I was on The Writer‘s Website yesterday and found this nice little link: http://www.writermag.com/wrt/default.aspx?c=ni&id=56
I absolutely cannot wait for the March issue of The Writer! It’ll have my piece for the Breakthrough column where I wrote how writing articles led me to my book deal. In my case, it’s completely true that freelancing for magazines taught me a lot about writing fiction from putting deadlines on myself, to editing to working with editors.
Have you freelanced? Did you find it helpful before you started writing a book? If you haven’t, would you consider freelancing or are you sticking to fiction?
Jessica Burkhart 
I would consider freelancing, but it seems like a lot of work to constantly be finding something to write about, sending queries in, finding new magazines, etc. I’d imagine once you establish yourself it gets alittle easier: with them coming to you. But I think I’ll stick to books for now. Plus, I love having a day job that’s non-writing related for the most part, because I love variety so much. I’d probably stick to that. But I should never say never, because if the perfect freelancing job came about, of course, I’d probably jump right on it.
Seeking out the markets definitely takes the most time. But the rewards come fast than they do with books, LOL. You can see your pieces in print within a few months, usually. 🙂
That’s true. That would be a HUGE PLUS to freelancing. Often it’s hard seeing no payout/rewards for so much work invested in writing a book.
Great discussion, Jessica.Marketing your fiction by selling articles is one of the smartest moves you can make as an author. Think of the power of all those end-of-article bios pointing readers to your novels.For lots of free info on marketing for novelists, check out one of my favorite marketing sites, Writing Career Coach.
Emily, it’s also fun to write shorter pieces and then turn to something long term like a novel. :)Susan, thanks for stopping by and for the link.
I’m with you, Jessica!This is how I got my start, as well. Kudos to you for bringing this to light. It especially works for those of us without MFA degrees… And I love the “instant gratification”. It’s great while you’re waiting for your book editor to do her magic (which can take MONTHS!) I’m working on an article now for “Cruising World.” I sent them a piece the editorial staff loved, but with one caveat: They want it cut in half! Can I do it? The challenge is on…
You can do it, Linda, no doubt. I’ve been asked to do the same and while it’s painful, I often discovered that I had many extra words anyway! 🙂