Interview with
Marcia Yudkin
Interviewed by Jenna Glatzer
Marcia Yudkin is the author of nine books about the
business and craft of writing, and marketing for business owners. She has
also written hundreds of magazine articles and is a syndicated columnist, public
radio commentator, and a writing coach.
When did you know you were a writer?
I read poems I'd written on TV when I was seven years old. Strangely, though, by the time I was in high school
no one in my family ever suggested that I become a writer, and we knew no one who wrote. It
wasn't until I was 28 that I began writing for pleasure again and for publication. At that time I still didn't understand the
scope of career options for writers, and thought that writing necessarily meant writing
the Great American Novel. Gradually I discovered that nonfiction is my forte.
You've written hundreds of articles. What do you write about?
I've been writing for publication for 19 years, and during that time my interests have shifted several times.
Early on, I wrote about a lot of social and political issues. Then I did a lot of self-help and personal
essays. Now I write a lot for business owners. And all through this, since I apparently have a talent for explaining how
to do what I do, I've also written a lot about writing.
How can a writer become more adept at negotiating for better payment
and rights?
I think that you have to understand that when you make a living as a freelance writer, you are in business and
you have to think and act like a business person. In the business world, it's normal for there to be
negotiation, offers and counteroffers. People besides writers don't normally take all that personally. I've learned a lot about
negotiation from fellow writers in the National Writers Union and from non-writer
business friends. If you're active in various writers' discussion forums, you can
pick up a lot by eavesdropping on the posts of more experienced writers.
How important is the skill of "selling yourself" to becoming a
successful writer?
Well, I don't ever "sell myself." I sell my work. This is more than a semantic distinction, since it involves
detaching yourself from a live-or-die attachment to any particular publication possibility and
understanding that your work can be rejected for reasons that have nothing to do with you. I see too many beginning
writers feel that their whole future depends on some one magazine saying "yes." This is
not healthy or productive. You need to pursue lots of opportunities and be happy when some work out.
How do you deal with deadlines and time management?
I can't think of any time in 19 years when I've ever had a problem meeting a deadline. Early on I did have a
problem doing a good job by the deadline, because I wasn't given enough time to really get the
research done, and since then I've been careful to negotiate extra time in advance when I think I need it.
What's one thing about this business you wish you'd learned
earlier?
I still wish I was better at finding opportunities that turn into a kind of sinecure, where the writer has the ear of
an editor who gives her assignments more often than not. I haven't figured out exactly why some
other writers are better at that than I am.
Why is it so difficult for writers to make a sufficient living?
Partly it's that writers don't expect enough. If you have reasonably good writing and marketing skills, you
should be making $40,000 - $60,000 a year or more after your first year freelancing. Right now
because of the booming economy and the explosion of the Internet, the market for freelance writers has never been better.
If you're still struggling, you should try to find a more experienced writer to coach
you along, because you're probably making some easily fixable mistakes in strategy or in execution. Web sites and magazines
NEED us to survive!
Anything else you'd like to add for beginning writers?
Yes -- please avail yourself of the free advice at my Web site, http://www.yudkin.com/publish.htm.
