Parenting Journalists Conference May 20, 2022 (online)

Do you want to:

* connect with editors of top parenting publications, 

* discover a community of writers and creators who make a good living doing what they love, and 

* learn insider secrets to promoting your work, getting paid to speak and more? 

Register today for the live, online Parenting Journalists Conference on May 20 and unlock a package that includes interactive workshops and networking opportunities, roundtable conversations, master classes and access to a private Facebook group.

We’re excited to be joined by writers and editors for publications such as PBS Kids, New York Magazine, New York Times, Parents, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Washington Post and more for a one- day conference that’s designed to be accessible to as many people as possible. Each workshop is by journalists, for journalists, offering clear takeaways and actionable advice. 

How to Organize Your Published Magazine Article Tearsheets

Are tearsheets even a thing anymore? I checked YouTube to find out how to organize my published magazine article tearsheets and just found out how people were organizing pages they'd torn out of magazines for later reading. 🤔

Back in the olden days, you needed them to send out with queries to show that you had worked with a magazine, but these days so much is online or they don't even care what you've done before. It's rare that they even get sent out anymore. But, according to this piece, The Basics of the Magazine Tear Sheet, you should definitely still be keeping them.

Now the challenge is this: how do you organize them?

If you're like me, you keep at least one tearsheet from each article you've had published. But when you've got over 125 articles published, how do you organize them so you know which reprints to resend each year to editors in a timely manner so they can consider them for upcoming issues?

Well ... I used to file everything in a stand-up system like a milk crate or a tubs where you can store hanging file folders. I spent a lot of time creating ONE manila file folder per article. After over 100 articles, that turned into a bit of a mess—and here's why... 

I tried to organize them by topic, which got confusing and arduous for my already overtaxed brain. A birthday tearsheet easily went into the BIRTHDAY, but a tearsheet about sending teens to camp would be both a TEEN and a CAMP piece. What if your TEEN has a BIRTHDAY at CAMP? Forget about it because now your brain has just exploded with too many organizational possibilities! 😂

Now take a little dance break and 
check out Suzannah Windsor Freeman's 
piece titled 
6 Organization Tips for Disorganized Writers

Tell me about your article organization system (digital and physical paper). Or come on over to my Parenting Magazine Writers Group on Facebook and share there!

Image by Ro Ma from Pixabay 

My Self-Publishing Journey with Amazon and Beyond

Self-publishing is such a deep subject! There is a lot more involved than just the writing. Marketing, for example, is very important, as are editing and proofreading. I'm currently considering hiring an AdWords management company to help me with my marketing efforts so I can really get the word out about my self-published books.

I asked my writer friend Chris Lienke if I could use her questions as a basis for this post, then I'll sprinkle in some others as well. She says, "I'm considering publishing a writing book ... but need some details like this before spending too much time on it."  Here are some of her questions:

Write for Western New York Family Magazine

 

Western New York Family Magazine is looking for writers for their 2022 issues. See guidelines below, and click here to see the specific information about their 2022 needs.

Western New York Family

Buffalo, NY – monthly

http://wnyfamilymagazine.com

michele@wnyfamilymagazine.com

Current as of July 2020 

Thank you for your interest in Western New York Family Magazine, which was founded in 1984 as an 8-page newsletter called "Mother's Lifeline." Now running 64-80 pages per issue, WNY Family is a 90% freelance-written, subscription and free courtesy copy publication — both in a conventional "hard copy" print edition and an online "3D" digital edition. Our print edition has a monthly audited circulation of 20,000 copies concentrated in Erie and Niagara Counties of the Buffalo, New York metro area. As of July 2020, we have almost 7,000 digital readers monthly. 

The Published Parent 2021 #IncomeReport

Welcome to my 2021 income report. I love to know how others are doing in my industries, and I enjoy sharing my own successes and challenges. I hope this inspires you in some way!

I'd love to hear your income goals for 2022, so please share those in the comments. As I get more organized in my homeschooling, my home, and my business, I'm finding more time to work on passion projects that can bring in money, such as my cookbooks and books about things like homeschooling with less stress and more fun, etc., although I have to admit this year will see me working on a handbook for our homeschool co-op and also an operations manual (both sorely needed!).

My income was down this year due to taking on more at the homeschool co-op and taking on the teaching of two high school classes (Grammar/Comp and Modern World History), but every bit is helpful around my place! Here are the figures from 2021:

How I Got My Start as a Paid Parenting and Family Magazine Writer

Everybody is different, so how we go about launching a writing career is going to be a different story for everyone. For some of you, a quick query to Working Mother might be the first you’ve ever written. You nervously hit the SEND button on your email program and go about your life. You check your email later that day and find an acceptance of your pitch at a pay rate of $1.00 per word! You create an article based on that piece that’s just different enough to send to the regional parenting magazines, and you sell nothing … for a week. Then the acceptances come pouring in.

Or maybe you always got As in college writing classes and everyone you know says you rock as a writer. But you are having trouble getting any of the RPMs to give you even so much as a nibble. Then you try an online literary magazine that pays and you have found your niche. You go on to sell many pieces to Chicken Soup for the Soul, then try the regionals again and find even more success.

This is my Writing Story because I think it’s important to remember how you started doing something you are very passionate about.

What is a Regional Parenting Magazine or Publication and Why do They Want Your Reprints?

A Regional Parenting Magazine (RPM) is a publication that caters to parents and families in a specific geographic area. For example, Kansas City Parent, my local publication, distributes their magazine all over the Kansas City metropolitan area, which is huge and covers two states!

The articles in RPMs range from how to handle newborn sleep issues to how to deal with too many activities and your middle schooler to how to deal with a surly teenager to how to deal with living with an aging parent. Many also have special separate issues dedicated to babies, special needs, teens, etc.

RPMs depend on freelancers to fill their pages with articles, essays, how-tos, etc., usually on a monthly basis, but sometimes bi-monthly or quarterly.

They make most of their money from advertisers and give out their magazine for free, which means pay to writers is usually low ($15-200 per article in general, depending on advertising income and subscriptions), and they need a steady diet of new and reprint articles, listicles (combination of an article and a list) and essays.

NOT PUBLISHING: Redbook's The Mix

As of July 2016, Hearst has shut down The Mix. See this post on Jezebel.

For general Redbook submission guidelines, see this post.

The following is from Redbook's brand-new contributor network, The Mix:

Have you ever wanted to write for a major women's magazine? Now you can! Join The Mix, our contributor network, and you'll have the opportunity to write for RedbookMag.com, as well as Cosmopolitan.com, WomansDay.com, GoodHousekeeping.com, and ELLE.com. Whether you're a professional writer, avid blogger, or someone with a great story to tell, we're interested in sharing your voice with our readers.

If you'd like to be considered for The Mix, you can find more information right here. Every day, you'll receive an assignments email that includes story topics created by our editors. You can submit stories on as many assignments as you'd like, and if we publish your work, you'll get paid!

Do You Need an Editor or a Proofreader? There is a Difference!

Did you know that there is a difference between an editor and a proofreader? 

My job as proofreader/copyeditor does not entail developmental editing, or hard editing to include rearranging of text. I will always, however, create a comment in the document if I catch an inconsistency or have a question about the text as a reader. 

To see the different types of editors/proofreaders and what they normally charge (hint: my service is a steal!), head here to Dave Chesson's article "The Mastery Guide to Selecting an Editor" on his Kindlepreneur page.

You don't need to ask me what my rate is because I freely share that information right here on this very blog post.

The Published Parent 2020 #IncomeReport

Welcome to my 2020 income report. I love knowing how others are doing in my industry, and I enjoy sharing my own successes and challenges. I hope this inspires you in some way!

Despite the pandemic, my business thrived. Probably because people were staying home and had time to write, so I was a proofreader on fire. Articles still sold well, also, even though in the beginning we were worried that the lack of places to put physical parenting magazine copies would negatively impact ad space and therefore magazine income. Readers had more time to peruse the magazines online, so they still did pretty well as a whole. A couple of things I did this year to try to grow my business while accommodating the changing market:

1. I offered regional parenting magazines a reduced rate just through the end of 2020 in case they had reduced ad income and needed a little break. This worked well, as many magazines bought in bulk to beat my price increase.

2. I wrote new pieces and updated old articles to reflect the changing situations as far as school closings, quarantining, etc.

3. I doubled my rates for new proofreading clients on Fiverr. This helped to weed out certain customers for various reasons. For previous clients, I raised the rate as well, just not as much. 

I like to also share Joanna Penn's (The Creative Penn) work-from-home author revenue because she is a very successful 6-figure author. I love her 2020/2021 Book Sales Revenue Breakdown post where she says, "So please just take this as data for interest, not for comparison."

I'd love to hear your income goals for 2021, so please share those in the comments or with me privately (my email is on the graphic). As I get more organized in my homeschooling, my home, and my business, I know I can earn even more! (links are below the graphic 😉)

Get Published, Get Paid and Sell Reprints to Parenting Magazines

How to Get Started as a Proofreader on Fiverr

My Self-Publishing Journey

My Life as a Homeschooling Door Dasher

November 2020 Work-at-Home #IncomeReport for The Published Parent: $3,458

The McLoughlin household rocked and rolled in November — and I wish the same for you!

I am still blessed to be able to work from home proofreading, blogging, writing articles, and writing books and to be able to do it in my sweatpants or swimsuit, out on the deck or at the dining room table, at my house or traveling with my kids and husband for his work to places like Wyoming, Arizona, Texas, Chicago, Florida, and more. 

I like to share my income from home with you to show you that I am a real person with real challenges and successes. No, it is not a full-time income, but I am not aiming for that. I am thankful and grateful that my husband has a good job, and my main job is homeschooling. Words are my part-time job for now. When the kids are grown, I foresee working more hours with my word career and helping to pay for travel and retirement. But that's at least 10 years away :-)

And if you are interested in making money working from home by being on the Fiverr platform, please use my referral link! As far as work-from-home jobs go, this has been one that I have loved since 2013! Check out my November 2020 income below!

October 2020 Work-at-Home #IncomeReport for The Published Parent: $2,770

The McLoughlin household rocked and rolled in October — and I wish the same for you!

I am still blessed to be able to work from home proofreading, blogging, writing articles, and writing books and to be able to do it in my sweatpants or swimsuit, out on the deck or at the dining room table, at my house or traveling with my kids and husband for his work to places like Wyoming, Arizona, Texas, Chicago, Florida, and more. 

I like to share my income from home with you to show you that I am a real person with real challenges and successes. No, it is not a full-time income, but I am not aiming for that. I am thankful and grateful that my husband has a good job, and my main job is homeschooling. Words are my part-time job for now. When the kids are grown, I foresee working more hours with my word career and helping to pay for travel and retirement. But that's at least 10 years away :-)

The Published Parent/The Kerrie Show Summer Reading Lists 2020

I am a firm believer in the idea that you become a better writer through reading. When I'm deep into a great memoir, I might be doing dishes sometime and start thinking of great ways to write my own life in words, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters.

Check out the summer reading list 2020 from my blog I started in 2008, The Kerrie Show. It's quite a hodge-podge of genres and authors. Then look for fall and winter reading lists as well!

Let's be Goodreads friends!