Chapter 1 | The Freelance Facts of Life | 11 |
| What is a magazine? | |
| How much can you make? | |
| Don't give up your day job | |
| The writer's ego, and how it helps and hurts | |
| The bad news | |
| The good news: what you don't see may be bigger than what you see | |
Chapter 2 | How to Read a Magazine and Know What Editors Really Want | 21 |
| Check out the masthead | |
| What kinds of articles does your target magazine publish? | |
| Analyze style and technique | |
| Study the advertising | |
Chapter 3 | The Query System and How to Make It Work for You | 28 |
| How to write a query | |
| The terrible ten-second sort | |
| Nine characteristics of good queries | |
| Nine beginner's mistakes you must avoid | |
| Why many editors steer clear of beginners | |
| Exceptions to the rule | |
| Why good queries are rejected | |
Chapter 4 | Ideas and How to Get Them | 40 |
| A good idea is worth its weight in gold | |
| We just don't believe it | |
| We are our own worst critics | |
| The idea vanishes before we capture it | |
| The importance of specialization | |
| Mind-mapping | |
| Basic human needs and desires | |
| Read, clip and file | |
Chapter 5 | The Professional Writer's Toolkit | 52 |
| How did he do that? | |
| A personal example | |
| The six most common flaws and how to remedy them | |
| Poor structure: the anatomy of a magazine article | |
| Inappropriate tone | |
| Omission of the telling detail | |
| Awkward handling of quotes | |
| Transition trouble | |
| Lack of anecdote and illustration: the freelancers' paradigm | |
| The paradigm is a pattern | |
| The paradigm is basic | |
| Everybody uses the paradigm, even highbrows | |
| The greatest teachers | |
Chapter 6 | Eight Success Secrets of the Masters | 71 |
| The masters specialize | |
| The masters recycle | |
| The masters write every day | |
| The masters revise what they write | |
| The masters observe the Rule of One | |
| The masters observe the Rule of Twenty-Four | |
| The masters observe the Rule of Seven | |
| The masters overcome writer's block | |
Chapter 7 | How to Write for Newspapers and Syndicate Your Own Column | 77 |
| Chaos is real and time is short | |
| The big dailies | |
| Niche-market tabloids | |
| To pitch an idea | |
| The real opportunity: syndicate your own column | |
| Profile of a column | |
| What a column does | |
| Profile of a columnist | |
| How much do you earn? | |
| Marketing your column | |
| Create a sales package | |
| Assemble your package | |
| Plan your marketing campaign | |
| Market in concentric circles | |
| An example | |
| Sending out the package | |
| Secondary profit centers | |
Chapter 8 | Need an Agent? Here's How to Get One | 94 |
| What an agent is | |
| An agent is born | |
| What the agent is selling | |
| What agents are looking for (do you fill the bill) | |
| Three questions agents may ask you | |
| The reading fee | |
| Getting the ball rolling: how to make contact with an agent | |
| Querying an agent | |
| A sample letter | |
| Get an agent by publishing your own book | |
| Not just an agent, but a good agent | |
| Questions you want to ask | |
| Legitimate agent charges | |
Chapter 9 | Will They Steal My Idea? and Other Scary Questions | 111 |
| My own experience | |
| Ideas and words | |
| Ideas and editors | |
| Slant and style | |
| When it looks like theft, but isn't | |
| What about copyright? | |
| What copyright does not cover | |
| Trademarks and fair trade practices | |
| A work made for hire | |
| New dangers: the electronic frontier | |
| A minor case of e-grabbing | |
| Life after life | |
| Plagiarism | |
| The POD Blues | |
| Why a union? | |
Chapter 10 | How to Sell Information on the Internet | 127 |
| The World Wide Web: a chaos of opportunities for writers | |
| The web is in a constant state of change | |
| Information sells: a story from pre-Internet days | |
| The light dawns | |
| What kind of information can you sell? | |
| Trolling for information | |
| Ideas from newspapers and magazines | |
| Building your website | |
| What you say on your site | |
| Getting the money | |
| If you build it, will they come? | |
| The secret: attract traffic with classified ads | |
| Write articles promoting your products | |
| Other web sales opportunities | |
Chapter 11 | Business Details: Rights and Contracts | 145 |
| The rights you are selling | |
| Check out this source of information: NWU | |
| ASJA on electronic rights | |
| Your compensation | |
| By the word or by the piece | |
| "On spec" assignments | |
| The kill fee | |
| Be careful what warranties you give | |
| Copyright your work | |
Chapter 12 | Writing for Businesses | 153 |
| Capabilities brochures | |
| Annual reports | |
| Operations manuals | |
| Business plans | |
| Work with accountants | |
| Employee manuals | |
| Seminars | |
| Editing and ghost writing | |
Chapter 13 | How to Build Your Reputation as a Writer | 161 |
| Prepare a media kit | |
| Small but powerful publications | |
| Bombard the world with news releases | |
| A release for every occasion | |
| How to get on television | |
| The payoff | |
Appendix 1 | Contacts and Sources | 170 |
Appendix 2 | Glossary | 176 |
| Index | 182 |