Paying the Bills While Plotting Your Novel: Writing Nonfiction for Fun and Profit

Paying the Bills While Plotting Your Novel
Writing Nonfiction for Fun and Profit
Part 2
(Part 1 appeared in the September 2000 HeartBeat of Denver)
by
Cynthia Sterling

Where to sell what you write

Now that you've identified things in your background that might give you material for articles, you need to find places to sell those articles. One good place to start is Writer's Market. It's published every year in a paper edition, and it's also on CD-ROM. You can also find it at libraries. Another place to look is the magazine racks at bookstores. You'll find literally hundreds of magazines and they all need articles. Read the magazines, read the descriptions in writer's market, and try to match your article ideas with the magazines. For instance, you might want to write an article on activities grandmothers can do with their grandchildren. You might think any woman's magazine would like that, but if you read the description for Redbook, you'll find out they consider themselves a 'magazine for young mothers.' Woman's Day might be a better fit for your article, and Grandparents magazine would be even better. So it takes a little research. After you've had practice, you'll become more adept at identifying markets for your work.

By the way, magazines generally fall into two categories. Consumer magazines are those magazines you'll find at bookstores and supermarkets. Another big group of publications is called trade magazines. Trade magazines are aimed at members of a particular profession, and are usually available by subscription only. Some trade magazines are listed in a special section at the back of Writer's Market. You'll find many others by looking around your workplace and asking other people. For instance, my beautician has trade magazines for beauticians and nail technicians. The other day, I was waiting to be seated in a restaurant, and they had whole stacks of restaurant trade magazines on a table by the front door. The Romance Writer's Report is our trade magazine. Trade magazines use lots of writers, and because they're not as well known as consumer magazines, trade magazines are sometimes easier to get started in. Once you're established with a trade magazine, they'll often give repeat assignments. I write almost every month for a medical trade group in California that owns five or six different magazines geared to professions such as Xray techs and physical therapists.

You might want to start by trying to sell to magazines you currently read. If you're subscribing to a publication, that means the subject matter interests you enough to make you pay out some money for the subscription, so you already have an interest -- and probably some expertise, in the kinds of articles they print.

When you find a magazine you think you want to write for, you'll want to study an issue or two to get a feel for their style. Pay attention to the types of articles the magazines use. Does a trade magazine always print a safety article? Can you think of a safety issue you could write about? Do they like lists -- 10 ways to improve your golf swing? 50 top tips from the pros? Can you come up with a list of your own? Ask yourself who the magazine is written for and what they want to know? How can you draw on your background to give them that information?

When you're researching magazines, you'll notice articles fall into some general categories. There's the 'how-to article" -- How to build a table, how to make your characters come alive in fiction, how to save money at the grocery store.

There's the list: Twenty ways to save money at the grocery store, Top ten vacations for parents and children, Fifteen facts about fat.

A profile is an article all about one person, or business. Often these are of celebrities, but in trade magazines, a profile is often written about a business or professional person. you interview the person and this forms the basis of your article.

A personal experience relates something you went through, or someone else went through. Reader's Digest publishes these a lot in their articles about people who survived great danger. Redbook publishes a 'Young Mother's Story' while Ladies Home Journal has a 'My Problem and How I Solved It" piece in every issue.

Another kind of article is the general overview of an issue or place. Travel articles fall into this category, as well as general overviews of a subject.

You want to keep doing this -- Brainstorming ideas, finding magazines, until you're exhausted or run out of patience.

How to Write a Nonfiction Query

Now that you know what you want to write about and who you want to write it for, the next thing you want to do is to write a query letter asking the editor if they're interested in the story you want to write.

A nonfiction query is very simple.

There are a number of books and articles on writing queries, but my basic formula is to present the idea in the first paragraph, give a few details about how I'd develop the idea, including any experts I intend to interview, in the second and third paragraphs. In the last paragraph, I emphasize my own experience. If you've written for other publications, say so, but if not, don't worry. Close by asking for the assignment. Send the letter with a SASE and move on to the next place on your list. If you have a number of markets you think would like your article, you can send multiple queries at a time.

One thing I'd like to suggest is that, even if you qualify as an expert in a particular topic, plan to interview one or two other 'experts' for your article. I think a common mistake beginners make -- and a mistake I made when I was starting out -- was to put only my own point of view in an article. Including the experiences of others will add authority to your piece and editors are looking for that. For instance, if you're an avid golfer and you want to write a roundup of the best golf courses in your area, talk to the golf pros at some of the clubs and add their opinions to your article.

If you're a teacher writing about advertising in the classroom, talk to other teachers, a school administrator, or someone at the University of Colorado who is studying the subject.

You can find 'experts' by calling universities or organizations and asking, or even doing a search on the Internet. Most people love to talk about themselves and though you may have to work around their busy schedules, it's not that difficult to get them to talk to you.

One of four things will happen when you send your query. One, you may never hear anything. Two, you'll get a rejection. Three, you'll get a rejection, but they'll ask you to write something else. Three different places I queried in my first blizzard of letters after I was laid off gave me this response. I am still writing regularly for two of them to this day. You see, even though they couldn't use the particular idea I sent them, they recognized my expertise -- and they recognized that I could write a coherent query letter, and was willing to interview other people for my articles. Magazines are looking for all those things.

The fourth thing that can happen is they'll ask you to write the article. Sometimes it will be 'on spec' meaning they want to see it before they'll buy it. I have no problem doing this for a magazine that's unfamiliar with my work.

If you get the assignment, write the best article you can, to the length specified, and get it in on time. Do everything you can to impress the editor. Send it in with a nice cover letter and ask for another assignment.

Before long, you'll have a relationship with several editors. Once editors know you and like your work, they'll be more likely to work with you.

Keep sending out queries.

If you have trouble selling to a particular magazine and you really want to write for them, try approaching them about writing smaller pieces. These are know as 'front of the book' pieces, because that's usually where they're located. Once you have an article published, make copies of the article. You now have a 'clip' to send with your query. If you're writing for golf magazines, a clip from another golf magazine can give you an extra edge when approaching a new magazine. Good clips make getting new assignments easier.

Once you've established yourself in one area, you can branch out. I started out writing about Texas history, then expanded to Texas travel. After I'd written a number of articles for medical trade magazines, I started writing medical consumer articles, too.
If you decide you want to write nonfiction articles for magazines and newspapers, you can start by:
1. Making a list of article possibilities, based on your own interests and experience.
2. Research possible markets
3. Study those markets
4. Send a query letter
5. Repeat as needed.

It takes a while to build a freelance career and it's a challenge to be constantly coming up with new ideas and news markets. But it's a challenge I really enjoy. It's a break from writing fiction, I enjoy seeing my byline, it brings in money and it feeds my imagination. A lot of time when I'm working on nonfiction articles, I'll get some of my best ideas for fiction. It's as if I'm keeping those writing gears oiled all the time.

Cynthia Sterling's newest release Nobility Ranch (July 2000) is a launch title for the Zebra Ballads line. You can find out more by visiting her website: http://members.aol.com/CySterling