In this Issue:

• "Welcome" - Dan Case, editor
  
  
• Feature "Reading Your Way to Writing Sales" by Kathryn Lay
  
  
• 12 Paying Markets - High, Medium, and Low
  

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Welcome

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Here are the top-selling writing books at AWOCBooks.com - $1 SHIPPING on selected books! ($2.95 value)

1. The Organized Writer is a Selling Writer by Kathryn Lay. $1 SHIPPING!
   
2. The Complete Guide to Writing & Selling Magazine Articles 2nd Edition by Peggy Fielding and Dan Case. $1 SHIPPING!
   
3. Inspire! Writing from the Soul by Linda C. Apple $1 SHIPPING!
4. Confessing for Money 2nd Edition Writing and Selling to the SECRET Short Story Market by Peggy Fielding $1 SHIPPING!
   
5. Who's Your Daddy? by Carolyn B. Leonard $1 SHIPPING!
   
6. Preserving Family Legends for Future Generations by M. Carolyn Steele $1 SHIPPING!
   
7. Connect! A Simple Guide to Public Speaking for Writers by Linda C. Apple $1 SHIPPING!
   
8. Magic Steps to Writing Success by Charles W. Sasser. $1 SHIPPING!
   
9. Devoted to Writing! by Nancy Robinson Masters & Maurice Parsley Mallow $1 SHIPPING!
   
10. Be Your Own Book Doctor: So You Can Cure What Ails Your Writing by Robyn Conley.
    

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

Reading Your Way to Writing Sales

Most writers are readers. It’s part of our love for the written word. If you aren’t using your love of reading to further your own career, you’re missing out on possibilities.

Read and Study:

When I teach my online classes, the first thing I expect my students to do is to read and study the type of publications and writing areas they are writing or hoping to write.

Study magazines and anthologies by not only reading the articles, stories, essays and seeing what they’ve done and how much is done by freelancers as opposed to staff, but by also studying for ideas. After reading several issues of a publication, it almost always sparks several ideas that bounce off of or are opposite a topic they’ve done. Read them to study the types of writing they seem to use most. And read to discover the voice and approach that publication prefers.

Recently I found a devotional publication for kids that was new to me. I wanted to break in so I signed up for the daily devotionals. After a couple of weeks, I printed each one off and read them to get a strong feel for how they are done. I found a pattern, apparent preferences, and that the stories were done in ways that most of the publications I’d written for kids did not want. After coming up with a few ideas, I sat down, wrote one, and submitted it. Four days later I received an acceptance. Took another of my ideas, wrote it, and again, a sale.

Read Market Guides:

When I buy market books or read market information online, I first look through the areas I usually write for: kids, teens, religious publications, women, writing, family, parenting. Once I’ve studied and marked those, I go through and look over the other publications for new ideas, new markets, and new opportunities. Occasionally I see something that reminds me of a recent experience or person I could interview.

Read the Paper:

Many of my story ideas have come from the newspaper. An interesting story might spark an idea for a short story or compel me to contact the person in the piece to interview for an article for a magazine. Even weekend sections on upcoming events have given me ideas to go to an event and write it up for a publication. Many years ago after reading about an old fashioned tent circus coming to town, I quickly called a publication for children and asked if I could write an article about the circus. Then I called the circus to get a contact person. I was given free tickets for my family and time with the youngest member of the circus.

Read Guidelines for Changes:

Magazines and book publishers change. They change editors, focus, ways to submit, payment to writers, and more. If your guidelines are old, look online for more recent guidelines or write for them. Pick up copies of a publication to see if there are editorial changes. If you send in submissions to an editor who hasn’t been there in 5 months, the new editor will assume you haven’t looked at their magazine for awhile. If you are submitting to book publishers and send to an editor who’s long gone, they will assume you aren’t keeping up with the industry and probably aren’t members of Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers, and so on.

When you take time to read and prepare both before, during, and after you write, you up the chances of making that important sale.

© 2010 Kathryn Lay

Kathryn Lay is the author of two published children’s books, eight soon to be published children’s books, and six under contract. She has had over 1800 articles, essays, and stories published in Woman’s Day, Highlights for Children, Guideposts, Chicken Soup books and more. She is also the author of The Organized Writer Is a Selling Writer, AWOC.COM Publishing. Check out her website at www.kathrynlay.com for information on books, speaking, and online classes or email her at rlay15@aol.com

High - Over $500

• Diabetes Self-Management - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction. Subjects: Diabetes, self-management. 

• Flight Journal - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, photos/artwork. Subjects: Aviation history. 

• InformationWeek - Guidelines:  Pays on acceptance.  Seeks nonfiction. Subjects: Information technology, trends, business, computer. 

• Outside - Guidelines:  Pays on acceptance.  Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments, photos/artwork. Subjects: Outdoor sports, expeditions, skiing, biking. 

Medium - $125 - $500

• High Country News - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments, photos/artwork. Subjects: Environmental, cultural, and social issues in the Western United States. 

• Mothering - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments, photos/artwork. Subjects: Parenting, mothering, child care. 

• Outside Bozeman - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments, photos/artwork. Subjects: Outdoor activities & adventure, limited to southwest Montana and surrounding area. 

• The Old Schoohouse Magazine - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, photos/artwork. Subjects: Exploring all facets of home-based education. 

Low - Less than $125

• Cadet Quest - Guidelines:  Pays on acceptance.  Seeks nonfiction, fiction, fillers, photos/artwork. Subjects: Christian-oriented magazine for boys ages 9–14. 

• Dialogue - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, fiction, fillers. Subjects: Of interest or assistance to newly blind or visually impaired individuals and their families. 

• Linn's Stamp News - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, photos/artwork. Subjects: Stamp collecting, from the beginner to the most sophisticated. 

• Musicworks Magazine - Guidelines:  Pays on publication.  Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments, photos/artwork. Subjects: Creative engagement in sound exploration, music, radio, concert, etc. 

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