Job and Career |

With luck, pluck, and skin as thick as whale blubber, you can be a freelance writer. If you’re persistent enough and the stars are smiling down on you, seeing your name in print isn’t as inaccessible as you might think. But serendipity and talent will take you only so far. You’ll need to learn freelancing own brand of etiquette and adopt a little business sense to succeed. Here are 10 important points to keep in mind when launching your freelance writing career.

1. Network. Freelancing is lonely work, and it’s easy to lose touch with other writers. Making friends in the biz, however, can be the best career move you can make. Join some associations like the National Writers Union or correspond with members of a writer’s e-mail list to meet people in your area. Besides patting your back when you’ve done well, friends can pass newspaper and magazine leads to you.

2. Know your rights. Publishing rights are one of the most confusing aspects of freelancing, but it’s one of the most important to understand. If a publisher owns the right to your copy, that means you can’t sell it anywhere else – some contracts even bar you from writing again on the same topic or demand that you sign away rights for articles already published. In a writer’s paradise, you’d retain all rights, allowing you to resell an article to as many magazines or newspapers as will buy it.

Here’s a short rundown of rights commonly sold by freelancers, but study other resources for a more comprehensive understanding: Electronic Rights: A publication may publish your work in any electronic medium, from Web sites to CD-ROMs. First Serial Rights: A publication may publish your article for the first time in any periodical, but you retain all other rights. Reprint Rights: A publication may run your story after it has appeared somewhere else. Reprint rights are nonexclusive, meaning you can sell them to many magazines or newspapers.

3. Be professional. Always turn in professional-looking queries and manuscripts, either on a discreet letterhead or on clean, white paper. Also check first to see if a publication is willing to accept electronic submissions. If so, make sure to format them appropriately.

4. Know the difference between “query letter” and “cover letter.” A query is meant to entice editors into accepting an article, not to bully them into hiring you. Brash bragging and badgering might help you climb the corporate ladder, but these tactics are as good as a nonstop ticket to the slush pile in the publishing world. Woo editors with your writing prowess, not your capacity for self-flattery.

5. Ask for a raise. I don’t know of one magazine or newspaper that will volunteer to give you more money. They’re quite happy to let you coast along indeterminately on the same rate you had when you began. After you’ve built a good relationship with an editor for six months or more, and you’ve proven you are a trustworthy contributor, ask for a raise. Explain that you’ve been dependable on deadlines, available for rewrites, and flexible with article focus. Any respectable publication will do the best it can to provide you with at least another $0.05 per word, but if they act insulted that you want more money, walk away.

6. A check in hand is worth… Especially if you have just begun working for a new publication, have a check in hand before proposing another story idea. It’s tempting to submit queries to the same magazine when you know the editor likes your style and you’re loaded with great ideas, but resist until you feel comfortable about being paid. Many magazines pay upon publication, which means you might have to wait six months or more before your piece appears in print. Others pay upon acceptance, meaning they will cut a check as soon as they decide to run your article, usually about 30 days after submission. If you’re not sure the magazine is keeping up with its end of the bargain, hold tight before sending in anything else.

7. Submit your article ahead of time. Try to turn in your articles a week ahead of time. Harried editors love a head start, and they’ll be glad they can count on you to not only make deadline, but to beat it. If a week ahead of time isn’t possible, at least shoot for the day before.

8. Keep communication open. No doubt, your job is to make the editors’ job easy. That’s what they hired you. Make it a habit, then, to check in to make sure you’re on the right track. This means first submitting an outline, then maybe the first page. If you have any doubt about a source or the direction a story should take, touch base with your editor, either by phone or a quick e-mail.

9. Submit error-free copy. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. Make absolutely sure your manuscript is rid of errors. It’s harder than it sounds. Thanks to word processors and the likelihood of typos, mistakes can infiltrate. Let your article sit an extra day before revising it, read it out loud, have a friend read it to you, do whatever it takes to iron the wrinkles from your articles.

10. Don’t be afraid to be late. Believe it or not, editors understand when you can’t meet a deadline. Anything can happen, from family emergencies to troublesome sources pulling out at the last minute. As long as you’re up-front and give them as much notice as possible that you’re late, your editors won’t mind.

11. Give them more than they bargained for. Your assignment was to write 1,000 words on reforestation of Yosemite National Park, and that closes your end of the bargain, right? Wrong. Always give your editors more than they asked for. In this case, try a 100-word sidebar outlining the prescribed fires program or a list of Yosemite tourism resources. If you’re handy with a camera, you can even provide photographs or names of photographers. Follow these 10 – oops! 11 – Tips to freelancing, and you’ll be running a successful business in no time.

When it comes to selling yourself on paper, you will find that newspaper editors are tough customers. After all, they put information on paper every day. There are no bonus points for correct spelling, punctuation or grammar. Those are givens. A single error can consign your résumé to the circular file. Edit your work, proofread the final copy and then double-check everything. Twice. Have someone else go over it. Make sure the editor is NOT the first person to see the finished product.

Understand the purpose of a résumé. It is not intended to get you a job. It is meant to tell the prospective employer enough about you so that they’ll look at your work samples or call you in for an interview. Use the interview, tests, tryouts and other activities to land the job. In a business where word economy is valued, one-page résumés are twice as effective as two-page résumés. Even editors with 20 years and several papers behind them limit their résumés to one page. You’re certainly free to go over that, but it’s not very smart — especially when your experience, in comparison to the editor’s — is modest.

What Comes After Name, Address and Phone Number?
Stating your career objective can help, but only if it matches the opening. An incompatible career objective can eliminate you from consideration. It’s also OK to omit this. Put education or experience next, depending on which is more relevant to the job you’re trying to get. If all of your work has been outside of journalism, but you have a degree in it, lead with the degree and details about your coursework. If you’re completing a non-journalism degree and have two internships at newspaper, list the internships first. Chronological order is less important than relevance.

Go Beyond Simple Job Titles
Describe your jobs. Don’t say you were a reporter. Say you were a reporter who covered a school district, two police departments and the local court and that you wrote a Sunday column. Mention the more complicated, difficult or humorous accomplishments you had in those jobs. These accomplishments distinguish your résumé from others, tell the newspaper something about your interests and abilities and could open the door to an interview.

Use a Clean and Simple Design
Be bold if you can, but not flashy. I have seen cartoon résumés, résumés with little basketballs on them and résumés made to look like front pages. Gimmicks can suggest a lack of experience or sophistication and do not give you any advantage over other applicants. As more and more companies scan résumés for databases, you may want to consider how to make a résumé that scans cleanly.

What About Non-Journalism Jobs?
If you have a short employment history, you certainly may include jobs that are not journalism-related. These help demonstrate that you have worked for others, know how to toil for a living, show up on time and generally be responsible. Stress areas that are most similar to news papering: writing, working with the public, juggling tasks.

What else should I include?
Second languages (but they better be more than the obligatory school minimum), awards, scholarships, extracurricular activities that demonstrate leadership and personal achievements — if they demonstrate relevant qualities such as resourcefulness, tenacity or responsibility. In one case, I was impressed that, while carrying a full load of classes, a student also was a full-time, caregiver for an elderly neighbor.

What About References?
Before you list anyone as a reference, make sure it’s OK with them. Ask whether they can give you a good word. (Once, I called a reference, and the person said, “He listed me? That was a mistake.” The candidate’s chances stopped there.) If your résumé is getting crowded for one page, you can use a second sheet just for references. I don’t think there’s any need to say, “References available upon request.” I assume so.

Omit Personal Information.
It is not relevant whether you are married or single, old or young, a smoker-or a non-smoker. Don’t include those facts. It can mark you as lacking the sophistication to know what’s relevant and what isn’t. My curiosity is piqued when someone’s résumé carries a list of places visited or lived in. Hobbies can intrigue me, too, but they turn others down cold. Generally, the more relevant it is to the job, the safer you are using it. Being accomplished at a musical instrument, for example, implies precision, discipline and practice. Saying that you have a passion for coffees or that you bake bread may turn some people off.