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Selling Your Work to the Internet

A Review by Douglas Gray

Anthony Tedesco and Paul Tedesco
Online Markets for Writers
Owl Books
ISBN 0-8050-6226-2

The Internet has been the fastest-growing communications media in history. And even though it prides itself on fancy graphics, animations and special effects, it's primarily a venue for the written word that requires daily infusions of copy from good writers.

Yet many writers are reluctant to seek out online markets for their work. If you're one of these writers, you may be hesitating because of some unanswered questions regarding the Internet:

• Do you need to learn new technical skills or acquire a new writing style to write copy for e-zines, electronic newsletters and web sites?
• How do you set about finding online publications that might be interested in your work?
• How do you negotiate publication rights and protect your work from being reused without your permission?

And, the biggest question of all:

• Can you make money by writing for the Internet?

All these questions, and others, are answered in Online Markets for Writers -- a slim, highly readable and eminently practical guide by brothers Anthony and Paul Tedesco.

The good news is that there are hundreds (perhaps thousands) of e-zines and electronic newsletters that pay well for a writer's words.

Whatever your areas of expertise -- whether you've got articles about travel, sports, health, art, education, politics, fashion, music, nature, parenting, investing, movies, science, fitness, technology, business, or almost any other subject -- there are online publications that need what you've written.

The opportunities are great. The problem is finding them. There's no equivalent to Writers Market for the Internet, and it's unlikely that one will ever be published. The Internet is simply too vast and changes too rapidly. One web site that ambitiously tried to maintain an up-to-date roster of e-zines through the 1990s finally had to give up the attempt last year, after amassing a catalog of more than 4,000 titles.

So Online Markets for Writers doesn't provide an exhaustive list of e-zines. If it did, the book would be too heavy to lift, and much of its information would be obsolete by the time it reached the bookstores.

Instead, authors Tedesco and Tedesco provide informative summaries of just over 200 e-zines and newsletters. For more information, the authors provide a companion web site and newsletter that provide current updates about the newest markets and calls for manuscripts.

Before turning to the back pages to peruse the authors' list of markets, though, you should pay careful attention to the opening quarter of Online Markets for Writers, which explains what you absolutely need to know about writing online, including:

• how to tailor your writing style for an electronic audience
• how to write and send effective queries to editors by E-mail
• how to negotiate pay rates and protect your electronic rights
• how to use a few simple HTML tags

Much of this advice comes from a group of contributing editors and writers who have been brought in for their expertise. For example, the National Writers Union provides a sample e-zine contract; and Dan Carlinsky of the American Society of Journalists and Authors explains the "cyberfables" that publishers use to trick writers out of their rights and fair payment.

Have your highlighter pen ready before you begin. Online Markets for Writers is full of tips and insights that you need to succeed as an Internet writer. And unlike most books of its type, it's fun to read.