Freelance Your Way with A How-To Article

You’re an expert. You have knowledge worth sharing. Your kids might not agree all the time with this (especially not after you’ve given them a time-out or denied them a fistful of peanut M&Ms), but the truth is, you are.  Due to your interests, experiences, and passions, you know things.  You even know about things that not everyone knows about, things you can teach others how to do.  That’s right; others want to learn how you accomplish something!

Using five simple tips, I’m going to teach you the steps for writing a how-to article that you can sell to a publication for money.

1.  First, what are your interests?  What areas are you wise about?  To make this process visual, take out a piece of notebook paper and start to jot down what you know.  Is it how to prepare healthy family meals on a shoestring budget? Perhaps when you were in college you helped out at a friend’s farm and learned to make butter from cow’s milk. Identify what the topic will be from your vast experiences.
2. Next, after you choose one topic, add sentences to it.  Describe how one can go about being frugal on trips to the grocery store.  Write how you accomplish spending less.  Do you buy in bulk?  Use coupons? Come up with at least five ways you can save money.
3. Take a trip to your local library.  While your kids read illustrated books, spend time at the periodical section.  Scan your favorite magazines.  If you’ve chosen a topic to help busy moms with cooking, look over the parenting magazines.  Take time at the library, or later online, reading the guidelines of the magazine you hope to pitch your article to. Tailor your piece to fit the magazine’s tone and style as well as word length.  You also want to make sure that when your article is complete, it gets to the correct editor who will consider it. Do you subscribe to magazines at home or online?  Study their guidelines if your article is suited for any of them.
4. Go home and write.  Keep within your theme or topic.  If you’re like me, you want to pick a title early on because you like to call your piece by name as you work on it.  After completing the article, let it sit for a bit.  Days later take it out of hiding and read it aloud.   Edit.  Check your spelling, word usage and vocabulary—all those things your high school English teacher harped on.
5. Pitch the article!  Some online magazines tell you not to bother with a query, just send the full article. Again, follow directions.  Read about how to create a query letter if you aren’t sure.  Send the article in the form the magazine accepts, and then move on to write another how-to piece.  Hopefully, as you are in the middle of your next writing task, the editor will email to say she likes your how-to article and wants to publish it!

Pat yourself on the back and smile.  Let your kids know that they are lucky to have such a wise mother who knows a thing or two. (Don’t act surprised, even if they do!)

Until next time,

~ Alice J. Wisler