Often, time is an enemy of writers. Sales seem slow and
checks too small. How does one make the most of their
effort? Here are some tips that will multiply your sales.
1. Companies accepting manuscripts from freelancers offer
copies of their writing guidelines and sample copies.
Assume there's a reason for them. Study them. The Internet
will save you much postage and time from when I started.
Study their web sites as well. What do they tell you about
the publication's readers?
2. Think ahead. Lead times for publication are rarely
short. Writers' guidelines often teach Christmas is in
July. Lead times can be shorter for the Internet. Learn
what they are. Submit accordingly.
3. Take advantage of your research. Write more than one
manuscript for the same effort. This adds to your
productivity. Interviewing a camp director? Write a
feature article on how to select a camp for more than one
market. Write a filler article. Write an article on
finding work at a camp.
4. Resell the same manuscript multiple times. My record
for off-line publication with one manuscript is
seventeen reprints. It is easy to surpass this on the web.
5. Resell to editors. Once you sell to a company, send
another query or manuscript to its editor. Some companies
may buy from you for each issue, others will buy only once
every so many months. Learn what they want before you
submit. Learn this from studying their publication before
you query. If they like what you do, keep them happy.
6. Use query letters whenever possible. When an editor has
OK'd a query letter first you usually succeed at selling
the manuscript . This saves valuable time! Kill fees are
more often offered if article results from a query letter
as well.
Take a look at your sales. What has worked for you? How
can you multiply your sales? Brainstorm more ideas. Making more money per manuscript is possible.
Author info: L. C. Peterson is a freelance writer and web
site marketer. The writer's personal web site is
http://www.lcpeterson.com. More publishing tips can be found
at http://www.publishingebooks.com.