Book Review by Maryanne Raphael, Writers World
Sustain a Lucrative Career while Wearing Pajamas
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MAKE A REAL LIVING AS A FREELANCE WRITER explains how to be successful “in today’s publishing climate where the Internet rules and stamps are nearly obsolete and the articles that earned front-page headlines last decade wouldn’t even get short blurbs today.” The book shows how to earn top dollars writing for magazines, how to write a marketable story, how to know what sections of a magazine welcome freelancers, how to market reprints, and how to become an expert in your chosen field.
Author Jenna Glatzer is the editor-in-chief of Absolute Write and author of Outwitting Writer’s Block. She is a full time writer from NYC who has published 9 books and hundreds of articles. Her style makes reading fun with her quick wit, vast experience, knowledge of her subject and her use of meaningful quotes, relevant anecdotes and helpful resources.
She says, “You’ll have to learn where to find writing markets and how to study them, write irresistible query letters, make editors fall in love with you, get regular assignments, negotiate, make deadbeats pay up and more.” She helps discover your strengths and how to use them.,, shows you how to set goals, see writing as a business and get started.
”You must find something worth telling to a mass audience,” she says, “and convince the ‘powers that be’ that you’re the right person to tell it.”
She even tells how to make the most of rejection slips, how to network, write a column, interview, write for the Internet, have a Web Site, and make your article timely. She shows how to become your editor’s favorite by being “reliable, accurate, nice, respectful of the editor’s time and by proposing plenty of new ideas with regularity.”
Author Glatzer helps readers learn from her mistakes as well as her achievements. After stating that big magazines do not want stories that have appeared elsewhere, she tells how she goofed once . “You shouldn’t be a dummy like me and actually emphasize this as a selling point in your query.”
The book tells everything you need to know about taxes once you start earning money from your writing. By the time you finish this book, according to the author, “You’ll have the insider knowledge you need to figure out what sells to whom and how to build up and sustain a lucrative career while wearing pajamas.” I’d recommend the book to anyone who wants to try freelance writing.
