One thing I did want to mention is book writing. I recently had a chat with an author who asked me not to reveal his name, but he’s a relatively well received mystery author. He shared what he earns so that freelancers can put it into perspective. He started out writing one book per year and also working as a lawyer to supplement his book writing. His latest book (sixth in a series) earned him a $15,000 advance. Now some may feel that’s a decent amount, but it’s really not.

This $15,000 advance is given in one lump sum for the book he wrote (620 pages). He will not see another penny unless his book sells enough copies enabling him to start earning royalties. If his book fails to sell that many copies, he could be out a contract with the publisher and he won’t receive another penny for that book. He’s boosted his writing so that he’s releasing two books a year now to increase his income, but it also means he spends less time working as a lawyer – so it becomes a catch-22.

He told me he spent six months, working every day including weekends, to write and edit his book – spending about 5 hours a day (6pm to 11pm). When you break it down, that’s really a small sum compared to what many of us make writing for Web sites.

In my experience, a print magazine is more likely to ask for exclusive rights. Or at least rights for a longer amount of time.

Of course, depending on what you’re writing, reselling isn’t really an option. I write mostly entertainment articles so reselling a story a year later would be unlikely.

Maryann–
I wrote exclusively for magazines for years but I don’t bother any more. The whole query, wait,get published three months later just doesn’t suit me. I sell to online sites exclusively these days. Fast and easy.

where did you start? How?
I want to start building a profile but most of my work is online and a couple of magazines here and there

About the only thing you can do is hope they put it on the Web, too, and use that.

After all, an article that gets cut off 1 sentence before the end makes for a crappy clip to market yourself with. And it makes you look unprofessional, even though it wasn’t your fault.

Unfortunately, leaving lines off the end happens at print pubs, particularly if they’ve cut back on copy editors/proofers as most have. What was even worse was in the old days of “pasting up” copy when a line or two or headline would drop into the article below.