In this Issue:

• "Welcome" - Dan Case, editor
  
• Feature "Make Parenting Pay: Turn your Kids into Article Ideas" by Kelly James-Enger
  
• 26 Paying Markets - High, Medium, and Low
  

Want to contribute to this newsletter? We are a paying market. Read our guidelines for contributors here: http://www.writingfordollars.com/wfdguidelines.cfm

Welcome

Check out our new article database. We finished adding our whole inventory of past articles from WFD, now over 400 articles are available to search and read. Find just the right information you need to make a few more bucks in the new year.

Don't forget our database of writer’s guidelines is readily available to everyone for FREE! All links have been checked within the last year (the date that they were last checked is listed) so you can be sure to have the most up-to-date information.

Here are the top-selling writing books at AWOCBooks.com - FREE SHIPPING on selected books! ($2.95 value)

1. CONFESSING FOR MONEY 2nd Edition Writing and Selling to the SECRET Short Story Market by Peggy Fielding FREE SHIPPING!
   
2. DEVOTED TO WRITING by Nancy Robinson Masters & Maurice Parsley Mallow FREE SHIPPING!
   
3. THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO WRITING & SELLING MAGAZINE ARTICLES 2nd Edition by Peggy Fielding and Dan Case. FREE SHIPPING!
   
4. MAGIC STEPS TO WRITING SUCCESS by Charles W. Sasser. FREE SHIPPING!
   
5. THE ORGANIZED WRITER IS A SELLING WRITER by Kathryn Lay. FREE SHIPPING!
   
6. WRITING HUMOR FOR MORE THAN LAUGHS by Phil Truman FREE SHIPPING!
   
7. BE YOUR OWN BOOK DOCTOR: So You Can Cure What Ails Your Writing by Robyn Conley.
   
8. JUMPSTART YOUR WRITING CAREER & SNAG PAYING ASSIGNMENTS by Beth Erickson.
   
9. BOB BLY'S FREELANCE WRITING SUCCESS (How to Make $100,000 a Year as a Freelance Writer and Have the Time of Your Life Doing It) by Robert W. Bly
   
10. THE RIGHT WAY TO WRITE, PUBLISH AND SELL YOUR BOOK by Patricia Fry
    

Dan Case, editor
editor@writingfordollars.com (put WFD in the subject line)

I knew I was looking forward to becoming a parent. My little boy, now 2 and a half, has continually amazed and delighted me from his first smile to his first step to his first time-out. (Well, maybe not that last one.) What I didn't expect? That he would provide endless fodder for article ideas.

Before I became a parent, I was happy covering health, nutrition, and fitness topics. I didn't intend to write about childcare subjects. However, I've found that Ryan is a steady source of story ideas that have helped me break into several new markets and sell both parenting-related essays and articles. If you're a new parent, or simply a new freelancer looking to break into magazines, parenting topics are a great place to start—there are hundreds of magazines, newspapers, and websites constantly searching for parenting pieces that entertain and inspire as they inform.

Keep these tips in mind when writing for childcare publications:

• Present options, not one answer. When it comes to parenting, everyone has an opinion. Don’t believe me? Ask a new mom about the ongoing "breast versus bottle" debate, or ask another parent about the "best" childcare option. Moms and dads look to parenting publications for advice, information, and support—not to be told that they're doing things the "wrong" way. That's why the most important rule in writing about parenting is to avoid preaching or implying that there is only one way to do something.
  
• Start with yourself, but don't stop there. Your own experience is a great place to launch your exploration of a subject, but you shouldn't stop there. Unless you're writing a personal essay, you’ll need to back up the advice you offer with more authoritative opinions and quotes. That means you may have to interview pediatricians, child development experts, dieticians, or teachers in addition to including real-life anecdotes. For local markets, you can use local experts, but if you're writing for national magazines, you'll want someone who is established or well known in his or her field. Call organizations like the American Medical Association or the American Dietetic Association, and ask for referrals to members who specialize in the area you’re writing about.
  
• Celebrate diversity. Parents come in all ages, both sexes, and are of every race, ethnicity and religion. This may seem obvious but too often writers simply assume that their family traditions—such as celebrating Christmas—are embraced by all readers. Don't make that mistake. On the other hand, if you’re writing for a publication aimed at a more narrow audience—say, stay-at-home mothers or parents who home-school their children, it’s okay to focus your story on that group of people. Just keep the audience in mind as you write the piece, and remember that parenting writing is often service writing. In fact, “how-to” articles are the most prevalent kind of parenting stories and for good reason.
  
• Share other parents' experience. Your personal story is a great place to start. But because there are so many different approaches to parenting, readers like hearing about more than one person’s experience or opinion in child care articles. A wide range of sources helps ensure that readers will find something in an article than benefits them.
  
• Come up with new spins. Many parenting stories cover topics like health, child development, discipline, and nutrition. While these subjects are covered over and over again, look for a new angle or new approach to sell your story idea. For example, instead of a tired piece on dental health for kids, I recently pitched and sold a piece on dental traumas in preschoolers that covered appropriate dental hygiene. (I got the idea after my toddler fell and chipped his front two teeth.)
  
• Think big, but start small. You may aspire to be published in national parenting magazines like Parents and Parenting, there are hundreds of regional parenting and child care publications as well. The pay rates aren’t high but these markets are a good place for new freelancers to get assignments and clips—and build experience before cracking national magazines. For example, I've had at least a half-dozen writing students publish their work in Chicago Parent, before they sold work to national publications. In addition to articles, regional parenting magazines also use a lot of reader essays, which is another way to get your work into print, garner clips, and gain experience.

© Copyright 2008, Kelly James-Enger

Kelly James-Enger is a speaker, consultant, and the author of books including Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer’s Guide to Making More Money (Random House, 2005) and Ready, Aim, Specialize! Create your own Writing Specialty and Make More Money (Marion Street Press, 2008).Visit www.becomebodywise.com for more info about her.

• AAA Living - Guidelines:  Pays on publication. Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments, photos/artwork. Subjects: Lifestyle and travel. 

• ADBUSTERS - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, fiction, fillers, photos/artwork. Subjects: Political essays. 

• Adirondack Life - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments, photos/artwork. Subjects: outdoor activities, history and natural history directly related to the Adirondacks.. 

• Advisor Today - Guidelines:  Pays on acceptance.  Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments. Subjects: Life insurance and financial planning. 

• Air Line Pilot - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, photos/artwork. Subjects: Air Line Pilots. 

• Hooters Magazine - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, fillers, photos/artwork. Subjects: Community, supporting our troops, sports, new music, DVD releases, gadgets, cars. . 

• HR News - Guidelines:  Pays on acceptance.  Seeks nonfiction, photos/artwork. Subjects: Human Resource news, court decisions, regulations, trends, new programs, commentary. 

• Orange Coast - Guidelines:  Pays on acceptance.  Accepts simultaneous submissions.  Seeks nonfiction, fiction, columns/departments. Subjects: Orange County government, politics, business, crime, general interest, historical, interviews. 

• Saudi Aramco World - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, photos/artwork. Subjects: Arab, Muslim worlds: arts, history, geography, biography, cross-cultural connections and trends. 

Medium - $125 - $500

• American Angler - Guidelines:  Pays on acceptance.  Seeks nonfiction, fillers, photos/artwork. Subjects: fly fishing. 

• American Girl - Guidelines:  Pays on acceptance.  Seeks nonfiction, fiction, photos/artwork. Subjects: girls 8-12. 

• American Profile - Guidelines:  Pays on acceptance.  Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments, fillers, photos/artwork. Subjects: People, places, and experiences of hometowns across America. 

• Atlantic Unbound - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, fiction, fillers. Subjects: Culture from abroad, contempory culture on the WEB, short stories. 

• Backwoods Home Magazine - Guidelines:  Pays on acceptance.  Seeks nonfiction, photos/artwork. Subjects: How to build your own home, raising animals, food preservation, country skills, home schooling. 

• Canadian Biker Magazine - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments, photos/artwork. Subjects: motorcycle. 

• Gripped - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments, photos/artwork. Subjects: gym climbing, cragging, ice-climbing, big walls and mountaineering in Canada or Canadian climbers. 

• Mississippi Magazine - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments, photos/artwork. Subjects: Mississippi related: interesting people and places, homes, gardens, food, history, culture, special . 

• Monday Magazine - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, fillers, photos/artwork. Subjects: General interest for Mr. and Mrs. Victoria Canada. 

• Ride Texas - Guidelines:  Pays on acceptance.  Seeks nonfiction. Subjects: Motorcycle road trips, day trips in Texas and South Central US. 

• Stanford Magazine - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction. Subjects: Stanford connection: research, public policy, higher education, medicine, science and technology.... 

• Tin House - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Accepts simultaneous submissions.  Seeks nonfiction, fiction, columns/departments. Subjects: Literary. 

• Toward Freedom - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments, photos/artwork. Subjects: Human rights, globalization, trade, labor, environmental preservation, political prisoners. 

• The Writer - Guidelines:  Pays on acceptance.  Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments, fillers, photos/artwork. Subjects: Writing, some poetry about writing. 

Low - Less than $125

• Canticle Magazine - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments, fillers, photos/artwork. Subjects: Catholic femininity: intellectual, physical, spiritual, emotional, and vocational. 

• Fetch the Paper - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments, fillers. Subjects: San Francisco North Bay pets and their people. 

• Georgia Family Magazine - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments. Subjects: Parenting issues. 

• Todays Pentecostal Evangel - Guidelines:  Pays on acceptance.  Seeks nonfiction, photos/artwork. Subjects: Pentacostal Religion.