Give as a writer, in order to receive

One of the keys to a successful writing career is understanding the concept of giving. It's a challenging concept for new writers who are focused on "how much do I get paid?"

They forget about giving first. But giving is vital because giving establishes  your credibility as a writer.

This week's Fab Freelance Writing Ezine explores the concept of giving in more depth.

Here's an excerpt from the editorial:

"Giving" as a writer is a complex concept.

Let's see how giving works. In this scenario, you're a new writer, and you want to break into magazine/ newspaper writing. Specifically, you want to get a column in your local newspaper, which you want to syndicate – just like Dave Barry.

There are many ways you could go about this. Since you want to write a column however, you need to show a newspaper that you can write a column which gains a readership. So you need to write at least ten to 20 columns as a sample. You could give five columns away, and let a newspaper run them as a trial, to see what reaction the columns received. You're giving, in order to receive.

Here's another scenario. Most professional writers have gone through a variation of this one. You want to write for a particular magazine. You read every issue, cover to cover. You write trial headlines. You write decks. You write at least one proposal a month offering a particular story idea. You keep this up for as long as it takes.

Sooner or later an editor gets in touch with you and asks you to write an article. See? All that giving paid off.

Read the rest in Fab Freelance Writing Ezine; it's out on Wednesday.

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