Five Easy Questions, Erika Dreifus, Part Four

Know More: Erika Dreifus, Five Easy Questions, How To Publish 2.0, Five Easy Questions

Erika Dreifus literally wrote the book on paying markets for writers.

Twice a year, she publishes an updated version of The Practicing Writer's Guide to No-Cost Literary Contests and Competitions with over 200 places where writers can try and pay the bills.

She also wrote The Practicing Writer's Directory of Paying Short Story Markets, which profiles 135 places where writers can sell work.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Dreifus has published eight constantly revised books about the publishing industry, helping fledgling writers take a shot at real writing career. Even if you just want to dabble in the market, Dreifus gives frequent updates about contests and paying publications for her readers at her Practicing Writing blog.

For all these reasons, I picked Dreifus for my my deceptively simple feature: Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing.

Jason Boog:
The Internet has shook up print publications. Do you think the paying market for writers is dwindling? Do you think a fledgling writer can hope to support themselves as a writer? What do you tell your students about the future of professional writers?

Erika Dreifus:
I try to be realistic... I point out that you can still identify plenty of paying markets out there, but the amounts that are paid are often quite small, and you really do have to do your research (or depend on research from reliable others) to find them.

And the paying markets can often seem obscured by the many non-paying publications that do seem to be popping up so frequently, especially, as you note, on the Internet. But I am encouraged to find additional paying markets to include in my market e-books on a regular basis.

I certainly wouldn't encourage the idea that writing short stories will earn anyone (except, maybe, Alice Munro and a few others) a livable wage.

That kind of success is extremely rare. I can't think of too many poets who don't have another job, either.

But if one is willing to branch out and write in other capacities (journalism, copywriting, etc.), then I believe the potential for making a living as a writer is there.

» The Publishing Spot Library: Writing Guru Erika Dreifus from ThePublishingSpot
Yesterday, journalist Christopher Hitchens told us to quit our dayjobs. Today, writing guru Erika Dreifus is teaching us how to find freelance work once we strike out on our own.Besides having a great website (which linked to us today--hello... [Read More]

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