full time freelance writers

[sweetnpetite]

I checked out the Writer's Market 2004 from the library, and guess what? There's an article in it about 'sex writing'! We've gone legit!!!

I've been reading writer's digest since 6th grade or before when I found it in my school library. I actually used to skip class to go down and read it! I think I'm going to resubscribe as soon as I have two nickles to rub together.

I've been writing for as long as I can remember- but lately I've been considering taking that leap. In my current situation, I really don't have anything to lose but time. I was thinking for a minute- all I had to do was write so many stories/articles a month, but then I realized that not everything sells (du!). Still, it's time to stop dreaming, and start taking chances.

I love to hear how others make things work for them, rather than the abstract, "do this, or do that" that's why I asked the particular questions I did. I hope that this thread will be long and prosperous.

Thanks to everybody so far, and please keep it comming.

 

[Icingsugar]

Oh, I just don't go to those websites

Raph, big fan of keeping the internet free.

Ok, cool. Who pays then?

You know, I just HAD to say it.

The non-free internet puts food on my table. I write for one online publication that is funded by ads, and another that is funded by subscriptions. So niether is free (bottom line, the target for the ads is paying for them, by consuming). And niether publication would exist if they were. Non-profit sites are great, and will (probably and hopefully) continue to play a major role in the web. But someone will still have to cash up for server and bandwidth for said site.

/Ice, big fan of keeping the internet open.

 

[raphy]

Ok, cool. Who pays then?

You know, I just HAD to say it.

The non-free internet puts food on my table. I write for one online publication that is funded by ads, and another that is funded by subscriptions. So niether is free (bottom line, the target for the ads is paying for them, by consuming). And niether publication would exist if they were. Non-profit sites are great, and will (probably and hopefully) continue to play a major role in the web. But someone will still have to cash up for server and bandwidth for said site.

/Ice, big fan of keeping the internet open.

Well, it's a free world (no pun intended) so I guess it's all a matter of choice. I choose not to go to those sites. Some folks choose to do so.

Sorry Ice, I guess I'm actively not contributing to your income and means of living, but you'll never see me going to a paysite if there's a free alternative

As for adversiting, I find that google's searchbar popup blocker works very effectively, so if you want to have your site funded by popups, go for it. I won't see them anyway, and I don't even notice banner ads, these days.

I think the point I was trying to make is that I don't see non-profit sites ever disappearing, or at least I damn well hope they don't. The original point I was replying to was from a poster who said "Personally, I'd like to find a way to make the web pay."

My response simply came from the fact that I just hope that paying to have access to a website still remains the exception, rather than the rule.

 

[Gary Chambers]

Now Raphy, you have taken us to the nub of the issue: the print markets are dinosaurs and the Web isn't yet paying as well as it should, because people like you and I avoid paying to visit Web sites.

Right now I'm working on a Romantica novel (cross between romance and erotica genres) aimed at a firm that publishes both ebook and paperback editions. The ebooks are cheaper than the paperbacks, so I can see people paying for them. They're books too, and not simply Web sites, which makes a difference. I wouldn't bother to write a story for a Web site on the expectation that surfers would pay for access to read it; complete waste of time.

When I'm not writing, snapping or teaching I experiment with electronic periodical publishing. I don't have any big secrets of success to share in that field because none of my sites have proven profitable to date. I build free access sites and I don't accept ads that pop-up, pop-behind or go pop in the night. My sites usually contain some adult content, which frightens off a lot of mainstream advertisers. My next experiment will be a site that is the online presence of an exotic dance club. I won't even bother to sell ads. I know the club's name will attract the surfers I need, and since I'll also be carrying the most popular types of content found in community newspapers, I'll just run the site at a loss for a while until advertisers start coming to me. That's the latest plan, and I like it if only because it's brazen.

One of the first lessons I learned when I entered the newspaper business years ago was that advertisers don't matter. They just hop aboard for a ride. It's the readers who matter. Get the readers and the advertisers will come around, even if they hold their nose while writing your cheque. It's not the way today's big publishing corporations work, but screw them. It's been many moons since big publishing conglomerates gave a damn what happens to freelancers, so it's worth taking chances in the hope that I can prove them wrong, and then ask for autographed photos of their directors with egg all over their chops.

I say again: I believe one day someone will develop a formula that works to make Web publishing pay. And now I'm going farther to say the winning formula will probably involve a free access Web site model, not a paid one. Trying to make Raphy, myself and millions of others pay for something we refuse to pay for is just farting at thunder. Besides, look where we all are. Literotica runs contests, and will help with author's promotional pages etc., but it doesn't charge surfers for access and doesn't pay authors for publishing rights. But almost 12,000 people read my first story here, so I figure it's worth staying aboard to see what happens next. While I gained 12,000 readers last month, many major print publishers were losing that many. And I would guess Literotica makes its owners at least part of a living, maybe more. The future of publishing is in this machine you're staring at, so if you want to embark on a freelancing career, you need to wrestle this beast to the ground. Do that, even within your own community, and you'll be the darling of the industry; flavour of the month as they say on Fleet Street and Madison Avenue.

 

[Icingsugar]

Sorry Ice, I guess I'm actively not contributing to your income and means of living, but you'll never see me going to a paysite if there's a free alternative.

No worries mate, enough people do.

I think the point I was trying to make is that I don't see non-profit sites ever disappearing, or at least I damn well hope they don't. The original point I was replying to was from a poster who said "Personally, I'd like to find a way to make the web pay."

I think that I read "making the web pay" as making a website make ends meet, rather than specifically making readers pay for access. However you turn it around, operating a website (even a non-profit one) costs money. If it's only server and bandwidth, it's not nesecarily all that much money, but even then, on a no-ads no-pay site, someone somewhere opened up their wallet on your behalf.

On most larger content-driven sites, there is at least a small full-time staff, uptime guaranteed servers, and quality net access. In some cases, those are littered with ads, in some cases those are ads for a company or product (MSN, CNN). Even Lit costs money for it's owners, which I hope they get funded by the banner ads or other activities.

My response simply came from the fact that I just hope that paying to have access to a website still remains the exception, rather than the rule.

...and I'm with you in that wish. I'd rather see free access for the the public than locked down sites.

But the bottom line remains: Stuff costs, and has to be funded. By the guv'ment (lots of good sites on Uni networks), by goodwill (companies donating bandwith and servers because it makes them look cool - quite common), by commersials (most larger sites today) or by my cash (not many, so far)? Well, that simply depends on how much I think the content on it is worth to me.

/Ice - devil's advocate? well, a little.

 

[wornoutkeyboard]

I didn't mean I could do them easily, I meant I could stomach to do them if I had to.

I'm off to read the rest of your post. I don't know about that article assignment- it sounds near impossible to me. I was thinking "25 ways to save money/loose weight/organize your time"

Penile dysfunction and VD- I wouldn't even know where to start

Problem is....in order to make money.... you can't just write whatever you want and float around hoping for someone to buy it (well....you do in the beginning).... you HAVE to be able to fit their needs and write what is needed regardless of the topic. Otherwise you will only make $$ on those occasions when they need something you like to write or have an "open slot" and are going to fill it with your pre-made article.

If you notice...almost all magazines follow some kind of "theme" or "themes" for the issue. And their articles will all correspond with one another in some way. That doesn't happen simply by hoping that people submit the right articles. And that doesn't even begin to touch "investigative" articles.

And I know that you said that you wouldn't even know where to start. Well...you should. Period.

Or you are gonna be in for a rude awakening.

If you don't feel comfortable getting sources and researching an unknown topic enough to write an article on it (In under 2 weeks)... you will have a tough time ever making ends meet as a zine article writer. (I dunno about other freelance writers). Those 25 ways to save $$ articles?? Those are written by staff writers (99% of the time). You won't be writing those. You will be writing the penile dysfunction type 10 to 1.

If you don't feel comfortable researching totally foreign topics and writing about them.... I suggest you go to family/friends and ask them for an "article" to write...and then do it. Get some practice writing on demand.

In the beginning you will write things and hope they choose them. But you won't make a living that way (you will make some $$....but not much) and then you will start getting offers and requests. That is when you will be able to write steadily enough to live off of it. But you MUST be able to write on demand and write whatever the hell they need from you.

~WOK (Who didn't mean to come off as a hard-ass...but doesn't want to misinform you either)

 

[Sshafer]

Replie to sweetnpetite

If you all look on page two of Authors hangout. You will see that I posted an Idea but was made fun of for even putting it on the board. I did have a couple of good respones. But most thought it was a joke. But I see from your response I see I'm not the only one that would like to make a little money off of my writing. Don't get me wrong I like this sight because its free and I like a place to write and be read and I like to read the storys to. I've been thinking from the time I put the Idea on the board and have come up with a way that Lit could pull it off. So Sweetnpetite and the rest of you turn to page two. Go down the board till you find Idea by Sshafer and see if its so weird an Idea. Please lett me know what you all think. Maybe a poll would be in oder on it.

 

[Sshafer]

up date

Srry Sweetnpetite My Idea is on page three now. Sorry but go look and tell me what you think of it. I don't think print is going out for awhile. At least not till someone come up with an Idea how to make the web pay at a low cost to them and the surfers

 

[Gary Chambers]

I'm in a hury and trying to catch up on all threads I've been involed in, so I'm going to make this short and concise.

If you want to make a living freelancing, here's a great way to start. Find interesting characters in your community, people who have lived interesting lives. Ask permission to write about them, take thier pictures and browse through their family albums etc. Write biographical features about them, adding their portrait and pick-ups from the photos albums as illustrations. Take these completed features to a local paper (especially independent weeklies not owned by big chains). They will usually buy and ask for more of the same. If one doesn't buy go directly to their competitors. They won't turn you down so quickly if they ever get a second chance. These features are the most popular in most community publications, but few people write them.