How to Start freelancing and publishing

One of the hardest obstacles every writer faces is how to begin getting their work circulated and where to begin.

This was something I faced as a writer. I had a lot of ideas for short stories that I wanted to publish, but no starting point for where to publish them. It seemed like it would be  easy when we were kids, reading anything and everything we could get our hands on. We imagined that it must’ve been easy for JK Rowling or Stephen King to get their start.

As we grow older, we start to realize that the road to success is fraught with many potholes and brick walls in our way. Even if we make it through writing the full draft, having it edited and read over, and attempting to promote and publish our work, it still seems a certain amount of luck has to hit at the perfect time in order to reach the goals we want to achieve.

Don’t worry, I’m here to help. Whether you’re looking to put something on your resume or you want to become a professional writer, this article will show you many paths to get your work out there. I can’t promise that this will be your breakthrough for fame or glory, but the resources that I’ll discuss will be able to give you a starting point. 

A lot of this information has been taken from my Creative Writing professor, Professor Virginia Wood, as well as some helpful resources online. So, if you’d like to learn more about any of these topics, consider clicking on some of the links. 

So, with all that laid out, let’s get into it.

Independent Resources

Independent ways of publishing are basically places like online magazines, competitions, and etc. There are many sites online that host competitions that will let you submit your work for a chance of winning prizes or for recognition. 

The first website I would recommend  is called Submittable, which has many different online magazines that are looking for submissions. There are 20+ submission opportunities per day, ranging from general fiction and artwork, to opportunities specific to BIPOC and women. 

The cons of using this resource is that many of the opportunities ask that you must pay a fee (usually from 5-15 dollars) and also that they pick from a selective pool so after paying the fee, you aren’t guaranteed to have your work picked. There may also be some scams in the mix so I would be wary of which opportunities you are picking.

One that I’m specifically looking at is Heavy Feather Review, which is looking for poetry/fiction/nonfiction, etc. to put in their online features. They have a no-fee application and also another one that costs 3 dollars.

Overall, I would rate the website as a 3 out of 5. It has some good perks, but you should definitely be wary when looking through it. 

Other independent resources you can look into are on Publishers Weekly, in which they publish your work to online magazines. But, if you just want to dip your feet in the waters or something to pad your resume, this is something to look into!

If you’re looking to go through an  online magazine that requires a query, the  query should be short and simple. After sending your work, give them a name and other information if required, a sentence or two about the work, and then simply thank  them for their consideration. 

The last option I will discuss is to find ways to independently publish work. This is helpful for those writing  memoirs and nonfiction pieces. Creating a blog is one of the best ways to circulate this type of work. There are many online resources  that can help you create your own blog and from there, you can start writing. Wix is very popular and one that I have often used. It gives you many options as to what kind of blog you want, the purpose for why you want it, resources for more people to view it, etc. It is definitely a spot I recommend people first check out if they’re interested in writing a blog. 4 out of 5 stars. 

Self Publishing

Another option that is becoming much more popular is self-publishing. Self publishing is basically what it sounds like, publishing your work without the use of big companies and agents (although you can have agents to help promote your book). Self-publishing through Amazon is very popular. I’ve had a friend go through Amazon to publish her own novels, and she didn’t find the process too difficult to understand. However, Amazon  over the years seemingly made their system a little difficult to follow . But, if you are interested in using Amazon, here’s a guide to help you. If you are still considering what method of publishing to use, here is another guide  that discusses the steps of both self publishing and traditional publishing as well as the pros and cons of each of the methods. 

Traditional publishing

If you want to go through traditional publishing, there are a few more steps that you have to go through in order to get the attention of companies.

It might be important for you to hire an agent. An agent can be very useful in helping your book get more coverage with marketing and help  you stay on track to finish your book, get  you more opportunities, and more.

The advice I got from my Creative Writing professor that I will share with the rest of you is to deeply research the agents you’re interested in before choosing the one for you. Look into the type of book you’re planning to have published  and compare  if that is similar to what these agents are promoting. This can be very helpful so that you’re giving money to the right person who you know is invested in your idea.

You can start by going through Publishers Weekly or looking at your favorite authors and seeing who represented them first. Check if those publishers are  promoting other books and reach out.

The next step, after finding an agent that you like, is to send them a query. Your query should have information that the agent has required, a little background information as to who you are, as well as the summary for the book you’d like to publish. Make sure to be polite and direct and then send the email/letter to them.

Once you’ve done those steps and found yourself an agent, they should be more than willing to help you find a company to pitch your idea to get the ball rolling. 

Conclusion

Publishing and self publishing seem the most daunting, but when finally done, they can make you feel accomplished and content, knowing your work is out there to the public.

There are many paths that can lead to success, they all take work and many years to achieve. Figuring out what steps you want to take in the process and the way you’d like to go about it is all up to you.

But hopefully this was helpful towards you, and best of luck on finishing your work and publishing it! It’s a long journey, but I believe in all of you to figure it out.

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