Sell your story/letters/photos... official MoneySavingExpert.com discussion 15 October 2007 at 3:25PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Boost Your Income 93 replies 86.8K views

Former_MSE_Lawrence

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Selling your story

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helliecopter_2

Every week I looked at the cute baby & funny pics in Take a Break and thought what an easy way to make a £100. I had a really nice photo of my daughter (10months dressed as tigger with a tigger sitting next to her) e-mailed to them and bob's your uncle. The photo was printed in feb this year a cheque arrived a couple of weeks later.:money:

If only they'd print one a week!

lauradora

Hey everyone.

I would really like to get into writing (yes i'm a big SATC fan) :rolleyes:

I've been looking at information on the internet about the writers bureau. It looks really good but of course there is a fee! which being a dfw I can't justify.:money:

I have a health and fitness background and am a lot more qualified than there people you see writing in these cheap womens magazines about diet and exercise:mad: .

Can anyone tell me where to start??

ScattyStudent1

I always think I should do this. I have adorable baby pics and some great (in my opinion lol) tips I could take photos with for the tips and tricks pages :DIn fact that is what I will do tommorrow (once I write my politics essay)

Red_Cat

My sister went and did a full blown journalism course when she wanted a career change and now edits an online legal property journal. Looking at where she got her qualificatio, the LSJ also has a cousre that may be applicable to you, but unfortunately there is a cost too
http://www.evening-classes.org/shortwomens.php

nboldock

lauradora wrote: »

Hey everyone.

I would really like to get into writing (yes i'm a big SATC fan) :rolleyes:

I've been looking at information on the internet about the writers bureau. It looks really good but of course there is a fee! which being a dfw I can't justify.:money:

I have a health and fitness background and am a lot more qualified than there people you see writing in these cheap womens magazines about diet and exercise:mad: .

Can anyone tell me where to start??

I do a bit of freelance writing here and there so I hope I can offer a little insight into your question. I'll try, anyway.

Firstly - a nice trick for The Writers Bureau. Send for the course information, then DO NOTHING. Eventually they'll send you some more information, with - surprise, surprise - a "special rate" which will be quite a lot cheaper than the first price quoted - they'll also give you monthly payment options which weren't with the original offer. Hang about a bit more and you might get an even cheaper offer. They'll keep mailing you from time to time though even if you decide not to bother - if you register your email address they'll also send you special offers by email. They're a bit like furniture shops - the next special offer is never far away, so don't rush it into it if you're not sure about whether or not to do the course. That "special price" will be back, and soon!

They do have a money-back guarantee which states that if you don't make your course fees back by the time you COMPLETE the course, you get your money back. As far as I am aware this is a genuine offer but do note - in order to COMPLETE the course, this means finishing EVERY module, and many of them may not interest you or even be relevant to what you want to learn (they cover the whole writing spectrum, except for poetry). Even if you do them all, it will take quite a lot of your time.

There are a lot of free courses and tutorials on the internet which won't cost you anything at all, so have a look around (use our old friend Google) and see what you can find. The Writers Bureau (and other similar courses) does look a good course (I actually completed some of it a few years ago, but never finished it for financial reasons) but it IS quite a lot of money, especially if you don't have a lot of disposable income.

The best advice for any budding writer is this - just WRITE. Write whenever you can, and practice, practice, practice.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do!

N.

Zedkay

Good advice from nboldock. I would add that if you're serious about starting to write, there are lots of writing sites/forums on the internet which allow you to post your work, discuss it and the work of other writers, and learn as you go, and all without paying a bean. The best of them are real communities. Google 'writers dock' for instance. The BBC's Get Writing was a great community but having established it, the Beeb in its wisdom decided to withdraw funding so it's now a shadow of what it was originally. There's still some good content there though.

cbr_2

Following redundancy (early retirement and company pension luckily) I rediscovered my passion for photography. At first I just took photos without any real thought of making any money, then one day someone asked if they could buy a copy of one of them. This gave me the confidence to try to sell a few and during 2007 it's grown to the extent that I've sold 40 prints through various methods. These include my own web site, an Art Market, Craft Fairs and school events such as Summer Fairs etc. I've tried the usual greeting card/postcard thing but with no success.

At the start of the year I would never have imagined I would have sold so many prints, but I'm now keen to push on and do more selling. This helps to fund the inevitable new camera every so often

Any thoughts from anyone on how I can expand this, gratefully received.

Colin.

http://photography.colinrayner.org.uk

Tabby_Kitten_2

lauradora wrote: »

Hey everyone.

I would really like to get into writing (yes i'm a big SATC fan) :rolleyes:

I've been looking at information on the internet about the writers bureau. It looks really good but of course there is a fee! which being a dfw I can't justify.:money:

I have a health and fitness background and am a lot more qualified than there people you see writing in these cheap womens magazines about diet and exercise:mad: .

Can anyone tell me where to start??

Try the 'artist and writers yearbook' it's got lots of useful info in it, it does take a little bit of digging through tho

Zedkay

Any thoughts from anyone on how I can expand this, gratefully received.

I've posted something on the dedicated photographs thread, Colin.

cbr_2

Zedkay wrote: »

I've posted something on the dedicated photographs thread, Colin.

Thanks Zedkay.