Freelance Writing Journal is having a contest which will determine their next twice-a-week staff blogger.
Dear Freelance Writing Jobs:
Please consider this note as my application for the job of "regular twice-weekly columnist" and my entry into your FWJ Idol contest.
You could say I've been a professional writer since August, 1980, when I stepped into a classroom as a high school Social Studies teacher. The materials included in a US History book's "teacher's guide" rarely resemble anything that can be used to prepare lessons for 11th-graders who aren't on a college-prep track. One of the biggest challenges teaching kids at that level was to boost their reading level. Textbook writers had not yet figured out that teachers were not only teaching content, but reading skills as well. This challenge meant a good bit of re-tooling of the course material was required.
I got paid for that writing, in the sense that I was paid as a teacher, but my first "official" paid writing gig (as in I got a check specifically for the piece) came in 1993, when the journal American Programmer published my article "Hackers vs. Crackers." Emboldened by that article's publication, I continued to aggressively query professional journals. I sold a couple of articles to The Cobb Group's publication, Inside Microsoft Excel, and Inside Windows 3.1, which they re-packaged/re-printed for a one of their newsletters targeted at the education market.
This was the time just before our modern, Microsoft-dominated world. Microsoft Word was just another competitor in the word processing market (WordPerfect was the leader), and Lotus 1-2-3 was the spreadsheet of choice. Networking PCs was an involved process, and Novell's product was the popular way to share files. My consulting practice at this time involved a lot of work installing and supporting Novell Netware systems, integrating the maturing Windows product with those networks.
I continued to write on these topics, leveraging the last-published article to get the next one. I landed a regular column in 1994 on Novell Netware for PC Systems and Support magazine. The magazine already had a Windows columnist, so I answered a call for queries from a local publication (local being New Orleans), Gulf Coast Computing. This tabloid-sized, ad-driven monthly did not pay for submissions, but I wanted published clips on Windows technical issues, so I wrote half a dozen articles for them before that incarnation of the publication went out of business.
As Windows NT began to mature, my consulting work turned away from Novell to Windows networking. My writing naturally reflected that shift, and I sold an article titled "Make Your NT System a Web Server" to another Cobb Group publication, Inside Windows NT. An acquisitions editor for Que caught that article and hired me as a co-author for the book, Choosing Windows NT 3.51.
As the World Wide Web increased in popularity in the mid-late 1990s, I began to query print publications less and less, opting to write for my own websites. By 1998, I was doing a lot of training for Compaq Computer, teaching classes on Digital UNIX (later Tru64 UNIX), and the TruCluster system for Compaq's 64-bit AlphaServer product line. I continued to write for my websites, using those articles as "loss leaders" to showcase my skills to computer companies and training providers as a courseware developer. I authored and co-authored several classes for Compaq/HP on UNIX and StorageWorks. I queried New Riders in 2001 about doing a book on TruCluster Server systems, which was accepted, but the HP-Compaq merger got New Riders skittish, and the project fell through.
All through this period, I struggled with trying to "break out" of computer writing. I was writing a lot about New Orleans for my websites, but the competition in travel/leisure writing was tough. Refusing to be discouraged, I continued to write about my home town. In 2003, I noticed that there were only three books in Arcadia Publishing's "Images of America" series about New Orleans. I queried Arcadia about doing an "Images" book on one of the streetcar lines in New Orleans. They bought the idea, and New Orleans: The Canal Streetcar Line was released to coincide with the re-opening of the Canal line in 2004, after being torn up in 1964.
New Orleans: The Canal Streetcar Line was an unqualified success, quickly going into second printing. Because it's a history book, it is easy to continue to promote and sell, so I've done a number of book signings, keeping the streetcars and the book in the public eye as much as possible. This marketing effort landed me a profile by the Times-Picayune newspaper last month, written by columnist Angus Lind. That article got me noticed by Pelican Publishing, who have offered me a contract to re-write a tourist guidebook on New Orleans that was originally published in the late 1980s.
I've continued computer writing as well as the New Orleans/streetcar writing. I currently teach classes for Hitachi Data Systems, and do a bit of course development work for them.
To sum this up, I've got fifteen years' experience querying editors, promoting myself as a writer, and actually producing work for pay. I'm first and foremost a teacher, and that's what you need for this column--someone who can offer practical advice, encouragement, and assistance to folks trying to break into the market.
Links to my work:
Personal Continuity: http://www.seashell-software.com/archives/2007/08/personal-contin.html
In Praise of the Sno-Ball: http://www.ebranley.com/2008/06/in-praise-of-the-snoball.html
On Being Creole: http://www.ebranley.com/2008/06/on-being-creole.html
All About Po-Boys: http://www.ebranley.com/2008/06/all-about-poboys.html
New Orleans: The Canal Streetcar Line (Arcadia, 2004, ISBN 0738516058): http://www.amazon.com/New-Orleans-Streetcar-Images-America/dp/0738516058/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213032203&sr=8-1
Thanks for this opportunity!
Sincerely,
Edward Branley, edward@ebranley.com
http://www.ebranley.com
http://www.yatpundit.com
Dear Freelance Writing Jobs:
Please consider this note as my application for the job of "regular twice-weekly columnist" and my entry into your FWJ Idol contest.
You could say I've been a professional writer since August, 1980, when I stepped into a classroom as a high school Social Studies teacher. The materials included in a US History book's "teacher's guide" rarely resemble anything that can be used to prepare lessons for 11th-graders who aren't on a college-prep track. One of the biggest challenges teaching kids at that level was to boost their reading level. Textbook writers had not yet figured out that teachers were not only teaching content, but reading skills as well. This challenge meant a good bit of re-tooling of the course material was required.
I got paid for that writing, in the sense that I was paid as a teacher, but my first "official" paid writing gig (as in I got a check specifically for the piece) came in 1993, when the journal American Programmer published my article "Hackers vs. Crackers." Emboldened by that article's publication, I continued to aggressively query professional journals. I sold a couple of articles to The Cobb Group's publication, Inside Microsoft Excel, and Inside Windows 3.1, which they re-packaged/re-printed for a one of their newsletters targeted at the education market.
This was the time just before our modern, Microsoft-dominated world. Microsoft Word was just another competitor in the word processing market (WordPerfect was the leader), and Lotus 1-2-3 was the spreadsheet of choice. Networking PCs was an involved process, and Novell's product was the popular way to share files. My consulting practice at this time involved a lot of work installing and supporting Novell Netware systems, integrating the maturing Windows product with those networks.
I continued to write on these topics, leveraging the last-published article to get the next one. I landed a regular column in 1994 on Novell Netware for PC Systems and Support magazine. The magazine already had a Windows columnist, so I answered a call for queries from a local publication (local being New Orleans), Gulf Coast Computing. This tabloid-sized, ad-driven monthly did not pay for submissions, but I wanted published clips on Windows technical issues, so I wrote half a dozen articles for them before that incarnation of the publication went out of business.
As Windows NT began to mature, my consulting work turned away from Novell to Windows networking. My writing naturally reflected that shift, and I sold an article titled "Make Your NT System a Web Server" to another Cobb Group publication, Inside Windows NT. An acquisitions editor for Que caught that article and hired me as a co-author for the book, Choosing Windows NT 3.51.
As the World Wide Web increased in popularity in the mid-late 1990s, I began to query print publications less and less, opting to write for my own websites. By 1998, I was doing a lot of training for Compaq Computer, teaching classes on Digital UNIX (later Tru64 UNIX), and the TruCluster system for Compaq's 64-bit AlphaServer product line. I continued to write for my websites, using those articles as "loss leaders" to showcase my skills to computer companies and training providers as a courseware developer. I authored and co-authored several classes for Compaq/HP on UNIX and StorageWorks. I queried New Riders in 2001 about doing a book on TruCluster Server systems, which was accepted, but the HP-Compaq merger got New Riders skittish, and the project fell through.
All through this period, I struggled with trying to "break out" of computer writing. I was writing a lot about New Orleans for my websites, but the competition in travel/leisure writing was tough. Refusing to be discouraged, I continued to write about my home town. In 2003, I noticed that there were only three books in Arcadia Publishing's "Images of America" series about New Orleans. I queried Arcadia about doing an "Images" book on one of the streetcar lines in New Orleans. They bought the idea, and New Orleans: The Canal Streetcar Line was released to coincide with the re-opening of the Canal line in 2004, after being torn up in 1964.
New Orleans: The Canal Streetcar Line was an unqualified success, quickly going into second printing. Because it's a history book, it is easy to continue to promote and sell, so I've done a number of book signings, keeping the streetcars and the book in the public eye as much as possible. This marketing effort landed me a profile by the Times-Picayune newspaper last month, written by columnist Angus Lind. That article got me noticed by Pelican Publishing, who have offered me a contract to re-write a tourist guidebook on New Orleans that was originally published in the late 1980s.
I've continued computer writing as well as the New Orleans/streetcar writing. I currently teach classes for Hitachi Data Systems, and do a bit of course development work for them.
To sum this up, I've got fifteen years' experience querying editors, promoting myself as a writer, and actually producing work for pay. I'm first and foremost a teacher, and that's what you need for this column--someone who can offer practical advice, encouragement, and assistance to folks trying to break into the market.
Links to my work:
Personal Continuity: http://www.seashell-software.com/archives/2007/08/personal-contin.html
In Praise of the Sno-Ball: http://www.ebranley.com/2008/06/in-praise-of-the-snoball.html
On Being Creole: http://www.ebranley.com/2008/06/on-being-creole.html
All About Po-Boys: http://www.ebranley.com/2008/06/all-about-poboys.html
New Orleans: The Canal Streetcar Line (Arcadia, 2004, ISBN 0738516058): http://www.amazon.com/New-Orleans-Streetcar-Images-America/dp/0738516058/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213032203&sr=8-1
Thanks for this opportunity!
Sincerely,
Edward Branley, edward@ebranley.com
http://www.ebranley.com
http://www.yatpundit.com
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