The Word Freelancers Hate to Hear: "Fresh" (and how to Make your Pitches More So)

If you write for magazines, at some point you'll hear the word "fresh." As in, "solid pitch but not quite fresh enough," or "we're really looking for fresh ideas." Mention the word "fresh" to any long-term freelancer and you may wind up hearing a diatribe on the vagaries of pitching so-called fresh ideas. 

Here's the thing. I think the word fresh is overrated. A fitness publication like Fitness, Shape, or Self covers topics related to fitness, nutrition, and wellness. A bridal magazine will cover bridal-related topics that include wedding planning, the relationship between bride and groom, and financial issues. So it's a safe bet that in every issue there will be a piece on these subjects. Your job as a freelancer is to take a subject that's been covered for years (and will be continued to be covered) and make it fresh. Make it new. Make the editor think, "Hmm, I hadn't thought of that approach before." 

As someone who reslants, or writes about the same subjects over and over, I've had to learn how to think fresh. I've said before that all of my dozens of stories (not to mention several books) come down to four words: "eat less. Exercise more." But by coming up with multiple approaches to this subject, I've managed to create so-call fresh approaches to the same old subject. (For example, I've written articles about:  

• How to "eat like a man" (for a women's magazine) and lose weight;
• Eat more fiber and lose weight; 
• Eat more often and lose weight; 
• Eat more fruits and vegetables and lose weight; 
• Drink more water and lose weight; 
• Eat lower glycemic-index foods and lose weight; and
• Eat more soup and lose weight.   

And that's just a start. Believe me, at this point, I should probably pitch a piece on how eat more M&Ms and lose weight. Time to do some first-person research on the subject! 

 

So how can you make a pitch "fresh," especially an evergreen? Here are five says to do so:  

• Take a counterintuitive approach to the subject. If you're pitching a parenting magazine on ways to get your kids do better in school, you might suggest that one method is to spend less time helping with homework. (For a bridal magazine, your pitch might be "Spend less money, have a more beautiful wedding. For a fitness magazine, "Spend less time in the gym, get a better body.") 
• Come up with a time peg, whether it's a recent statistic, study, or anniversary. I guarantee that every of a women's fitness magazine will have at least one article on a new workout plan. 
• Pitch a quiz. Quizzes are an engaging way to share information with readers, especially for online markets.    
• Offer a round-up. Round-ups are a pain because they involve a lot of time to collect the responses/quotes, but if you're willing to do them, the collection of individual voices and/or tips makes put a fresh spin on an old subject. 
• Dig. Find a story that the editor truly hasn't heard before. One of my first feature sales was a piece on a young woman who had suffered from a mysterious illness for years, and was even misdiagnosed by the Mayo Clinic. It sold. Your ability to come up with a topic that your editor can't find on her own makes you invaluable, and makes you more likely to sell your pitch. 

Readers, what say you? Do you dread the word fresh? Or have you found other ways to make evergreen ideas seem new? Please share them! 

***Are you a new freelancer, or know someone who wants to break into freelancing? My new line of ebooks, all branded with the Dollars and Deadlines name, are geared toward new freelancers. I take the same approach that I do with this blog--I give practical, proven strategies and plenty of examples to help you achieve your writing goals. So far the most popular has been Dollars and Deadlines' Guide to Selling your First Article, but Dollars and Deadlines 10 Essential Freelance Templates is also selling well. And if you write for love more than money (nothing wrong with that), you need to read Dollars and Deadlines' 10 Truths Every Writer Who Wants to Get Published Should Know.  

More Tips for Writers/Authors from Writers' Fest

Today's post follows up on Monday's, sharing tips I garnered from last weekend's 10th Annual Writer's Fest in Milwaukee. Here are a few more you may find helpful: 

• Querying a new market? Come up with a new spin on your subject and you'll impress an editor, says Kurt Chandler, senior editor at Milwaukee Magazine. "Ideas are currency to us," adds Chandler. And to get an assignment, make sure you're familiar with the publication and what it publishes. Too many writers pitch ideas that his publication would never cover.  

• Looking for an agent? John Bolger, an agent and attorney, represents a range of fiction, and nonfiction, including genre fiction such as urban fantasy, science fiction, and women's fiction. Visit Middle West Literary Agency to submit a query letter about your project. 

• As usual, the most commonly heard word mentioned was "platform," or an author's ability to sell a book. ("Social media" was a close second.) Like all traditional publishers, Sourcebooks expects authors to either already have a strong platform or be able to develop one. "You have to know how to reach the audience you're writing for," says Kelly Bale, editor at Sourcebooks. "We do a  lot in terms of publicity but we look for authors with a platform." 

• Use tinyurl.com to create mini-URLS for your blog and Facebook posts, etc. They look better and more professional, says technology expert Sharon Miller Cindrich, author of books including A Smart Girl's Guide to the Internet. And mini-URLs y'd are easier to include in your Tweets! 

• Writers should opt for more than one email address, says Cindrich. For example, if you've written a book, create an email that is linked with the title (e.g., Goodbyebyline at gmail.com) . Then every email you send and receive from that account gets your book title before potential readers (and buyers). 

• When drafting query letters for agents or editors, Bolger recommends keeping your query letters to three to five paragraphs. "Hone these paragraphs and make them accurate and compelling," says Bolger. "Remember that each query is an introduction to a potential partnership and a business relationship. Some editors and agents read literally hundreds of queries in a sitting."

I've spoken at dozens of writers' conferences throughout the country, but I go as an attendee, too. Listening to other pros helps give me new ideas about how to run my freelancing business, whether it's branching into ebooks or working more efficiently. So consider attending a writer's conference...it can pay off in a multitude of ways! 

***My new line of ebooks, all branded with the Dollars and Deadlines name, are geared toward new freelancers. I take the same approach that I do with this blog--I give practical, proven strategies and plenty of examples to help you achieve your writing goals. So far the most popular has been Dollars and Deadlines' Guide to Selling your First Article, but Dollars and Deadlines 10 Essential Freelance Templates is also selling well. And if you write for love more than money (nothing wrong with that), you need to read Dollars and Deadlines' 10 Truths Every Writer Who Wants to Get Published Should Know.  

Tips and Advice from the 10th Annual Writers' Fest

I just returned from speaking at the 10th Annual Writers' Fest in Milwaukee. I heard agents, editors, social media experts, and other publishing pros talk about the changes in the industry, and how to succeed as an author today. Here's a roundup of tips and advice from some of the speakers:

• Looking for an agent? Literary agent Joanna MacKenzie is acquiring YA (young adult), literary thrillers, commercial fiction, women's fiction, and Chicago-based historical mysteries. 

• Kelly Bale, an editor at Sourcebooks, acquires nonfiction, including memoirs. Sourcebooks publishes a variety of subjects, including fiction, romance, and contemporary women's fiction. Its Landmark imprint publishes fiction including contemporary women's and men's historical novels. 

• Want to start blogging but don't want to have spend half your life keeping it up to date? Set up a microblog on tumblr.com, suggests parenting and technology expert Sharon Miller Cindrich, author of books including The Smart Girl's Guide to the Internet. 

• Do you write YA books? Sourcebooks' Fire imprint publishes YA books, and the imprint is "really taking off," said Bale. Editors there are especially looking for "issue-centered" YA fiction featuring young female protagonists. Sourcebooks' Jabberwocky imprint publishes children's book, including middle grade readers and picture books. 

• If you use LinkedIn, make sure that your biggest coup is listed first, adds Cindrich. You can include the rest of your amazing accomplishments in your bio.  

• Have you published a book through POD or as an ebook, but still hope to sell it to a traditional publishers? Well-written books that have garnered lots of attention also interest editors at publishers like Sourcebooks. It isn't a question so much of how many copies you've sold but the amount of interest and buzz it's generated, such as 35 positive Amazon reviews, says Bale. 

Next post, I'll have more tips from the conference. Stay tuned! 

***My new line of ebooks, all branded with the Dollars and Deadlines name, are geared toward new freelancers. I take the same approach that I do with this blog--I give practical, proven strategies and plenty of examples to help you achieve your writing goals. So far the most popular has been Dollars and Deadlines' Guide to Selling your First Article, but Dollars and Deadlines 10 Essential Freelance Templates is also selling well. And if you write for love more than money (nothing wrong with that), you need to read Dollars and Deadlines' 10 Truths Every Writer Who Wants to Get Published Should Know.  

The Writer's Workout: A Q and A with Author Christina Katz

When I started freelancing more than 15 years ago, there were no blogs to help point me in the right direction. I relied on books like Writer's Market to learn about how to pitch and publish my writing. Since then, I've read dozens of books on freelancing and writing (and written a few of my own), so I was excited to do a Q and A with well-known writing instructor and coach, Christina Katz. She recently published a new book, The Writer's Workout: 366 Tips, Tasks & Techniques from your Writing Career Coach, which you'll learn more about below 

So, what’s The Writer’s Workout all about?

The Writer’s Workout contains 366 ideas—one idea per day—intended to encourage writers into prosperous action. It reviews critical skills for every writer such as improving craft, learning to sell work, how and when to specialize, ways to keep learning and growing, self-promotion from the basics through advanced topics, and how to balance traditional publication with self-publication.

What makes The Writer’s Workout different from your first two books?

Like all my books, The Writer’s Workout is a mashup of various types of writing instruction. However this book contains a distillation of my experience, my students’ collective experiences over the past decade, and the universal experience of being a writer across the ages in the form of what I hope are 366 timeless quotes. This is my third book and it differs from my first two books quite a bit in focus, objective, and format.

How is The Writer’s Workout different from other writing books already out there?

One thing that makes The Writer’s Workout unique is that the rise and fall of the how-to curve is set against the backdrop of the seasons of the year. The seasonal backdrop helped me deliver advice for writers on four levels: beginner, intermediate, seasoned pro, and veteran—each paralleling a season: spring, summer, fall, or winter. The result, I hope, is one idea every day that will help writers find and maintain literary momentum all year long in these highly distracted times.

Some people say these are tough times for writers. Others say there are opportunities around every corner. What do you say?

I say we are living in a gig economy, where professionals are stringing freelance jobs together into creative careers. We’re all doing the best we can, finding and maintaining our momentum. Not only can The Writer’s Workout assist folks who are just getting started supplementing their income with writing, it can help people who have already been writing professionally recognize that there are more opportunities to build income streams writing than any of us have realized. And then it’s just a matter of choosing the goals that will best suit your goals.

How did you come to write The Writer’s Workout?

Prior to landing the deal for this book, I was offered the opportunity to write a different book about how to be an organized writer—a topic that, unfortunately, did not feel like a good fit for the way I work.

I recommended a former student for the job and started asking myself, if not that book, then what book did I want to write? Jane Friedman, then publisher at Writer’s Digest, and I sat down in an airport restaurant after the Writer’s Digest conference in January 2010, and brainstormed the idea that evolved into The Writer’s Workout. Basically, I wanted to encapsulate everything that I’d learned from working closely with writers over ten years. Two years and many thousands of words later, here it is.

I understand your book is almost 400-pages long, yet you offer classes on writing “short stuff” and “micro-publishing.” How do you reconcile this apparent double standard?

You have to look at it this way: the book is 366 short pieces collected and placed in an order that creates a longer movement. That’s exactly how I was taught to write fiction in graduate school. This write short before you write long school-of-thought is also how I teach writers to draft and polish publishable work. We start short and then extend the jumps until, next thing you know, the writer is writing long pieces like features, e-books and even books. How? By pulling together shorter pieces to create longer pieces.

You have been called a “gentle taskmaster” by your students. What does this mean and why would writers need this kind of help?

A coach is a person who trains others to perform better. Every writer needs a kick in the pants now and then. This book has plenty of boots in the caboose and also acknowledges the challenging times we’re living in. Reading this book is like having a personal coach for your writing career, who holds you accountable to your potential, every day of the year. Get this book if you would like to have your own personal coach without the massive expense of paying for one. You’ll be your own best writing coach by the time the book is done.

Our workdays are constantly disrupted these days. What do you say to the writer who has trouble focusing and following through?

I never hear students in my training groups complaining about dramas or distractions in their lives. If something upsets their focus, it’s a major life disturbance like a trip to the emergency room, a spouse’s job loss, or a death in the family. That’s life calling, not a distraction.

Our attention can be hijacked by one hundred and one meaningless distractions per minute. I say turn up the focus and the distractions will fall away. Drama and distraction are not necessary for self-expression but they sure can impede it. I say keep the drama on the page. You can get hooked on making grounded creative progress just as you can get hooked on chasing every distraction and fanning the flames of every potential drama.

Any final comments you would like to make in closing?

At the end of the day, it does not matter if you are self-published or traditionally published, blogging or not blogging, a book-sniffer or a digital diva, a social media maven or a social media deer-in-the-headlights—what matters is that you cultivate the creativity that wants to be expressed. That’s your job. Go do it!

***Thanks to Christina for her info-packed, practical book. If you've read it, please comment and me know what you think of it!  

Write for reasons other than money? Say whaaaaaaat?

Take a look at the tagline of my blog and you'll see the words, "helping nonfiction freelancers make more money in less time." That's been my primary platform for the last decade, and I now have a stack of books, articles, blog posts, and ebooks on the subject. So the subject of this blog post may come as a surprise, even a shock. 


I do write for reasons other than money. I always have. 


And I'm not alone. Most freelancers started out writing because they simply loved to write. Most did not envision successful careers as self-employed scribes from the outset. Yet sometimes we freelancers think that writing has to be all about the money, all of the time. That's wrong. Even if you're serious about your writing career, and about being paid for your words, I can give you at least five reasons to write that aren't all about the money:  


1. It's personally satisfying. I know, you can't pay your bills with personal satisfaction. But sometimes you want to write for yourself, not for an editor or for a client. You have something to say, and saying it well--in your unique, inimitable voice--gratifies you in a way that a check may not. (Although checks are always awesome.) That's my major reason for continuing to write fiction--and I'll be announcing a new novel later this month!  


2. It builds your platform. Platform is deserving of its own post, but in short, it's considered your ability to sell a book to readers. Platform is more than your name and reputation--it's your "reach" as well. The more you write, the more readers you have, the more people know who you are (and like, enjoy, or find useful what you write), the bigger your platform becomes. And if you want to be an author (regardless of whether you purse traditional publishers, POD, or ebooks), a platform is essential.  


3. You can make a difference. Words matter. What you write can make a difference in someone's life. I've posted before about publishing essays, and I can tell you that my personal essays provoke more "reader mail" than anything I write other than my novels. Maybe a reader who's never really thought about it will realize that expecting a baby through adoption is just as exciting as expecting a baby through pregnancy, or recognize how painful infertility can be. Or maybe not. I like to feel that my words may make at least one person see the world a little differently.  


4. A little money can turn into more money. One of my first sales as a new freelancer was a 1,000-word piece that I sold to a magazine for a whopping $100. But once it had been published, I resold that story several times,  once for $300 and once for $225. Another essay I originally wrote for just $50 has been reprinted five times, for between $35 and $75 each. Evergreen pieces often have legs and turn into multiple checks. And even small checks add up. 


5. You're just getting started. As a new writer, your goal is to get published, and get paid (at least eventually) for your work. Who cares if your first stories are for tiny checks? I wrote feature-length articles for as little as $25 or $35 for the local newspaper, but I was learning the ropes, improving my interviewing and writing skills, and slowly progressing toward my first goal of making $10,000 that year. 


So don't beat yourself up if you write for (gasp!) reasons other than purely financial. I do too.  Remember that every article, every clip, every check--no matter how small--helps you build a successful freelance career. 


***My new line of ebooks, all branded with the Dollars and Deadlines name, are geared toward new freelancers. I take the same approach with them that I do with this blog--I give practical, proven strategies and plenty of examples to help you achieve your writing goals. So far the most popular has been Dollars and Deadlines' Guide to Selling your First Article, but Dollars and Deadlines 10 Essential Freelance Templates is also selling well. Please check them out, and recommend them to your would-be-freelancing friends.  

Interview on the Dabbling Mum

I'm interviewed on The Dabbling Mum this week, talking about overcoming writer's block, sustaining a successful freelance career, and juggling parenthood and work. I also talk about my new book, Writer for Hire: 101 Secrets to Freelance Success, due out in just two months! Check it out!

Portrait of an Evergreen--or, What Topics Have the Most Resale Potential?

I was surprised that according to this year's Freelance Income Survey, a mere 3 percent of freelancers produce income by selling reprints (or more accurately, licensing reprint rights to articles they own). That's a mistake to me for several reasons. No, reprints won't make me rich--usually I sell them to markets that pay as little as $35 to as much as $300/story. Yet I try to retain rights to my articles for several reasons: 

1. It takes little effort to sell reprints once I've found a potential market. These days, most of my reprint sales come from markets I've sold to before. For example, earlier this month, an editor contacted me asking if I had a story about a particular topic she was planning to cover. I did, and sent it to her. She bought it--for $100. My total time? About five minutes. 
2. Reprints continue to build my platform. As a book author and ghostwriter, the more people who know who I am and what I do, the better--whether that's an editor I sell work to, or the people who read her publication. 
3. Reprints are fun! The checks may be small but they add up--and getting mileage out of a story I wrote more than a decade before is gratifying. They're not true passive income (there is some work involved) but they're pretty close to "free" money. 

However, not every article has reprint potential. First, if you haven't retained rights to your work, you can't resell it. And a quick glance through my reprint sales reveals that my biggest reprint sellers have all been "evergreens,"what editors call stories with timeless appeal. 

For example, my piece on how to talk to your future spouse about money has sold eight times to a variety of regional bridal magazines, and it's easy to see why. The topic--talking about money--is one that will affect every newlywed couple, and the advice about it isn't likely to change much over the years. However, another bridal piece on the latest trends in wedding videography has never resold--because it was outdated pretty quickly after it was published. 

To give you an idea of what evergreen topics include, take a look at some of my biggest reprint topics and where they've sold:  

• How to read body language (women's magazines, both U.S. and international pubs)
• How to avoid gaining weight over the holidays (women's and fitness magazines)
• An essay on the benefits of having an open adoption (parenting magazines--this piece often appears in November, National Adoption Month)
• How to avoid legal problems as you plan your wedding (bridal magazines)
• How to get along with your future in-laws (bridal magazines) 
• How to walk off extra pounds (women's and parenting magazines)
• Easy ways to eat better (women's magazines) 

I define an "evergreen" as a story that's always of interest to a publication's readers and on a topic about which information doesn't change rapidly. So, for example, a parenting magazine will always publish articles on children's health. A piece on helping your kids avoid getting colds? Evergreen. A piece on new medications to treat childhood asthma? Not evergreen--or at least not for very long.

Thinking, "well, that's great, but what about pieces that are quickly outdated?" Here's the thing--you can always update articles to improve their reprint potential. So, when I recently resold a piece on the importance of sleep for good health, I updated some statistics and tweaked the lead to make it appeal to the publication's readers. That's what I call a "tweak." It's a reprint, yes, but with a little extra work. And I often find that a little extra work turns into a check--and a new market. That's work the extra effort. 

So if you don't write evergreens, consider it. And when you do, make sure you retain the rights to your work. Getting paid once for a story is great. Getting paid for it two, three, four times or even more is even better, I promise. 

***I'm going to keep spreading the word about my new series of ebooks, all branded with the Dollars and Deadlines name. They're geared toward new freelancers and take the same approach I do with this blog--practical, proven strategies to help you achieve your writing goals. So far the most popular has been Dollars and Deadlines' Guide to Selling your First Article, but Dollars and Deadlines 10 Essential Freelance Templates is also selling well. Please recommend them to your friends!