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- The Creative Writer's Secret to Making a Living Writing
The Creative Writer's Secret to Making a Living Writing
- By Deborah Owen
- Published January 1, 2009
- Improving Your Writing Skills & Marketing
Deborah Owen
Ms. Deb, as her students affectionately call her, is the CEO & Founder of Creative Writing Institute, and the former A-1 Writing Academy (now defunct).
"The A-1 Academy was a pilot program built within the virtual walls of a large writer's group," said Deborah. "In the first year we drew 600 students, but I wanted to reach the public. In another year Creative Writing Institute was created. It is a high-quality, low cost writing school with full-time mentors and small classes. Even distressed students and seniors can afford our prices."
Creative Writing Institute now partners with http://bookpleasures.com to bring the best and most up-to-date information available to creative writers everywhere. Check out the new school by Clicking Here.
Creative writers – make a lot of
money writing for newspapers. The writing is easy, you don't have to
worry about "Show, Don't Tell," and you can resell the
articles all over the country with simultaneous submissions.
Most
average sized cities have a local newspaper that accepts admissions
from amateur writers. This is your market. If you have political
views you want to share, the Opinion Editor or Op-Ed section is a
good place to start. Write with conviction and zest and the editor
will most likely accept your piece. He will, however, edit it for
grammar and cut parts he deems unnecessary. If they have a guideline,
follow it to the letter.
You will get about $15 for each
article, and $5 for each picture they use. A normal 35 mm camera is
usually good enough. Most newspapers need a reporter for PTA meetings
and sometimes for sports events. Okay, so it's not much, but you can
resell one article about an upcoming holiday as many times as you
want to. One article can easily make you $200.
Make a file on
the newspapers that accept your work. This is your gold mine. These
are the people you send Christmas cards to – the people you become
personally acquainted with – the people you network with – and
the people you become friends with. These people are your livelihood
– and this is how writers make a living. Maybe not a plush living,
but a modest one. It isn't easy, but it works.
When you write
articles, you have to be fast. You don't worry a lot about how you
phrase things as long as you use (near) proper English. Most of the
rules you learned for writing short stories won't apply there. You
can use passive sentences. You can "tell" instead of
"showing". You don't have to use graceful sentences, but
used jazzed up verbs.
Make your submissions directly to the
editor. Call the newspaper to learn his or her name, and write it
down. Be sure you get the spelling right. Google "U.S.
Newspapers" and you can select the papers by state.
So
where do you get your articles? What do you write about? Have you
ever wondered how something works, or where certain things come from?
How about people who have an unusual talent or a special hobby?
The
secret to reselling a newspaper article is that it needs to have a
broad appeal – such as an article on how Father's Day began. If you
were submitting to a magazine, you would have to submit at least
three to four months ahead, but not so with newspapers. Send your
article in two weeks ahead.
Still having a hard time thinking
of what to write about? Check the latest version of Writer’s Market
if you have nothing specific in mind. Browsing the non-fiction
section will give you an idea of what kinds of articles are being
published.
This is enough to get you off to a good start.