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.

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!

If you’ve always dreamed of being a freelance journalist, and if you want to pitch that article you’re working on for Write Nonfiction in November to a magazine or newspaper, you might be wondering what editors and publisher look for in freelance writers. You might also be asking why publications even use freelancers when they have staff writers and editors that could easily do the job themselves. I asked an old college buddy of mine, and my “sometimes boss” (I currently serve as a freelance writer for two or his publications), Seth Mendelson to provide some clarity on these issues. Seth deals with lots of writers in his job at MacFadden Communication Group. He serves as vice president and group publisher/editorial director for Grocery Headquarters, Consumer Products Buyer Home Furnishings News and The Pet Aisle, and as editorial director for The Pet Elite, Pet Business and Grooming Business.

Why Publications Use Freelancers and

Attributes that Land Freelancers Second Assignments

By Seth Mendelson
Vice President-Group Publisher/Editorial Director
MacFadden Communication Group

As publisher and editor of seven different magazines, I am approached frequently by freelance writers about writing and photo assignments. Freelance writers and photographers are important to our operation, because they offer different voices and can accomplish things that my full-time editorial staff cannot. They also can fill a void in a crunch.

Most importantly, freelancers can offer our magazines perspectives from various parts of the country. Based in New York City, our full-time staffs tend to have a distinctive east coast bias, one that is not good for any national publication trying to reach out to a broad section of consumers or business officials.

That said, the freelance writer we are looking for must come with certain attributes. Of course, they must understand the markets we serve, who we are trying to reach and what our readers are demanding from our magazines. Offering a different angle on a story concept is much desired. Also, they need to come prepared with story ideas and concepts.

As could be expected, the most important aspect of using a freelance writer more than once is the simple fact that they were able to submit a well-done, completed assignment on or, hopefully, before deadline. It is also crucial that the freelancer make him or herself available for any follow-up questions and assistance.

I use about five to seven freelancers every month and, during certain periods of the year, can use as many as a dozen freelancers during a particular publication cycle. Like any editor, I have my favorites; they are the ones who offer expertise on the subject matter, hand in timely and complete stories on deadline and are willing to give 100 percent all the time.

It is not hard getting one freelance assignment from me. Reach me at the right time and in need, and I am willing to give just about anyone a shot. Getting the second assignment is when things get tough.

Seth Mendelson
Vice President-Group Publisher/Editorial Director:
Grocery Headquarters
Consumer Products Buyer
Home Furnishings News (HFN)
The Pet Aisle
Editorial Director:

The Pet Elite
Pet Business
Grooming Business
(212) 979-4879
Fax (646) 674-0102
smendelson@macfad.com
smendelson@groceryheadquarters.com
Macfadden Communications Group

Note from Nina: I asked Seth to tell me the five most common mistakes writers make that ensure they won’t be given a second assignment. Not surprisingly, they are similar to – but opposite of -the characteristics that make for a “keeper” when it comes to freelance writers. Here they are:

1. Doing a bad or sloppy job
2. Turning in an incomplete story
3. Missing a deadline
4. Not following assignment guidelines
5. Being uncooperative

As for #5, in addition to not doing what you are asked, this can mean being too attached to your words. If you are writing on assignment for a publication, remember the magazine or newspaper is your “client.” You simply need to make them happy – even if that means cutting or changing what you have written.

In case you’ve only recently discovered Write Nonfiction in November (WNFIN) or you’re still struggling with what to write for the challenge – or you simply haven’t found time until now to get started, here’s another idea that you can still complete before month’s end: write a newspaper or magazine article. Put your pen to paper or your fingers to keyboard and whip out an essay or a reported piece of writing.

I’m a journalist by trade, so I thought today I’d offer you my expertise. (Sorry, no guest blogger; just me, Nina Amir.) I received my degree in magazine journalism specifically, although Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Journalism required all magazine journalism majors to also know how to write for newspapers, do layout and edit copy. (The latter put me on the path of becoming a nonfiction article, book and proposal editor.) I’ve been writing articles since I was in high school, where I began my career by reviving the defunct school newspaper and went on to become the school news reporter for the local newspaper.  Since then, I’ve written for more than 45 local, national and international magazines, newspapers, ezines and newsletters on a full-time or freelance basis. I’ve written hundreds of articles on more subjects than I can remember. 

I love what I do. I get to write about so many interesting things and people and so many things that interest me. For example, recently I was asked to write an article on the new Crique de Soleil show, Believe, opening in Los Vegas. I had a blast learning all about its creator Criss Angel and writing about the people who helped him bring his dream into reality. (Look for it in the November/December issue of Movmntmagazine.) Then, I got to write an essay for InterfaithFamily.com on something very personal – my struggle with my husband’s loss of faith.  (You can read it in this week’s issue.) Prior to that, I wrote a reported article for the same ezine on how to prepare for the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. (Read it here.) And before that, I wrote a reported article on the state of the organic market for a trade journal called Grocery Headquarters and a story on female tap dancers in a show produced by Emmy-award winning choreographer Jason Samuels Smith for Dance Spirit magazine. (My son’s a dancer, so I loved writing this article and talking to these phenomenal dancers. Plus, it provided great platform building for the book I’m writing on mentoring boys who want to become professional dancers. If you have a son who dances, check out this blog.)

If you’ve never written an article, don’t be put off. It’s not that difficult. Just tell them what you’re gonna tell ‘em. Tell ‘em. Then tell ‘em what you told ‘em. At least that’s what my old Professor John Keats, rest his soul, used to tell us students. (It sounds just like what most high school students are told when writing an essay.) So, let’s break down the three parts of an article.

The Three Parts of an Article

1. Just tell them what you’re gonna tell ‘em. An article consists, first, of a lead, or a first paragraph that entices the reader into your article. This could also be comprised of several paragraphs if you choose to use an anecdote or a few bulleted items or to talk about a trend occurring. After that, however, you need a sentence or a few sentences that tell your reader what the article is about – a statement of purpose, if you will. Tell them what the article is about so they have an idea of where they are going. Hopefully, you’ve enticed them into wanting to go there.
2. Tell ‘em.  This section represents the meat of your article. Here you place all your supporting material, such as statistics, quotes you obtained from interviews, additional anecdotes, your analysis, etc. Remember, however, that if you are writing a reported article, in most cases you must write in an unslanted manner; this means without an opinion. If you are writing an essay, you may voice your opinon as loudly as you like. Also, if you are writing an essay, you may not be using quotes but relying instead on your own “voice.”
3. Tell ‘em what you told ‘em. Now write your conclusion. Sum up what you wrote about without simply repeating what you already said. That’s right: Say it again but in a totally new way so your readers have no idea that they are reading the same information again. Give it a new angle. Put a new take on it. Offer additional information to support what you’ve already offered. For an essay, if possible, provide a bit broader view or some quote or anecdote or bit of information that takes the reader into the future. You can use this tactic with a reported article as well, but it works especially well with essays.

If you are looking for a great topic to write about, ask yourself what interests you. Prof. Keats, like most good teachers, always said, “Write about what you know.” I tend to look at my life and identify issues with which I’m currently struggling. I query magazines and newspapers with those topics, and I usually find the editors pretty receptive. Most people are just like you. They struggle with the same issues.

I have a caveat to the “write what you know” advice: Know about what you write. A good writer/journalist can write about anything at all simply by becoming the expert on that topic. I’ve written about life insurance tax law, immortality, retail store imaging, Kabbalah, geodesic domes, lobbying, and the supermarket pet aisle. I served as the managing editor and primary writer for two international medical newsletters, Same-Day Surgery and Clinical Laser Surgery. I didn’t know about these topics when I began writing about them. I knew a lot about them when afterwards. The biggest compliment I ever received came from an employee at the Equitable Life Assurance Society. I was working as the associate editor of employee communications and had just written and published a huge article in the employee newspaper about life insurance tax law. She came up to me and said, “That’s the first article on the subject that I’ve ever understood.”  I told her, “I had to understand it to be able to write about it.” 

So, pick a topic for an article or essay, preferably one you are interested in or feel passionate about. Learn about it. Understand it. Then write about it. And dont’ forget to try and get it published!

For more information on article writing and publishing, check out last year’s archive of blogs. Or contact me at cpywrtcom@aol.com.

I focus so much of my time on editing my client’s nonfiction books and on writing and promoting my own nonfiction book projects that I sometimes forget that I’m trained as a magazine journalist. I still love writing articles, though, and I often use my skills as a journalist. I love to query magazines with ideas and to get assignments. I enjoy conducting the interviews and then taking the information I’ve compiled and putting it together into a cohesive and interesting article. And I enjoy seeing it in print, not just on the screen of my computer.

I use my journalism skills in other ways as well, including every time I promote myself on the Internet by posting free “news releases” to e-zine directories. I do this a few times a month. While it’s good for business, I get a lot more satisfaction out of writing an article that appears in good old fashioned print and for which I receive a big fat check.

There’s nothing like writing an essay or an article, submitting it to a magazine or newspaper and then opening up that publication to find your story published there — hopefully word for word — with your byline showing off the fact that you wrote every one of those words. And then to get paid for doing what you love…well, that’s even better.

And there are so many different types of articles to choose from. Profiles, news stories, trend pieces, human interest articles, personal essays, and opinion pieces — take your pick. Depending upon what you like to write about, you can surely find one or two article forms that you’ll enjoy using and numerous magazines, newspapers, trade journals, or e-zines that will be happy to have you write for them.

If you aren’t concerned about pay, of if you are looking to promote yourself or you other work (such as your nonfiction book), writing for the numerous e-zines provides great exposure. If you’re just starting out as a writer and need bylines and clips to prove that you can write and meet deadlines and article specifications, try writing for small or regional publications. They usually like “free” writers, and working for them can be a fun way to become a nonfiction freelance writer. Additionally, you might try writing for trade journals published on your area of expertise.

As I said, I interned every summer in high school and in college without pay. I ended up with some great clips that helped me land my first few jobs after graduation.

I teach Writing for Publication classes that expose attendees to a variety of article forms. As a magazine journalist, however, I love writing profiles of interesting people and human interest articles. I also love to pen a good essay, which is an article form I did not learn in college. Essays fit my lifestyle these days; I’m usually very short on time, and they don’t require me to do any research or interviews nor are do they have to be too long. My life experience is enough fodder to fill several pages with type since I’ve lots to say about what happens to me, why it happens to me and what others can learn from what happens to me. Getting paid for essays is fun. I write something off the top of my head and someone pays me for it. What could be better?

And as long as I didn’t make it up, it’s still nonfiction. (Ah…Those of you writing memoirs remember that.)

So, if you are trying to figure out what to write this month, try an article. It’s doable in a month, that’s for sure. Pick a topic and a form, then do whatever research is necessary, and start writing. You can easily finish an article in the days left in November.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to work on MY writing project…which, between writing this blog and my other blog and editing a book for a client, seems to be falling by the wayside. And I am determined to finish it before the end of the month.

(Okay…I technically wrote twice today, since yesterday’s blog was written after midnight this morning. I guess that makes up for technically missing Tuesday. If nothing else, I’m writing lots of nonfiction in this blog, that’s for sure!)

As you know, I had dreams of being a fiction writer. My most recent foray into fiction during the 2005 NaNoWriMo event was loads of fun, and I was so excited to have agents interested in that novel. I remember running around at the San Francisco Writers Conference mumbling to myself, “I’m going to sell a novel. I’m going to be a novelist.” And I was thinking how easy it was and how much fun and how maybe fiction was the place with the action when it came to being a writer.

I guess you could chalk it up to rationalization or denial since my manuscript came back rejected and marked for major editorial work, but in returning to what I know and what I’ve being doing for so many years – nonfiction, I found myself newly in-love with my chosen writing genre. You see, getting away from nonfiction briefly gave me a new perspective and reminded me of what I enjoy about it so much.

And what is that, you want to know? (Well, even if you don’t want to know, I’m going to tell you, since that’s the subject of my blog for today.) I love nonfiction, because it allows me to explore subjects that are of interest to me and to then share what I learn with others. More specifically, as a magazine journalist and as a writer who likes to wrestle with issues in my life or subjects that excite me, I get to take this issues and subjects and research them, speak to experts about them, find answers and solutions to them, and come up with ideas and theories related to them. Then, I get to offer what I’ve learned and discovered and put to use successfully in my life to others through my writing (articles, booklets, books, and essays). This makes my work both stimulating and rewarding.

One of the best parts of my job involves interviewing experts. Often, I sit alone in my office writing. Other times, I get to talk to the most fascinating people (usually by phone). I get it in my head to pursue a certain subject, and then I get to contact some of the most interesting people. Often they are well-known people in their fields or the authors of best-selling books or simply individuals that I respect. I get to pick their brains and to learn with them. Sometimes I get to tell them my ideas and to ask them for feedback and for help figuring out if my premises are valid. And sometimes when I finish an interview with them, they thank ME for calling them and engaging them in such a thought-provoking discussion. And then I get to take the information I’ve gotten during the interview, mull over it, figure out what I think about it, and put it down on paper. Basically, I share with others what I have learned in the hope of helping them in some way.

In the process, my dream of being a self-help writer is realized.

As I’ve grow and changed, my interests have grown and changed with me. I get to pursue those interests through my writing. For instance, much of my writing has a spiritual bent or deals with issues of reaching full human potential. So, I’ve become a spiritual writer and a human potential writer. I get to be a writer of whatever interests me. And again, I get to share that with others and, hopefully to help them in the process.

I get to research and learn about things that interest me and that help me solve problems in my own life. Then I get to write about these subjects so I can tell others what I’ve learned so they benefit as well. What could be better?

I’ve learned that part of who I am is a problem solver, and through my writing I solve problems. I see a problem in my own life, such as the fact that my children changed schools many times, and I want to know how that affects them. I query a magazine about an article on this subject; they accept my query. I interview experts who tell me what affects changing schools has on children and how to counter those affects – how to make this into a positive experience. I take this information back to my family and to my children. I help them. I also put all this information into an article for the regional parenting magazine, which publishes it. I get paid and the magazine’s readership benefits from my problem and the research I did to try and solve it. I can even take that article and research and try to sell it a second time in a spin off article to a national magazine and help more parents help their children. How good is that?

I love the idea of creative thought and the Law of Attraction. I’m interested in Jewish mysticism, or Kabbalah. I had an idea about how creative thought could be applied to some Kabbalistic principles. So, I began to interview some experts. And then I began to write a booklet, that I hope will one day be a book. I self-published that little booklet, and I began to teach and speak in conjunction with that little booklet, which my agent says really could one day be a book. And I’ve set up more interviews with more experts to discuss my idea, so I can begin expanding and improving on my little booklet and on my knowledge of this subject. Much of my time is spent learning more about a subject I love, putting into practice a theory that I came up with and that work, teaching others about this practice, writing about what I have learned, talking about what I know, etc. What could be more fun?

I think you get the idea. I love what I do. Writing nonfiction is great. I wouldn’t change my career…but I will one day go back and finish that novel just for fun.