I recently opened a fortune cookie that said, "If you think the fates are against you, they probably are." Everyone at the table laughed. Talk about the anti-fortune cookie. Since when did fortune cookies start offering up brutal honesty?I'm hoping the fates will be with me as I finish up my literacy coach assignment and start looking for freelance writing jobs. When I first decided to be a freelance writer a few years ago, I got an awesome job as an activity writer for a book packager that paid the bills for a good four months. I got the job based on my teaching background, then, discovered I love writing activities and curriculum.
Unfortunately, jobs didn't come along so quickly and easily after the first, fateful opportunity. But, I'm hoping for very good fortune again. My plan is to check-in with my work-for-hire editors soon to let them know I'm available. I'm going to follow my own advice offered in my work-for-hire article. I'm also following a thread on the Non-Fiction for Kids yahoo group about whether or not work-for-hire assignments are cyclical.
There is agreement that while work-for-hire assignments don't follow a school schedule, they might follow school purchasing cycles and definitely follow school purchasing trends. Someone on the list mentioned ELL/ESL assignments being "hot" right now. I wasn't planning to highlight my credentials as an ESL endorsed teacher, but I definitely will after reading the posts. You can read more about what topics are "hot" in education in the International Reading Association What's Hot for 2008 annual survey article. These are only language arts topics, but the results are important trends freelance writers who work for the education market might want to pay attention to.
If you are interested in learning more about work-for-hire, read my article about getting wfh jobs, or my other article about writing wfh cover letters. Or, consider visiting these sites for more information:
Writing for the Education Market
writing for hire yahoo group
freelance writing jobs yahoo group
non-fiction for kids yahoo group
Have you ever done work-for-hire writing? Any thoughts or tips?
Cheers,
Heidi
3 comments:
Hi, Heidi,
I finished an online course for writing for the Educational Markets , which was excellent for getting an introductory packet together. As an ESL teacher, I have lots of experience, and i've sent my packet out there, but alas, I have not heard from any work for hire jobs.
Dorit
Hello Dorit! I'd like to know more about the course. Hey - good luck in the job search and take care, Heidi
Ay yi yi, Heidi, you give way more information than I can find time to digest! I've managed to stay afloat yet another year doing work-for-hire. I've followed your tip, to contact work-for-hire editors once a quarter or so, to check back with them. That process hasn't really turned up any work yet, although word-of-mouth with editors passing my name around has. I'd love to follow all your links, send out ideas, etc. but right now I seem to have more projects than I can juggle, although only one of them is for pay, and I already have more hours into the project than I'll get paid for. Thank you for all you do to encourage all of us!
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