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The
Language of Freelance Marketing By Mridu
Khullar Newbies usually
enter the world of publishing with the notions of submitting articles, receiving
prompt replies and getting published. After all, the next-door-neighbor did just
that, and now she has a byline and everything. Maybe your neighbor’s lucky.
Maybe she’s lying. In all probability, she’s established. She probably
spent the first few years of her career querying and getting rejected just like
you. After countless rejections and what seemed like years of effort, editors
started recognizing her name. Her constant queries made them think that she was
in it for good, and she wouldn’t let them down if they trusted her with an
assignment. They did, and she didn’t cave in. She excelled at what she did,
because this was the big break she’d been waiting for. And once she was
published, there was no looking back. For freelancers,
knowing the basic terminology before they begin can be a valuable lesson in
earning a few extra dollars in that initial stage. When I started my freelancing
career, I knew nothing of rights, simultaneous submissions, querying or varying
payment rates. All I knew was – I could write. Everything else, I learnt on
the job. You will too. But just to make your stay a little less frustrating, and
a lot more enjoyable, I’ve listed a few concepts that will help you immensely
as you contact editors and try to make them pay you for your words.
Copyright It’s yours as
soon as you have those words on paper. You don’t have to register copyright to
claim it, though if you’re writing a novel or book, it’s a wise investment.
Registered copyright is proof enough for a court of law, and is extremely
valuable in cases of dispute. However, for short materials like articles or
essays, copyright needn’t be registered. You can however, club a number of
essays and register them together. Reprints Reprints are
articles, essays or pieces that have already been published. If you own the
copyright (more on that later), and want to sell the piece again to another
publication, it will be termed as a reprint. Most publications pay much less for
reprints and some don’t accept them at all. However, for a freelancer,
sometimes reprints bring more income than original articles do. Rights Earlier,
magazines asked for all rights to articles. Even today, in many countries,
including my own (India), most magazines want to keep all the rights ensuring
that the articles in their magazine remain unique to them. However, this trend
no longer exists in America, Canada and England, and is making headway into
other nations as well. Now, almost all magazines in these nations refrain from
asking for all rights to the work. Others have opened their doors for reprints,
which is a boon for writers. Let’s look at some of the different kinds of
rights.
Payment on Acceptance Vs. Payment on Publication You’ve written
an article and the editor has approved it. Now comes the time to pay you. Well,
not quite. Many publications prefer to pay their writers on publication, meaning
when the article appears in print. In established magazines, the time between
acceptance and publication can be months, so you may write an article in
January, and be paid for it in June. Always try to get paid on acceptance. Clips When you write a
query, the editor wants to see more than just a good idea. She wants to know
whether you can do it justice, whether you’ll be able to carry it through or
not. For this, she needs to see samples of your writing. Published samples are
termed as clips. Simply stated, you photocopy the pages of approximately three
magazines in which your articles have appeared and send them to the editor. If you haven’t
been published, you’ll still need to send in samples of your writing. For
this, write out an article or two related to the subject of the magazine, and
send them off with your query. Lead Time A magazine
usually asks writers to submit their work well in advance so that there are no
last-minute goof-ups. Magazines, especially reputed ones, cannot risk delaying
an issue because of a single writer. This period is usually termed as lead-time.
Although most magazines have lead times of approximately three months, many have
periods of more than six months. Kill Fees Editors often “kill” articles that they’ve assigned. To the writer, this could
mean wasted time, as well as money. To reimburse the writer for her research and
hours put in, magazines usually have a 20-50% kill fee. Simply put, if your
query has been accepted, but your article isn’t published for some reason,
you’ll be given a kill fee for your work. Expenses For your
article, you may have to interview a subject. In some cases, you may have to
make long-distance calls or spend a few bucks on travel, lunches and other
expenses. All such expenditures incurred for the assignment are usually paid for
by the publication. You should be very clear on this before you get on the
assignment. Usually, editors will agree to reasonable expenditure refunds. Bios and Photos Haven’t you
sometimes noticed how the author’s picture or contact information appears
alongside the article? Yours could, too. Although this isn’t always done,
sometimes editors may agree to put up a photo or a short bio beside your
article. It never hurts to ask. Simultaneous Submissions Although this is
something magazines advise against, it isn’t always feasible waiting three
months for your hot idea to strike a note with the editor you’ve submitted it
to. This is where simultaneous submissions come in. Although I truly warn you
against submitting the same article to more than one publisher (I did it, and I
regretted it), I do advocate simultaneous queries. Now that
you’re armed with the basic knowledge, you’re all set to go out into the
big, bad world of publishing, and show them what you’ve got. Good luck! Mridu is a freelance writer from India and the Editor-in-Chief of www.writerscrossing.com. She is a prolific book reviewer and has been published in many national and online publications. Recently she compiled the ebooks "Markets for the Freelance Writer" and "Publishers on the Web" available FREE from her website. Contact her at mridu@writerscrossing.com
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