Get a Freelance Life: mediabistro.com's Insider Guide to Freelance Writing

by Margit Feury Ragland, Laurel Touby (Foreword)

Write Your Own Check

Considering a career in freelance writing? Already a freelancer but seeking practical, solid advice on the basics of the business? Get a Freelance Life is the complete guide to all aspects of a freelance writing career, straight from the creators of mediabistro.com—the nation’s most connected, authoritative source for media professionals.

Learn how to:

• Write compelling pitch letters

• Network with the best in the magazine and newspaper industry

• Understand the freelance market and detect its changes

• Self-edit and rewrite your work

• Manage tight deadlines

• Negotiate contracts

• Survive the financial ups and downs of the freelance life

With plenty of insider advice and tips from the most successful freelance writers and editors in the country, Get a Freelance Life is a must-have resource for turning your freelance gigs into a full-fledged writing career.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Business, Reference

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 25, 2006

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book in 2006, when I was just beginning my freelance writing career. Now, I've retired and am looking back at this book.

Know how many times it helped me in my career?

Zero.

Know how many times it was relevant to my career?

That would also be zero.

The world of freelancing was changing radically even when this was published. Now. It's nearly impossible to make a decent living at it. Job boards like Media Bistro are a Goddamn joke. They're often laden with scam jobs, where they want you to write a 1500 word article for free. They then don't hire you, but you see your article up online under a fake name and there's fuck all you can do about it. Or, you get hired for a place that needs you make a minimum requirement like $50 before you can cash out. You go to cash out ... and the site suddenly shuts down, vanished from the Internet.

And don't get me started on AI or clients that want you download dodgy software before they'll hire you.

Yeah, freelancing is a great job.

You want to be a freelance writer?

DON'T.

Learn to be a plumber instead.

So, anyway, this book is completely outdated and useless.

[Efrem · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives a comprehensive view of the world of freelance writing. It provides a wealth of resources for those aspiring to get into journalism. Even though the book is a few years old, the information is still quite valuable.

[Bakari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Get a Freelance Life, by Margit Feury Ragland is a third Kindle ebook I’ve read on my iPad. I probably should have purchased the paperback edition of the book because I think it’s a useful reference book if you’re going to be a freelance writer.

Get a Freelance Life is not the only book you’ll ever need about the freelance writing profession, but it’s pretty comprehensive, covering all the basic things you need to know to get started. It gave me some great ideas for developing a sort of business plan for taking my freelance work to another level. I’ve been getting paid to write for a couple of online sites (www.makeuseof.com and AppleMatters.com) and I’m actually liking the work almost more than doing wedding photography. But like photography, freelance writing has its own challenges, and it’s definitely a competitive field to get into.

Anyway, Get a Freelance Life covers most of the essentials, from finding ideas to write about, getting your first assignment, to what you need to do to boost your income. The last part of the book was/is most useful to me. In fact, I think part 4 of the book, "Mind Your Own Business", could be another book in itself, for taking freelance writing to a professional level is almost as difficult as learning to write effective articles. I’m learning that I need to spend about 40-50% of my time working on the business aspects of freelancing if I’m going to really make a good income in this area.

Now that I’ve read the book, I might join the companion website, mediabistro.com, to learn about what’s going in the profession.

[Kellea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Get A Freelance Life is a great insiders resource for aspiring freelance journalists, bloggers, and authors. It's an easy read and chock full of information that you will need to be successful. I also like that it was put together by one of the best online resources for freelance writing, mediabistro.com

If you haven't visited mediabistro.com, I encourage you to do so and take advantage of the free resources there, as well as the paid resources that you get from Avant Guild, an exclusive service offered to freelancers. Mediabistro.com also offers online course, radio show podcasts on iTunes and Blog Talk Radio, and job postings in various areas of journalism. I think it's one of the best resources online and if you are serious about freelancing, it's the place to be.

[DeAnna Knippling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I read this book for the wrong reasons; I can't really give it a star rating.

This was a book on how to run a freelance business writing for magazines. I've read a lot of books on how to run a freelance business in general (writing and non-writing), so it wasn't really new information for me.

The sections on how to write magazine articles were too overviewish for me; I wanted more specific details. This was not a book designed to provide those details.

Thus - no star rating.

However, I thought the resources section was particularly well written (clear, not overloaded with STUFF, yet thorough), and worth checking out for anybody interested in the topic.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Other than the constant plugging of mediabistro.com, this was a quite useful book. As someone just starting out as a freelancer, there were a lot of "oh god i have to do this NOW" moments (taxes, woo) and much note-taking. The editors' quotes throughout are useful but simultaneously entertaining since each editor has different specifications--there's no one rule to submitting, it seems. I didn't agree with every single piece of advice in the book, but most of it was solid. Overall, a useful tool that I'd definitely recommend to anyone else starting out as a freelancer.
The most useful piece of advice? Get a good desk! I just upgraded and it's made a huge difference.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

For years, mediabistro.com has been known for high-quality content about the fields of writing, photography, TV and filmmaking. Their book "Get a Freelance Life: mediabistro.com's Insider Guide to Freelance Writing" is no dissapointment. It's full of useful tips on pitching the right article to the right publication, reading rejection letters correctly (some are actually an invitation to send more ideas!) and negotiating contracts. This book should be prominently placed on every free-lance writer's bookshelf.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an informative book, but it quickly became difficult to read. There were just too many lists, and while the information was general enough to appeal to anyone, that meant that you either had to read a lot that didn't appeal to you or simply skip, skip, skip. I'm also not sure how helpful some of it was because this book is 10 years old. The most helpful section was the bit on pitches and query letters.

[Audra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good info for wannabee freelancers, like myself. Organized well to get to what you want to learn. I skipped some of the sections that didn't apply to me(ie. how to get health insurance, when to quit your day job...) It's worth the read, or even a flip through, if you are into this kinda thing.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as writing books go, this one is solid with lots of practical advice like how to pitch or where to find suitable markets. There are also lots of web sites bound to be of interest to freelancers scattered throughout the text. If I was embarking on a magazine writing career and planned to sell articles on a regular basis, this would be a good book to have close at hand.

[Indu Shanmugam · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a publishing professional, I highly recommend this book as a resource for freelance writers. This is geared primarily for those starting out but experienced writers may find a few valuable pieces of advice. This book tells the basics and practical things like taxes, insurance, and how to make it work. It is focused on non-fiction, magazine writers.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good book full of information. I like to write and though I don't plan on becoming a freelancer I read this book mainly for information and I honestly feel like I would have the information to start a freelance career if need be. Great read for anyone trying to get into the field.

[Sarah Jupiter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty well written, and covered the basics of freelancing pretty well. The only thing I didn't like about it was the constant plugging of mediabistro.com's services (although some of this was to be expected since the book was published by that site).

[Peggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book. Some new insights for anyone wanting to tighten up their freelance gigs. Much is stuff that you probably already know if you've been working as a freelancer for any length of time. A nice touch - input from editors and others in the field.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this book sitting on my side table for over a year, but have finally had the mental space to start to think about upping my freelance gig. Definitely liked the step by step practical advice, as well as how the book is organized.

[Holli B]

my-books

[Jeri · Rating 5 out of 5]

easy to read and full of good info

[Darlene Reilley · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is still a lot to learn.

[Nathan Meunier · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite books on freelancing sitting on my bookshelf. Super easy to digest, packed with good info, and a breezy read. Plus I love Mediabistro's "How to Pitch" articles.

[Jess Macallan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars