The Renegade Writer Library

The Renegade Writer & From Pitch to Published (2-book bundle)

Save 20% when you buy both The Renegade Writer and From Pitch to Publish in one convenient volume!

In The Renegade Writer, two veteran writers show you how to break the rules of freelancing to score the best assignments...and make more money.

You do what you’re told by the experts: You read six months of back issues before pitching ideas. You follow writer’s guidelines. You give editors eight weeks to respond to your queries. You never call editors, and you only interview sources when you’ve got the assignment. You’re doing everything “right,” but your bank account's dialing 9-1-1.

For over 20 years Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell have broken the written (and unwritten) rules of freelancing, building successful careers and landing assignments with publications like Redbook, Writer’s Digest, Family Circle, Cook’s Illustrated, The Boston Globe, and more. They pitch magazines they’ve never read, call editors to pitch ideas, research extensively before they even get an assignment, and usually follow their own inclinations rather than the official directions. They’ve negotiated for more money and better terms without risking their careers, learned that editors are not the writer-gobbling monsters many freelancers fear, and established long-term relationships with editors at top publications. In The Renegade Writer, they’ll show you all their tips and tricks so you’ll become the go-to writer editors love.

When the first edition of The Renegade Writer was published in 2003, it helped thousands of magazine writers around the world find more (and better) ideas, break into new (or tough) markets, research and write their articles with more efficiency, and get paid more money...and showed them that the freelance life can be extremely profitable when they use their brains instead of a rule. This third edition includes new “rules” that freelancers should break, updates on the featured writers from our second edition, and new Q&As with successful rule-busting writers.

* #1 best-seller in journalism category on Amazon.com
* 4.5 of 5.0 stars average review on Amazon.com
* Well reviewed by Publishers Weekly, Investigative Reporters & Editors, The Writer, and Writer’s Digest.

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From Pitch to Published shows you how to sell your ideas to the magazines you love to read.

Maybe you're a budding freelancer who dreams of seeing her byline in a magazine like Redbook or Women's Health. Or you're a mid-career writer who can't seem to break out of the pack and clinch the assignments that other writers seem to nab with ease. If you want to start scoring assignments from top magazines like Smithsonian, Inc., mental_floss, and Fitness—not to mention trade and custom publications—From Pitch to Published: How to Sell Your Article Ideas to Magazines is the guide you need to take you there.

You'll learn how to craft winning article pitches that pique interest from editors and lead to lucrative assignments. Included are over 20 actual pitches that sold to magazines such as Women's Health, Parenting, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Entrepreneur, and more plus interviews with the writers and their assigning editors. You’ll learn from these insiders:

• What every editor is looking for in a story pitch...and if you think it's a list of your writing credits, you're wrong.
• Why your writer’s voice is more important than you think.
• How to sell your idea to a national magazine even if you've never been published before.
• What to do if you have no clips, samples, or credentials.
• How to stand out from the competition with your very first sentence.

From Pitch to Published also includes a comprehensive Q&A about the art and science of selling article ideas to magazine editors...everything from how to structure a winning query letter to how to sell a “killed” article. If you're a beginning writer, you'll learn how to land your initial assignments with more ease and less angst, and if you've been around the block a few times, you'll find dozens of tips to help you improve your sales ratio.

Written by two top freelance magazine writers who authored the freelancing classic The Renegade Writer, From Pitch to Published will guide your way to freelance writing success.

Note: This book was previously published as The Renegade Writer's Query Letters That Rock. It was revised and updated in 2017 to reflect changes in the publishing industry over the last ten years.