I’ve just had a short story published 18 months after submitting to Aquila children’s magazine. It’s the first of a two-parter. I submitted it as a three-parter (as per their contributors’ guidelines) but then the editor asked me to cut it by 1000 words and make it a two-parter. Yes ma’am! I said. What does this tell you about magazines? Continue reading ‘Magazine ‘lead times’’
Archive for the 'Non-fiction writing' Category
Alex Gazzola is an author and journalist specialising in food, nutrition and health, with a particular focus on food intolerance, food allergy, digestion and digestive orders. Continue reading ‘A health writer coughs up’
It’s a well-worn theme on the Crafty Writer that it’s difficult to earn a living as a writer, but we don’t want you to give up in despair. So we’ve asked top copywriter Gill D’Achada, creative director of Mustard Seed Marketing and Advertising, to tell you about one way writers can make money: through copywriting… Continue reading ‘Getting Started in Copywriting 1′
In this final session on non-fiction writing, we will be looking at the small print to keep you on the right side of the law. We will be looking at:
Continue reading ‘Non-fiction writing - finance, copyright and libel’
This is the seventh instalment in my eight week course on non-fiction writing. Last week we looked at how to write a feature article for magazines; this week we will be discussing:
We’ve just spent five weeks on this non-fiction course looking at different styles, genre and markets for non-fiction writing. I hope by now that you have got an idea of what you would like to write about and started researching it. Whether it’s a travel article, an autobiographical piece or a general feature article for the magazine of your choice, you should be ready to write something up. Successful Non-fiction Writing by Nicholas Corder has an excellent chapter on writing-up and you may like to refer to it after you’ve read this post. So it will come as no surprise to you that this week we are looking at how to write a feature article for a magazine. Continue reading ‘Non-fiction - how to write a feature article’
This is the fifth session in my free non-fiction course. We’ll be looking at that most sought-after of writing gigs - travel. Ah, to wander the world, write about it and then get paid; what could be better? But it’s not that easy to get into and not as lucrative as it first appears. That said, if you take the Crafty Writer’s advice you might have a head-start on fellow travellers. We will be looking at four kinds of travel writing:
In this fourth session of my free non-fiction writing course we will be looking at how you can mine your own experiences for publishable material. It’s not all about ‘I was born at an early age and died before I was ready’, so if the cradle-to-grave expose’ doesn’t attract you, there are more ways to use autobiographical material in your writing. We will look at autobiographical ‘lens’ books and articles, life-story autobiography, family history and ‘true life’ articles. Continue reading ‘Non-fiction writing: autobiography and writing from life’
Magazines
The following magazines are currently looking for freelance work:
- Garden Answers - email geoff.stebbings@emap.com to request contributors’ guidelines.
- Psychologies - check out the website for contributors’ guidelines. As well as psychology and emotional health articles, they are looking for travel features that include an element of self-discovery. You can also submit a 500-word ‘your story’ for the online magazine, although there won’t be any payment.
Welcome to the third installment of my 8 week course on non-fiction writing. We’ve already looked at finding opportunities to get published and non-fiction writing style. This week we will consider opportunities on the web. Continue reading ‘Non-fiction writing for the internet’
Welcome to The Crafty Writer, published by Fiona Veitch Smith, a freelance journalist, author, playwright and writing teacher. This site is full of information and resources to help you on your journey to become a better writer. 
