1.
Bring
home the bacon writing for home businesses. Someone starts a new home
business
every 11 seconds. Home business owners need letters, press releases,
marketing
brochures, website verbiage, ad copy and more. While you are
making
money doing that…
2
Write
practical articles about owning and operating home-based businesses (of
which
freelance writing is one).
3
Write
book reviews. Nonfiction book reviews state the book's objective,
summarize
the main concepts, include the author's credentials, cite a sample
sentence
or passage, and suggest what readers can expect. Reviews of novels,
somewhat
similar, delve into character development and other fiction
techniques.
Send two or three samples to an editor who's likely to request,
"More,
please!"
4
Ghostwrite
articles and books for people with something to say, but who lack
writerly
skills or time. Candidates to ghost for include psychologists for selfhelp
books,
entrepreneurs for business books, and disaster survivors for humaninterest stories.
Negotiate for "as told to Your Name" or "Jane Doe with Your Name"
in preference to receiving no credit. "Ghost" has creepy
connotations, so offer "professional editing assistance."
5
Sling
ink freelancing for newspapers. Sniff out educational, governmental and
business
news. Extract facts from cagey sources and your byline will land on
page
one. Journalists use the "inverted pyramid" structure, strong leads,
accurate
quotations
and facts, keep themselves out of the story and provide high-impact
photos.
Build a reputation for accuracy, honesty and integrity and the editor
might
offer a regular slot.
6
Critique
manuscripts by providing 20-30 pages on how the writer can improve
readability,
plot, conflict, transitions, characterization and so on. Your sales tool
includes
sample excerpts of writers' works and your responses, pricing structure,
testimonials,
your publishing history, credentials, and estimated time to critique
a
200-250-page ms. If that goes well…
7
Profile
a personality. After interviewing the celebrity…. Uh oh. Don't know any
celebrities?
No matter. Interview ordinary people with extraordinary stories.
After
interviewing the person and collecting researched information, begin the
article
with a succinct hook capturing the person's attitude, explain who the
person
is, quantify his or her efforts ("painted four portraits for the Bill
Gates
family"),
include feelings, gestures and props. Obey fiction writers'
watchwords:
Show, don't tell. Appeal to the senses. Convey motion and
emotion.
Alternate more narration with lively quotes. End on an upbeat note.
Enclose
a separate page with names, street addresses, email addresses and
phone
numbers of interviewees, and sources of quoted facts. Sell the profile and
photos
to features editors of papers and mags. Compose a stack of profiles and
you've
got a book!
8
Snatch
funny money sketching original cartoons or write cartoon captions only.
Have
more jokes up your pen? Write one-liners, gags and routines for
comedians.
Write funny material for established humor writers
9
Rake
in entry fees for writing competitions. Collaborate with a newspaper, radio
station,
magazine or moneyed group. (Persuade the horticultural club to spend
some
lettuce on a garden-related writing contest.) Specify word count, genre,
topic,
terms and conditions. Enlist respected, unbiased judges. Ensure entrants'
anonymity
during judging. Publish or air winning entries.
10
Train
employees who are employed by employers to write better during
employment.
A third of the executives from America's 1,000 largest companies
told
Office Team surveyors that the scarcest skill among job applicants is
writing.
And almost 80% of companies surveyed by Dartnel's "Management
Focus"
said they would like to see employee writing skills improved. Salarypeople bury
messages in mammoth paragraphs, shroud ideas in prepositional phrases, and dig
up dinosaurs like heretofore. Give the program a face-saving, head-turning title like
"Write to the Top."
11
Earn
legal tender writing about how to transact business on your patch of the
planet
for business, inflight, and travel magazines. Office protocol, business
ethics,
and dress codes vary from Maine to Spain. Pick businesspeople's brains,
search
the 'net, and dip into classics like Lonely Planet's culture shock series.
After
frightening the pinstripes off readers with real-life flub ups, offer hope.
"When
all else fails," you might conclude, "a smile is a smile the world
over."
Do/Don't
lists are fantastic sidebars.
12
Click
through the guidelines at Writing for DOLLARS! for paying markets.
Order
sample copies. Submit well-written, well-targeted mss. When you score,
develop
a relationship with the person who okayed the "buy" on your byline.
Do
so
by submitting another manuscript right after the editor accepted one. This
way,
the editor might remember your name and view you as a steady source of
articles.
Specialize. Meet the editor face-to-face. View the world through
editors'
bifocals: Would you rather work with professionals who write brief
query
letters, follow guidelines to a T, and meet every need, or with amateurs
too
lax to follow simple instructions? Make editors' jobs easier, not harder.
13
Interview
somebody with an unusual talent, hobby or occupation. Write to
entertain
and inform. Ask open-ended questions. ("What difficulties do
falconers
overcome?" not "Is falconry difficult?") Intersperse quotes,
paraphrasing
and researched material with imagery. A retirement magazine
published
my article about a fifty-something falconer in its hobby section.
14
Sell
"how to write" articles to writers' magazines. Re-slant and resell
the article
to
publications targeted at home business owners, retirees, stay-at-home
spouses,
and professional communicators. Hook readers with irresistible titles
like
"Secrets of Successful Freelance Writing," and "Write Winning
Sales
Proposals."
Include examples to emulate, resources, related books and websites.
15
Make
moolah writing brochures for institutions and agencies. Attentiongrabbing
brochures
(and other documents) appeal to fear ("Myths about
Automobile
Air Bags") and desire ("Are You Destined for Inner Peace?") An
outsider,
you ensure the writing is tight yet informative. A writer, you ensure
the
brochure is persuasive and reflects your client's image.
Finally
Words
are published in articles, brochures, novels, flyers, textbooks, sales
letters,
newsletters, advertorials, greeting cards. Words are printed on posters,
T-shirts,
book jackets, signs, the 'net. Words are read by speechifiers, film
narrators,
radioheads, stage, screen and TV actors. Someone made money writing those
words. That someone can be you!
