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Freelance Writing - Magazine publications that pay IF they decide to publish

by Martin Pupke
12 replies
Hi Warriors

Looking for writing gigs online (sites like odesk and freelancer are driving me mad at the prices the user advertise at) I found the following site where you can find magazine publications that accept articles for payment:

Writing Markets - Worldwide Freelance Writer

A lot of these magazines pay $100 to $500 per article. Sounds good right. Well not really because they only pay IF they decide to publish the article and the chances of that happening might be, well who knows.

This seems like a potential waste of effort and time if you get a bunch of articles rejected in a row.

What do you guys think? Am I missing something here?

Martin
#decide #freelance #magazine #pay #publications #publish #writing
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by pupkevicius@aol.com View Post

    This seems like a potential waste of effort and time if you get a bunch of articles rejected in a row.
    It is if you get them all rejected, yes. But magazines that pay for their content can afford to be selective. And if they pay $500, they can afford to be very selective.

    Have a look at books like Writers' Market, and/or the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook. They give some useful advice.

    The important thing is to check their exact requirements very carefully, and look at some previous copies, to be able to tailor what you're submitting to suit their needs as accurately as possible. It's the people who take care with this whose work is accepted. The ones that pay reasonable amounts are typically overrun with submissions, and therefore pretty quick to reject anything from an author who looks like he may not have studied their requirements.

    As with anything, there's a real learning-curve.

    Originally Posted by pupkevicius@aol.com View Post

    Magazine publications that pay IF they decide to publish
    Well, this is natural enough, surely? They're hardly going to pay if they don't decide to publish, are they?
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    • Profile picture of the author Justin Jordan
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      Well, this is natural enough, surely? They're hardly going to pay if they don't decide to publish, are they?
      Most large magazines do. There's a range from the writer gets paid regardless to the more common kill fee, where you get paid something if the magazine decides not to run it.

      Then again, those magazines generally need to be queried about writing for them rather than just sending in articles.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Justin Jordan View Post

        Most large magazines do. There's a range from the writer gets paid regardless to the more common kill fee, where you get paid something if the magazine decides not to run it.
        Those are commissioned articles from established, regular contributors, Justin - hardly what we're discussing here?
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  • Profile picture of the author Lori Kelly
    I don't see it as a wasted effort. In fact, thanks for posting this. A writer could choose something that they are current involved in. That way, if your article gets rejected, simply post it on your own site. Or you could write an article on a subject that your client(s) want and offer to sell it to them.

    Thank you.
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  • Profile picture of the author AmandaT
    Wow, that seems pretty awesome! I've submitted articles to magazines before and got one published in a small time one. It feels great!

    Personally I am really glad you posted that because I would love to try and get published in more magazines. If I get rejected, you know what I'll do? I'll add that article to my portfolio, use it as a Squidoo lens, post it on one of my sites, or sell it as PLR. Just because it gets rejected doesn't mean it is a waste of time.

    EDIT: Thanks for the recommendations Alexa. I do a lot of writing and I do consider myself skilled, but I love learning more about effective writing.
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    I think some old dead dude said something like, "You miss 100% of the balls you don't swing at." Maybe that applies here, dunno...
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  • Profile picture of the author A.Green
    I'm surprised the word "query" hasn't come up yet. Sounds like that's the "something" your missing. Generally, you don't write the whole article and then try to sell it. You write a "query letter" outlining and pitching your idea. That not only saves your time, but it also gives the editor a chance to help you tailor the article to that publication's market.

    Check out the resources Alexa recommended (especially Writers' Market) as well as Absolute Write | Write hard. Write true. And write on. if you want to start writing for magazines.
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  • Profile picture of the author Martin Pupke
    @ Lori Kelly and AmandaT, you are welcome, I suspected this could be very useful for a certain bunch of people.

    For me these magazines might not be the best approach, I would prefer to have clients that pay upfront.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lori Kelly
    Very true pup. But just imagine how impressed your potential clients would be if you could add your published article to your cv.

    Not only would it be a great experience, but if you did get published, it would definitely set you apart from many other writer$.
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  • Profile picture of the author PhilippaWrites
    It's not as bad as it sounds, because you don't send them a complete article straight out. You pitch your idea to them, and if they like it they'll discuss what they want, and only then do you write it. It can of course still not be published, but it's not like you're writing loads of great articles on the offchance. Some magazines pay a kill fee (if they don't publish a commissioned article) but admittedly some don't.
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  • Profile picture of the author Martin Pupke
    @ Lori Kelly, well that a very good point you make. A published article in a Mag will definitely increase the strength of a application for a writing gig. Maybe this is worth pursuing after all... not sure yet need to think about this one a bit more.
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