Freelance Writing

Always_Harassed

I would like to submit some freelance pieces to magazines. Has anyone done this. Am concerned that they might use the ideas without using my articles. Does anyone know how much this type of stuff gets paid.

Scaredy_Cat_3

Yes, I've written for magazines. They usually pay by the word. You need to get hold of a copy of the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook, really. With a lot of magazines you would need to submit the finished article, or you can send ideas with a sample of published work.

You will wait months for payment! A lot of them pay on publication rather than on acceptance.

Anglea

Some mags prefer receiving a letter giving the synopsis of the feature you are planning to write. You need to study lots of copies of the magazine so you can match your writing style and approach to theirs and don't be surprised if you send a piece and have it edited (or even completely re-written) by their staff when it's published.

If you read the Writing mags that sell in WH Smith, they will give you lots of info about payment, features that are currently being wanted by editors and writing styles. e.g. Writers News, Writers Forum, Myslexia are the ones I used to read, hope they are still around..

Sazzyukrafc

I am a fully qualified journalist (degree and nctj). I used to do a lot of freelance writing, so you must remember you will be up against the qualified and experienced journalists/writers.

Most magazines like a synopsis as previously mentioned, so they what to expect of the article.

I'd also suggest freelance bidding websites, as these give me some regular income.

www.elance.com
www.getafreelancer.com

jeffbeale00

Also try https://www.projectesource.com,

Thanks:T

Zoe__2

I'm a freelance writer and do a lot of work for websites, magazines and copywriting for businesses. There are quite a few jobs around for any one starting out, especially if you'd consider writing for the web as well as print media. I tend to stay away from bidding websites as they seem to be quite low paid! But they do have thier advantages.

I've a blog where I've listed the sites that I visit to find freelance jobs - not allowed to post links on here but if you PM me I'll send you the link.

Good Luck!

hammersuk

any chance of the link to zoe? tried pming you but keep getting an error for some reason. Thanks.

Zoe__2

Sorry - can't get the link to work - will try pm'ing again!

barongreenback

Helium might be an option. They have a marketplace section for members which allows you to submit articles to publishers.

cornishpasty83

Pay depends on the type of publication. E.g. entertainment pays badly and finance pays quite well. Newspapers tend to pay better, so you could try pitching features to them. As someone already said, you generally get paid by the word although some publications will agree a lump sum for the piece. You might also want to try contacting online magazines, as they can pay quite well.

altyfc

I don't know about magazines but we regularly hire writers for the creation of web-based content for our travel sites. If that's something that would be of interest, feel free to get in touch.