I love blogging. I started doing it around 2006 when my third kid was just a baby nursing and in my arms all the time. It was something I could do one-handed and feel like I was using my brain. But I didnt make any money doing it. I had to figure out a way to make money while also doing the stay-at-home mom gig I loved so much. I mean, really, WHY NOT?
Blogging keeps your mind fresh. I do it because I dont have time to scrapbook anymore and it has become our online memory book of vacations and other fun times. Sometimes, though, I will pop off something I think is pretty damn brilliant and I copy it and paste it into a new document and its like 500+ words and I say to myself,
"Hmm. Thats long enough to submit to the regional parenting magazine markets I have all set up in my email contacts list. Im going to go ahead and publish this on the blog for some lovin for it and at the same time submit it to print and online magazines. And yeah, I think its good enough for the amazing Huffington Post Parents online or some other parenting site that does not pay, but Im going to try to get some money out of this thing."
By the way, why am I writing about this topic HERE instead of pitching it to writing magazines that pay? That, my friend, is a good question and has been on my to do list for a very long time. Lets see if I can hit that goal while the kiddies are out of official homeschool for the summer!
ANYWAY, another great reason for blogging is so you can take a ton of blog posts and turn them into a possible book or ebook. You might THINK you are just blogging but then all of a sudden you realize you have a lot of great posts that all link up and form a coherent idea that could really help people!
So where would you start if you wanted to send a piece to a magazine? Well, um, Writers Market put out by Writers Digest. Its been around FOREVER. And if you wanted to submit to the family and parenting markets? Well, Writers Market sucks for that, sorry. They only have a tiny handful of those markets.
But I have a ton of markets! And they pay! After I realized Writers Market sucked, I spent hours collecting them while my kids slept or nursed on me or played happily and I did it for you! I know a writer who had a regional parenting magazine see her piece on her blog and buy it and she got to leave it on her blog. But why wait for that? Why not go straight to the mags? You can do both if you want! And by "both" I mean EVERYTHING!
This is important, so please pay attention!
You can have a piece on your own blog while you also get it published MULTIPLE PLACES ... Houston Family, San Diego Family, Pittsburgh Parent, Baton Rouge Parents, Treasure Coast Parenting, Western New York Family and more all at the same time or in the same year or whenever they want to use your piece. There. So now you are on your own blog being wonderful YOU and you have $200+ in your bank account on top of it!
I am done lecturing and scolding you. But you have to go here to buy my book, which is available in both ebook and print versions!
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| This is where I write. At this Formica table. Thats my little blue wireless mouse, and the kitchen is behind me since I seem to spend a lot of time there! I have a corner office with a window (so I can see what the naughty McKids are up to!) |
Part Three will ask why you are writing for content mills for 5 bucks an article
