Changing Freelance Markets

This session was led by Michael Ray Taylor who, like me, also attended Whither Magazines and Breaking into Magazines. He had a very knowledgeable and amiable way of speaking and was, next to Keith Bellows, the speaker I enjoyed best.

Mostly I was overwhelmed by Taylor's accomplishments. He could teach by example, perhaps, with his many adventures and mistrials in the pursuit of magazines. He was a freelance writer for five years of his life and traveled to many, many places in the meantime. He said "It's not a good living, but it is a living." (by which he followed up with, saying that it is more exciting than managing a restaurant, though)

He gave us five points in which to base our pursuits on. Our pursuits, of course, being the "dream magazine." His advice was as follows:

1. Start by sending articles to local magazines, then lead to enthusiast magazines with a small niche and/or trade magazines.

2. Specialize. Use what you know and recycle. Pick something not already crowded with writers.

3. Cultivate a web presence.

4. Cultivate sources and markets. Or, as he put it, become "a professional schmoozer."

5. Grow the break out pieces. Begin writing your break out piece to a small market, revise, send it to a larger, revise, recycycle, and then send it to the "dream magazine."

--Andi