Jul 27, 2018
Mark interviews Kerrie Flanagan, author of the author of
Guide to Magazine Article
Writing by Writer's Digest. Kerrie is a freelance writer with
over 20 years of experience. As a writing consultant, she works
with writers, giving them the encouragement, support, resources and
tools to find success on their writing journey. She is the author
of 8 other books published under her label/publishing company Hot
Chocolate Press.
Prior to the interview, Mark shares a message from this
episode's sponsor, the BOOKS GONE BAD BUNDLE from BundleRabbit,
which features about 260,000 words from 11 authors in 2 books and
10 stories of "Speculative Visions of a Uniquely Portable
Magic."
You can learn more about the bundle via BundleRabbit or check it out at your favorite eBook
retailer. http://books2read.com/booksgonebad
Mark shares a few personal updates, which are:
- The new FREE email course he launched via Reedsy called Kobo
Hacks for Optimizing Sales. It is a series of 10 emails that each
take about 5 minutes to read that will be automatically delivered
to those who sign up
- His story "Active Reader" appearing in the latest issue (#3) of
Pulphouse Magazine and how that
ties back to a goal/dream Mark had several decades ago when he
first started writing
In their conversation, Mark and Kerrie discuss:
- How Kerrie hadn't been someone who had always dreamed about
being a writer; and how it was her role as a teacher that ended up
leading her down that particular path
- The submission process she originally went through to get her
first book published, and how that led to her self-publishing that
book back in 1997 when self-publishing was an almost taboo path for
a writer to take
- The local writer critique group that first exposed Kerrie to
the idea of magazine article writing
- Kerrie's first magazine article query, which was to Better
Homes & Gardens magazine
- The genesis of a Colorado winery article that Kerrie wrote,
based on her interest in wine
- The biggest mistakes that writers make when trying to pitch
article ideas to a magazine, which include not doing one's homework
or properly researching and understanding the readership/audience
of the magazine
- One of the things that surprised Kerrie about the writing of
this book after she had begun the process
- The many hats that Kerrie has worn as a writer and
publisher
- The thrill of having a hugely respected publisher of books for
writers behind her on this new book
- The importance of building connections with people (as an
underlying factor that contributed to this book happening)
- The work Kerrie did as an event coordinator for Writer's
Digest
- The very meta experience of using an article from Writer's
Digest to help Kerrie with negotiating the contract she signed with
Writer's Digest for this new book
- Hot Chocolate Press, the publishing company Kerrie heads up
that has 18 books and 8 different authors
- The challenge of balancing the various hats that Kerrie wears
as a writer, a ghost-writer and a publisher
- The three conferences that Kerrie will be speaking at in the
next little while Mendocino Writer's Conference in CA (August), The
Writer's Digest Conference in NYC (August), the new Indie Lab
Writer's Digest Conference in Cincinnati (Sept)
- How Kerrie connected with Angela MacKintosh, Editor-in-Chief of
WOW! Women on Writing magazine and landed her first assignment with
that market
- The use of magazine article writing for building your author
brand and expanding your reach in a way that isn't as likely via
standard social media
- How libraries and the internet have made the process of
researching magazines so much easier than it used to be
- The advice that Kerrie would give to a writer wanting to get
started
- Her avoidance of the use of the term "rejection" when a
magazine article isn't accepted by an editor
- The importance of not giving up, and how it took Kerrie 20
years of hard work to get where she is today
After the interview, Mark shares his reflections on what the
conversation with Kerrie and reading her new book made him think
of, including his own rise through publishing selling short fiction
to magazines (comparing that to non-fiction selling to magazines),
and a few ideas he is planning on implementing related to niche
article writing.
He also talks about selling articles to magazines as an
additional revenue source for a writer, helping to balance out
dependencies and income streams.
Mark then thanks listeners and Patreon supporters and closes off the show.
Links of Interest: