Showing posts with label freelance writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freelance writing. Show all posts

January 5, 2015

Step into the New Year: writing, revising, and marketing


Preliminary Steps:

Study classical and popular works in your favorite writing genre.

Consider what draws readers to a particular poem, story, article, or book.

Study magazines and other publications you like to read.

Get familiar with the book catalogues of publishers whose work you like.

Consider potential gaps that your story, poem, article, or book might fill.


Writing Plan:

Plan your fiction or nonfiction manuscript before you begin.

Decide on a theme, purpose, and reading audience.

Thoroughly research your topic or story setting.

Outline each article or nonfiction book.

Write a synopsis of your novel in present tense.

Both the synopsis and the outline should be from 1 to 5 pages.


Writing, Revising, and Marketing:

Let your writing flow without criticizing yourself, then let your work rest.

Later read those pages as if someone else had written them.

Read your work aloud and notice if anything seems “off.”

Pinpoint a problem, and you will usually find a solution.

Revise to make the manuscript your best before you send it to a publisher.

Find and follow writers’ guidelines located on the company's website.

Query several editors at once about an idea or book proposal, but when you submit your actual manuscript, send it to only one editor at a time.

When mailing your manuscript by postal service, enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) to cover its potential return.

Keep track of where, when, and to whom you mailed each manuscript.

If you don’t hear back in 3 months, follow up with a brief, polite email.

While you wait to hear from one editor, query another editor about your next idea.

Repeat the above steps.


©2015, Mary Harwell Sayler 









August 25, 2014

Christian Writer’s Guide to writing options


After starting the Christian Poets & Writers group on Facebook, I realized that most of our members self-publish because that’s what they know. Since my 30+ years of experience have mainly been with traditional publishers of books and manuscripts for Christian and educational markets, I wrote the Christian Writer’s Guide e-book to provide the info you need to have more options as a freelance or assignment writer in almost any genre.

Hopefully, the table of contents will give you a good idea of what to expect:

Table of Contents

Dedication
Pray!
Let God and the Bible Guide
Welcome Your Gift or Calling
Find Your Favorite Genre
Listen for The Voice in Your Voice
Write, Write, Write
Search and Research
Record Information Accurately
Edit or Revise
Prepare to be Published
Write Freelance or on Assignment
Inquire with a Query Letter
Cover Highlights in a Cover Letter
Prepare Your Manuscript
Propose a Book in a Book Proposal
Track What Went Where and When
Develop Your Bio
Establish a Presence on the Internet
Learn Writing Terms: A to Z
About the Author



© 2014, Mary Harwell Sayler is the poet-author of 26 books in all genres and approximately 1500 poems and short manuscripts, ranging from church curriculum to children’s “take home” papers to nonfiction articles on subjects as varied as the Bible, poetry, writing, family life, and natural health.


Christian Writer's Guide e-book on Kindle



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February 16, 2013

Tips for a long writing life


Writing for traditional book companies, magazines, or other print publications may take a little time to investigate, think about, and prayerfully consider, but you gain a lot for the effort. Besides acquiring publishing credits with well-known publishers, you will most likely receive editorial feedback and immediately gain a wide readership for your work.

If that greater outreach appeals to you, you’ll be glad to know that many articles relating to your writing interests have already been posted on this blog. Lord willing, the following tips will also help you to build and sustain a long career in freelance writing:

Read and study well-written classics and contemporary works in your genre.

Think about what first drew you to each book, poem, article, or story and what retains your interest.

Re-read periodicals you like and get familiar with everything from the Table of Contents to Letters to the Editor.

Also notice ads to see what readers of a particular publication are drawn to and what interests them. If those same things interest you – and if the poems, articles, or stories do too – then add that publication to your list of Most Likely Markets.

Make a list, too, of your God-given gifts, special interests, experiences, and topics that come to mind as you read, considering and noting any gaps your work might fill.

Ask God to guide you in using your gifts and selecting a topic.

Find a relevant theme, focus, or goal for that particular topic and reading audience, again, praying for God’s guidance.

Research your subject well, creating a bibliography as you go.

As you begin to write, let your writing flow without hindering or criticizing yourself. Then let your work rest. Later, read each page as if someone else had written it.

Read aloud each revision, listening especially for unclear wording or discordant sounds.

Revise accordingly then place your best manuscript with an editor – one editor at a time.

Follow the writers’ guidelines carefully for each submission. (You can usually find these on the company’s website.)

Keep track of where, when, and to whom you mailed your work.

While you wait to hear from one editor, query another about your next idea.

Begin at the beginning of these suggestions.

Begin and end with prayer for God’s ongoing guidance, inspired ideas, and a long, blessed writing life!

© 2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved.

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July 5, 2012

Brand, platform, and digital writing: an interview with Krissy Brady


Krissy Brady, a freelance writer and the owner of Krissy Media Ink, is working on her first novel, poetry collection, and screenplay but has already authored The Freelancer's Guide to Starting Right and Staying Strong and other titles available on her website and also Amazon. Dedicated to keeping the passion for writing alive, Krissy fluently speaks the digital language poets and writers need to keep their careers up to Internet speed, so I’ve been eager to interview her in hopes she’ll help those of us living In a Christian Writer’s Life to be informed about the Digital Age.

Mary Harwell Sayler: Krissy, Christian writers often begin their writing life with a sense of ministry or a calling to write about a particular topic. To get our writing ready for the digital age, however, we keep hearing about the need to “build a platform” or a “brand.” Can you briefly define those terms for us?

Krissy Brady: Absolutely! A platform is essentially the representation of your writing career as a whole – articles you write, books you publish, blog posts you write, classes you teach, etc. – all of which connect back to your platform.

It's a common misconception that your blog is your platform, when in fact your blog is one piece of a much bigger puzzle, though often your blog becomes the visual representation of your platform. That's why there's so much emphasis now on "defining your target audience" and "defining your niche," because your blog becomes the central location for all that you're doing to become an expert in your field. You want to use your blog to connect with your target audience, the people you're writing for who will eventually purchase your writing and products.

Defining these things gives you the opportunity to build a brand around your platform –the "look" of your platform and products – and build a successful writing career based on what you're most passionate about. Your platform, and the brand you design around your platform, all become pieces of your writing career as a whole.

Mary: What steps do you suggest to start this building process?

Krissy: The best place to start when deciding on what your platform is going to be is to ask yourself: What am I most passionate about? What do I want to be known for?

Create a manifesto that describes your ultimate goal for your writing career. Your manifesto will help you to determine what your niche is going to be and the target audience you're going to reach. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. It just needs to be a description of the core of why you have to write; why writing is so engrained in you, and what you want to do with it. We all have a need to write; it's the why that will set you apart.

Mary: Good point!

Krissy: It's important to remember, too, that your platform is about your audience, not about you. In what ways do you relate to your audience? What emotional void are you going to fill for them? Then create a profile of who your ideal audience member is. It really makes the difference!

Mary: Yes! And obviously you have chosen other writers for your audience, but in the present economy, how can any of us hope to earn an income for our work?

Krissy: Multiple income streams can include such things as selling freelance articles to publications, offering copywriting services, blogging for other blogs in your industry, and creating and selling eBooks, as well as creating and selling eCourses.

Many writers become overwhelmed by this, but if you leave yourself completely open during the learning process, you'll find that it will inspire you, and motivate you to write more than you ever have before. If it weren’t for my platform, I wouldn't be a full-time writer today.

Mary: Those of us who have been writing a while have built our publishing credits – sometimes extensively – only to discover that print books don’t stay in print very long. And most of us also want to make our books more accessible to readers, which makes e-books sound like a good option. Since you have already endured that learning process, would you tell us how to go about this? The fewer and simpler the steps, the better!

Krissy: The two best pieces of advice I can offer in terms of eBook publishing is to thoroughly educate yourself, and make sure you don't rush the process.

Here are steps I recommend:

1. Write down a list of eBooks you'd like to write for your target audience. That way, during the education process, you can take notes specific to your goals.

2. Educate yourself about the entire process. The education process is essentially set up in three sections: learn how to set up a Kindle eBook, how to effectively set up sale pages for each of your eBooks on Amazon, and how to market them through your platform.

3. Plan ahead of time how your eBook production line will go (each step you'll complete in what order), and you'll be well on your way to establishing yourself.

Mary: What else do you advise for those of us considering e-books?

Krissy: I would recommend creating a Word document that's essentially going to be your blank template, and type your eBook directly within the template. This is a huge timesaver as opposed to writing out your book and then trying to format it afterward.

Mary: Let me interrupt a sec to inject a hotlink to Microsoft on creating Word templates and to reassure those who think they have not done this before – you probably have! Basically, creating a template just means setting up your page format with the page size, margins, and font you want.

Besides that important suggestion, Krissy, what other time-savers do you suggest?

Krissy: I know what it's like to be a writer on a tight budget, but I highly recommend you have your eBook professionally edited, and a professional cover designed. A cover can literally make or break your sales. In order to be taken seriously as an indie author, you have to go about it seriously.

I would also recommend learning how to set up a blog tour, so that when your book is on the verge of launching, you can set up a blog tour with top bloggers in your niche. It's recommended you start planning the blog tour up to 2 months before your eBook launches in order to create a tour that will impact your sales in a positive way.

I find that the further ahead I begin to plan any writing or marketing, the better things turn out. It leaves room to take care of potential snags along the way and vastly improves your learning curve since you're not in a rush. Make sure every eBook you put out is the best it can be, and this can become a solid income stream for your writing career.

Mary: Thanks, Krissy, for all of your good help – and for reminding me to research the correct spelling for e-books. After searching the Internet, I discovered there isn’t one!

I noticed you use eBook, which is the current terminology among digital publishers and writers, whereas I use e-book, which is what usually appears in the print dictionaries I favor. If our readers do not like either of those choices, ebook provides another option, but even spell-check in Word won’t take our word for that.

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© 2012, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved.

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Me, Myself, and Eye Care

  Over a decade ago I began this blog, and, as time has flown, so has my vision. With a few other blogs to maintain, I hope to post/ repost ...