Prairie Den: Alison Lake

If you crave the challenge of breaking into the competitive world of magazines, can boast a sharp, flexible writing style, and have burning curiosity for a variety of subjects, freelance writing could be your niche.

You can start to explore the freelance world at any hour of day or night thanks to a variety of helpful Web sites which appear when you type "freelance writing" into Google. As you research the field online, try to jumpstart a regular writing routine. One approach is to begin with reflective essays and articles which require little research and whose background derive mostly from your own knowledge. Narrative and instructive articles which draw on your own expertise also require little research. This type of article can be submitted to markets that accept full manuscripts and shorter narrative pieces.

When not writing or perusing web sites, read a couple of books on freelance writing and learn how to best submit your work. Marcia Yudkin's writing books, such as Writing Articles, are immensely helpful and provide usable information. These books are inexpensive and available new or used on www.amazon.com. Writer's Market's online database www.writersmarket.com may well be the best starting point for any writer looking to submit to magazines and newspapers. The site is updated daily and provides an exhaustive listing of publishing markets and the type of work accepted. At only $2.99 a month, it's a worthwhile expense for any writer hoping to get published.

While submitting manuscripts to publications which accepted unsolicited work, be sure to distract yourself and push forward as you wait impatiently for feedback. One way is to focus on querying magazines.

You can brainstorm ideas on any upcoming trips, projects, or plans in your life as a source for possible articles, then browse the list of publications on Writers Market to see which magazines might be interested in an article with that angle or subject. If you are computer-savvy, start with publications that accept e-mail queries.

It's faster than waiting for snail mail. E-mail and the Internet make the submission and query process so much faster and widespread than in past days. One can send out a number of queries at one time, all for free, and all with instant delivery.

Be careful to tailor each e-mail message for the recipient. Always e-mail each recipient separately, never with a mass mailing list, and don't expect your query to necessarily be read immediately or even that month. Turnaround time can be excruciatingly slow, and often there is no response at all. Yet rejection is almost easier to accept in the online format, less personal somehow than a handwritten note, and it's easier to move on to the next possibility. You may be surprised by a few helpful personal responses by e-mail, and even rejections which somehow don't sting as much when individually written with a specific reason, and occasionally with a suggestion or invitation to submit again.

As a result of this efficient system of sending queries, there is no excuse for a freelance writer not to send out a number of queries every week depending on the time available. The more you send out, the better your chances of piquing an editor's interest.

Many writing books contain sections on the art of writing query letters, and there are myriad approaches. When crafting a letter, aim to include detailed information about what you plan to write, with specific reasoning and motivation for the article, and a brief outline of the article in bullet points.

For the several queries which may garner interest, many more will be rejected, or worse, ignored. This indignity is an unavoidable fact of the freelancing life from which no one is immune. You can save all your article ideas for future use, because they can always be reworked or submitted at a different time. Meanwhile, try to sharpen your query composition skills and hope for more success with future tries.

For motivation and to generate more work, it helps to maintain a portfolio of all your writing samples, print and online, and keep several copies of each to mail out with queries. It will be satisfying to leaf through and view your accepted and published work.

When you feel comfortable, feel free to expand your approach to more investigative articles with expert interviews and outside research. Online resources help you to gain information with phone interviews and research. One essential resource for gathering expert interviews is www2.profnet.com, a site which connects journalists with experts in many fields. Registration is free and you are required to present some evidence of previous publishing credits.

There are several elements to any nascent freelance career which naturally ebb and flow: the market for articles in general and what editors need at that time; the struggle to maintain a consistent writing schedule; and finally, your own pattern of motivation and inspiration.

A writing career that keeps you consistently busy throughout the year, and that provides some degree of a second income to the household can definitely be an attainable goal. Submit your work early and often. The process of waiting for an answer can stretch into weeks and months, so it's always wise to have as many projects going as you can manage. That way, at least every day there is a new possibility for a letter to arrive in the mailbox with the junk mail or an e-mail from an editor to ping into your inbox. Through it all, your writing style, research, and knowledge of the 'publishing world' all benefit, regardless if your ideas sell or fall flat.

Alison Lake writes for magazines and newspapers. Her second book, Living Off Balance, is due out in fall 2005.