Blog Talk Tuesdays: Part VIII

After quite a little hiatus, Blog Talk Tuesdays has returned! In case you’re new around here, Blog Talk Tuesdays is a series I started on this blog to address questions I’ve received about blogging in an organized way – Q&A style!

Past Blog Talk Tuesdays topics include:

• How to Start a Blog, Blog Focus, Self Hosting and More
• Increasing Blog Readership
• Blogger Safety
• Company Outreach: Receiving Free Products, Hosting Giveaways, Posting Product Reviews and More
• Connecting with Other Bloggers
• Rising Above Negativity
• Balancing Blogging and Real Life

While the most common blog-related question I receive via email pertains to growing a blog, the second most prevalent question asks me about freelance writing.

I am by no means an expert on freelance writing (it’s still very new to me), but below you will find the answers to your questions based on my experience up to this point.

Freelance Writing

• How did you get into freelance writing?

When I began to realize the potential to make freelance writing and blogging my primary source of income, I began to actively seek freelance writing opportunities to make sure I would have a steady stream of work when I decided to leave my full-time job. I initially focused on local publications in the Orlando area, but turned my attention to national magazines and business publications as they were substantially more lucrative.

• How do you get “a foot in the door” with magazines to write freelance content for them?

When I contact magazines with a story idea, I always do so via email. I use the magazine’s website to locate the proper editor to send the article to, address them by name and briefly mention why I enjoy their publication and feel like a relationship between the two of us makes sense.

I then take a paragraph or two to outline a story idea.

Many of my emails go unanswered. That’s just the name of the game. But when I get a reply, I make sure to respond promptly and begin to nurture a relationship, following up quickly and meeting deadlines in advance.

Additionally, as a blogger, I receive press releases and pitches from businesses and magazines regularly and save the contact information from the more pertinent emails just in case I may wish to reach out to them in the future.

A great website for jobs in the writing field is Ed2010.com. It is constantly updated and often includes open positions with national magazines.

• How much does a freelance article pay?

For local publications, the pay isn’t so hot. I’ve found that I can expect $50 or so for articles I write for local outlets.

Writing a freelance article for a national publication or business is much more profitable, though much harder to come by, with many paying $1 – $2 a word. (Quick math shows that a 500-word article can net $500 – $1,000, though these opportunities are a lot harder to secure.)

• Where do you get ideas for publications and/or people to contact to inquire about freelance work?

I think outside the box… waaay outside the box.

Remember there are tons of magazines and newspapers out there – so many more than the ones you read.

I do a lot of internet searches for publications and moving to a new town allowed me to explore local publications other than Orlando-area magazines that were previously familiar to me.

I also have a bunch of ideas for future work relating to copywriting that I hope to pitch to some businesses in the future. I am constantly picking up magazines and jotting down the names of websites or business publications that I find and keep them in a folder to contact when I have the moment to think about a story idea to send their way.