Question of the day: Is it totally impossible to become a freelance writer and actually make some money at it?  I've seen some websites like "Suite101," that indicate it's a piece of cake to write a 500-word blurb, and make $100 overnight.  Is that too good to be true? 

To begin with, if something is too good to be true, it probably is. I don't know anything about Suite101, but I can tell you, in my experience, most successful freelance writers became successful by getting their feet (and hands) very dirty while establishing themselves, and that, like it or not, there are no easy shortcuts on the way to ascending the ladder of writing success. 

I've blogged about starting out in the industry before - so you might want to check out the archives - but I'll suggest once again that you start small while aiming big. When I say start small, I don't mean a quick fix for $100 (again, I'm not slandering the above website - I took a look at it, and it looks like a decent enough place to learn a few things, though I really have no information on them at all, so please don't infer this as either an endorsement OR a disparagement). I mean taking the time and care to attempt to build your clips and portfolio with decent work that can lead you to a bigger platform. These days, websites are an incredible way to do that: many of them are looking for a lot of content with a quick turn-over, and though I've been out of the freelancing trenches for a bit, in my experience, they were usually much more willing to take a chance on a greener writer than the national magazines were. Will they pay you a ton? No. But will you hopefully get a great clip to prove to a bigger market that you're indeed a writer? Definitely. 

Back when I was starting out, front-of-book pieces (the short 100-300 word blurbs in the first 1/3-1/2 of magazines) were another excellent place to get your feet wet. Editors are never, ever going to take a chance on a totally new writer by handing them a feature, but they might give you something smaller to prove your worth. These days, with so many magazines shuttering and others handing assignments to in-house editors, this venue may be even tougher to crack, but like I said - there really aren't any shortcuts in this industry, and like it or not, you'll have to put in long, hard hours (and probably years) until you're earning a steady income.

Which, of course, doesn't mean that you can't or won't. I did, and I have plenty of friends who did and who do. But freelancing has a snowball effect: you need to build momentum and keep that momentum going to really build into something great. It's okay to start small, but I wouldn't suggest trying to cut any corners - I think you'll likely only be put back at square one when those corners prove to be dead ends.

Question of the day: I am a freelance writer whose byline frequently appears in magazines (SELF, Women’s Health, Fitness, etc). Lately I’ve had friends (writers and even people in other business, like PR, hoping to cross over into journalism) asking for editor’s contacts so they can pitch stories. While contacts are not difficult to come by I feel very protective of them. Have you ever had this issue come up? What do you do? Am I being selfish for not giving them the contacts?

Ooh, juicy question, and I'm sure that every writer has a different answer, but I'll give you mine. Others, please weigh in below! 

I definitely know of what you speak. When I was writing for mags frequently, this happened often, and now that I'm primarily doing fiction, I get asked for my agent's information quite often, and well, sure, it can be tricky. I think if you're being asked by folks who aren't writers, well, then that's doubly-tricky because you have no idea if these people have any clue what they're doing. As I'm sure you know, when someone uses your name, the quality of their work can reflect back on you, so of course you're hesitant to share!

That said, when I was in the thick of magazine work, I pretty readily shared my contact info because this information was so easily available for public consumption. I also always found that when I was generous with my fellow writers, there would eventually be a time when they'd help me out when I needed a favor in return. (Not that this is why I'd share, but you know, karma and all of that.) That said, again, these weren't hard-won contacts...they were google-able, and yeah, people should google first before asking because really, aren't freelance writers researchers at heart?...and if you can't even attempt to unearth the most basic of information, I'm not quite sure that you're adept at your job...but...sometimes it's easier to send a friend an email instead of plugging something into google.

HOWEVER. IF I weren't familiar with a person's track record OR if I didn't have a close relationship with the editor such that he/she might get annoyed that I'm sharing contact info, I'd actually say something like, "Here is the info but I'd rather you didn't use my name." This isn't a slight at all on the writer: in fact, I'd say that when and if YOU/I offer someone the ability to use YOUR/MY name, well, THAT'S going above and beyond. THAT is the favor, and that's more than enough, more than you owe someone. The fact that you're taking the first step is still generous. (In fact, there is nothing more disrespectful than dropping someone's name without their permission: it's is a big NO NO in our industry - so remember that just because someone was generous enough to pass you an email does not give you the right to say that she referred you. Ugh. This will INFURIATE the person should she ever find out - I've seen countless rants on writers' boards about this, FYI.)

However you choose to deal with this, I think it's fair game. Again, my instinct was to pass on a name/contact if I respected the writer's work because, well, I've long believed that there's enough work to go around, and if this writer had a great idea, well, I DIDN'T have that idea, so why shouldn't she be able to sell it? It wasn't really infringing on my ability to drum up other work. I also believe, as I noted above, that sometimes it's nice to have collaborators and know that there's someone you can turn to when it's your turn to ask for a favor. But if this doesn't work for you, I understand. I'm much more guarded with referrals to my agent because I'm not going to waste her time, and I'm not going to ask her to go out on a limb for me when I have no idea if the work will speak for itself. Again, this isn't an issue of whether or not I like or respect the writer - I have countless writer friends/contacts, but I can't refer all of them to her...I just...can't. It's not fair to anyone involved. 

So I say do what feels right for you in that specific situation. You already know that who and what you refer reflects back on you, so be judicious while also remembering that someone might cop you a much-needed favor someday too.

But I'd love to hear what others have to say. Will you weigh in below?

...because, as Julie Andrews would say, it's a very good place to start.

Question of the day: When submitting to a magazine, do I send the completed article? And do I send it out to several places at once or wait until I hear back from one to send to another?

To answer the first question: no, no, no! :) Please, do not write up an entire article and submit it to editors, this is the mark of a newbie. Editors want to hear the strongest, most persuasive nugget as to why the yet-to-be-written article should be assigned, and then, from there, you'll write it. Why? For one, they may want to tweak your idea/your angle, but for two, every magazine has a slightly different slant, and an editor wants to be sure that an article is written just for the mag. For three, it's a waste of your time to write an entire article on the very off-chance that an editor will buy it, and for four, working with editors is a collaboration - you don't just hand them the finished product without an input on their part. Frankly, I'm sure that there are dozens of other reasons you don't submit a completed article, but you get the idea. Write up the best possible pitch - with detailed, interesting, specific research, and that's enough for now.

The exception to this rule is essays, which for the most part, are usually completed before submission, op-eds, and to the best of my knowledge (though I don't write for this genre, so I could be wrong), travel stories. Other than that, stick with a query.

Should you simultaneously submit? Well, this is tricky. When I was actively pitching magazines, I tended not to, for a few reasons. 1) I had relationships with these editors, and so, not only would they usually get back to me pretty quickly (and thus give me time to get it out to someone else if they passed), but I also didn't want to risk pissing one of them off. It wasn't worth it when I could wait a week or so to hear back. 2) Even if they took longer than a week to get back to me, most of my pitches weren't time-sensitive, so it's not as if I had real justification - other than the ants in my pants - to send it along to multiple places. If it WERE time-sensitive, I would have written that in my pitch and said I hoped to hear back asap. Then, if I didn't hear back, no one could be annoyed that I moved along to someone else. 3) Like it or not, unlike agent queries, in which multiple submissions are actually encouraged, multiple submissions are frowned upon in the mag world.

NOW, that said, if you're just starting out, would I tell you absolutely not to query to a few different places? No. The odds of two outlets assigning a piece to a newbie (to them) writer are pretty slim, to be honest, so I don't think - except in very unusual circumstances - that you'd be faced with two editors clamoring for the same piece. Additionally, a freelancer obviously always needs to look out for number one, and if getting a few clips and making a little $$$ is your primary goal, well, then, go for it. A safer route might be to pitch different angles on the same idea to non-competing mags: don't pitch XYZ to Self, Shape and Fitness, but sure, pitch it to Self and Men's Health because no one will really care if you find a way to make it unique for both of them.

Any freelancers out there want to weigh in on this tricky situation?

Question of the day: I've written several articles for local/regional magazines and I've been trying for some time now to write for national magazines. I would love to articles write about people/celebrities and get a chance to write for magazines such as Rolling Stone, Allure, etc. What advice could you give me to try to break into that market? I know it's extremely competitive and some magazines don't use freelancers. What could I do to get a chance to write for some of those magazines? If it's almost impossible, just tell me! I can take it... 

I'll be honest with you: celebrity profiling is tricky. I'm super-fortunate in that I get to do it, but if I had to tell someone whether or not to pour a lot of energy into pursuing this outlet as a money-maker for her career, I'd probably say no. Here's why: booking celebrities is a bit of a catch-22. Their publicists act as their gate-keepers (understandably), controlling who gets access, and when and why. Often times, you need to already have a relationship with said publicist to gain access, or if you don't have a relationship, you need to have proven that you have the chops to interview a big-time celeb...and how do you do that without having actually interviewed one? Furthermore, you also encounter the problem of landing an assignment without proving to your editor that you can, indeed, land the celeb in question. Publicists aren't going to give you a carte blanche to pitch their client to magazines, and magazines might not want to assign you a piece if you don't already have access.

See why this can be tricky?

That said, I've been doing celebrity interviews for many years now, and yes, I do love doing them. If you're determined to break in, I suggest that you start small: pitch an editor with whom you already have a relationship so if the publicist passes, your editor knows that it's not you, it's them. Furthermore, ensure that the celebrity in question has a project to peg to the piece. Matt Damon isn't going to grant you an interview just because you feel like interviewing him - he'll need to be promoting something. Additionally, because you'll just be trying to get a toe in the door, I'd recommend starting with less high-wattage stars. Build your clips, prove to the publicist (and editors) that you won't turn into a stammering idiot when you get your favorite star on the phone, that you can ask tricky questions and that you can put together a well-paced piece without sounding like you're writing fan fiction. 

If you've gotten the go-ahead from your editor, you email the publicist with all of the criteria you require: how long you'll need for the interview, the deadline, if you'll need a photo shoot, etc. Again, this is where relationships can really come into play. For example, I covered a lot of supporting players for a publicist - pushing them through to an editor when they might not normally have gone through, and so, when it came time for me to request a big A-list cover, I got a "yes" when a random interviewer might not have.

Like just about everything in this industry, establishing your celebrity interviewing cred takes time. It's not particularly lucrative, simply because there aren't a TON of outlets who are willing to take a chance on a new writer with something as sensitive as this - you often only have one shot to interview the celeb, and you better get it right - and even though it IS a lot of fun to chat with people whose work you admire, the logistics behind landing these interviews are often complicated. From the scheduling to the publicists to the occasional nerves. So that's sort of the nitty-gritty, honest truth behind the glam.

I love it, love it. But it's not for everyone, that's for sure. Anyone else out there interview celebrities and have anything to add/disagree/agree on?

I am an American journalist in Milan and recently wrote a book on my absolutely insane pregnancy and birthing experience (I labored in a broom closet with no assistance because of hospital overcrowding, for one) here with Italian public healthcare. Long story short, I wrote this book and have been querying agents since March. I'm at about 50 agents now out of the proverbial 100 agents one should query. I've had about five requests for partials and one request for the full manuscript. Sadly, all of the agents who requested to see my material then passed on representation. I'm actually taking it in stride pretty well because I know that rejection is the name of this game. But several agents have commented that my book would make a great long piece for The New York Times magazine or The New Yorker. As a journalist, I take that as a huge compliment. But here's the thing: I've already written the book, and I'm invested in publishing it as a book!

My question is: Do I scrap the book and pitch this as a long-form magazine piece? Do I pitch the magazine piece and hope an agent sees it and then publishes my book?

My initial gut reaction is: why not do both? There is absolutely no harm, in my opinion, in pitching your story to places like the New York Times magazine, or even better (because I think you might have a better shot of publication), women's magazines, while simultaneously continuing on your quest for an agent. I often hear about journalists who publish articles and who are then contacted by agents who are interested in repping the books...in fact, it happened to me once or twice when I was in the thick of the magazine world.

This way, I feel like you're covering all bases. You have no reason to give up on your hopes of getting the entire manuscript published but you also have a chance of getting your story told (and then generating further interest), even if it's an abbreviated version in a magazine. The bottom line here is that both of these roads could lead to your book publication, so travel down any/all to see where they might lead.

Just my opinion, of course! Anyone else want to weigh in?