Freelance Writing – Knowing the Market
Selling Articles is All About Knowing in Advance Who Will Buy Them
Oct 9, 2009
Many people believe that the way to make a living as a writer is to start writing. In fact the business of being a writer is the same as the business of anyone else who has a product that they want to sell. Writers must approach their craft as a business; and for that they have to understand their products.
How To Make a Living as a Writer
Writers should first realize that they have two distinct products to sell: the first is their own talent, the second is their writing.
Selling Talent
Writers can sell their talent as a “Writer For Hire” adapting themselves to different types of writing jobs, and following the specifications of an “employer” to deliver the product. They can be employed as ghost writers, copywriters, or in any number of writing jobs. This sort of work often involves getting no credit, or name on the printed page. But writers who feel that they must "see their name in lights", still have to approach what they do in a business-like manner.
Selling Writing
Writers who want to sell their writing, with their own name prominently attached face a far more difficult task. For any hope of success they must do a lot of basic groundwork and research first.
Know the Market
Writing speculatively is a very risky business. Writers can spend a lot of time researching and writing an article because it interests them, but unless it interests an editor and a potential readership, then that time will be wasted.
Read, Read, Read!
The first step to becoming a successful writer is to read. Writers must read everything they can in the field in which they want to write. If they want to write articles on specialist subjects such as gourmet cooking, or dog breeding, then they must find all the magazines that are available in those fields.
Who Must The Articles Appeal To?
Writers of articles must remember that they are not writing for themselves. They must write to appeal to and please three groups of people:
- the editors
- the readers
- the advertisers.
Pleasing the Editor
Writers should examine the magazines and get to know the regular features; get to know the editors’ likes and dislikes; a pattern will emerge that will reveal the tone and style of the magazine. It often helps to compare and contrast magazines that apparently have the same market, such as magazines for brides and weddings. By reading them side by side, it is possible for writers to see which magazine is most likely to be interested in their style of writing or the subject matter they have chosen.
Pleasing the Readers
Editors want to please their readers, so getting to know the editor should be be a way of getting to know the readership of a magazine. It’s important to note the differences of approach that appealing to different age groups might have. A cookery article for a busy young mother would be quite different from a cookery article for the 50+ year old gourmet.
Pleasing the Advertisers
The advertisers provide the life blood of any publication. it's important to give as much time to reading the advertising in the magazine as to reading the articles. Examining the types of advertising that the magazine attracts will reveal a lot about the perceived readership of the magazine. If writers can demonstrate to an editor that their articles will be good for what the advertisers believe are the magazine’s target audience, then the editor will know that they will please the magazine’s marketing department.
Hitting the Target
Knowing the market will increase every writer’s chances of making a living as a freelance writer. Writers should approach an editor with a pitch which shows they are targeting the right readership through the right magazine. Apart from demonstrating professionalism, it increases the chance of success for writers.
Find out more about the Basics of Freelance Writing and increase your chances of making a living as a freelance writer.
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