How to Find a Work-for-Hire Assignment With a Book Packager
"Nancy Drew," "Sweet Valley High," and "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." Do any of those titles sound familiar? If you know anything about children's books, you'll say that those are some successful books written for children and teens. What most people don't know is that those books were all assigned to an author to write. Both the "Nancy Drew" books and "Sweet Valley High" series were written by teams of writers. Many authors get their start doing write-for-hire work where they are paid a lump sum for writing a book for a company. That means writers doesn't get royalties from book sales. They are hired to do a job, and they get paid one time for doing it. Although it may not be a glamorous job writing other people's ideas, it does help pay the bills. Organizations looking for writers to write books based on the publisher's ideas are called book packagers. Writers for book packagers are essentially ghostwriters, nameless authors who write a book for a flat fee. Would you like to learn how to snag a freelance job working for a company like this? Read on and get some tips on how to do it.
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Instructions
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Go to the American Book Producers Association (ABPA) at Abpaonline.org. There you will find a list of book packagers. You can find their contact information and websites as well.
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Email the contact name for a particular book packager. Include a well-written cover letter detailing your writing experience and any publishing credits you may have. Note that you don't need a great deal of writing experience to write for the packager. Book packagers are usually eager to work with new writers who can write well and meet strict deadlines. Be sure to include a current resume and ask permission to send a writing sample for their review. If the book packager emails you back asking for a writing sample, make sure you send one that fits with the type of books the packager publishes.
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Write a snail-mail letter to the book packager if the company does not list an email address. Follow the same procedure as above, making sure you include your resume.
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Follow the book packager's instructions if they ask you to "audition" for them. When you "audition" for a book packager, they may ask you to write a couple of sample pages in the style of the books they publish. Book series have characters who speak and act a certain way. This "voice" needs to be replicated by all of the writers who write for the series.
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Visit the website Echristensen.atspace.com/markets.html to get a list of educational publishers. Some publishing companies create books just for the educational field, providing materials for schools. Many of these companies seek work-for-hire writers who will write informational books that correspond to curriculum.
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Continue to contact book packagers and educational publishing companies until you are able to find an assignment. In the meantime, build your publishing credits by getting your articles and short stories into magazines. The more publishing credits you accumulate, the more a book packager will seriously consider you as a potential freelancer.
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