An aspiring freelance writer recently sent me an e-mail to ask if it is advisable to jump into the adventurous waters of freelance writing. I thought it best to share my answers with all of you since his questions are the usual concerns posed by a newbie freelance writer, as I once was.

Dino Manrique is the owner/publisher of FilipinoWriter.com. You may reach him at writelit(at)gmail(dot)com.

One of the usual questions I get when I tell others that I write for international publications is how I get paid.

Well, here are the main ways you get to be remunerated once your article is accepted:

Dino Manrique is the owner/publisher of FilipinoWriter.com. You may reach him at filipinowriter (at) gmail (dot) com.

Now that you’ve got the job and have come to an agreement with the editor regarding your feature article’s angle (how the article is to be written), and the business side -– payment, etc., it’s now time to do the interviews which will provide the material for your feature article.

Dino Manrique is the owner/publisher of FilipinoWriter.com. You may reach him at filipinowriter (at) gmail (dot) com.

At last, after sending your article proposal to a number of international publications, you finally get a yes! One of the publications’ editors e-mails a reply, and tells you that they love your feature idea.

Now what? What do you say to the editor? What are the things you have to keep in mind when negotiating with her? Well, as a guide, I made a checklist of the things to consider once your article query is accepted.

Publication rates

Dino Manrique is the owner/publisher of FilipinoWriter.com. You may reach him at filipinowriter (at) gmail (dot) com.

So now you’ve found an international publication where you can pitch your freelance writing idea. How do you write that query letter, or that article proposal to the editor?

Dino Manrique is the owner/publisher of FilipinoWriter.com. You may reach him at filipinowriter (at) gmail (dot) com.

Say, after looking for a freelance writing idea, you already came upon one, a topic which would make for a very interesting feature article. How do you go about finding a publication to propose or pitch it to? Well, there are lots of ways of finding publications, or writing markets as they are called. But for our purposes for this article, we’ll discuss finding a publication when you already have an idea.

Basically, there are three ways of looking for writing markets online.

Dino Manrique is the owner/publisher of FilipinoWriter.com. You may reach him at filipinowriter (at) gmail (dot) com.

I’m re-printing below, a slightly revised version of an article which got featured in WritersWeekly.com as a Success Story four years ago (December 17, 2002 to be exact) when I had just started freelance writing. It’s sort of my personal reply to the question, “How do I know if I’m really meant to be a writer?” It can even be applied to the perennial question, “How do I know my real purpose in life?”

Dino Manrique is the owner/publisher of FilipinoWriter.com. You may reach him at filipinowriter (at) gmail (dot) com.

A few months ago, I started freelance writing again and finished writing three feature articles for two publications. In the process, I have learned or, perhaps more accurately, re-learned a few things. The gist of what I "re-learned" is that writing features consists, at least for me, of stages. In this article, I will share with you these stages of writing as I re-discovered them and also share the things that I have "re-learned" during these stages.

Procrastination

Dino Manrique is the owner/publisher of FilipinoWriter.com. You may reach him at filipinowriter (at) gmail (dot) com.