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.

October is half over…That means it’s almost November. Time, once again, for Write Nonfiction in November! Whoo hoo!

I didn’t manage to post a blog last month. I was too busy setting up some really great guest bloggers for this year’s challenge. You’ll be so pleased with the line up!

And, to get things rolling, tomorrow you can listen to me talk about Write Nonfiction in November on The National Association of Memoir Writers (NAMW) teleseminar. If you recall, last year one of my guest bloggers was Linda Joy Meyers, founder of NAMW.  Meyers and I will be chatting about Write Nonfiction in November, my response to National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO). For anyone new to this site, Write Nonfiction in November (WNFIN) is a contest that has fiction writers writing 50,000 words in 30 days during November. My blog challenges nonfiction writers to spend the month of November writing and completing a work of nonfiction. While they do so, the blog itself provides nonfiction writing, promotion and marketing information to help them sell themselves and their writing to publishing companies and readers. Additionally, via the blog comments, Write Nonfiction in November provides a forum for nonfiction writers to comment on their writing experiences during November each year.

During the NAWM teleseminar, I will discuss different types of nonfiction, including:

• journalistic articles
• personal essays
• inspirational essays
• booklets
• books

If time allows, I’ll also discuss:

• the difference between personal essay and memoir
• platform building on the Internet
• how to use your nonfiction skills to write articles to generate publicity for yourself as a writer
• how the business of writing can be a spiritual endeavor

NAWM  invites memoir writers from all over the world to connect, learn, and become inspired about writing their stories. The goal of our organization is to help memoir writers feel empowered with purpose and energy to begin and develop their life stories into a publishable memoir, whether in essay form, a book, a family legacy, or to create a blog.

Many memoir writers want to use writing as means for healing and transformation, so we assist in this goal by offering workshops, teleseminars, and interviews with writers and experts in the area of memoir, writing skills, therapeutic writing, spiritual autobiography, and healing through writing personal, authentic stories.

Myers, President of NAMW, has been a therapist for 30 years, and is the author of three books, a prize-winning memoir Don’t Call Me Mother, about three generations of mothers who abandoned their daughters, and two books on the ways that writing helps to heal emotionally and physically. Her new book The Power of Memoir—How to Write Your Healing Story will be released in January, 2010, through Jossey Bass publishers in San Francisco. She teaches writing workshops nationally, online, and in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Those who join NAMW receive a unique package of memoir writing resources including the NAMW welcome kit and a collection of online and hard copy resources to help memoir writers within all phases of the exciting journey of memoir writing.  Members also receive discounts on select NAMW teleseminars, workshops, retreats and other learning opportunities and materials.

To learn more about NAMW, contact info@namw.org or visit http://www.namw.org

Now…you do have to be a NAWM member to listen in on the teleseminar tomorrow. But if you are a memoir writer–or want to become one–this is a great time to go ahead a join this great group of writers.  So, hurry up and join and call in by 11 a.m. PST!

Here are the details:

Date: October 16, 2009
Guest Speaker: Nina Amir
Times: 11 am Pacific | 12 noon Mountain | 1 pm Central | 2 pm Eastern
Cost: Free for NAMW Members
Become A Member of NAMW Today to take part in this teleseminar!
To join: info@namw.org or http://www.namw.org

When I was in college studying to become a magazine journalist, I was taught to write what I know. No matter whose class I took or the type of class, the professor always told the students the same thing: Write what you know. The caveat to this rule lay in its reverse: If you can’t write about what you know, know about what you write. In other words, become the expert on the topic.

Over the years, working as a professional journalist I’ve written many stories by learning about a variety of topics. I’ve written about everything from ascension to life insurance tax law and from retail store images to laser surgery.  However, over the last few years, I’ve gone back to writing about what I k now. By this I mean writing about my life, and I’ve had quiet a bit of success writing personal essays for a variety of publications.

However, I’ve discovered that the key to writing a really good essay comes in writing not only about what I know but about what I don’t know. (Yes, I know I’ve contradicted my professors…) To do this, I think of myself as an Everywoman, someone just like everyone else with the same problems, questions, struggles, and goals. I consider myself not as unique and see most people as like me to some extent. I write from this assumption. Then, I submit these essays to publications whose readers are, well, pretty similar to me or who are interested in the topic at hand.

For example, I write a lot of personal essays on the topic of spirituality, Judaism and parenting. I then submit these to publications whose readers are struggling with issues related to spirituality, Judaism or parenting.  I take an issue with which I’m struggling in my own life and choose this as the topic of an essay. I may not have the solution to my problem, at least not when I begin writing. I pose my issue, describing how I’m struggling with it, how it arose, why it’s important to me, how it’s affecting my life, or anything else about it that concerns me. I turn the issue over and over, and then I take a new approach. Rather than seeing it as a problem or obstacle, I see it as an opportunity – for personal growth, for relationship development, for communicating with someone, for moving through fear, for seeing someone or something in a different light, or whatever. In this way, I not only offer a solution to the issue to myself, but I offer it to others as well. And I do so from my own wisdom. In the process, I inspire and uplift my readers, who also realize that they, too, can find solutions to the problems in their life. If they are struggling with this particular problem, they now have some new ways to think about that issue or to deal with it.

My essay, When the One We Love Doesn’t Walk the Same Spiritual Path, which I wrote specifically for Interfaithfamily.com, provides good example of such an issue. It also shows you how you can take a subject and direct it to a certain market by specifically looking for a solution that appeals to those readers. If you want to read more of my essays, go to http://www.copywrightcommunications.com/Samples.html.

If I can’t come up with a solution or a new way of looking at the issue on my own, then I turn to someone who can. I find an expert and ask a few questions and I somehow weave this into my essay. I admit I didn’t have the answers and that I sought them out. I then might also write about how those answers or solutions panned out.

I often approach reported articles in this same fashion. I query editors as an Everywoman with an issue telling them that their readers must also be struggling with this same problem and, like me, must want some solutions. I can provide those solutions by interviewing two or three experts and providing the editor with a fabulous piece that provides the information I don’t personally have to offer. Editors tend to love this approach, and I land a lot of assignments this way. I wrote for Bay Area Parent Magazine, called The Competition Dilemma, that gives you a great example of this type of an approach to a reported article.

So, if you like writing personal essays or reported articles, try the Everyman/Everywoman approach and write not only about what you know but about what you don’t know as well. You’ll be surprised at the success you’ll have.

Note:I hope you enjoyed this post. Even though Write Nonfiction in November, the actual challenge, has ended for 2008, I committed to keeping the energy alive until next year with one post per month! This is Post #1…10 more to go until next year’s challenge begins again!

Also, be sure to check the calendar at www.copywrightcommunications.com in January.  New writing and promotion classes will be starting after the New Year and will be posted by January 1!