Writing for the Online Market

An Ezine is an electronic magazine using much the same format as print based magazines, usually delivered via email. This article focuses on non-fiction based ezines and sites that publish both online and offline magazines.

If you want to write online non-fiction pieces then it is worth bearing in mind a number of points before you begin:

• Develop saleable ideas
• Conduct thorough market research into the site you are submitting work to - who is their audience? What are their submission guidelines? how will they pay you and how much?
• Don't repeat subjects that have already been covered.
• Contact individual editors.
• Read all guidelines and submission procedures carefully.
• Subscribe to the ezine to get a feel for style, content, market and study the site thoroughly.

Getting paid for writing online can be tough until you have some experience and work published..and until you have built up some online contacts. Below is a small selection of sites where you can submit work with a view to getting paid:

Afterimage - http://vsw.org/afterimage

Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism is a publication of the Visual Studies Workshop, a non-profit media arts center located in Rochester, New York. For the past 33 years, Afterimage has been an important voice in the photography, film, video and visual book community. Along with feature articles, books and exhibition reviews, essays and news, every issue of Afterimage also includes over 300 free notices for jobs, call-for-work, exhibitions and screenings. The site actively welcomes new writers and will accept work from UK based freelancers.

Afterimage pays five cents a word for articles, with a maximum of $100 for news, reports and reviews; $150 for essays; and $300 for features. Payment is made after publication, not acceptance and checks may take some months to process. Feature writers receive 1 advance copy and 10 additional free copies of theissue; reviews, reports, essay and news writers as well as portfolio contributors receive 1 advance copy and five additional copies. All contributors also receive a one-year complimentary subscription.

History Today - www.historytoday.com

History Today is the world's premier, and probably the oldest, history magazine, published monthly in London since January 1951. Founded by Brendan Bracken, Minister of Information during the Second World War and proprietor of the Financial Times, it has been independently owned since 1980. History Today publishes essays on all periods, regions and themes of history, many of them by the world's leading scholars. All are carefully edited and illustrated to make History Today a pleasurable, as well as an informative, read.

History Today commissions the vast majority of its articles directly from the author, howeverm they do also accept unsolicited articles for consideration. The magazines receives a large number of such proposals, so asks that you submit a 200-300 word synopsis of any article in the first instance, for consideration by the editorial team - contact details can be found on the History Today website. Payment is looked at on an individual basis.

I Love Cats Magazine - www.iluvcats.com

I Love Cats is a bi-monthly general interest magazine. It publishes online and offline.

Editor Lisa M. Allmendinger is always interested in new ideas for I Love Cats and requests that you either send a paragraph or two about your idea or the finished piece. The site pays between $25-$50. Payment is upon publication.

Pif Magazine - www.pifmagazine.com

Pif publishes a poetry section, a short story section ("Macro Fiction"), a short-short section ("Micro Fiction"), a memoir section, an interview section, a songwriting section, a screenwriting section, craft articles, a zine reviews section, animated cover art, an onsite bookstore, theme-oriented commentary, searchable archives, and Writers Only classifieds. Pif is also home to Pilot-Search, the Internet's largest literary search engine.

Pif accepts all kinds of writing on an unsolicited basis. Read their submission guidelines on the site. Payment is by arrangement.

Other sites worth checking out:
www.webdelsol.com
www.writelink.co.uk
www.newwritingpartnership.org.uk
www.askaboutwriting.net

*Payment amounts correct at time of publication of this article. Please be aware sites can change their policies at anytime and that you should read contracts and payment agreements very carefully before signing up. Mum and Working is providing information only within this article and has not vetted or verified the submission/payment process of any site listed.