Job Discussion Forums

[Rachael]

Hello

I'm a journalism student (graduating in May) who's hoping to teach English in LA before diving into the newspaper world. I'm hoping to be able to freelance write--features, travel stories, breaking news if i'm lucky for u.s. media-- while I'm teaching. Has anybody out there done this? What did it take? Where were you based?

[Guy Courchesne]

I did some freelance work from the road for awhile. It's a lot of work, a lot of heartache, but it feels damn good when you see you piece published.

Travel writing/tourist destination stuff is saturated, but can bring home some bacon if you are good with the camera.

There are even some English rags published abroad that buy from transient types and expats...easy stuff sometimes you could write in your sleep.

I recommend checking out the Handbook of Magazine Article Writing by Writer's Digest Books for a practical how-to-guide if this is the first time you've thought of freelancing. If that's old hat to you, then there are some Internet lists or paper publications on reaching mags, newspapers, and editors around the globe.

It's a fun adventure...good luck!

[Paulie2003]

Hi Rachael,

I'd like to add my 2 centavos worth if I may...

Travel is good...travel with a degree is better...and the more experiences -
the more you'll have to write about. Not being too much interested in writing for anything else but Daves has been rather limiting for me but...that said, I believe you are only tied down by the restraints which you place upon yourself! If you have something worthwhile to say, then you'll have all the audience you need...the crux is staying with a purpose long enough to make it meaningful and interesting - I have often thought that the things I have witnessed would have to be the makings of another epoch drama the likes of the Illiad...

...but, again, I may find some disagreement there...

[Twisting in the Wind]

I was an ESL teacher and freelance writer for 20 some years. I mostly wrote humor--religious and political humor and satire. I was based in the states, where I lived and worked. From the looks of things and from what I know, it sounds like you're trying to do it backwards. Most people I know got a FT job writing at some mag or paper FIRST, and then worked their way into freelance writing later.

I had steady work, but it wasn't enough to survive on. But I think if you are based in Latin America you might be able to make a living, IF YOU ARE GOOD, and that's the caveat--IF YOU ARE GOOD, and only you and your editor(s) and your string of published work can tell that for sure--I suggest you invest in a few books on freelance writing that will help get you started. As much as you think you know, these books will answer questions about the practicalities of the profession, for it is very different than teaching conversation or academic English. There is a market you're writing for and you want to gear your prose and your cover letters in a certain way, and these books will teach you that. Some titles I recommend:
Handbook of Magazine Article Writing
How to Write Irresistable Query Letters
Handbook for Freelance Writing

As well as keeping current in the yearly Writers Market

PM me if you would like more details. I have been published multiple times and really am very experienced.

Twistie

[Guy Courchesne]

[Twisting in the Wind]

Upon re-reading your post, I assume you would mostly be interested in travel writing, right? I suggest you look for an out-of the way place tourists might not be that familiar with, such as Copan Ruinas, Honduras. Then get an angle, such as "Hurricane Mitch hasn't blah blah blahedBeautiful Copan Ruinas" Then send out a bunch of query letters, fusillade-style to mags suggested in Writers Market in which you make certain deliverable promises---heck, anything is deliverable in Latin America You can easily and cheaply run down there by bus or go anywhere by bus if an editor bites.

[Guy Courchesne]

On that Twistie, I cannot emphasize more the need for a good camera. My experience was that pieces were paying double if you had good pics. Without pics, it's next to impossible to sell a good travel piece in the typcial market.

[Paulie2003]

A camera is a good idea, Guy...where would we be without that sharp-eyed mug of yours staring us down everytime we open this page...?

[Rachael]

Thanks so much for all your insights! I've talked to a lot of u.s.-based journalists about this, but it's so good to get the perspective of people actually in LA. I will definitely check out the books you mentioned.

A few more preguntas... What kind of publications were you writing for? Were you doing much reporting of straight news or features or mostly essays for magazines? I've been trained and have worked as a newspaper writer more than anything else and that's where my strengths (and my contacts) are.

Did you pitch story ideas to editors and then write them? Did you ever write a story and then try to sell it?

And finally a logistical question... if you ever did any breaking news or something similar, how did you swing it?

thanks so much for your help!

[Rachael]

good to hear that the camera i got for xmas will come in handy, guy!

[Guy Courchesne]

Don't bother with straight news if this your first time out. you need to get an assigmment from an editor if we are talking about mainstream. You can always 'angle' your writing and get it to a left or right wing newspaper, or special interest mag. Most real (or unreal) news is wire service anyway, and will take you some years to break into.

You could approach freelancing two ways. Write your story, then send it on spec (after some query letters of course) to markets you think it fits into. Or, sketch a story idea, and contact several more editors and see what they suggest for shaping the piece to their audience. This way, you could take one idea and write it for several markets, increasing your income. Watch out for publication rights though. PRinting the same article in competing markets ends your career as a freelancer as fast as you can cash both measely checks.

Always get guidelines from the publisher/editor, and do your research on the mag or newspaper it will be published in. If you see something published in XYZ mag, that means an editor liked it, paid fot it, and wants similar work. I'm not saying copy articles wholesale...just meet the same form and you'll do alright.

I published some pieces in a west coast Canadian tabloid some years back on food additives. Straight, easy research paper. The tabloid was way lfet leaning, so I wrote it to fit rabid leftists. Piece of cake.

You really should pick up the Handbook of Magazine Article Writing. An easy start would be travel writing, since you'll be in right frame of mind anyway when you first get here. you can pick easy pieces like Pyramids, resorts, holidays, festivals, blah, blah, which always have a market.

[Twisting in the Wind]

Guy gives good advice. Listen to him!

You asked if anyone half wrote a story or essay and then tried to sell it, or something like that.....

Sure, lots of times. you just keep churning them out. I keep a pad of paper and pen by the bed just in case I get an idea. I had several mags that I would regularly write for, and where I Knew the editors. Get an "in" with a few mags and editors. REmember, this isn't just straight 9-5 newspapr writing here. Freelance writing is just...different. Pick up those books Guy and I suggested and you'll be fine!

Good luck!

[Guy Courchesne]

Thanks Twisty...we just happen to be in my field for a change. Everything else is guesswork! lol

I got frustrated with freelance...too much pouring of my soul onto the page and too small a check for the pain.

After 4 years in TEFL, I wouldn't mind getting a chance to write again though. I'm attracted to technical writing now. But oh how shall I ever keep my rapier wit away from the how-to-skin-a-cat piece?

Rachel, I'm curious...what do your US based contacts tell you? I'm about a decade now out of college...wonder if it has changed much.

[Rachael]

Thanks for all the advice guys!

About my u.s. contacts.... they are saying to mention what I'll be doing to as many editors as possible now to get the idea in their heads. Fortunately for me, by the end of the summer I will have worked at two Florida newspapers and have contacts at a few more. I'm told (somewhat obviously) that newspapers in Florida and the Southwest will be more interested in Latin America stories than those in other parts of the country.

In addition to looking for quirky feature stories (the Washington Post ran a story a few months ago about a Mexican town where they make sculptures out of gum--that's the kind of thing I'd love to be writing about), one of my mentors suggested making myself available to different news organizations-- specifically ones where I've formerly worked with the editors-- so that if soemthing does break they'll say that they know someone in the area who might be able to cover it. While it's true that most of the news from LA comes from wire services, the reporters producing the stories might just as well be freelancers. There are fewer correspondents (ahh... newsroom cutbacks...)so if I happen to be in the right spot at the right time, it could mean a pretty newsy story, or so I'm told. On the other hand, I'm not holding my breath.

Another, perhaps more realistic suggestion, that I got was to do the "local do-gooder" story. So, if someone from the coverage area of the paper I worked at in Virginia were to go to Panama on some mission trip, I could write and provide photos and a PAMANA CITY dateline.

So that's the scoop from my end. What seems to worry me most, aside from getting published, is the logistics of reporting in a foriegn country... i.e. approaching people for interviews for a publication they've never heard of and navigating unfamiliar bureacracy, but I suppose I'll just have to suck it up as far as that goes!

also, what's this about a 9-5 newspaper job I've done the cops beat at two papers and wasn't allowed to leave the office until midnight! Not to mention copyeditors who can leave even later than that!

I think I know what you mean though, I've freelanced a few stories and it always seemed like i couldn't stop thinking about them - whereas with an office, you get to leave at the end of the day!

[Rachael]

Guy and Twistie - thanks for responding to all my posts. I feel like you guys are my new best friends