The Freelance Success Book: Insider Secrets for Selling Every Word You Write

by David Taylor

A former executive magazine editor takes freelance writers behind the closed doors of America's top publishing companies to reveal insider knowledge and techniques for breaking in. Taylor, who worked on such leading magazines as Prevention and Men's Health, shows writers how to analyze a magazine's underlying editorial matrix and to shape stories accordingly. Foreword by Bob Teufel, Chairman, Magazine Publishers of America.

368 pages, Paperback

First published February 21, 2003

About the author

There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

For the veterinarian, please see David Taylor

Reviews

[Zinta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author David Taylor, who has worked as an executive editor and is himself a freelance writer, has created an excellent resource for writers who are contemplating a freelance career, or are wishing to transition from part-time to full-time freelancing.

"The Freelance Success Book: Insider Secrets for Selling Every Word You Write" has all the essentials. Taylor asks the hard questions - do you have the passion for this kind of career? Because it won't be easy. From the capital needed to get started, the financial buffer zone in the initial phase, calculating the money side of the equation, to the materials and time and devotion required, he nails it down for you. Freelancing has much going for it, but being self-employed means you have no one else to rely upon but you. Be ready.

Taylor covers doing the research (and it shows when you don't do your homework); conducting an interview; writing the article, the proposal, the book; finding the right market or agent or publishers; copyrights; submitting and query letters; negotiating fees and contracts; meeting deadlines; invoicing; and everything else it takes to build a solid freelancing career. Sample forms are included, ready to be personalized, as are handy "writer's tools" sidebars, recommending Web sites, organizations and other resources.

This may not be the only book needed to enter a freelancing career, but it is an excellent first book, one to keep on your reference shelf and regularly take down to peruse again. Some of the Web links provided I found to be no longer in existence, but that is to be expected in a day and age when sites go up and come down on a daily basis. Most links were excellent and worthy of bookmarking, returning to again and again.

I have been freelancing alongside a full-time career for many years, but Taylor still managed to cover some new territory for me, even as I work toward an eventual goal of going full-time. A writer's thumbs up.

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Freelance Success Book: Insider Secrets For Selling Every Word You Write is a textbook for professional freelance writers, part time freelance writers, or anyone thinking about writing for a living. Furthermore, this book is appropriate for those writers interested in writing for magazines, writing web content, or writing books. This book contains important insight into writing that the author has gained as a teacher, an executive editor at Rodale Press (Rodale, Inc), and as a writer.

This book covers essentially every aspect of writing. Topics include how to determine if you should write full time; how to find time for writing; how to make your writing periods more productive; how to research the various writing markets for potential work; how to determine what an editor wants; the importance of good titles for your work; how writing for the web differs from print writing; and the legalities of writing. In these topics, the author gives advice about how to create a successful writing career based upon good work habits, thorough research, and smart decisions. The author also includes sample invoices, permission requests, contracts, and releases for the readers use.

The Freelance Success Book: Insider Secrets For Selling Every Word You Write is full of enlightening advice for the freelance writer. This book is well written, easy to understand, and is very complete. Furthermore, each topic in this book evolves naturally and logically from the proceeding topic. This book is a must have reference for anyone thinking about writing professionally.