Journalism

What Writing for ELLE Magazine Taught Me About Freelancing

It all began with an email. On an otherwise ordinary day, I opened my email inbox to find a message with the subject line “October ELLE.”

I clicked on the message to find correspondence from an editor at ELLE magazine who wanted to know if I would be interested in writing an article for the magazine for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

At first, I was certain I was being Punk’d (Remember that show?). But after finding the editor on LinkedIn and other sites I realized this was real. I realized I had just been asked to write for a magazine in the top 3 of my byline bucket list. I was so excited I ran laps through my house for a solid minute before I calmed down enough to share the good news with my husband.

The article was hard work. I had to interview several sources and the assignment required a quick turnaround on the first draft and the revision. But I did it. The article — For Breast Cancer, 40 is the New 50 — ran in both the October issue of the magazine and online.

The experience taught me so much about freelancing. Here are three of the most valuable lessons learned.

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How to Pitch an Article in 7 Steps

Learning how to pitch an article to your favorite media outlets could be the key to you finally getting published and paid so you can stop being a starving artist cliche and finally be a well-fed writer.

My first article for Well + Good was published last month and I was ecstatic. As a freelancer who primarily writes health articles, I’d had Well + Good on my byline bucket list for a while.

To be honest, cold pitching is not my jam. I’m much better at building relationships with editors. So oftentimes I only have to send a two-sentence pitch to editors to get an assignment or they come to me with ideas, and I don’t have to pitch at all.

Related Reading: The Best Thing You Can Do for Your Freelance Writing Career Right Now

But if I want to see my byline in a variety of print and digital publications, I must pitch!

In any pitch, it’s your job to answer 3 crucial questions: Why this? Why now? Why you? Here are my top tips for how to pitch an article to your favorite media outlet.

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How to Quit Your Day Job to Write Full Time

Even though I loved being a high school English teacher, for years I daydreamed about quitting my job to write full time. But I thought it would always be exactly that — a dream.

To be clear, I’d been a full-time writer in the past. Before I started my career in education, I was a staff reporter for a weekly paper in Louisville, Kentucky. But my tenure there just showed me that I wanted to write on my own terms. I wanted to be a full-time freelance writer. But I thought there was no way I could do this unless I was willing to eat PB&J for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. I was convinced living a comfortable lifestyle as a full-time freelancer was impossible.

Then one day I decided I was going to give it a shot anyway!

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