Infographic: How to Become a Successful Freelance Writer

After hearing me describe the process of deconstructing a magazine to identify the most freelance-friendly sections, and how to customize a story idea, a student stared at me, with her mouth agape.

“That sounds like a lot of work,” she said.

Well, yes. But anybody who spends any time reading how-to-pitch type guides quickly hears the refrain to “read the magazine.” Editors regularly receive pitches from writers throwing spaghetti story ideas at them to see if anything sticks. To me, that sounds like a lot of work.

Lately I’m boning up on a genre in which I’d only been a casual reader: the infographic, as I’ve been adapting studies into what are essentially data comics lately.

To go meta, here’s one I recently came across by Jennifer Ho. I’d say the importance of developing skills and following up get less visual emphasis than are really needed, but it’s worth a look:

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