High -Paying Freelance Writing Markets

 Here is a short, but amazing, list of freelance writing markets.

What's so amazing is that the pay rate ranges from an impressive 5-8 cents a word, up to $1,500 per writing assignment.

And even if you've never been published before, there is a market for your work too.

Just take a look then start writing.

Good luck.

UNPUBLISHED WRITERS ONLY
Ghoulish Tales are open until the end of June for fiction and non-fiction from unpublished writers only and it is a high-paying market.
They have a long list of stories they are interested in so see guidelines for details.
Word Count: Fiction 5,000 max, non-fiction 2,000 words max.
Payment: 10 cents/word.
Deadline: midnight June 30 2024.
https://ghoulish.rip/ghoulish-tales-reopens-submissions-only-considering-writers-who-have-never-been-published-before/

CHICKEN SOUP: STORIES ABOUT DOGS
Looking for all styles of stories about dogs; heartwarming, funny, intelligent, and more.
All submissions need to be true.
Write in the first person about something that happened to you or someone close to you.
Word Count: 1,200 words max
Payment: $250 and 10 free copies of your book
Deadline: September 30, 2024
https://www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/possible-book-topics/ 

AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL MAGAZINE
Currently looking for very short stories, plays and nonfiction for two magazines aimed at 7-9 years olds, and 9-12 year olds.
All content reflect the diversity and inclusivity of Australian society.
What works best? Energetic and accessible writing that has suspense, with fast-paced action, twists, credible characters and, always, the child reader at its heart.
Word Count:
Fiction: 1500 words (shorter stories are encouraged)
Plays: 1500 words (fewer for younger readers)
Articles: 800–2000 words
Payment: 50 cents/word for fiction, articles and plays
Deadline: Open
https://theschoolmagazine.com.au/writers 

PULP LITERATURE
Looking for great stories that readers can "sink into" late at night, stories that leave them feeling challenged yet refreshed.
The magazine includes a balance of all genres, including fantasy, romance, mystery, literary, etc.
Looking for stories with action and characters that grow and change throughout the story arc.
Word Count: 15-20,000 words. Stories under 5000 words have the best chance of publication.
Payment: $0.05 – $0.08 per word for short stories (to 5000 words)
Deadline: Open
https://pulpliterature.com/submissions/submission-guidelines/ 

WRITE ABOUT WRITING: 15 MARKETS THAT PAY UP TO $1,500
Finding a writing niche is a great way to market your writing.
If you know something about the business of writing you can pitch your ideas to all these markets.
There are 15 to choose from, or try them all.
And some pay up to $1,500 per assignment.
https://makealivingwriting.com/get-paid-to-write-about-writing-markets/ 

Quick Cash Freelance Writing
Book 1 in: 
The Monthly Challenge Writing Series

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCWS1.html

Trying Hard to Get My Emails Set Up

Since I started posting here again regularly, I’ve been trying to automate my emails so that every blog post is emailed to you automatically.

You’d think that in this technological age it would be easy to do. Right? Wrong.

Technology is great when it works, but when it doesn’t it can suck your life away.

Over the last few weeks I’ve spent hours trying to automate my blog posts. I thought it would be easy but it turned out I’ve had to dive into the code to format my blog posts for emailing and to get them to ‘send.’

I know that nothing is ever perfect, but I’m not a coding expert, and I don’t understand PHP which is the type of code that is used to automate the formatting of emails.

I wanted my blog posts to look the same in an email as they do on my blog, but it turned out to be a lot more difficult than I thought.

I’ve spent so much time on my email provider’s website changing code, working with tech support, going though all the documents in their online knowledge base, and trying to sort the issue.

I even wondered if I’d missed a simple fix so I went though it all from the beginning again but I couldn’t find anything that I’d done wrong.

At the moment, I finally think I’ve got it sorted because I don’t want to waste any more time on this, nor do I want to spend my valuable time having to manually set up and email every blog post I write.

But I guess that dealing with issues such as this, is all part of being a writer.

People think that working as a full-time writer is nothing more than sitting down and writing words on a page every day. They don’t see how much work goes into that.

But even so, it’s much more than just writing. It’s spending time doing marketing, writing articles, making book covers, doing blog posts, freelance work, social media marketing, editing, formatting, publishing, coming up with ideas, file curating, reading, learning, and a whole bunch more.

I find that I need a system of working to keep me on track and to make sure I don’t miss any step along the way. Just something as simple as misplacing a file or document on my computer can set me back an hour or more while I look for it.

Plus I also have a personal life which means that I’m usually busy all the time.

So it annoys me when I have to waste so much time trying to do something like automate my emails which, ironically, is supposed to free up my time.

And after all that, I hope these blog posts (and emails) are helping you to write more and earn more.

“Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.”

~ Louis Pasteur

I Forgot to Tell You About This Mackarb Story

Usually, when I write a book, I’m good at marketing it because marketing can often be more important than writing the book in the first place.

But for some reason, and I can’t for the life of me remember why, I didn’t market my latest book at all. I did have it listed on the home page of my website as being available in 2024, but that was the only mention of it online until it went live on the publishing site at the end of March.

So when I received the sales report a few weeks later, I was surprised at how well it was selling. I thought that maybe it was just the sort of horror novel that people are eager to read.

It’s called Mackarb, “A story so frightening that it cannot be told around a campfire near the woods, or worse, in the woods.”

So in an effort to actually start marketing this new novel, here are 3 things you might find interesting about it:

1. It’s the first in a series of 3 horror novels that are collectively called, Campfire Stories. Although it’s a set of 3, each novel is completely independent from the other books.


2. The cover image of scary eyes in the woods (see below), is a photo that I took from my balcony. I looked up at the trees one afternoon, and saw that the orange sunset was shining through like two evil eyes, so I quickly snapped a photo. Photoshop was used to highlight the ‘eyes’ and darken the sky and remove a couple of unwanted things in the foreground (like a telegraph pole), but the photo is mostly as the original. As I was writing Mackarb, I remembered the photo and used it for the cover.


3. Mackarb is the name of the town where the story is set, hence the different spelling of the word, macabre. It took me a while to come up with the name because it’s an important element of the story. It wouldn’t have seemed as sinister if I’d given it a happy name.

My next book in the series is called Jackolantern, and as you can probably guess, will be available for Halloween.

The third book is called Magenta and is about a woman who is engrossed in a novel she’d reading, then realises she’s trapped in it and can’t get out. I used a lot of imagination and creativity to write this one.

Anyway, if you’re interested in this series, Mackarb is available to buy or download from any book store.

Or you can borrow a copy from a library. If your library doesn’t have a copy, fill out a request form for them to purchase a copy.

And then relax and have a good read.

You can find out more about Mackarb here:

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/mackarb.html

Why Most Writers Are 100% Wrong In The Way They Use Their Time

One thing writers often talk about is time. They think it’s all about working out how many words they can write in an hour, multiplied by how many hours they set aside for writing every day. 

They think that this alone will tell them how much writing they can do, how many articles they can write, and even how many books they can write in a week/month/year.

But they are completely wrong for looking at their time this way.

I’ve been a writer for over 20 years, and I earn all my income from my writing, so I know what I’m talking about.

Don’t get me wrong, knowing how fast you can write is important, but there’s one thing that’s crucial.

If you want to get more writing done in the time that’s available to you, you must protect your time. You must preserve your time. And you must not, under any circumstances, let anyone steal your time.

Let me explain what I mean.

When I first began writing, I had a full-time job and a family to look after, so I had to squeeze my writing in whenever I could, which usually meant writing in the evenings or at weekends.

Eventually, I managed to earn enough money from my writing so that I could change to a part-time job, and when I was earning enough from my writing, I quit my job altogether.

It was a long and laborious process, and the hardest thing was protecting my writing time.

It seemed like every time I wanted to write, the universe had other ideas. One of the kids would get sick or an emergency home repair needed doing, or the dog had to go to the vet, or a friend or family member would need my help with something.

There always seemed to be something to interrupt my writing time. And let me tell you, if you try and say to someone that you’re too busy writing to help them, they do NOT like it.

Friends and family were quite scornful and mocking about my wanting to be a writer. Even now, so many years later, no one ever wants to talk about my writing, and if I mention it, they quickly change the subject. It’s as though it’s taboo to mention my writing.

One day, when I was visiting my father, I saw a magazine on the coffee table. I opened it to one of the feature articles and said, “Look. That’s my article. I wrote that and it was published this week. See?”

My father’s wife leaned forward, closed the magazine, and said, “Right, who wants coffee?”

I was so hurt (and confused). I thought surely when I pointed out one of my published articles in a magazine they might have at least been interested or maybe even smiled. Instead they gave each other a quick sideways glance and pretended I hadn’t said anything.

And it’s this attitude that other people always seem to have and they think that your writing time isn’t important. So they think nothing of taking it from you and using it for their own gain. For a long time, people that I knew thought my writing was a joke, even though I was being published regularly, had set up and was running a writing website, and had thousands of subscribers. Try telling your friends you don’t want to go out drinking with them because you want to go home and write a short story and see what happens. They won’t like it at all.

This is why it’s important to train your friends and family to respect your writing time, and don’t be afraid to tell them that you’re too busy to talk on the phone, or to go for a coffee or to go to lunch. Once you start saying no to them it’s amazing how quickly they stop asking.

And when you’ve trained them to leave you alone, and you get to write more, the most amazing thing happens.

As you write more, it gets easier and faster. It’s just like anything we do repeatedly. It takes far less effort, and becomes quicker.

Having a strict writing schedule helps too because it not only makes sure that you have time to write, but once others know it’s your writing time and that it’s off-limits to them, they’ll leave you alone.

Don’t let others steal your writing time. They’ll never give it back. And it’s far too precious and important to lose.

P.S. Don’t let emails and social media steal your writing time either.

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCWS1.html