Interview With Moira Allen
Interviewed by Jenna Glatzer

Moira is a freelance writer, author of Writing.com,  and the editor of "Global Ink," Inkspot's new bi-weekly newsletter.  She has also served as editor of Dog Fancy Magazine.

How did you begin your career as a professional writer?

That's difficult to answer, in that I've "begun" that career in several different stages. My career began in 1979, when I took the bold step of contacting a local community newspaper to find out whether I could write for them. I sat through an incredibly boring meeting of the "board," and finally received permission to submit a piece on local recycling efforts. From there, I moved to a weekly local paper, which paid me a whopping $15 per feature.

For the next few years I freelanced in my spare time, while working as a secretary. I moved into another aspect of my writing career when I finally landed a job at the National Institutes of Health as a technical writer/editor, going on to hold several other writing jobs, including a two-year stint as editor of Dog Fancy Magazine.

In 1997, I decided to go "full-time freelance," and have been selling around 30 articles and columns per year since (as well as my new book, Writing.com).

Once you've been at it for a few years, is it easy for a freelancer to make a living through his or her writing?

I'm not sure it ever becomes "easy," even for Stephen King -- though he gets paid a great deal more than I do. I still don't earn a "living wage," though I hope to reach that point this year.

To make a living as a writer, one must also master the "business" side of writing. This year, I actually outlined a business plan, taking into consideration the assignments I could count on in the year to come, projecting my desired goals, and then figuring out just what steps I would have to take to meet those goals. (I'll be writing an article on that process for the February 2 issue of Inklings.)

Such a plan wouldn't have been possible in my first or second year, however. In the beginning, a writer's plan is pretty much to "send out as many queries as possible and hope a few of them stick." It's only after you've established some ongoing relationships with a few editors that you can begin to pick and choose where to invest your time and effort. You also begin to develop an understanding of the type of work that brings the best return on your investment of time -- for example, if you spend four hours writing a piece that brings in $40, and two hours writing a piece that brings in $400, which market should you pursue?!

I've also discovered that to make a "living," I have had to add some editing to my activities. Freelance editorial jobs bring a good wage with a more regular schedule. For example, I am the editor of Inkspot's new biweekly newsletter, "Global Writers' Ink," and I know exactly when I need to do each issue and how much time it will take.

This sort of work brings a regular check, and it's easy to schedule other writing jobs "around" the regular work. (It helps, of course, that I truly enjoy editing.)

You've also been an editor at "Dog Fancy" magazine. How did you land that job?

Through a rather unusual set of circumstances. My husband had taken a new job in California, which meant giving up my NIH job and relocating. I searched for a new writing job for several months without success. Then my mother-in-law sent me an issue of Cat Fancy. We thought the magazine was located in Santa Monica, near where we lived, so I wrote a letter to inquire about editorial openings, thinking I might land something like writing a column or handling a particular section.

As it happened, the Editor in Chief was looking for a new editor for Dog Fancy at that same time. Since my background (at the time) was stronger in dogs than in cats, she called me in for an interview -- which was when I discovered that the office was actually located in San Juan Capistrano, which is about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. I got the job, and we had to move again so that I could actually reach it! (I was also flabbergasted, at the time, to discover that she meant editing the WHOLE magazine!) To be honest, I wasn't sure I was qualified, but my husband talked me into saying "yes" with a statement I will never forget: "If you don't try, you'll never know if you can do it." That's advice I've held onto throughout my writing career.

What were the biggest mistakes you saw writers make when querying your publication?

Probably the most common reason for rejection would be a query or submission based solely on the fact that the writer has a dog. Many magazine readers believe that they can write for the magazine on the basis of "it's a dog magazine, I have a dog, surely they'll want to hear about it." Reader contributions generally tended to be personal experiences, "My favorite dog" or "The story of Poopsie," with no relevance to anyone except the writer. This segment of the would-be writer community, what one could call "reader/writers," generally fails to realize that one's personal experience must somehow have a relevance to the READER -- that readers doesn't want to hear about YOU, but wants information that relates to THEM.

The second most common type of rejected submission was the "dead pet" article. Again, most of these were "reader/writers," readers who had recently lost a beloved pet and wanted to "tell its story." Many of these stories were lovely, but again, had no relevance to the reader. (And some were just plain awful.) And that leads to a tip to sum up this whole problem: If, for example, you want to write an article about the loss of your pet, don't write about your pet and how badly you felt when it died. Instead, turn your experience into something that can help your audience: Write an article about how OTHERS can deal with the pain of pet loss, based on your own experience and coping methods.

For writers who were not necessarily readers of the publication (which is itself a problem), perhaps the biggest mistake I've seen is not focusing a query tightly enough. I would receive queries like "I want to write an article about dog shows." That's a big subject; such a general query, therefore, is bound to get rejected. Writers need to learn how to focus in on a slant, an angle, a subset of a larger topic -- e.g., "Training Tips for the Show Ring."

And then there were the just plain weird articles, like the one that featured a talking dog and a talking frog, whose conversation consisted largely of four-letter words...

Describe the "Redbook Syndrome."

The Redbook Syndrome is similar to the "reader/writer" issue I described above. It occurs primarily in new writers, in individuals who have just decided that they want to try their hand at writing -- and quite logically, they focus on the magazines that are most visible and prominent as the most obvious "markets." Magazines like Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, McCalls, Family Circle, etc., are displayed at the checkout counters of every supermarket.

They are the magazines new writers see most often, and many new writers make the same assumption that would-be contributors to Dog Fancy made: "It's a woman's magazine, I'm a woman, they'll be interested in my experience or viewpoint."

New writers often don't realize how tightly closed these markets are to inexperienced writers. They don't realize that because such markets DO pay thousands of dollars for material, they can afford big names and well-known writers. New writers also don't tend to look as closely at the content of such publications as they should: What are your chances, for example, of being able to write an interview-based piece like "Top Ten Supermodels Share Diet Tips" or something like that?

One of the first things I tell beginning writers is that they need to start looking beyond the checkout counter, at the magazine racks in the back of the store, or better yet, at the magazine racks in a bookstore or newsstand. Barnes and Noble stores tend to have excellent magazine collections. There, writers will find a host of less well-known publications in a variety of subject areas that are far more open to newer writers. Forget Redbook, for now -- until you have a reputation that will open that door to you.

Have you ever come across a deadbeat publisher? What can a writer do if he or she doesn't get paid as promised?

Only once. I was invited to write for a British newsletter -- they wanted a reprint of an article I'd sold to Inklings, AND a new "follow-on" article. I sent them both, and never heard from them again, despite repeated efforts to follow up. In this case, the amount of payment was far too low (around $35) to justify making any effort to take action, and I was subsequently able to sell the pieces to other publications, so I didn't "lose" by writing the material.

But it left me with a very sour impression of this publication, which has also ripped off other Inklings material (market listings) and used it without any attribution or credit.

It can be very difficult to collect from a deadbeat publisher.

Often, the publisher is not in your state, and if you want to file a lawsuit, you have to do so in the state of the defendant. Legal fees usually far outweigh what you would have been paid. About the only thing a writer can do is to persistently demand payment, but we have very few ways to "threaten" a publisher -- we have no clout. You can always hire a lawyer if the amount is sufficient to justify the cost, or if you simply want to make a point no matter how much it costs.

The best approach is to protect yourself in advance by doing business only with established, reputable publications. Watch out for publications that you've never heard of, publications that are new (only two or three issues), or publications that give you any sort of "bad vibes" in their approach or correspondence. Use common sense; if your instincts tell you that something could be a bad deal, stay away from it!

Why does a writer need to insist on a contract?

Perhaps the most important reason is to avoid any confusion over what rights you have sold. To give you an example, I recently corresponded with a writer who wanted to self-syndicate a column that she was currently selling to a local paper. She had read my Inkspot article on syndication (http://www.inkspot.com/feature/syndication.html) and wanted some information about her ownership rights to the column. Specifically, she wanted to know if she would be able to continue selling the piece to the current paper AND syndicate it at the same time, or if she would have to withdraw the column from the current paper in order to sell it elsewhere.

She met with the editor of her paper, who was of the opinion that all columns written for that paper were owned outright by the paper (i.e., "work for hire.") But it turned out that she had never signed a contract with the paper to that effect, so they weren't able to claim ownership of her column. Now, any new contract that she signs will spell out her rights to syndicate the column elsewhere.

One of the key issues of the Tasini decision regarding electronic rights was that, with one exception, none of the authors involved in the lawsuit had signed contracts with the publications being sued for copyright infringement. The most recent ruling in this particular case declared that in the absence of a contract, it is assumed that only First North American Serial Rights are transferred, and that a publication can't claim "all rights" or any other form of rights such as electronic rights. But the fact that this case had to go to court at all is another clear indication of the importance of getting a contract in the beginning, instead of assuming that you and your publisher have the same assumptions about rights transfers.

A contract protects you. It spells out what you have sold (in terms of rights), what the publisher has a right to expect from you, what the publisher offers in return (payment rate), and how the publisher is entitled to use your material. If you then find that the publisher has used the material in some other way, you can easily refer to the contract to point out the original terms. If you don't have a contract, it's too easy for a publisher to say, "Oh, we assumed you understood that such-and-such use was included."

A contract doesn't have to be a huge formal document. (I received one once that was five pages long!) If your publisher or editor doesn't offer you a contract, you can simply write a letter spelling out the terms and conditions that you have agreed upon verbally. As long as your signature isn't on any other document, that should suffice. (Another benefit of the Tasini decision, by the way, is a legal ruling that a publisher can't stamp contract terms on the back of a check, so that signing the check is the equivalent of signing a contract.)

When is it appropriate in a writer's career to start querying big markets?

When you feel that you have the skill and the material to approach such markets. While new writers sometimes query such markets too soon (i.e., right at the beginning), more experienced writers sometimes wait too long, usually because of lack of confidence. If you understand what the market wants, and feel that you can provide that material, go for it!

How has the Internet changed your career?

The Internet has made my career possible! It enables me to conduct research that I would never be able to do offline. It enables me to locate experts on any field imaginable -- which, in turn, vastly expands the range of possible articles that I could write. E-mail communication means getting answers to queries within days or weeks rather than months, which means that the turnaround time on "ideas" is greatly reduced: If editor A says no, I can have the query off to editor B immediately. It also allows a writer to locate markets (offline and online) that would have been almost impossible to find otherwise -- and do some preliminary research on those markets without spending money on sample magazines that turn out to be inappropriate.

I never expected to become an "Internet writer," however. That is something that evolved over time, largely because of my association with Inklings. When I first began to write for Inklings, the publisher (Debbie Ridpath Ohi) was particularly interested in more pieces relating to the Internet and electronic issues for writers, so I began to research those more -- and more, and more, and more!

How can a writer promote his/her work online?

That's a huge area; there are so many things one can do. The first step is to develop a professional website, one that showcases your abilities as a writer. Many writers include a great deal of "personal information" on their sites; my own view is that this is a bad idea. Editors don't want to know about your pets or your grandchildren, or your favorite hobbies. By keeping your site focused on writing -- whatever your area of expertise -- you stand a better chance of impressing editors and getting assignments.

Editors seem more and more inclined to follow up on a writer's credentials by checking a website. This is the place to showcase your best articles, or material that you've written specifically for your site, such as a FAQ on your area of expertise. Think of it as your online portfolio -- what you'd love to show an editor if you could actually sit down in his/her office and show off your clips.

If you have written books, you can use your site to promote them, adding links to your publisher or one of the online bookstores.

Excerpts are a great way to promote books, and a great way to attract visitors to your site; most publishers are willing to let you post a sample chapter or two online.

Discussion groups are another way to promote yourself, though not directly. You never want to "advertise" yourself to a discussion group, but by becoming an active and respected participant, you make connections that can be very beneficial down the line. It's great to go into a bookstore and see a title and realize, "Hey, I know that person, she's on my writer's list" -- and you're all the more likely to buy the book.

I've heard mixed reactions on author chats. I've never done one myself, but plan to do some additional research in this area.

One of the things I've done is to create my own "banner ad" for Writing.com. When I post material on another site, I ask if I can include the ad at the end of the material. It links directly to Amazon.com, and is another way to generate sales and publicity.

What is something you wish you'd learned earlier in your career?

Discipline. When you're trying to start out as a writer, and don't have assignments, you answer only to yourself. Trouble is, "yourself" may not be quite the taskmaster you need. It's so easy to find reasons to postpone writing this story, that article, or that query. When you set your own deadlines, they seem artificial; you know nothing "bad" is going to happen if you miss them. But that's not actually true; even though you don't lose anything in the short term (no editor gets mad at you, you don't lose a check), you do lose in the long term, because you are postponing your dreams. It's so easy for "later" to turn into "never." Too many potentially good writers keep waiting for just the right moment, the right feeling of inspiration, the right living situation ("when the kids are gone"), or whatever. But you never know what will happen. You could be hit by a beer truck tomorrow; wouldn't it be great if you at least got that story written first?

On a minor, but possibly related, rant -- while a writer can come up with an infinite number of excuses to postpone writing, the one that I have the least patience with is any excuse that blames someone ELSE. To give you an example, I once taught a class that included a very talented woman, near retirement age, who wanted to write her "dream" novel. One of the first assignments I gave was to ask everyone to describe the novel they wanted to write, and everyone in the class listened in awe as this woman described a fully developed, fascinating plot and set of characters. BUT... As the class progressed, we heard more and more of this woman's ideas about how she had been (or felt) "constrained" from writing because she was a "woman" and therefore "discouraged" from expressing herself, using her voice, etc. etc. I found it both amusing and annoying; the class had a grand total of one male student, which meant that it was full of women who had apparently had no trouble expressing themselves.

Meanwhile, this very talented person kept finding plenty of reasons why she couldn't start working on her novel "just now" -- reasons that had nothing to do with anyone else OR with "being a woman."

Unless someone locks you up and takes away your pen, no one can "stop" you from writing. But it's so easy to stop yourself. I have been a champion procrastinator, and it's an issue I think most writers always struggle with. But it can be very painful to reach a point in your life where you look back and realize what you COULD have done, if only...

Tell us about your book, Writing.com, and how you got it published.

Writing.com evolved out of the research I was doing on "writing and the Internet" for Inklings -- though not right away! I didn't start out with the idea of writing this book; I actually proposed something completely different to Allworth Press when I first approached them.

But they already had another author working on something similar, so they asked me to come back with some other ideas to pitch. I racked my brain to come up with "other ideas," and what came to mind was developing a book that would discuss how writers can actually apply Internet technologies and resources to the business of writing. So far, the only "Internet for writers" books I'd seen were either basic books that discussed the technology of the Internet itself ("this is a URL, this is a website") or directory-style books that focused on lists of resources. My thought was to develop a book that would tell you what to DO with that technology, those resources.

I pitched the idea to Allworth and they liked it, but they already had a book that supposedly covered similar topics. They wanted to know how my book would compare to the other. I rushed out to the store to buy a copy, read it, and then developed a proposal that did a point-by-point comparison of the topics I would cover, the topics covered by this other book, and what mine would offer that the other book didn't. Within a week, I had the contract.

Writing.com isn't like any other book for writers that I've seen thus far. It's the first book to address how the technology of the Internet is changing the way writers do business -- for example, being able to send queries to editors via e-mail, and how to do that, or how to promote your work online, or how to improve your skills through online critique groups, and so forth. Each chapter focuses on how writers can apply Internet technologies or resources to a particular aspect of the writing business. The research chapter, for example, talks about how to maximize the benefits of search engines, how to locate experts, and how to evaluate the quality of the information you find online. Another chapter discusses how to conduct an e-mail interview (like this one!), or to conduct e-mail surveys. Another takes an in-depth look at electronic publishing, pro and con. This book puts it all in one place -- and perhaps more significantly, it puts it in PRINT, so that writers who aren't already intimately familiar with the Internet can start finding their way around online.

Visit Moira's website, "Tips For Writers," by clicking here. 

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