There are tons of ways to find markets that are open to freelancers of gay fiction. If you were paying attention, you might notice that this very website is looking for writers! Finding places to submit your work is easy if you know where to look.
First, the most important tool in a freelancers toolbox is The Gay Writers Market. Available at any major bookstore, this is an annual compilation of more than 2,000 magazines, 1,000 book publishers, and even specialized markets like greeting cards, script writing, and syndicates.
The next best tools are online. Lucky you! They´re free. Absolute Markets is a weekly LGBT e-zine filled with market guidelines, contest listings, and marketing tips. Freelancing4Money puts out a jam-packed e-zine filled with freelance opportunities. Writer's Digest has a great, searchable database of markets. Writing For Dollars has a biweekly newsletter with market guidelines, and a searchable database on the website. And Writers Weekly lists calls for writers and market guidelines each week.
You can even run a search for freelance writers on any major search engine, and youre likely to come up with tons of listings. Try specifying if possible; add words that fit your needs. (Example: paying markets, romance, teen magazines.)
So, your next assignment is this: go back to your trusty notebook and pick out your very favorite idea. That will now be known as your Big Idea. Pick the markets that best fit your idea. Choose several. Find out if you can get a free or discounted sample copy. (Writers often can, if you specify that you would like to query them in the future.) Request writers guidelines if available. Its considered poor form to query publications that youve never read, or know nothing about. Do your best to read at least one copy of whatever magazine or journal you plan to query. Check your library for copies if you prefer not to go broke researching.
Got it now? You have your idea, and youve found places to submit it? Great! Then you'll need to learn proper protocol for writing and submitting the Killer Query.
The Killer Query For Your Gay Novel
The job of the query letter is to entice an editor to say, Hey! Id be interested in learning more about that. Therefore, you dont want to spill all your secrets and research yet. You want to tease and tantalize. Now that youve got your fabulous Big Idea, your job is to condense (or expand) that idea into two to three paragraphs.
Think company cars, expense accounts, and a spacious office with bay windows. Who do you picture running a business this successful?
Start the letter with a zinger that captures the essence of your proposed article/story. Raise a question that will cause the reader to think, or give a visual image anything that will make him/her want to read on and find out what youre talking about.
Think again. This company was the brainchild of three Boston University sophomores whose ambitions led them to thriving careers before they had diplomas to hang on the wall.
The rest of the first paragraph should give a concise description of the focus of your proposed article. Remember to tell why its appropriate to the publication youre querying. In this case, I was targeting a gay college magazine, so I made sure to emphasize the relevance of gay romance writing to their subject
matter early in the letter.
To be continued in part 4...
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