Workshops

Frequently Overlooked Freelance Markets

By Eugene L. Meyer, WIW Member

The funny thing about frequently overlooked freelance markets is this: The editors want the same as their big league counterparts: E-mail queries. Clips sent as attachments rather than faxed or hard copies. Pithy pitches. Meeting deadlines. It's okay to phone, they say, however, not too often. You make their life easy; they'll love you for it and maybe even buy your stuff.

Those attending the Nov. 29 WIW Workshop on "Frequently Overlooked Freelance Markets" walked away with these and other tips, along with helpful handouts and/or copies of The Erickson Tribune , Virginia Living, GW Magazine and CURRENTS .

Requirements vary widely among publications. "We don't expect you to know our field or propose a story idea," said Rachel H. Pollack , executive editor of CURRENTS , a publication of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. "We give you the sources. You pull it all together."

On the other hand, Heather O. Milke , editor of GW Magazine (written for The George Washington University alumni), and two other university publications, likes to hear from writers with specific ideas for profiles and larger topics. "Give me a story idea on somebody I might not know about," she said.

Bi-monthly Virginia Living is looking for slightly newsy yet offbeat stories, said editor Garland Pollard . "We like to cover things you don't think about when you think about Virginia," he said.

Then there's The Erickson Tribune with 3 million readers boasting a circulation equal to USA Today . The publication of Erickson Retirement Communities doesn't "want stories on how to give a eulogy," said Wendy J. Meyeroff , health and food editor. "We don't do 'old people' stories. These are vibrant older people. They're not just playing bingo or poker or in a ceramics class."

Pay rates vary, too.

CURRENTS pays "around 50 cents a word," a little less for longer pieces. "We don't have a lot of flexibility. We have tight budgets," said Pollack. The magazine appears nine times a year with circulation limited to its 24,000 institutional members. It buys all rights or requests "a license for print and on-line" use. "We like to use people repeatedly, if they're easy to work with," Pollack said.

Now in its fourth year, Virginia Living pays 30 to 50 cents a word, with per article rates ranging from $100 to $1,500. The bi-monthly's articles are "almost all freelance." The magazine buys first publication rights, Pollard said. It is very much art-driven and doesn't post its stories online "because we really want people to look at our ads." Virginia Living runs one out-of-state travel story per issue, from a Virginia perspective, of course.

Erickson pays 25 cents a word or $200 for stories running 400 to 600 words. Meyeroff said her twice-monthly publication buys "all rights in perpetuity . . . but you can recycle the story by rewriting it differently for someone else. If you can recycle to two other people, it'll pay for itself."

Meyeroff went to work for Erickson, based in Catonsville, after 18 years as a freelance writer producing newsletters, designing Web sites, taking on projects in marketing and advertising. When pitching to her, Meyeroff advised, "Give me specifics, statistics, facts especially in health stories. Don't send me something that looks like a pitch for your own business."

Talk about fact checking and second opinions.   Meyeroff runs her publication's health stories past two physicians. "We use a lot of external experts," she said.

Then there are college alumni magazines, more than 200 of them, with circulations of up to 200,000 and averaging 60,000. "It can be a very lucrative market," Milke said. "We don't pay as much as National Geographic , but we do have something to offer." The GWU publications generally pay 50 cents a word but will pay up to 75 cents or more, depending on the article. "Sometimes we pay per project based on the word count."

Alumni magazines are big on profiles and usually run articles by the subject for accuracy, Milke said. "It's a little bit more of a marketing environment, but they are really good stories to write and can be a lot of fun. Pick an interesting person, find out where he or she went to school, and contact the alumni magazine.

"We love good writers, but you will be edited for our audience," said Pollock, whose nonprofit organization, CASE, represents university and private school administrators, fundraisers, alumni outreach and public relations professionals. "We look at it as, we are your clients . . . You deal with disagreements in a professional manner. We do check quotes with sources. If that makes us not pure journalism, so be it."

Added Milke, "So much of this is subjective, all this writing and editing we do."

Above all, in developing and maintaining relationships with editors, Milke said it's best to remember, "We're all people. Don't take it personally. Keep looking for those editors you find it easy to get along with."

Eugene L. Meyer is a former Washington Post reporter and editor. He has written for many regional and national magazines and is the author of Maryland Lost and Found . . . Again and Chesapeake Country.

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