Rating: 
Summary: Sustain a Lucrative Career while Wearing Pajamas
Review: Book Review by Maryanne Raphael, Writers World
Sustain a Lucrative Career while Wearing Pajamas
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MAKE A REAL LIVING AS A FREELANCE WRITER explains how to be successful "in today's publishing climate where the Internet rules and stamps are nearly obsolete and the articles that earned front-page headlines last decade wouldn't even get short blurbs today." The book shows how to earn top dollars writing for magazines, how to write a marketable story, how to know what sections of a magazine welcome freelancers, how to market reprints, and how to become an expert in your chosen field.
Author Jenna Glatzer is the editor-in-chief of Absolute Write and author of Outwitting Writer's Block. She is a full time writer from NYC who has published 9 books and hundreds of articles. Her style makes reading fun with her quick wit, vast experience, knowledge of her subject and her use of meaningful quotes, relevant anecdotes and helpful resources.
She says, "You'll have to learn where to find writing markets and how to study them, write irresistible query letters, make editors fall in love with you, get regular assignments, negotiate, make deadbeats pay up and more." She helps discover your strengths and how to use them.,, shows you how to set goals, see writing as a business and get started.
"You must find something worth telling to a mass audience," she says, "and convince the `powers that be' that you're the right person to tell it."
She even tells how to make the most of rejection slips, how to network, write a column, interview, write for the Internet, have a Web Site, and make your article timely. She shows how to become your editor's favorite by being "reliable, accurate, nice, respectful of the editor's time and by proposing plenty of new ideas with regularity."
Author Glatzer helps readers learn from her mistakes as well as her achievements. After stating that big magazines do not want stories that have appeared elsewhere, she tells how she goofed once . "You shouldn't be a dummy like me and actually emphasize this as a selling point in your query."
The book tells everything you need to know about taxes once you start earning money from your writing. By the time you finish this book, according to the author, "You'll have the insider knowledge you need to figure out what sells to whom and how to build up and sustain a lucrative career while wearing pajamas." I'd recommend the book to anyone who wants to try freelance writing.
Rating:
Summary: Sustain a Lucrative Career while Wearing Pajamas
Review: Book Review by Maryanne Raphael, Writers World
Sustain a Lucrative Career while Wearing Pajamas
.
MAKE A REAL LIVING AS A FREELANCE WRITER explains how to be successful "in today's publishing climate where the Internet rules and stamps are nearly obsolete and the articles that earned front-page headlines last decade wouldn't even get short blurbs today." The book shows how to earn top dollars writing for magazines, how to write a marketable story, how to know what sections of a magazine welcome freelancers, how to market reprints, and how to become an expert in your chosen field.
Author Jenna Glatzer is the editor-in-chief of Absolute Write and author of Outwitting Writer's Block. She is a full time writer from NYC who has published 9 books and hundreds of articles. Her style makes reading fun with her quick wit, vast experience, knowledge of her subject and her use of meaningful quotes, relevant anecdotes and helpful resources.
She says, "You'll have to learn where to find writing markets and how to study them, write irresistible query letters, make editors fall in love with you, get regular assignments, negotiate, make deadbeats pay up and more." She helps discover your strengths and how to use them.,, shows you how to set goals, see writing as a business and get started.
"You must find something worth telling to a mass audience," she says, "and convince the 'powers that be' that you're the right person to tell it."
She even tells how to make the most of rejection slips, how to network, write a column, interview, write for the Internet, have a Web Site, and make your article timely. She shows how to become your editor's favorite by being "reliable, accurate, nice, respectful of the editor's time and by proposing plenty of new ideas with regularity."
Author Glatzer helps readers learn from her mistakes as well as her achievements. After stating that big magazines do not want stories that have appeared elsewhere, she tells how she goofed once . "You shouldn't be a dummy like me and actually emphasize this as a selling point in your query."
The book tells everything you need to know about taxes once you start earning money from your writing. By the time you finish this book, according to the author, "You'll have the insider knowledge you need to figure out what sells to whom and how to build up and sustain a lucrative career while wearing pajamas." I'd recommend the book to anyone who wants to try freelance writing.
Rating:
Summary: As good as my college class
Review: I took a college course in magazine writing and this book was every bit as detailed --even more so, given all the sidebars with helpful websites. The writing style is conversational and easy to read. There are so many books on the shelves about freelance writing but this is the one to get.
Rating:
Summary: As good as my college class
Review: I took a college course in magazine writing and this book was every bit as detailed --even more so, given all the sidebars with helpful websites. The writing style is conversational and easy to read. There are so many books on the shelves about freelance writing but this is the one to get.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book for Magazine Freelancing
Review: If Jenna's book was around when I went full-time a few months ago, I would probably have more work than I know what to do with. As it is I have tripled my response rate on queries and my productivity has skyrocketed.
How? Simple. This book is like camping out in the personal office of a professional freelancer.
Jenna offers invaluable insights about queries, markets, resources and how to maximize on your time. Sidebars filled with websites that all freelancers should be privy to are peppered throughout each chapter. Real life scenarios play out between the pages and you learn what works and what doesn't with supermarket publications like Family Circle and Woman's Day. Interviews with successful writers and seasoned editors reveal the keys to making it into the acceptance pile.
Queries? Jenna answers all the questions by disclosing her personal methods. Simultaneous Submissions? Always. Email pitches? You Bet. Multiple ideas queries? Why Not?
She delves into interviewing, syndication, contracts, copyrights, and everything else that a newbie and even pros should brush up on.
Even if your shelves are filled with other books on the business of writing and even if you subscribe to all the best newsletters, you still need this book.
Barbra Annino
www.barbraannino.com
Rating:
Summary: We have a winner!
Review: Listen up all you hopeful magazine writers: YOU MUST BUY THIS BOOK!
And NO, borrowing it from the library is not going to cut it. Why? Because you'll get frustrated that you won't be able to dog-ear and mark up the pages that are loaded with insider "how to" tips.
I have been a freelance writer for four years. I know that if you'll follow Jenna's advice, particularly her guidance on query letters, you will soon have the confidence to bang on the doors of your dream markets -- and start getting assignments. Unfortunately, there's no magic wand, as editors frequently nix ideas they simply doesn't like -- but the rejections won't be because your queries lack focus or interest.
As well, your income will quickly grow if you complete Jenna's worksheets, and crystalize your short and long term goals. Perhaps the best thing about Jenna's book is its contagious enthusiasm. You CAN have the writing career you want.
Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt
www.rehwoldt.com
Rating: 
Summary: Write it down
Review: MAKE A REAL LIVING AS A FREELANCE WRITER is a definitive guide for
individuals seeking a career in this arena. Jenna Glatzer shares that
when she began freelancing she made numerous mistakes. And although
she had taken a few writing courses, no one taught her how to sell
articles or columns. Additionally, the library offered very little
assistance; most of the material was outdated, or, if current it did
not offer good business advice. So she saw a need for this book.
Because writing is such a volatile market, in 2001, the writer's union
conducted a study to see how the market, for freelance writers, has
changed over four decades. In real dollars, freelance rates have declined
more than fifty percent since the sixties. Major magazines offered one
dollar per word in 1966 and in 1998 the rate was the same. She stresses
one key point: to make a living as a freelance writer you must be more
knowledgeable than eighty-four percent of the writers in the business
and you must be be properly armed to compete with the remaining sixteen
percent.
Jeanna Glatzer, now in the top sixteen percent of freelancers, is the
editor and chief of AbsoluteWrite.com, one of the most poplar online
magazines for writers, and has published nine books on the subject.
MAKE A REAL LIVING AS A FREELANCE WRITER consists of 17 chapters which
share some important steps to gain success in one of the hardest literary
arenas to earn a living. Glatzer feels confident that by the time you
finish this book you will have the necessary ingredients to compete
with established writers and win top writing assignments. If you aspire
to enter the world of freelance writers this book is a great investment.
Reviewed by aNN
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Rating:
Summary: Excellent guide to freelance writing
Review: Realistic, accurate, timely and right on target-that's Jenna Glatzer's latest book for you! This one-of-a-kind book for freelance writers is all you'll ever need to kick of your writing career, keep it on track, and nurture it into a lucrative business. You'll be making money off Jenna's advice for years to come. That's because she's packed in hundreds of tips that will make writing, and more importantly--selling that writing--a very simple job.
Whether it's finding an overdone idea and giving it a unique spin, hunting down markets or setting achievable goals, she's got something to say. And it's often the exact advice you've been searching for.
Armed with this book, you'll learn how to hunt down editors at publications you want to write for, find dozens of unique ideas daily and even become "friends" with editors so that you're the first person who's thought of when assignments come up. You'll also learn how to write queries that impress the best of editors, negotiate tactfully so that you're never cheated of any money and chase deadbeat editors. But best of all, you'll learn how top magazines function, what kind of writers grab those high-paying assignments, and what kind of articles editors are looking for. You'll learn to be a well-paid writer. The one who commands the best rates in the industry.
The dozens of sample letters, queries and e-mails go a step further in showing you how it's done. Worksheets are included for idea generation, negotiating discussions, query writing and goal-setting.
-- Mridu Khullar, Editor of www.WritersCrossing.com
Rating:
Summary: The freelance writer's bible
Review: This book is an absolute must for any writer who is serious about making a real living through freelancing. Jenna Glatzer is a freelancer who has been there and back, and she freely shares her experiences in painstaking detail. The reader will learn the business from A to Z, including how to select a topic, how to indentify and approach markets, how to query properly, and how to ingratiate oneself with finicky editors. There's even sound advice on how to manage one's writing business, and it's all written in Glatzer's down-to-earth, conversational style. A wonderful road map for the highway to writing success!
Rating:
Summary: Makes a good read
Review: This was an easy-to-read book written with a "you can do it" attitude - good for writers who are new to the field or are trying to break into bigger markets.The book is a good mix of the author's experience (what worked and what she learned from mistakes she made), and quotes from editors and other established writers. Very helpful were the websites with additional helpful information, like a fax site where you can receive your faxes by e-mail at no cost (i.e. no need for a fax machine), websites for writers, websites for finding sources, etc. Also helpful were sections on negotiating contracts, how to pitch a story, how to study the market for your work (and the importance in doing so), how fact checking works, and how to find story ideas (and spin them off into even more ideas). If you're the type who does well with assignments, the book has assignments you can do like one on coming up with ideas. The book is less how to write, than the mechanics behind getting assignments and following through on them. It takes the mystique out of the process. I ended up earmarking a bunch of pages to go back to, and have already used some of the information (mainly websites) to further my own writing.
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