What Editors Want from Freelance Writers

The world of freelance writing encompasses a broad spectrum of different subjects and approaches to writing; these range from people interest stories in local newspapers to technical journals and software-related publications.

Each of these publications, to varying degrees, relies on freelance writers to supply them with a steady stream of content. In general, in-house writers produce the lions share of the material, but publications rely on freelancers, with specialist knowledge, to produce the material that is outside the scope of their writers abilities or time restrictions.

So, who qualifies as a freelance writer?

Just about anyone. However, there is one absolute prerequisite you have to write in a professional manner.

Though most of us have a fundamental grasp of grammar and have practised our writing skills in high-school, college and at the office, to break into the higher income bracket, talent, experience, and knowledge of the language are all essential.

But for an Editor to hire you, and work with you on an on-going basis, its crucial that you convey that you are professional in all aspects of your work, not only in your love of detecting split infinitives.

You know what those are, dont you?

Indeed, its your commitment to professionalism that will ultimately allow you to develop a career in freelance writing.

Your query letter will probably be your first contact with the Editor. The role of the query letter is to see (i.e. query) if opportunities exist for freelance writers at the publication.

The Editor will obviously be influenced by the quality of this letter. In a sense, its your first deliverable you need to make the right impression. This is where professionalism counts.

Most novice writers tend to make the same mistakes, and effectively rule themselves out of winning any commissions.

The most frequent mistakes they make include:

• Contacting the wrong person. For example, sending it to the Arts Editors rather than the Business Editor.
  
• Spelling the editors name incorrectly. Or worse, addressing the editor as Mr. Instead of Mrs. If you dont know weather the editor is male or female, use common sense and refer to them by the full name, e.g. Dear Chris Evans. 
  
• Spelling the publications name, or news column, incorrectly. Doesnt show much interest, does it?
  
• Sending the query letter to a general address, rather than to a specific person. On the web, this is equivalent to emailing info@whateverwebsite.com and magically expecting a response from the Editor. It will never happen!
  
• Boring the editor. If you cant win his/her attention, youll hardly win the readers. So, you have to make your query both exciting and compelling to read.

After youve prepared your query letter, ask yourself: would I want to hire this writer?

Failing to discuss the proposed article in sufficient detail will disallow for the editor making an informed decision. This is where most newbie writers fall down. Clearly outline the topic, length, and target audience. 

The point is that if youre new to freelance writing, dont rush, take your time and prepare a battle plan for approaching editors.

If you overlook this step, you will probably have limited success is selling your material, and become dispirited despite all your hard work.

Battle Begins

If you are serious about cracking this market, you need to give yourself every opportunity to succeed.

One of the interesting things about freelance writing is that very gifted writers dont always succeed but those with a solid plan carve out very lucrative careers.  

Prepare a media pack

Developing a media pack is one step towards developing your sales arsenal. This pack should include:

• Cover Letter: This one-pager explains what you do, your education, recent publications, specialty areas, with a nice bio to wrap it up.
  
• Photo: Include a high-resolution headshot. Get your photo taken by a professional and ask for copies of the original. DONT get your photo taken in a passport booth it makes you look amateur.       
  
• Samples. In this internet-age, you can keep your material as PDF files or alternately as high-resolution JPG screenshots. You need to be careful with photocopies; they tend to get crushed in the post, torn when opened, and are easily lost. PDF files tend to look more professional and are easily stored. 
  
• References. Provide a list of editors that can be contacted as references. Make sure that the editors agree to this beforehand, as they will be contacted.
  
• Online Portfolio. Setup a nice website and use it as a deluxe calling card. As well as serving as a glossy portfolio, it will generate leads and promote your work. It also shows that youre web-savvy which is essential today. Getting it professionally designed is well worth the effort, as homemade websites tend to look inferior and send out the wrong message.  

Making Contact

Once you have this ready, contact a small number of editors.

With your first media kit, its important not to rush and start a mass-mailing; after all, if there any errors of anomalies in the pack, you can fix them before you send out your next batch.

Also, when you first email an editor, dont attach large files. There are two reasons for this. The first is that their email system may have a policy of stopping large files, and will reject your email. The second is that youll choke their inbox with megabits of data. Editors, especially those who work on small publications, will not appreciate your files restricting their web access as they wait for them to download.        

After you get permission to send the media pack, sit back and be patient. This isnt easy, but if you keep calling the editor, theyll begin to feel nagged and nobody wants to work with such people.

Many writers guidelines will tell you how long to expect before getting a response. 

Once you get feedback from the editors, note their remarks and update your media pack accordingly. For example, if they cant read the PDFs, offer JPG/GIF files as an alternative; if they dont have web access, or dont know how to open attachments, dont be disparaging or snide. Be proactive in a positive way.

Whatever you do, always be courteous. Email can be a clumsy medium for interacting and what initially may appear to be blunt criticism or some harsh words, may not have necessarily mean to be so. Maybe the editor was simply in a hurry.

PS

The secret is to learn from your mistakes, refine your sales material, and go after more business.

In this way, every time you interact with an editor, convince them that youre a real pro. By doing this you will eventually build up their trust, which is a critical ingredient in forming a successful business relationship.