“The RoseBouquet”

Many of us, when we first desire to “become writers” learn about freelancing for popular magazines, and we think that is where we will become prolific and famous. However, breaking into that field is a long, hard slug for most writers, and many drop out discouraged.

I just read something to confirm this. The freelance magazine field is not the best place to make a good paid career of writing. Someone had done some serious research, outlined an article idea and pitched it to one of those magazines. This is the reply she got;

“We encourage those with ideas for articles to submit the finished product on spec. If that article is accepted, then the pay rate is decided. It is quite a risk for the magazine to accept the idea of a story and agree to pay for it before seeing the final product, which may or may not be up to our standards.”

This writer wrote back to the editor saying that this “on spec” writing was a far greater risk for her. Especially if she was to take the time to research and work on a good article, without assurance of payment.

Several other professional writers agree that there is much more money available in the commercial writing field. Peter Bowerman of Well-Fed Writer says;

“We can debate these things, but what we can likely all agree on is that, 1) there’s exponentially more commercial writing work out there than magazine work (my friend concurs); 2) the vast majority of that work pays far better than the vast majority of magazine work (after all, corporations have more money than publications); and 3) that the ramp-up to decent profitability is far shorter in our field than in magazines.”

As I used to say in my signature, “The Internet is a Writer’s Paradise.” Just think of all those sites needing good quality text!

Bottom line: If you are looking for a career as a writer, check out copy and commercial writing for businesses. Do your creative writing as a hobby or for friends as favours.