Getting Started: A Step-by-Step Guide to Launching Your Writing Career

See also: Handling Your Writing Business · Understanding Rights & Copyright · Secrets of Successful Freelancing · The Writing Life

Begin at the Beginning...

What Is a Writer? - Moira Allen

A Beginner's Guide to Writing Terminology - Dawn Copeman

Planning Your Writing Career - Dawn Copeman

Should You Specialize or Generalize? - Moira Allen

Take Your Specialty for a Spin - Moira Allen

Setting Effective Writing Goals - Moira Allen

Goals Are Worthless If... - Brian Jud

Getting the Most from Online Writing Classes - Moira Allen

How to Read 'How To Write' Books, by Sean McLachlan

Learning the Craft - Dawn Copeman

Is an MFA Program Right for You? - Amy White

Should You Write for Free? - Moira Allen

What Kind of Writer Do You Want to Be? - Terje Johansen

Finding Ideas

Five Unusual Places to Look for Article Ideas - Chryselle D'Silva Dias

Where Oh Where Are All the Good Article Ideas? - Patricia Fry

Finding Markets

Bread and Butter Markets - Moira Allen

Exploring New Markets - Moira Allen

Filling in on Fillers - Moira Allen

Finding Sample Magazines - Without Breaking the Bank - Moira Allen

How to Study a Magazine You've Never Seen - Mridu Khullar

Organizing and Maintaining Your Market Notes - Hasmita Chander

Researching Markets: Looking Beyond the Obvious - Karen Luna Ray

A Smorgasbord of Markets - Penny Ehrenkranz

Targeting the Wrong Markets: The New Writer's Most Common Mistake - Moira Allen

Queries and Submissions

Queries vs. Articles: Which is Best? - Moira Allen

How to Write a Successful Query - Moira Allen

E-mail Queries and Submissions: How to Keep Editors Happy - Moira Allen

What to Do if You Don't Have Clips - Moira Allen

A Quick Guide to Manuscript Format - Moira Allen

Cover Letters: When, How and Why to Use Them - Moira Allen

Cover Me - I'm Going In! - John Floyd

Pros and Cons of Simultaneous Submissions - Moira Allen

Who Are You? How to Write a Good Bio - Devyani Borade

Who's Who on the Magazine Masthead - Moira Allen

Writing Your Bio - Terje Johansen

Conducting Research and Interviews

A Beginner's Guide to Interviewing - Dawn Copeman

Conducting Interviews - Moira Allen

Conducting E-mail Surveys and Interviews - Moira Allen

Creating an Expert File - Kathryn Lay

Expert-Finding Strategies Every Writer Needs to Know - Mridu Khullar

Don't Reach for Any Old Quote - John Rains

It's Interesting -- But Is It Accurate? (The Perils of Online Information) - Moira Allen

Searching the Web - Moira Allen

Why Libraries Still Matter - Ellen Metter

For additional information on researching specific topic areas, see our Romance and Mystery sections.

Crafting Your Article

Becoming Your Own Editor - Moira Allen

Death by Revision - Kristin Camiolo

Facing the First Draft - Moira Allen

Five Fatal Flaws that Can Lead to Rejection - Moira Allen

How to Craft a Great Article, Part I: Structure, Focus, Unity and Flow - Dawn Copeman

How to Craft a Great Article, Part II: Hooks, Leads, and Endings - Dawn Copeman

How to Outgrow "Write What You Know" - Jenna Glatzer

How to Repurpose Your Rejection - Isabella E.C. Akinseye

How to "Show Don't Tell" - Dawn Copeman

How to Sit Down and Write an Article - Dawn Copeman

How to Write Like an Expert - Moira Allen

The Outline Demystified - Moira Allen

What Every Writer Needs to Know About Article Titles - Julie K. Cohen

When "First Person" Is the Last Person You Need - Moira Allen

For more tips on grammar, structure, and polishing your prose, visit the Grammar & Writing Skills section!

Networking

The Benefits of Critique Groups - Michele Acker

The Buddy System - Carol Sjostrom Miller

How Online Critiquing Can Help Your Writing - Moira Allen

How to Give and Receive Critiques - Dawn Copeman

Processing Feedback - Joni B. Cole

Ten Great Reasons (Plus One) to Attend a Writers' Conference - by Susan Denney

Using Informational Interviews to Advance Your Career - Terri Mrosko

Should You Quit Your Day Job?

Balancing Act: Ten Reasons to Keep Your Day Job - Denene Brox

Making the Leap from a "Real Job" to Freelancing - Kathy Sena

To Plunge or Not to Plunge? - Moira Allen

Fifty Tips on Taking the Plunge - Moira Allen

Ready to Quit Your Day Job? - Hasmita Chander

To Job or Not To Job: A Writer's Question - Antonio Graceffo

For more information, check our links to: More Writing Sites · Classes · Critique Groups · Business Resources · Market Guides & Guideline Databases · Magazine & Newspaper Directories · Publications for Writers ·

Writer's Market	Writer's Market Deluxe Online Edition	Freelancing for Newspapers	On Writing (Stephen King)
Starting Your Career as a Freelance Writer	Writer's Guide to Queries, Pitches and Proposals	Writer's Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing	Writing to Win: The Colossal Guide to Writing Contests

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