Expert: Amanda J Evans - 10/25/2009

Question
Hi
I love writing! What does it take to become a freelance writer? My topics of interest are: Psychology, Self Help, Philosophy etc. Actually most of the articles I write find their way in a lone folder of my laptop! So one day I thought why not make some extra pocket money writing for magazines?   

I am studying Civil Engineering in Bahrain. So I might have a good readership among engineering students. But I am still a student, does that mean I can't write for magazines?

Here in Bahrain, we have a magazine by the name of COEDS which is targeted at college and university students. I think I can try there.

But I don't know the first thing to getting started. Here's where I need your help! How do I get started? My main motive is to turn my passion for writing into something that can earn me bucks!

Looking forward to your reply

bye, from Othman!

Answer
Hi Othman,

If writing for magazines is what you want to do then the first thing that you will have to learn is how to write a query letter.  This is the trick of the trade so as to speak when it comes to getting published in magazines.  The first thing that I would suggest is the you do a quick Google search for how to write a query letter and then find a freelance writing blog that focuses on writing for magazines.  As this is not one of my areas of expertise this is probably the best advice that I can give you.  There are some really great freelance writing blogs out there and once you find one that has the information you need you can progress from there.

You can get a free e-course here http://writeformagazines.com/
Here's another article to read: http://www.fabfreelancewriting.com/blog/2007/09/27/freelance-writing-how-to-writ...
This is a link to a pdf that might help too: www.writing-world.com/admin1/magsample.pdf

Most of them do recommend that you prepare for rejection and that you understand what rights you will be giving away when getting your article published.

I wish you the best of luck with this and if I can be of any further help please do not hesitate to contact me.