Things You'll Need:
- Computer, digital camera
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Step 1
Build your portfolio: call local editors directly and offer a story for free
I finally began earning money as a freelance writer when I called a local magazine and offered them a story I did on a friend who beat the Guinness World Record time for paddling down the Mississippi River. The editor replied, "That sounds very interesting, but we have a limited budget and won't be able to pay you." I assured him that was fine. I just needed to get my foot in the door. The editor later assigned articles that paid. From there, other editors read my articles in the magazine and began calling me. -
Step 2
Contact editors by name at national magazines
It's almost pointless to send a query letter to an editor without addressing it directly to them. I find up-to-date contact information by sitting on the floor of bookstores and libraries and skimming through magazines looking for the names of the current editors, or I call publishers to find out who the submissions editor is. -
Step 3
Write a query letter that proves to the editor you know their magazine
The query letter introduces you and your work to a publisher. I've had the most luck when I begin the letter commenting on an article or book they've published or by launching right into my story. For example, one successful query letter began: "Inevitably, most kids ask for a dog. And who can blame them? Dogs like Lassie adore you, keep you warm when you're caught in a blizzard and drag you out of burning buildings when you're unconscious. But by the time we're adults, we've learned the truth: dogs urinate on your new wall-to-wall carpets; dig holes in your leather recliners to hide their rawhide bones, and bite your neighbor's kid." -
Step 4
Learn how to use a digital camera
Magazines and newspapers need images to make their pages come alive. I always offer to provide the photographs or image myself. In one case, for a historical piece, I told the publisher they'd find the ideal image to go along with Shays' Rebellion in the New York Public Library image database. -
Step 5
Get out from behind your computer and network
Meeting people in the industry is important. You can't spend all your time behind your computer and expect to be "discovered." Attending a writer's conference or taking a writing class improves your chances finding work. My journalism instructor at the community college helped me find work at her newspaper. -
Step 6
Give readers topics they want--but stay true to your voice
Only when you have developed an audience can you can branch out and truly say what you want to say. When it came time to write the humorous account of how a homeless dog found his way onto my disabled daughter's couch, I wanted to find a publisher first before finishing my harrowing search for just the right pet. Having learned that I needed to think about what publishers are looking for, I analyzed the market, including who my "readers" already were and who I thought they would be, and wrote a book proposal for my memoir, "Anything But a Dog!" The book proposal worked and "Anything But a Dog!", which is truly my "voice" telling the story I wanted to tell, found a publisher.
