The Renegade Writer Blog

Angie asks: In your e-course, you recommend that we come up with an elevator speech about our idea in case an editor picks up the phone when we call the magazine to ask for contact information. Can you tell me more about this?
I’ve had students call a magazine’s editorial department to ask for an e-mail [...]

Desiree asks: I have written several pieces that were well received by editors, but seem to be on perpetual hold to be printed. These have not been officially killed, and I was paid in full for each piece. In one case, I was told that the magazine will not be printing a 500 word [...]

Sarah asks: “If I only have one clip — and it’s print — how do I handle this when sending email queries to editors?”
You can scan the article and create a PDF file, ask the editor to send you a PDF if they have one (sometimes they do!), or simply send the text from your [...]

Julia asks: “I’m attending a conference where I’ll be doing one-on-one pitch sessions with magazine editors. Can you give me any advice?”
I have done these one-on-one pitches before. I recommend reading through the magazines and coming up with a few short pitches for each. But at the conference, attend the editors’ workshops/panels, because they’ll give [...]

I just finished my first free teleclass for writers, and it was a blast. I was nervous at first and I got kicked off the line once, but all in all I think it was a success. I’ll try to post the recording here in the next few days.
I got some great questions from writers. [...]

Lisa asked:
So, I simultaneously submit all the time, for obvious reasons (ssshhhh…) and I always do my best to make sure the idea would be suitable for the handful of pubs that I select. Of course I’ve never submitted to more than one person at each pub, but recently I’ve been told that I shouldn’t [...]

I got this question in the Comments section but thought it would be good to answer it on the blog.
Sarah wrote:
Hi Linda, I have a question and didn’t know who else to ask. I am an accomplished magazine freelancer who has been approached by a semi-public figure to co write a book. However, he doesn’t [...]

Diana and I are running an Ask the Instructor feature on The Renegade Writer Blog. For more details, check here. We have two more instructors signed up to answer your burning freelance writing questions:
Jenna Schnuer is teaching Diversify Your Way to Success.
Alison Stein Wellner is teaching the Travel Writing Workshop.
If you have questions relating to [...]

A new Renegade Writer e-course session is starting in September, and in order to help you get to know our instructors, we’ll be running an “Ask the Instructor” feature on the Renegade Writer blog. So far these three of our instructors are on board:
Pat Curry is teaching Building a High Paying Career with Trade Magazines. [...]

Denise asks, “I’m starting to comb press releases from my local university to find story ideas.  Is it ok to use the quotes from the release in your query to magazine editors?  Isn’t that why the PR guys are sending out this information?  I would of course do my own interview after landing an assignment.”
Denise, [...]