I am stagnating in my writing and it has to stop! Its summer and homeschooling is super light and there is no reason why I should not be sending out my evergreen reprints to family and parenting magazines and also getting a jump on fall by sending out articles for that season as well. I think you can do it, too, and Im going to be posting some helps this month!
So ... Im cheating a little bit here because I have a ton of reprints. I certainly cant write 30 NEW pieces in a month ... not with my busy summer schedule and 5 kids plus all their friends coming over and going places with us. I also am a Jamberry consultant and a Younique presenter and do proofreading and social media on the side.
If you are going to write brand new pieces, I might suggest you write maybe 3-5 new articles this month and call it good. Your challenge for yourself is up to you. I just noticed that I had articles that were rotting and had not been used in 4 years and it was time to dust them off and send them out again to the places who never wanted them before. Maybe they would want them now. Also, I would count it as 3 submissions if you, say, sent the same piece to 3 different larger publications like Huffington Post, Parents (a query) and ScaryMommy (they pay!). You dont have to stick exactly in my niche or to the pubs in my book.
The thing is, you never know. You are playing darts blindfolded when you submit sometimes. This month I was published TWO new places and I have been at this game for almost 10 years. Why did they never use any of my other zillion pieces before? I dont know. I know my system works, though, because I have worked with 150 magazines (parenting and family) and I know it can also work for you!
Here are the pieces I am submitting for the first 3 days of June to get caught up:
- When Daddy Travels You Can Make It Work (only I offered it also as a rewrite with a non-sexist slant ... my husband travels a lot so I wrote it this way but I do realize there are mothers who travel for work or otherwise). (evergreen)
- When Your Childs Pet Dies (evergreen). The first little girl who gave me a quote for this piece was 9 years old when I sent it out the first time and now she is 14. Wow. Talking about writer me falling down on the submitting job. This one was only ever published locally for FREE. So now Im sending it out to try to make some money.
UPDATE: Sold once within 24 hours and Ill update you on the price when I find out. - The Good Grandparent Guide (September is Grandparents Day so this might fit in well some places)
- Brainstorm some great ideas. Look around you and see what you like to write about, where there is a void in the magazines, etc.
- Get the bones of those articles or essays down in documents that you save in a great online filing system.
- Put out a call for backup quotes among your friends about the topic while you are letting your bones sit and before you do more research.
If you want to dust off your ideas and take the challenge with me sometime this summer, comment below and get my book here on Amazon as an ebook or as a print book. My book not only has all the markets you need with contact and pay information, but also embellishes on the tips Im going to be giving you this month to get you going. I recommend the print version (I make the same amount of money either way pretty much) because you are going to want to make notes, cross things out, highlight publications youve worked with, etc.
Lets do this! There is room for all of us to succeed!
