How to Make Money Writing Letters
With the rapid growth in Twitter, texting and social-networking sites, many people think that the art of letter writing is dead. They are wrong. Almost every magazine and newspaper includes a page of readers’ letters and editors are keen to receive original, interesting material for publication. So keen, that they offer payment or prizes to encourage readers to share their views and experiences with others.
It’s not difficult to get published and make some money, if you follow a few simple rules. Firstly, research your chosen publication – try to get hold of at least a couple of copies to get a feel for the type of letters selected. Make a note of the following:
- Do the letters refer to features and stories printed in previous issues or are they are anecdotes personal to the writer e.g. a funny thing that happened to them or something the grandchildren said?
- Count the number of words in each letter and make sure that anything you write hits the average word count.
- What is the type and tone of the language used i.e. is “he had” abbreviated to “he’d” and are the words and sentences long or short?
- Do photographs appear alongside the letters?
Next, decide what you are going to write about and get started. After completing the first draft of your letter, put it in a drawer and leave it for a couple of days. When you take it out and re-read it, be ruthless. Strike out anything that is waffle or beating around the bush. Remove ‘worthless’ words such as ‘just’ and ‘very’. Readers’ letters have to be concise and to the point.
Now your masterpiece is ready to be sent to the editor. Most publications will accept readers’ letters by email and don’t forget to include a photograph of you, if applicable.
If you intend to write letters for publication regularly, there are a few points to bear in mind:
- Don’t send the same letter to more than one magazine. Only send it to another publication if it hasn’t appeared in print after several months.
- Buy magazines on the day they are published and submit letters commenting on that issue as soon as possible – the editor will want to print them before readers have forgotten about the feature.
- Don’t write continually to the same magazine – readers don’t like it if the same names repeatedly appear on the Letters’ Page and some magazines ban prolific writers. Target a wider range of publications instead.
Good Luck! Don’t forget to keep checking the newsagents – you may not be told in advance that your letter is being used and you don’t want to miss seeing your name in print!
This content was provided by one of our users, sallyjenkins
