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Invoice Tips

12
May 2009

Your invoice doesn’t have to be fancy. It can be a Word document, or just pasted into an e-mail. The important part is that you keep track of your invoices. You’ll need them for tax time. I recommend saving your invoices on your computer in a file called “invoices.” Or you can print them out and save hard copies. The important thing is to keep them all together. The information that needs to be included is pretty simple. Please refer to the sample invoice below to see how a fairly simple invoice could look. There are five important parts to the invoice, and I’ll explain those in more depth.

1. The Invoice # — Develop a system system that works for you. I tend to use the publication’s initials, the current year, and then the article number. For example, WD.2006.03, would be for Writer’s Digest, in 2006, the third article written for WD that year. Just be sure that the publications you write for don’t have the same initials. If they do, like Writer’s Digest and Woman’s Day, you’ll have to make a slight adjustments to your system.

2. Article Information — Clearly define the article you are invoicing. If you don’t know the final headline, use the working title. Include the publication name, author name, title of article, description (is it an article or an essay?), and word count.

3. Rights sold — This is extremely important. You want to clearly define what copyrights you are selling to the publisher. This will let the publisher know if the article is original or a reprint. It will also make it clear if they can reuse your article, or if it is just for one time use.

4. Compensation: — Be sure to list the amount of payment you agreed upon, and it is a good idea to mention the currency you expect payment in. In my case, I prefer U.S. currency but will the publication know that?

5. Social Security # — If you get paid more than $600, or you repeatedly write for this publication, you will need to supply your social security number. I recommend you share it only if they request it.

You can send an invoice by e-mail as well. Just be sure to clearly identify the invoice using the subject line. I recommend using “Invoice: Great Article Title Here.” Then just paste the information into the body of an e-mail. There’s no reason to use an attachment. Be sure to include all of the information you would in the normal e-mail. In fact, I recommend you develop an invoice using your normal method. That way you still have it for your records.

Sample Invoice
Jimmy Writer
PO Box XX, City, State ZIP Code 989-555-1212

Invoice # GM.2006.01

March 13, 2006

Name of Publication: Great Magazine
Name of author: Jimmy Writer
Article: Best Article Ever
Type: Nonfiction Article
Word Count: 900
Rights: One time rights, reprint

Compensation: $200 U.S.
Terms: Net 30

Please remit payment to:

Name: Jimmy Writer
Phone Number: 989-555-1212
Address: PO Box XX
City, State ZIP
E-mail: jimmy@greatwriter.com
SS#XXX-XX-XXXX

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Market Match

12
May 2009

After you’ve studied a market, you will want to develop a query letter — a one page letter that explains your idea, how it fits that specific market and why you are the person to write the article.

When I write a query, the first paragraph I write usually ends up being the first paragraph of the article. The first sentence for both the query letter and the article have the same purpose – to make the reader interested in reading more. In the query letter, it also demonstrates the tone of the article that I am pitching, so the editor can see how it will fit in with their publication.

In most cases, you won’t write the actual article until after the editor has accepted the article based on your query letter. Most of the work in writing a nonfiction article happens after the editor accepts your query letter. An exception would be for an essay, especially a humor essay. In that case, the editor is going to want to read the entire essay before agreeing to publish it.

Matching Tone to Market

Even when you have the same topic, the tone will vary depending on how or where you plan to pitch it. To demonstrate this, I’ve used one basic idea and written several different first paragraphs of a possible query letter. This is purely to demonstrate how the same idea can be used for a wide variety of markets, and how important it is to match your tone to your market.

The basic premise for all of these pitches is a snake being inside a home instead of outside where it belongs.

Humor Essay… Barely awake and without the aid of coffee, I trudge through my living room on my way to the kitchen. I barely noticed my three oldest children were all huddled together in a single chair. The girls, ages 5, 4, and 2, were being unusually quiet and Maxine, the two-year-old, wasn’t demanding breakfast. I should have known something was wrong.

Woman’s magazine….When the outdoors comes indoors it takes more than screaming from your perch on the chair to show those unwanted visitors the way back outdoors. Joe Expert recommends….

Trade magazine…Rodents and bugs are two of the leading causes hotel guests to lodge complaints. They are also two of the hardest things for hotel management to keep a handle on. Exterminator Joe Expert has a solution….

How-to article…. When removing unwanted pests from your domicile, determining the extent of infestation is often the first step. To do that, call in the experts for a free evaluation.

For a true-story confession…. I’d never fallen in love before and I was convinced I never would. I changed my mind when Sam slithered into my life.

For a children’s story…. Slithering Sam sat sunning himself of the slate-blue slab of rock.

For a newspaper story….A mother of four was arrested today for indecent exposure. The mother’s defense lawyer claims the woman ran into the street after waking up to find a snake in her bed. Police officials reportedly found a gardner snake in the laundry room, which may confirm the woman’s story.

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Sample Multiple-Topic Query Letter

12
May 2009

A number of writers hope to land a regular column, or pitch several topics to an editor at once, but they don’t know how to do it and do it in less than a page. This is a successful query I sent by e-mail to an online market in a response to a job ad I read about seeking someone to write a regular column.

In her response, the editor mentioned that many of my ideas for the section echoed her own. I went on to land the columnist position, and I did write two of these four suggestions for the teens and money area.

From: Sherwood
To: AMOMSha
Subject: Writer for Teens and Money Center
Date: Monday, October 11, 1999 4:44 PM

October 11, 1999

Momsonline
Sharon Thompson

Dear Ms. Thompson,

I would like to apply for the opening you have for the upcoming Teens and Money Center at Moms Online. The teenage years are the perfect time to start teaching teens the importance of handling money in a responsible manner. A noble idea, but the reality of dealing with teens eager to prove their independence is another matter.

I have several article ideas on the topic already including:

– A Teen And His Money Are Soon Parted – A look at ways parents can limit a teen’s spending their part time job income. This would include solid financial options such as direct deposit as well as “from the trenches” advice from parents who have dealt with this issue.

– Junior’s Savings Can Limit Financial Aid – A look into the best ways to set up your teen’s finances to offer the maximum benefits when it comes to applying for college. For instance, a savings account in your teen’s name for college will be required to contribute a higher percentage to the cost of college if that same amount was in a saving’s account in your name.

– Preventing a Credit Crash Course – Ways to ensure your teen will be credit savvy when alone at college and faced with numerous offers for credit cards. For many credit card companies, the only requirement for credit is a copy of your college registration. The thrill of a credit card issued in their name can be a temptation to hard to resist. With the number of credit offers, incoming college freshman can receive four or more credit cards before Christmas break. This is despite the fact they don’t have a job to pay the minimum payments. This article will explore ways to teach your teen credit card smarts with your supervision. This can prevent serious damage to the teen’s credit report that could haunt them for years.

– Spending Smarts – This article would explore new ways for parents and teens to look at spending. The teen wants to buy a $80 pair of sneakers with their own hard-earned money? Can a parent say no? Rather than drawing a line in the sand, this article would think of creative alternatives. Buying a pair of $80 sneakers while making $5.35 an hour means the teen had to work 15 hours to pay for them. Are the sneakers worth 15 hours of their life?

I am a full time writer who works from my home in northern Michigan. I have a bachelors degree in journalism and over five years experience as a reporter and editor for weekly and daily newspapers. In addition, I have written newsletters, and designed and written special promotional materials for several businesses. Clips are available upon request. You can view an article I’ve written online at The Writing Corner at http://www.writingcorner.com.

Thank your for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Linda Sherwood
Contact Info Here

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Using Clips

12
May 2009

Clips are copies of your published work “clipped” from the newspaper or magazine. You need to get clips to get published and you can’t get published until you have clips. It’s a vicious cycle. That’s why many beginning writers are willing to write for free.

Some clips are more valuable than others, based on the publication’s reputation. When evaluating the value of your clip, consider the editorial process it went though. If it was your friend’s web site, and no one edited anything, it’s not a very valuable clip. If it’s from a national magazine, it went through several layers of editing, making it valuable as a clip. In general, a clip from a daily newspaper is more valuable than a clip from an unknown online publication. As you get more clips, weed through and keep the best ones.

No mater how prestigious the publication, “Letters to the editor” aren’t clips! Even if that’s all you have, don’t use them!

Once you have clips, you want to present them in a way that is neat and clean that you can share with editors. Clips don’t always cooperate. When published, some clips snake around ads and just look really bad. Editors don’t care about the ads, but if you cut them out you end up with a long skinny article.

What I do is cut the article out, lay it out neatly on a clean 8×11 sheet of paper. Often, I’ll reduce the publication’s tombstone (their nameplate on the front cover) and place it along the top of the blank page. I’ll then lay my article out underneath it in column format using rubber cement to hold it all in place.

Once the article looks nice, I’ll note the day it was published and the page it appeared on. You can do this by pasting the folio line (the line on every page giving the page number and date and publication’s name) or by just neatly printing it on the page. I store my clips in a three-ring binder. Each clip is slid into a plastic sleeve inside the binder. I place the original in front, and store extra copies behind the original.

When I need to send a clip, I flip through my portfolio and pull out copies of clips I need. I try to send clips that are relevant to the article I’m pitching. For instance, a query about a parenting topic includes two parenting clips. A query about health includes health clips, and so on.

Online Clips

There are a lot of questions about how to handle online clips. The best thing to do is to keep it simple. If you have an article published online, you will want to save the clip. Web sites change, and your clip might not always be on the publisher’s site. To save your clip, you can save the web page as a .pdf file or save it as an .html file. You can also save it as an image by selecting your “print screen” button.

There are other options that are a bit more involved. You can set up a web site and offer samples of your work there, and you can use URLs to link to online clips. If you set up a web site, you want to make sure your website looks professional.

If you are e-mailing editors, do not send an attachment unless you ask the editor how he or she would prefer to receive clips. You may need to paste it into the body of an e-mail, or you might need to attach a Word file or .pdf file. Practice sending your work to friends or to yourself before you try to send it to editors.

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When is Free OK?

12
May 2009

The important thing to remember when deciding whether or not to write for free is that the writer should always receive something for their writing, and that something doesn’t always have to be cash or check. A writer can write to get clips, or to break into a new genre or to promote a book or to have their story told. A free column in the local paper might give you the deadline you needed to motivate you to write. All of these are benefits, or payments, for the writer.

You need to take your experiences and go that next step and stretch your horizons. Once you gain something, move on.

For example, I started writing for newspapers. I have a very solid background writing for newspapers. I felt very comfortable writing nonbiased articles after interviewing experts about topics that had nothing to do with me. Then I decided to freelance. I started researching the markets.

All of the articles I read in the magazines I wanted to pitch started out saying, “I was” or “My daughter and I.” But “I” is the forbidden pronoun in journalism! Could I do this? Could I make the switch? Well, I found an online market and I sent a query. It was accepted within 15 minutes.

I interviewed about eight people for the article including several long-distance phone interviews to experts. When I was done, I turned in a 1500-word article that I had probably put eight hours or more into. I proudly cashed my check for $25. And I never wrote a researched article for $25 again.

I needed that chance to build up my confidence. To let myself know, that yes, I can write an article with experts and include the personal pronoun. Once the article was written, and accepted, I’d learned my lesson. I moved onto better paying markets. You can too!

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