President-Elect Obama and Stevie Wonder at the HBO Concert We Are One
You can't be an expert at everything, but you can find the person who is. That makes you a good candidate for becoming a freelance writer. You know how to write in a clear and concise manner. That makes you an even better candidate for freelancing. You are motivated. That makes you the best candidate.
With the downturn in the economy in 2009, a good number of newspapers, magazines, websites and plain old corporations are turning to freelance writers to provide content or brochures. But before you have the business cards printed up, figure out what you are good at writing about.
Have you ever read the directions for software and thought, "I could do a better job than that?" Wow. Is there a market for you. Picked up the brochure in your doctor's office and thought, "That could be better phrased?"
Freelance does not mean writing fiction. It is 99 percent non-fiction. If you want to write poetry or stories, go for it. But most freelance work is going to be a huge category called non-fiction. Corporations need end-of-year statements, or you could start writing for your church newsletter or write press releases for your club. Writing a blog doesn't count unless someone pays you to write it or in some way critiques it.
Coraline, from Focus Films reviewed by Leslie Rigoulot for the Southlake Journal
The big question has been asked and answered. You know you write excellent feature stories. Now you have to find a market for those stories. Alternative press newspapers are owned by one of two major chains. (You thought they were independent little papers owned by aging hippies, but they aren't.) If you do very good investigative writing or if you find the new restaurants before everyone else does, the alternative press is a great place for you.
Write your cover letter. This is the best writing you will ever do because it has to sell the piece. Address it to the editor of your local alt press and get their name right. You get that off the masthead, which is the chunk of the paper that runs the editors' and writers' names with what department they work in. Don't send a restaurant review to the film critic. Send it by email or invest in a stamp. Either way, call the editor to make sure they received it. It isn't really that you want to make sure they have it. What you want to do is talk to the editor. Ask if they would be interested in any other stories you have written. That means you need to have thought about some ideas to pitch. Always have ideas.
If they publish the story, you have your first clip. The tearsheet is the actual paper copy of what they published. If they put it on the web too, get the URL. Both are going on your resume. When submitting an idea to your next web site, magazine or newspaper, you will want to send a photocopy of the best of your work along.
The main thing is that you must make the editor believe that you are a good writer who can produce a story on time. Once they believe that, you can ask for direction. But make them believe it first.
