In early March 2003, the NASW-freelance list held a lively discussion about query letters — their value, their formality, their structure, and their success. What follows is edited from that discussion.
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. . . so Beryl Lieff Benderly became a freelance. Benderly explains how she went from a prospective anthropology Ph.D. to a highly productive freelance science writer. Along the way, she spent a little time at the U.S. Employment Service, wangled a creative writing stipend from the D.C. unemployment office, and stumbled on a book-writing project that made her an expert in deafness.
Rebecca Skloot gives her advice and tips on crafting successful queries. "Queries aren't just about showing that you have a good idea, they're about making yourself stand out by showing that you can write."
Some make a living at it, but most do not.
Results of first freelance survey are out. Can freelance science writers make a living at what they do? Make a decent living at it? What kind of stuff do we write, and for whom do we write it? How do we think the National Association for Science Writers treats its freelance members?
Guess what Richard Robinson puts at the top of his list. And the bottom, too.
"I can't remember or even imagine having to use a typewriter to do my job . . . " Emma Patten-Hitt writes about the importance in her working life of her e-mail pager, a fast laptop, voice recognition software — but not a Palm.
A discussion on the NASW Freelance Listserv dealt with tips for writing about medical conferences. For example: Are chinos okay at a radiologist's meeting? What do cardiologists eat for lunch? Do you need a laptop, or maybe a pen that'll write in the dark during PowerPoint displays? And the big one: To tape or not to tape?
This document is the record of a discussion that took place on the nasw-freelance mailing list from January 19th through January 27th, 1998. It deals with a number of issues critical to anyone trying or hoping to make a living as a free-lance science writer.