Here’s what she had to say:

On How She Started Writing for Magazines…

“I had always wanted to become a writer but ended up getting my Master’s degree in Slavic Linguistics. I decided I didn’t want to continue with the PhD program and thought I might like to get into publishing instead. I did informational interviews with several publishers and realized that working at a magazine or book publisher wasn’t for me…but wouldn’t my experience with informational interviewing make a great magazine article! I whipped up my very first query and sent it to a magazine I saw listed in Writer’s Market. A while later, I received an acceptance in the mail. This was in 1996. After that, I started pitching and writing for trade and smaller magazines, such as AKFCF Quarterly, the magazine for KFC franchisees. In 1997, I moved to Massachusetts and went full-time freelance, and in 1999 I started breaking into national magazines like Redbook and Family Circle.”

On Needing Specialized Education or Experience Before Starting…

“No! As I mentioned, my Master’s degree was in Slavic Linguistics. I was always a good writer, but I had no formal education or even experience. I just took a chance, and my first query sold for $500! Also, I wrote for publications that were way outside of my ken…for example, I certainly don’t have any inherent knowledge of KFC issues. But through writing for a wide variety of magazines, I developed specialties in several areas, including business and health.”

On How Writers can get Started in Magazine Writing…

“When I was first starting out in 1996, I had a 1,200-baud modem and as far as I know there weren’t any groups for writers online. Now, I advise new writers to take advantage of the wealth of support out there, from writers’ forums to online classes to online magazine directories like tradepub.com and writersmarket.com.

I started writing for print magazines, but now there are a lot of online options as well, such as online magazines and blogs. Just be sure that wherever you pitch, the market looks professional and has credibility. You won’t get much benefit out of writing for those sites that pay $4 per article and anyone and their dog can post pieces.”

On Things Prospective Freelance Magazine Writers Should Know…

“1. Be persistent! This is so important. So many writers send out one query, don’t get a reply or get a rejection, and give up. You need to get as many queries and letters of intro out there as you can. It’s a numbers game. Eventually, you’ll be more well-known in the industry, will be in a number of magazines’ ‘stables,’ and won’t have to pitch so much.

2. Value your skills. Many writers brag that they’re making hundreds per month on sites like Associated Content…but when you look, you see they’ve posted something like 1,200 articles. Your time and skill are worth more than that. Pitch places that pay, whether they be online or print. And don’t forget that everything is negotiable. If an editor approaches you with a puny rate, ask for more.

3. Be confident. Fear holds so many writers back. What if the editor hates my article? What if the editor thinks I’m stalking him if I follow up? And so on. Instead, think: What if the editor loves my article? What if I follow up at just the right time and land a assignment? (This just happened to me!) Also, don’t let the fear of making a mistake hold you back. An imperfect query in the hands of an editor has an infinitely higher chance at acceptance than one that sits on your hard drive forever as you “perfect” it. One of the assignments in my Get Unstuck! for Freelancers course is to send out a query with a typo in it. One of my students did this, by accident as it turns out, and the editor wrote back within an hour expressing an interest in her idea.”

On Linda Formichelli…

Linda Formichelli is the co-author of The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success and The Renegade Writer’s Query Letters That Rock, and has written for more than 120 magazines, including Redbook, Health, USA Weekend, Writer’s Digest, and Woman’s Day. She teaches an e-course called “Write for Magazines,” about how to write a killer query, and one called “Get Unstuck! for Freelancers,” which is about boosting your motivation and productivity. The next session of both starts on January 11, 2010; you can get more info at http://www.writeformagazines.com.
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For the sake of this post, let’s consider feature articles for print publications only, such as consumer and trade magazines. Most freelance writers who I speak with really want to break into this market, but have no idea how to get started or what to do if they ever land a gig.

These five details will help you become better acquainted with feature articles and what you should be thinking about:

1. Who is the audience? When you pick up a feature article project you must first know who you are writing for. Is it a sports publication focused on basketball? A wedding magazine for brides? Finding the audience is usually as simple as picking up a back copy of the magazine or heading to the appropriate website for additional information.
2. Length. The length of the feature will be specified by the editor. While most feature articles are at least 500 words in length, the editor may decide that they need something a bit shorter due to page layout. Also, don’t be surprised if some of your features end up being 2000 words or more. The best thing you can do in this area is take advice from the editor you are working with.
3. Facts are important. In most cases, a feature article is going to be full of facts and not much opinion if any at all. For this reason, it is important to make sure all of your information is 100 percent accurate and backed up by reliable sources.
4. Interviews. Speaking of reliable sources, most feature articles that are assigned to me come with the specification of interviewing at least one authority on the subject. This is not always the case, but be ready to conduct at least one interview. Not only will this please the editor, but it will round out your piece.
5. Revisions. I cannot remember ever writing a feature article and getting it perfect the first time around. With most features you will be asked to complete at least one revision, if not more. There have been times when I worked with an editor for days on end, revision after revision, until the article was perfect. If you are going to get involved with writing feature articles you should be ready for revisions and plenty of them.

Think you’re ready for feature article writing? Then start networking with editors and preparing some pitches. And check back later today for our “Getting Started” series interview with established magazine writer Linda Formichelli.

I have several other interviews confirmed, so I’d like to announce those interviewees so you have an idea of what’s coming up:

• Freelance Blogging – The corporate blogging authority, Debbie Weil
• Copywriting – The always-awesome Angela Booth
• Magazine Writing – Coming back for her second AFW interview, Linda Formichelli
• Playwriting – The not-so-one-and-only Jennifer Mattern (What can I say? If you want to be a writer, apparently it’s a good name to have!)
• Fiction / Novel Writing – The Marshall Plan creator Evan Marshall (soon to release his 10th novel!)
• Screenwriting / Writing for Television - Xandy Sussan, who has written for television shows for Disney, the WB, and Cartoon Network, stops by to talk about writing for the big (or small) screen
• Trade Publication Writing - Christa Miller will be sharing some thoughts on getting started writing for trade publications

I also have feelers out to folks for interviews covering Web content writing and technical writing. I’ll update this list (rather than posting another) as confirmations come in. I’m still looking for a freelance medical writer to chat with. If you know someone, please ask them to shoot me an email at jenn@allfreelancewriting.com.

If there are other types of writing you’d like to see covered in this series (they don’t have to be specifically freelance-related), leave a comment and let me know. I’ll do my best to track down a writer in the field to come and share some of their thoughts for you. :)

Linda Formichelli

To continue our interview series on various writing styles freelancers may be interested in pursuing, today I’m talking with Linda Formichelli, co-author of The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success and The Renegade Writer’s Query Letters That Rock, about writing nonfiction books.

Many freelancers already work in nonfiction, and some have even written longer e-books. Moving on to publishing a nonfiction book might seem like a natural progression to them. What was that transition from freelance writer to nonfiction author like for you, and what was the biggest challenge you faced when going from freelancing to that first book?

Really, it was a natural for me since I was writing nonfiction articles — and my book was on nonfiction article writing! It is challenging to write something so long when you’re used to writing 2,000-word articles, but my co-author and I broke the book into manageable chunks. I would write just a little bit at a time. I also had a great team: My husband and my mom both helped me edit the chapters as I wrote them.

You not only write nonfiction, but were actually a co-author of The Renegade Writer. What made you opt to co-author a book rather than writing one solo? What was the biggest benefit of having someone else to work with?

I thought it would be fun to write with a friend. The benefit is that it seems much more manageable when you have someone else doing half the writing, and when you have someone else to bounce ideas off of. It’s also been a lot of fun to run the Renegade Writer business together — the blog, the e-courses, etc.

I also co-authored two Idiot’s Guides, two Chicken Soup books, and a Dummies book. In these cases, unless you’re an expert in the topic with a good platform, you’re expected to write the books with an expert co-author. The benefit there is that you have an expert who can read over your writing and make sure it’s technically correct, meaning that all the info in there is correct. The downside is that some of these co-authors think that *they’re* the writer, and they take it upon themselves to edit your writing. I had this happen once, and it was a real PITA. I was very familiar with the Idiot’s Guide style, and the expert co-author would edit my writing OUT of the style. Then I’d have to go and change it all back. When the book came out, she didn’t even notice that I hadn’t made any of her style changes.

You didn’t have to prepare a proposal to have one of your books published–instead it came about through your writing contacts. How important are a writer’s network and platform in landing a nonfiction book contract?

I think having a network of writers is very important. I belong to an online writer’s forum, and one of the members posted that her agent was looking for someone to cu-author a business book. I threw my hat into the ring, and got the gig. It ended up being The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Starting and Running a Coffee Bar. My Chicken Soup co-authoring gigs came from another writer on a different forum, who recommended me to her editor. So join online forums, join writers’ groups, and contribute to the conversation. Be helpful and make yourself known as a good writer. And be sure to recommend other writers to your editors and agents when the opportunity comes up!

What does your book writing process look like (do you just sit down and write, do you outline extensively), and how did your freelance writing experience influence the way you approach working on a book (if it did at all)?

For the Idiot’s Guides and Dummies books, you start with a very detailed table of contents, so that works as an outline. For The Renegade Writer, I didn’t outline — I had a general table of contents to follow, and I kind of outlined in my head as I wrote. I’m not an outlining kind of person! I just write, and then go back and edit.

I viewed each chapter like an article and approached it the same way I would if I were writing for a magazine. That helped the task seem less overwhelming.

If a writer wanted to transition from freelancing to writing their first nonfiction book, what advice would you give them? Is there a way of approaching the project that might help someone adapt from writing shorter freelance pieces to a book?

One difference between writing articles and writing books is that instead of writing an article query, you need to write a book proposal, which is a much more involved thing. When you write an article query, you’re describing your idea, why it’s right for the magazine, and why you’re the right person to write it. When you write a book proposal, you’re doing all that, but also including information on competitive books, research on your market, a detailed table of contents, and usually a sample chapter as well. There are several good books out there on how to write a book proposal, and e-courses you can take as well.

To write a nonfiction book, you’ll be using all the skills you developed as a magazine writing — researching, writing, persuading, marketing — just more of it! So don’t let the idea of pitching and writing a book scare you.

About Linda Formichelli

Linda Formichelli has written for more than 120 magazines and is the co-author of The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success and The Renegade Writer’s Query Letters That Rock. Linda teaches an e-course on how to break into magazine writing at http://www.writeformagazines.com. She lives in Concord, NH, with her writer husband, new son, and three cats.

More in This Series:

• Novel Writing: An Interview With Evan Marshall