Write Nonfiction in November

My writing roots are grounded in magazine journalism, and I still spend a good bit of my time each year writing articles for a variety of publications. I have a monthly gig writing an article for a trade magazine, and I try to write a variety of articles related to my interests and to the books I am writing and trying to get published. (I do the latter as a way to build “platform” and expert status.) My pieces are published both locally and nationally. I consider myself a fairly successful journalist.

However, I have failed miserably at one aspect of my journalistic career: reselling my articles. Journalists, as well as essayists and any writer producing work for newspapers and magazines, can make a huge amount of additional money on each piece they sell if they simply make the effort to resell their articles to additional publications.

Michael Sedge, author of Marketing Strategies for Writers, provides a phenomenal example of a writer who has mastered the art of reselling articles. In this blog post he offers some really valuable advice on how to ensure that you can, indeed, resell your work once you’ve written and sold an article to a publication. Pay close attention to what he writes…and don’t ever look at an article you write as a one-time sale again. You might even want to spend part of November trying to resell some of the articles you’ve had published in the past. (I think I will…)

How to Earn More and Work Less by Managing the Rights to Your Articles
and Considering the World Your Market
By Michael Sedge

Twenty-nine years ago, I walked out of my last job, determined to be a writer…and have been fulfilling that role ever since.  I’ve published thousands-and-thousands of articles, 10 books, written four TV documentaries, advertising copy, and children’s plays.  I have been a free-lance editor in one form or another—i.e., contributing editor, travel editor, managing editor, senior editor, European correspondent, war correspondent, Mediterranean and Africa editor—to over 40 publications and news agencies.  I have turned my writing into a number of successful spin-off businesses–Markets Abroad Newsletter, Strawberry Media stock photo agency, The Sedge Group, Michael-Bruno, LLC—serving such clients a The Associated Press, Newsweek, Time-Life, National Geographic, Mobil Oil, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Discovery Channel, MCI International, Department of Defense and Department of State.

All of this and, according to my friends, I only work half-a-way. While that may be misconception—they do not see me at the computer in PJs at midnight or 4 a.m.—it is possible if one approaches their writing career with two key principles: (1) it is a business and (2) the world is your market.

While at the height of my writing career, I only produced 23 articles a year (while working on books, documentaries, and other activities).  That is fewer than two articles per month.  At the same time, however, my byline appeared approximately 207 times in global publications while my annual article income exceeded $50,000.

The secret?  I was selling each article an average of nine times to publications in various countries and languages, around the world.  Put into mathematical terms: 23 articles a year x 9 sales per article = 207 published articles.  I received an average of $250 per article x 207 = $51,750 annual income.

You, too, can make more and work less if you learn to work smart, manage the rights to your articles and consider the world your market.  The following is an except from my book, Marketing Strategies for Writers, that will get your started.

Sometimes I feel that writers intentionally make an effort to fail as business people. Take, for example, the thousands of freelancers around the world who write articles. They produce a feature, sell it, see it in print, and then begin work on another story. It too gets written, sold, and printed. Then a new article is begun. It becomes a vicious circle.

Now some would say that this is a pattern of success. I am here to tell you that it is a blueprint for excess work. below-average income, and ultimately, writer burnout. Why? First, given that the average article of one thousand words sells for approximately $375 in the United States, writers need to produce and sell eight articles a month if they want to earn an annual income of $35,000. Writing this many quality articles every thirty days is a huge task. Then, of course, because freelance writers are independently employed, they are required to spend a large percentage of their annual income on social security taxes, health insurance, and income taxes. After all these taxes and insurance payments are made, most writers—even those selling articles regularly—find themselves walking the tightrope of poverty.

If they would only approach writing as a business, however, this dire situation could probably be avoided. Let’s imagine for a moment that you are not a writer, but the franchise owner of Dollar Rent A Car. What are your products? Cars and vans, of course. Now what are your goals? To rent as many vehicles as you can, for as much as you can, and for as long as you can.

Now let’s apply these same business characteristics to writing. What are your products? Articles. What are your goals? To sell as many as you can, for as much as you can, and for as long as you can.

Yes, articles, are products. To succeed, you need to make as much money as possible from these products. The more use—in the form of sales—you get out of each product, the more money you will make. This requires that you set your own rates, control the rights that are sold, and expand your market opportunities beyond domestic borders.

As a businessman, my goals has always been to make no less than $4,000 a month—damned good pay for an article writer. To accomplish this, I am required to bring in $1,000 a week. This leads me to the $1-a-word rule (yes, I have rules for just about everything). Quite simply, if a publication is going to pay me $1 a word, that publication is entitled to exclusive rights to my work f or a period of one year. Thereafter, all rights automatically revert to me, and I am free to sell the article elsewhere. As with every rule, however, there are exceptions. If, for instance, a publisher wants a work-for-hire arrangement—whereby the publication owns the work forever—my base fee ranges from $1.50 to $2.00 a word.

So what about the many, many magazines and newspapers that do not have budgets sufficient to pay such rates? Very simply, the rights that a publication receives should be directly proportional to the price paid. I’ll even go one step further and say that the rights purchased must never exceed the needs of the publication. An excellent example is the Army Times Publishing Company, based in Virginia. The company’s primary market is Department of Defense employees and members of the U.S. military. So, when travel editor Cindi Florit offered me $225 for a feature on Italy’s sunken city of Baiae, I gladly accepted. When she asked for all rights, I pulled back the offer and said Army Times could have exclusive rights only in the Department of Defense and U.S. military market, to which she agreed.

The point here is that many editors, it seems, have been trained—primarily because they too began as freelance writers—to believe that all rights or first North American serial rights are theirs for the asking, as long as they have offered some pittance of compensation. I, for one, would like to know where this absurd thought came from. Army Times Publishing Company had no more need for all rights than does the Prague Post in the Czech Republic.

This morning, a reader of my Writer On Line column, “Going Global with Mike Sedge,” sent a message in which she said: “You suggest that authors establish their own rights, rather than wait and see what an editor offers. It’s a concept I’ve never heard of but find quite compelling and it makes ever so much sense.”

Of course it makes sense. It makes good business sense! A major part of guerrilla marketing is not to let the excitement of getting published blur your business vision. That is, you must be fairly compensated for your work and the rights you are selling. The key to rights is that you give each publication what it needs, within the legal boundaries of eth sale. For example, if a newspaper published in New York State is going to publish your article, it has no need for all North American rights. In this same respect, a national publication has no need for world rights. If I am working with a periodical that insists on more rights than are necessary, I immediately up the price of the article accordingly.

Recently, Scientific American Archaeology asked me to write a piece, but insisted on all rights. I realized that they had plans for an international as well as German-language edition of the magazine and, thus, planned to reuse my material. I therefore quoted a price of $1.25 per word, with the agreement that they would take at least two more features. They agreed to the deal. In this case I had sacrificed some standard per-word fee—for all rights usage—in exchange for additional assignments.

Granted, you might lose a sale by doing this. But, in the long run, you will end up making more money by being able to sell your articles again and again. Despite what editors and individuals involved with the New York publishing industry tell you, there are publishers that aggressively resell articles once they have all rights. Buzz magazine goes so far as to advertise the resale of articles. A recent issue, for example, carried an ad reading, among other things, “Reprints of any article are now available from Reprints Management Services. Call today.”

About the Author

A native of Flint, MI, (walking distance from Michael Moore), Michael Sedge has lived in Southern Italy for the past 36 years. “From my office window, I look across the Bay of Naples and see Mount Vesuvius, Sorrento, and the Amalfi Coast.”  He admits that he is living what most would consider a dream life.  Aside from his successful writing career, Sedge is a valid businessman and former regional president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy.  “One of the ventures I am most proud of is the Dolce Vita Writers’ Holiday, which I conducted in Tuscany for several years.  Great fun, great food, great people, and writers came away with a new approach to selling their work around the world.”  Today most of Sedge’s time is dedicated to being president of Michael-Bruno, LLC, a company he formed in 2003 to provide architectural design, engineering services, and construction management for the US government in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.  “I got to where I am through my writing.  I’ve used it as a stepping stone to a number of fascinating careers.  As long as I keep having fun, I’ll keep doing it,” he said.

Sedge can be contacted by email at: msedge@thesedgegroup.com

During this month, we will explore a variety of nonfiction forms. For the next few days, however, we will take a closer look at journalistic endeavors. Many nonfiction writers have aspirations of writing for newspapers or magazines. Plus, many authors of nonfiction books find it necessary at times to write journalistic pieces to establish themselves as experts in their field or to publicize their books.

If you enjoy reporting on events, writing personal essays, exploring issues in-depth, interviewing people for personality profiles, or creating works of creative nonfiction, you will want to explore writing for publications. To develop a career as a free-lance journalist, though, you first have to land a writing assignment. Then you have to do such a good job with that assignment  that the editor wants you to write for the publication again. A great place to begin developing this type of writer/editor relationship is with a regional publication.

I have a soft spot in my heart for regional publications. Not only did I get my first “clips” or by-lines (published articles) writing for regional newspapers and magazines while I was still in high school and college, upon college graduation I went to work as a writer and editor for a regional magazine. I continued to work full-time for regional publications for a few years before moving on to other jobs in publishing, but I’ve never stopped writing for regional publications. In fact, regional publications have remained the mainstay of my freelance writing work everywhere I’ve lived.

For the beginning journalist, regional publications provide a wonderful way to start getting the clips you need to prove to national publications that you can write and produce professionally crafted and researched articles. For the seasoned journalist, they provide numerous article markets and a continuous source of revenue.

Since I moved to California eight years ago, I have often written for Bay Area Parent magazine’s Silicon Valley Edition. My editor there, Jill Wolfson, has welcomed my queries, and, in the last few years, also come to me with ideas she knew fell within my realm of interest. I enjoy working with her, and I think she has been happy with my work. So, I asked her to write a blog post for WNFiN on how nonfiction writers who would like to write for a regional magazine (or any magazine) should approach magazine editors, and what they need to do to develop a good, long-lasting relationship with those editors. Having read her post, I can tell you that I do all of the things she recommends…and I have never had a problem getting repeat work from a magazine.

How to Land a Nonfiction Magazine Assignment…
And Get Asked to Write a Second Article When You’re Done
By Jill Wolfson

As the editor of a monthly regional parenting magazine, I get some jaw-dropping queries from people who want to write for us. I think I can speak for most editors when I say: Here are some ways NOT to approach an editor. I’ve taken these verbatim from my inbox:

Hey Jill,

I’m a real journalist, so I could probably whip out something for your rag real fast.

Dear Editor,

I have no writing experience, but I think my child is really funny and I could write about that.

Dear Editor,

I want to write for you. Give me some ideas and I’ll do them.

And my all-time favorite:

Dear Editor,

I have no journalism experience and I’m not a parent, but I’m a real brat magnet. My nephew likes to jump on the bed when he comes to visit.

Now that you know how not to approach a magazine editor, here’s some advice on what will get her or his attention—and, importantly, what will keep that attention for future assignments. Just because a publication is regional or a give-away doesn’t mean that it doesn’t adhere to high journalistic standards.

6. Let the editor know if the story is taking a different shape as soon as possible. Things change during reporting; an editor understands that. If major shifts occur—a change in the agreed-upon angle or a major source who will no longer be quoted—alert the editor immediately. No one likes a big surprise at deadline.

7. Make the editor’s job easy, and you are likely to become one of the go-to writers. Turn in copy on time or even before deadline. If possible, ask someone to proof your article for spelling and grammatical errors. I don’t mind a few errors, but I get really concerned about a writer when an article comes in full of typos and bad grammar. What does that say about his/her fact-checking?

8. Be amenable to making changes in your story. That doesn’t mean being a push-over, but be flexible when working with the editor to make your story the best it can be. Typically, the editor knows his or her particular publication’s audience and might need a story “tweaked” to emphasize certain angles. If asked, make the extra call for additional research or rewrite the lead. Try to do so with enthusiasm (or at least pretend enthusiasm).

9. If you have certain extra skills, flaunt them. Can you provide quality photos with your articles? Great! Can you interview parents in Chinese? Wonderful! Do you have skills specific to the magazine or the article? For example, are you an expert knitter writing an article about crafting with children? Be sure to mention this.

Regional publications frequently use less-experienced writers than national publications do. We may pay less, but writing for regional publications provides a great way to break into nonfiction writing. By writing for this market, in a short time you can build an impressive portfolio of clips.

About the Author

Jill Wolfson is the editor of Bay Area Parent—Silicon Valley edition. She can be reached at jill.wolfson@parenthood.com. She also recommends potential writers join the Facebook fan page (Bay Area Parent Silicon Valley) or the online community at siliconvalley.parenthood.com.

If you are writing a book proposal during Write Nonfiction in November, I’m posting this blog for you. For the nonfiction writer wanting to find an agent and have their book published by a traditional publisher, this document represents a necessary evil. While fiction writers can simply write their book, and turn in a synopsis, author’s bio and chapter summaries, the nonfiction writer has to have a full-blown marketing document (with only one or two sample chapters, mind you, not even a fully-written manuscript) to convince agents and editors they have a saleable idea.  

 

I’ve written several nonfiction book proposals for my own projects, and I’ve helped my clients with their proposals as well. I can’t say writing or editing these documents constitutes my most enjoyable work, and I’ve been known to say, “I could write the whole book in the amount of time it takes me to write the proposal!” However, when I’m done, I’ve convinced myself as well that I have a good idea. Additionally, I know my reader and my market, I know what’s going in ever chapter, and I know what I have to do to promote myself and the book. That makes the process more than worthwhile. It makes it necessary.

 

More than one book exists on how to write a book proposal, but the book proposal bible remains How to Write a Book Proposal by agent Michael Larsen. Writer’s Digest will publish the fourth edition of How to Write a Book Proposal in spring 2010. Mike also wrote How to Get a Literary Agent and, with Jay Levinson, author of Guerrilla Marketing; and Rick Frishman of Planned Television Arts, coauthored Guerrilla Marketing for Writers: 100 Weapons for Selling Your Work. Mike agreed to write a blog on the subject of writing book proposals for Write Nonfiction in November and to share what he calls his “proposal on a page,” which you’ll find in the section titled “Introduction.”

 

Pay special attention to this section. It’s a new approach to the proposal overview, or first page of the proposal, and here’s what he recently told me about it: “If it’s strong enough, it will sell a book all by itself. It’s the best thing of its kind on the planet.”

 

I used Mike’s proposal on a page to create a one-page proposal for one of my own books recently. I loved the results. I also used it to create the overview for my most recent book proposal as well as the overview for one of my clients, who plans to send his proposal to Mike in the very near future.

 

So, without further ado, if you want to get paid to write your book — meaning, you want to pitch it to an agent who will sell it to a publishing house that will offer you an advance — here’s what Mike says about writing a nonfiction book proposal.

 

The Parts of a Nonfiction Book Proposal

 

By Michael Larsen

Literary Agent and Author

Michael Larsen-Elizabeth Pomada Literary Agents

 

Proposals usually range from 35 to 50 pages, and they have three parts: an introduction, an outline, and a sample chapter. Here is a list of the parts of a proposal:

 

INTRODUCTION

Overview

 

Make the First Page of your proposal a proposal on a page by writing:

 

8 Hooks Guaranteed to Make Agents and Editors Eager to Read Your Proposal

 

Make every sentence help answer one of these two essential questions:

“Why the book?” and “Why you?”

 

Why the book?     

 

1. Your Subject Hook: a sentence with the single most compelling anecdote, fact, idea, quote, statistic that will convince agents and editors to keep reading.

 

2. Your Book Hook: three sentences with:

 

·         the title (and subtitle if you have one) of your book and your selling handle: 15 words or less explaining why people will buy the book.

 

·         (Optional) a Hollywood pitch for your book that captures the essence of it by comparing it to one or two books, movies, or television shows. For example,  “It’s x meets y.”

 

·         the estimated length of your manuscript, including back matter, the number of illustrations will have if you are using them, and how many months after receiving the advance you will deliver the manuscript.

 

3. Your Market Hook: three sentences with:

 

·         the largest groups of people who will buy your book and how fast they’re growing, if it’s impressive.

 

·         the largest commercial and institutional channels through which your book can be sold.

 

·         the largest potential subsidiary-rights markets for your book.

 

4. (Optional) Your Nichecraft Hook: if your book will be the first in a series, a sentence with the titles of up to three books.

 

5. (Optional) Your Foreword Hook: the name of someone who will help give your book salablility and credibility in 50 states two years from now who has agreed to write a foreword.

 

Why you?

 

6. (Optional) Your Credibility Hook: a sentence proving you can write your book because of your track record, credentials, years of research, or experience in your field

 

7. (Optional) Your Platform Hook: a sentence about what you have done and are doing to give your work and yourself continuing national visibility with your audience

 

8. Your Promotion Hook: a sentence with the most impressive two-to-four ways that you will promote your book.

 

The Other Parts of the Introduction

 

Expand on the hooks as needed as you come to them. Nine of the thirteen parts of the Overview are optional. You may not need them.

 

Special features (Optional): humor, checklists, sidebars, exercises, summaries

 

Back Matter (Optional): use comparable books as a guide.

 

Markets for the Book

 

·         Other groups of people who will buy your book

 

·         Other channels through which it can be sold

 

·         (Optional) Other subsidiary rights markets starting with the most commercial one.

 

A Mission Statement (Optional): one first-person paragraph about your passionor commitment to write and promote the book

 

The Author’s Platform (Optional): the other things you have done and are doing to build and maintain your continuing national visibility online and off

         

Promotion (Optional): the rest of a plan as long and strong as you can make it

 

Competing Books (Optional): basic biblioigraphic information and phrases starting with a verb about what each does and its weaknesses

 

Complementary Books: up to ten books on your subject proving the interest in it

 

 

Resources Needed to Complete Your Book (Optional): out-of-pocket costs of $500 or more

 

About the Author: in descending order of importance, a page with what’s not in your platform

 

The Outline

 

From a paragraph to a page of prose about every chapter and the length of each chapter

 

A Sample Page of Outline

Here’s an outline from what became How to Get a Literary Agent.

Chapter l2

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors: How to Handle Agency Agreements           l9 Pages

This chapter starts by balancing the pros and cons of agency agreements. Then it covers eleven essential points that should appear in any agreement, as well as clauses for writers to avoid. Four representative agreements follow, including the author’s which appears on the next two pages.

          The discussion of agreements concludes that since no agreement can encompass every potential contingency, the most important basis for any agreement is the good faith of the people who sign it.

          The next part of the chapter presents separate bills of rights for authors and agents stating their responsibilities to each other whether or not the agents have an agreement.

          The chapter ends by analyzing the causes for changing agents and the three-step procedure for doing it:

1.      Try to find a satisfactory solution to the problem.

2.      If that is not possible, notify the agent in writing of the change.

3.      Find another agent.                                                                                                                          

 

The Sample Chapter

 

The representative chapter that best shows how well you write about the subject

 

 

These are the ingredients of a proposal. They’ll give you an understanding of what you will need in a proposal, but they can’t tell you how to write one. The recipe is in the book (How to Write a Book Proposal by Mike Larsen).  

 

Please write or call if you have questions, 415-673-0939, larsenpoma@aol.com.

 

Michael Larsen-Elizabeth Pomada Literary Agents

www.larsen-pomada.com

1029 Jones Street / San Francisco CA 94109

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

About Michael Larsen

 

Michael Larsen and his wife Elizabeth Pomada and started the Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents in San Francisco in 1972. They are members of the Association of Author’s Representatives and have sold hundreds of books to more than 100 publishers.

 

Mike handles general adult nonfiction that will interest New York houses and has social, esthetic, or practical value. He also handles anything that is so so needed or so beautifully written that its commercial value doesn’t matter. Elizabeth represents fiction, narrative nonfiction, and books for women. Their associate agent, Laurie McLean, handles genre fiction, and middle-grade and young adult fiction and nonfiction.

 

Mike and Elizabeth are co-directors of the 6th San Francisco Writers Conference that will take place on President’s Day Weekend, February 13^th to 15^th at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel. The keynoters will be bestelling authors Richard North Patterson, Jane Smiley, and Lolly Winston, www.sfwriters.org. Mike and Elizabeth are also co-directors of the San Francisco Writing for Change Conference, www.sfwritingforchange.org.

Welcome to the first day of Write Nonfiction in November! The title of this blog post reminds me of all those timed tests I took in high school.  I hated taking those tests, but hopefully you won’t hate the Write Nonfiction in November Challenge. It’s supposed to be fun, educational and productive all at the same time. I love it, because it forces me to stop procrastinating and actually start and finish a project in just 30 days – something I don’t normally do. (More often than not I either don’t start at all or I start and don’t finish.)

 

Plus, this year, as I promised, I’ve got some great guest bloggers joining me, so I’ll be learning some new things along with you. Last year I did a massive brain dump and offered up as much nonfiction writing advice and information as I could think of at the time. I still have a bit more in my head to share this year, but it will be nice for me to read what other writing and publishing experts have to say and to gain some new tips from them. Plus, even I can get tired of reading my own writing – or listening to myself speak, as they say.

 

On that note, I thought I should start off with a bit of a bang and broach a topic that may have brought some readers here to begin with: writing for pay or for free. (If you don’t know what I’m speaking about, check out the post titled “Forced to Blog Before November.”) I did mention that everything that needed to be said about the subject had been said already in the post titled “To Blog for Free or Not to Blog for Free, That’s the Question,” but I really said that in reference only to getting paid to guest blog. And guest blogging seems to be a different animal all together. So, let me tell you what I think about writing for free or for pay when it comes to other types of writing.

 

Going back to my early beginnings as a writer, or would-be writer, while I was in high school and in college I often wrote for local publications for free. Why? I’m sure you can guess the answer: to obtain those coveted bylines or published clips that would one day get me paying assignments and, hopefully, a full-time job when I graduated from college. Yes, indeed, in the world of journalism, a newbie writer does sometimes (not always) find herself choosing (if not forced) to write for free to show she can write well enough to get a paid gig.

 

While in college, however, I had a lovely professor named John Keats (not THE John Keats, mind you, although this one wrote some best sellers), who taught me never to write anything unless I knew in advance I was getting paid for it. In other words, always send out a query letter; never write the article first. Always send out a book proposal; never write the nonfiction book first. For many, many, many years I headed his advice. I also didn’t make a lot of money as a freelance journalist. Till this day, however, I won’t write a reported article without a contract from a publication telling me I will get paid for that work.

 

Yes, it’s true (despite what some might think). I firmly believe that if a writer wants to take on a reported article or a nonfiction book, they should, in fact, know in advance they are getting paid for that work. Why bother going to all the trouble unless you know you will make some money?

 

The clips I accumulated – both paid and unpaid – helped me land full-time editorial positions on regional magazines right out of college. They also helped me get freelance writing assignments that did pay. However, later on I wanted to branch out into essays, and I found it much harder to land assignments with a query letter. So, I began simply writing the essays and sending them out with a cover letter. I admit it; I did the work and did not know I would get paid for it. This resulted in many more paychecks showing up in the mail. I learned from this experience that it is easier to sell essays when completely written – at least when a publication doesn’t yet know you or your style as a writer. These days, several e-zines, for instance, accept my essay ideas and agree to pay me for them prior to me writing them. When I approach a new magazine or e-zine, though, I still write the whole essay first and risk the rejection, which means no pay for my time and effort.

 

As I became interested in writing nonfiction books, I soon learned that I needed a “platform” before a publishing house of any size would even consider publishing my work. A platform comes down to how well known you are and how this affects your ability to publicize and market your book. In other words, how easily can you help sell copies of your book once it is published via your mailing list, web site, blog, talks, classes and teleseminars, connections, partnerships, etc.? (We’ll be talking a lot about platform building this month…) I began working on building my platform. The easiest way to do so seemed to be on the Internet by placing articles in e-zines and Internet article directories. This drives traffic to your web site and gives you exposure on line, which results, hopefully, in great Google ranking and increased contacts on your mailing list.

 

However, while a few e-zines, magazines published on line, do pay writers, many do not. And, as we know, many bloggers are looking for content but won’t pay. The way to get exposure for you as a writer and earn expert status (part of building platform) comes in writing articles – for free – and placing them – at a cost to yourself – in article directories that make them available to anyone who wants them. (For more information on this topic, see my booklet Using the Internet to Build Your PLATFORM One Article at a Time.) Right…They don’t pay you; you pay them. In fact, there are many services that will distribute your articles for you at a cost to you just so that maybe someone somewhere will print it and give you some free publicity. (You may think I’m crazy now, but just wait. You’ll hear more about this from some of the experts who will be blogging here later in the month.)

 

Of course, then comes blogging. If you think bloggers only blog for fun, think again. Blogging provides great publicity for aspiring authors and writers of all sorts. If you blog a lot, that’s a ton of content for the bots and crawlers (or whatever they are called) to discover, which moves you up in the Google rankings. And that’s what you want. Plus, whole books have been blogged and then discovered by agents and published. And a blog serves as proof that you can write even if you have no published clips. And providing guest blogs exposes you to someone else’s readership, which, in turn, hopefully sends them to your blog (and gets them to sign up for your mailing list, etc.).

 

But if you think the majority of bloggers – let’s be more specific and say the majority of average writers who blog – get paid for what they do, think some more. The average writer, like me and you, blogs because in this day and age you have to have a website and a blog. It’s part of the publicity you need on the Internet. Period. (Now, if you have enough readers, you could include ads on your blog. If you are lucky and people click on them, you could make some money. But you won’t be getting paid for your writing.)

 

So, do I believe in writing for pay. By all means, yes, I do. I make my living as a writer and as an editor. I want to get paid for what I write just as much as the next guy or gal, and I want to get paid well. Do I sometimes write for free – and encourage others to write for free? Again, yes, I do. In some cases, writing for free remains a necessary evil, especially in today’s publishing atmosphere.

 

Okay. That should rouse a few feathers and maybe a few comments. Tomorrow I’ll let one of my guest bloggers have a turn. In the meantime, happy writing. I’m off to figure out what I’m writing during Write Nonfiction in November…booklet or book. I still can’t decide. I want to be sure to finish what I start!

First, I asked Linda Lee, the owner of Smart Writers, Stupid Computers,a writer, speaker, educator, and expert in website design and on-line promotion and marketing. She also is the expert presenter on websites and online marketing and promotion for writers for the San Francisco Writers Conference and the Writing For Change Conference.She wanted to see the bog post Angela Hoy wrote. Here’s what she had to say after reading it:

“You are going to get website traffic from this article she wrote for years!” (I liked that!)

After quite a few bits of advice on how to capitalize on the “publicity,” she added:

“One more thing, I would say, ‘You Want ME to Write for FREE?! Ha Ha Ha!!! Yes, I will! That’s how you can promote yourself and your career online. I am in the Internet marketing community and they give out teasers, blogs and free articles ALL THE TIME to lead to better sales of other products. So she is wrong. So there!”

(You’ll be reading more from Linda here in November, by the way, when she writes a blog or two for me — for free.)

And then I asked Kevin Smokler, the editor of Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times, the San Francisco Chronicle’s notable book of 2005, and the co-founder and chief evangelist of BookTour.com. (In a previous life, Kevin was the founder of the Virtual Book Tour, and he has been a presenter at the San Francisco Writers Conference several times. While at the conference, he also offers consulting services on platform building and publishing to attendees and donates all the money he earns to the conference’s scholarship program.) I asked him if it was common practice for guest bloggers to get paid for their contributions. He replied, “It is my experience that most blogs, unless run by major media, don’t have the budget for paying guest bloggers. The person asked to provide a blog has the right to say ‘no,’ but they don’t have the right to be offended by the request to blog for free. If the request comes from the NY Times, they might expect to get paid, but not if the request comes from an ordinary person. If it is that outlet’s standard policy to pay for guest blogs and it is making an exception by asking a guest to blog for free, then that is offensive.”

Kevin concluded by reiterating his main point: “It is my experience that, when speaking about someone who writes blogs not as a full-time profession, asking to be paid for that service is unreasonable.”

Do I write blogs as a full-time profession? No. Point made. Point taken?

Enough said. I think we’ve exhausted the topic. No need come November for someone to write on blogging for free or for pay. We’ll have more interesting things to discuss. See you then.

Don’t forget: Look for this blog at http://www.writenonfictioninnovember.wordpress.com/ in November. This year’s challenge takes place there!

(By the way…the comments have pretty much stopped. I only discarded those three I’ve mentioned already. You’ve seen all the rest. Those three were nasty and not worth publishing. Suffice it to say, they sided with Angela.)

If you are coming here rather than to the old Write Nonfiction in November blog, which is/was hosted on Blogger, you might be missing out on all the action…I was going to say “fun,” but I really don’t think that would be the correct choice of words. Anyway, the comments are all being posted there…So, go to www.writenonficinnov.blogspot.com. Or, if you are too lazy to do that…or too busy writing (the better of the two choices), here’s what’s been going on:

Anonymous said…

Nina Amir said…

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Anonymous said…

Nina Amir said…

Cherrye at My Bella Vita said…

Kate said…

Anonymous said…

Nina Amir said…

Nina Amir said…

 

For anyone showing up at this blog because of a posting by Angela Hoy at www.WritersWeekly.com, let me inform you that this blog lies dormant, with a few exceptions, except during the month of November. Thus, its name….Write Nonfiction in November. Occasionally, I am prompted to write something newsworthy, as I did when the Amazon/Booksurge issue was all the talk in the publishing world and when I felt the desire to promote a writing conference, which I did in June (my last posting…not in April, as Angela claimed). I feel the need to at least explain that, should you think this blog is “dead,” as she incorrectly reported. It is not dead; it lying in wait until November when the challenge begins again.

 

 

As for Angela’s need to make me so wrong, fine.  I have no need to do that.  If she wants to make assumptions about me, fine. If you want to know who I am and what I’m about, read my blog. Then you’ll know the truth. Go to my website, http://www.copywrightcommunications.com/ and read my work or my bio or my resume. Ask my clients and my students what they think of me and my advice and my work. They know the truth. Go to my other website, http://www.purespiritcreations.com/, and learn about me as an author and a person, if you feel so inclined.

 

 

Angela doesn’t know me at all. She is basing her judgments on a series of emails and even on my attempt to clarify a statement about writing for free. She says I misread her rudeness. Is it possible she misread anything in our communication or about me?

 

 

For more about writing for free, check back in November…when I will have something to say on the subject and some guest bloggers will offer their expertise and knowledge — and their writing — to this blog (for free), because sometimes being of service by supporting other writers is just the right thing to do.

 

 

By the way, this blog was formerly hosted by Blogger, and I converted it to WordPress not long ago. In the process, the dates got moved around on the postings from November and the last blog actually got dropped off. These problems will be fixed prior to Write Nonfiction in November 2008’s challenge. If you want to read that post in the meantime, you can find it at http://writenonficinnov.blogspot.com/.

 

 

I hope to see you hear again in November!