Another 25 Markets to Explore if You Want to Earn 25 to 50 Cents per Word

In a recent post, I shared a market with you that pays an average of 25 cents per word. The listing was taken from my new e-book, 50 Markets that Pay Freelance Writers 20 to 30 Cents per Word.

In case you missed it, here it is again:

Arizona Bride
Website: www.arizonabridemag.com
Type of Market: Magazine
Based in: Minneapolis, Minnesota (USA)
Publishes: Relevant articles about local (Arizona) wedding resources, covering topics such as gowns, catering, photography, etc.
Accepts: Queries
Buys: Exclusive one-time rights for a period of 60 days from publication and right to reprint editorial material for promotional use
Pays: Average of 25¢ per word, on or about 60 days after publication
Guidelines for Writers
Contact Info.

When compiling the e-book, I adhered to a policy of only including markets that state their rates explicitly on their websites. Even if I was 100 percent sure a market paid 25 cents per word and had confirmation from multiple sources, I did not list it unless that information was clearly stated in black and white in the guidelines. I felt that this would provide more value to my readers, some of whom might hesitate to query a market without seeing proof of it offering a particular rate.

This led to an interesting situation with certain markets, including Arizona Bride.

If you look at the bottom of the magazine’s website, you will see links to some other bridal magazines, including California Wedding Day, Minnesota Bride, Oregon Bride, Seattle Bride, and Wisconsin Bride.

Because these similarly-themed magazines are all published by the same entity (Tiger Oak Media) and all work with freelance writers, it is pretty safe to assume that they also pay an average of 25 cents per word even though the guidelines for these publications do not state this explicitly. Minnesota Bride and Wisconsin Bride did, in fact, list this rate on their websites at one time in 2012, but have since removed information about payment, which led me not to include these magazines in the 2013 edition of the e-book.

But that’s not all. If you visit Tiger Oak’s website, you will see that they actually publish an additional nine business and lifestyle magazines, as well as nine magazines covering meetings and events in various regions. Digging around on the websites of these publications shows me that Tiger Oak publishes even more magazines not listed on their homepage, such as Northwest Home and St. Louis Park.

Logic tells me that business magazines put out by such a robust publisher should pay more than bridal magazines, and guess what? If you visit the guidelines for the meetings and events magazines, you will see that they pay an average of 50 cents per word.

How cool is that?

By examining just one market (Arizona Bride) with a critical eye, you have now found at least another 25 decent-paying markets in different niches (possibly more) to keep you busy for a long time to come.

If you are able to successfully write for one of these publications, you will have an easier time pitching another magazine in the same group because the editors will already be familiar with your work.

This is why I always recommend writers not discount a particular market without thinking about it from different angles. People who initially shied away from bridal magazines and did not even click on the guidelines for Arizona Bride, for example, would be missing out on some great opportunities for other types of writing.

Think about this.

If you are able to write just 1,000 words per week for 50 cents per word, that’s a cool $2,000 per month that is much easier to earn than the $2,000 you could earn by writing for markets that pay just 10 cents per word.

How much do you want to earn?

My hope is that my e-books listing various rates for freelance writers will help you as you make that decision and chart a course for your writing career.