may have to knock on a lot of doors before you get a break.

bonchance · 09/11/2005 23:49

Would approaching a local paper be an idea? I could make contributions unpaid in order to gain experience.

bonchance · 09/11/2005 23:54

Sorry to butt in, I thought this may be a good idea as you could use your own local knowledge.

edam · 10/11/2005 00:00

There's no harm in asking. If you are a member of any local groups they may want an update from eg. the local NCT. But be aware that local newspapers are staffed by trained journalists, so you won't be offered their main feature pages.

You've got to come up with ideas that are appropriate for the publication that you are approaching (no point offering fiction to a paper that doesn't use any), have a plan for how you would research the article, look at their writing style, the length of the different sort of features they run, and if you are lucky enough to be offered something, then deliver it on time.

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