Freelancing for Pleasure and Profit

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Ahh, the proverbial question that has stumped scholars for centuries. Which really did come first? I don’t profess to know, or even care for that matter. In the world of freelance writing, however, there is a similar issue that is sometimes considered by writers. Which comes first, the query or the article? I have heard significant logic to back up both sides of the question.

Most professional writers swear by first writing the query and waiting for a response from an editor before actually writing the piece. Their theory makes perfect sense. Why waste all that time and energy researching, interviewing, and writing, when the editor’s answer could very well be no?

Some writers, however, feel the urge to write for the sake of writing. Once the article or story is near perfection, then they begin to query for publication. I must say I understand this theory as well. If the article or story covers a fairly broad range of interest, and it is well written, it may in fact behoove the writer to go ahead and write it. After all, the chance that it will eventually be published remains.

The second theory often becomes left by the wayside once a writer has a steady stream of assignments. Since there are still only twenty-four hours in each day, even the most professional of writers runs out of time. Therefore writing an article before an editor has accepted it becomes a potential time waster.

I have found that having a rotation of paperwork circulating works best for me. For example, once I’ve had an article accepted, I immediately send out a new query or queries to other editors (for different articles of course). Once the first article is submitted and all necessary revisions are made, there are often one or two articles waiting in the wings to be written. An example follows:

Monday: Receive acceptance from Magazine D for article on Guide Dogs.

               Finish up article due Tuesday for magazine B on Bonding with Your Baboon.

               Query Magazine A for Anteaters in Antarctica

               Query Magazine F for Four O’Clock Follies Are Back!

               Query Magazine T for Turtle Time Saves the Turtles

               E-mail query several online publications

               Finish articles for online publications

Tuesday: Submit Guide Dog article.

                Receive acceptance from two online publications for articles

                Begin writing one of the online articles

                Begin researching second online article

                Query two more online publications

                Query Magazine D for Disabilities Don’t Get Me Down

This should give you an idea of what I mean by “rotation” or “circulation”. This way there is always plenty of work to do. There are the written assignments pending acceptance, and you are constantly working to either write or query even more.

Since the explosion of online publications, no writer should be without work. Granted, they don’t always pay the rates that print magazines pay. However, they often require shorter articles. And they don’t require trips to the post office. I have also found that online queries seem to be answered in about half the time of queries to print publications.

Most all writers find a system that works for them. And I seriously doubt that many of them give any thought to whether the chicken or the egg came first. As long as the work is coming in, (and the pay checks, too!) it doesn’t really matter if it was egg or chicken.

Now, what about the question of published clips? Doesn't that kind of fall under a similar adage? Which came first--the published clip or the published article? Of course, any freelance writer knows that in order to have a clip to send to prospective editors, one must have already garnered that first published piece. But what happens when that budding freelancer is proposing his or her first article? How can the writer send a clip if the writer hasn't yet been published, and does this lend yet another hint of inexperience to an already hesitant editor? It needn't. Obviously if you find yourself at the point in time where you're ready to query an editor, you've obviously written something of value for someone. Maybe it's a church newsletter or a PTA bulletin. Simply swallow your pride and tell the truth.

"I don't have any published clips in my file yet, but I do have several decent writing samples."

If in fact the samples are good, and have been used in some kind of minute publication, most reasonable editors will give them almost the same weight as an actual published clip. So the proverbial chicken and egg theory has an actual answer here. The published article obviously comes before the clip.

Now, why did that chicken decide to cross the road?

Kimberly Ripley is a freelance writer and published author. Freelancing for Pleasure and Profit will appear twice monthly at Books.Gather.com. View Kim's recent publications at kimberlyripley.writergazette.com.