Nathan Segal is the author of Secrets of Profitable Freelance Writing. In it, he reveals everything he knows about getting work online and developing long-term relationships with magazines and editors. Nathan has been working as a freelance writer for 13 years. He has written 527 articles and published four books.

Q: Why did you write "Secrets of Profitable Freelance Writing?" What's different about your book than other books on the topic?

NATHAN: It largely came about from hanging out on forums. What I kept seeing were complaints from writers about the content sites and the low rate of pay. Then there were the complaints from writers who wound up in bidding competitions on some of the job boards. While some writers would win these, they’d quickly discover that they now had a mountain of work that would take a long time to write and would pay them next to nothing. I was appalled by what I saw and decided to do something about it. As for other books, I can’t say anything about those because I haven’t read them. I had my own ideas and went with that.

Q: Can you share some tips about finding legitimate freelance jobs online and how to avoid scams?

NATHAN: Well, first off, I never took the route of finding freelance writing work through job boards or ads, so I can’t speak to that. That’s not my market. To clarify, I write for magazines, ezines and businesses. I avoid job boards and ad sites, mostly because it places me in competition with many other people, all wanting the same job. In my opinion, that’s not the best approach. Instead, I go straight to the source with my marketing.

As for the issue of scams, I make sure I have a contract in place between me and the people I write for. Still, if one party wants to rip off the other, there’s not much you can do to stop it. Contracts help to spell out the terms, but they’re not an ironclad guarantee. Still, in my years of writing, I’ve never lost a fee. I’ve been short changed a couple of times, but that’s it.

Q: Beginning writers see many online job ads with ridiculously low pay rates and become quickly discouraged about their chances of succeeding as a freelance writer. How can writers overcome this discouragement and see opportunities in this field?

NATHAN: The number one reason many of these beginning writers become disillusioned is because they don’t know how to market themselves.

Before we go further, I’d like to make an important distinction. The number one question I see is: “How do I find a good freelance writing job?”

I have trouble with that question because it mixes different concepts. Let me explain.

If you want to work as a freelance writer, you’re essentially working for publications or businesses under contract, which could be long or short-term.

In contrast, if you’re looking for a writing job, you might be a freelancer, though it’s more likely that you’re going to be an employee, working for a company.

If you’re looking for a writing job for a company, you’ll wind up competing for jobs with other writers, many of whom will have more experience than you, so finding work could be very difficult.

In contrast, if you work as freelance writer, you won’t have the benefits that come with a job, though you will also have different options. Using my methods, you go directly to the source. By doing so you eliminate most (and quite possibly all) of the competition. In many cases you could be first in line.

The way you find this writing work is by knowing how to search online. In my experience, there are two major methods:

1. Keyword research
2. Online directories

Let’s have a quick look at keyword research. If you want to find magazines that pay, you could do a broad match search (all the words) for the keyword phrase: paying american magazines. This will bring up a lot of listings and you’ll have to go through those, to find ones that interest you. Let’s say you want to go further and be more specific. To do so, you might enter the search phrase: paying american flying magazines. This brings up an entirely different list and allows you to drill down into the topic.

With directories, the process is easier because you have access to a database with listings of many magazines. There are two that I recommend. One is your site (http://www.freelancewriting.com/guidelines/pages/index.php), because it has an easily accessed database of magazines and Writer’s Guidelines.

The second directory is the Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media. You can get free access to the directories here:

http://www.nypl.org/collections/articles-databases/gales-ready-reference-shelf

The Gale’s directories are an extensive resource where you can access huge databases of magazines. When I began my career in writing, this was my number one resource. I still use it today.

All of this is explained in detail in my book.

Q: What is your typical workday as a freelance writer?

NATHAN: Well, that used to be about writing for magazines, editing and sending out queries. Now, the entire focus of my career has changed, mostly as a result of writing my book and promoting it. These days I create blog posts, send out the odd query, appear on radio shows, answer interview questions, work on joint ventures, appear on teleseminars, write a few magazine articles, create video tutorials and write books. Depending on what’s most important, that’s what I work on.

A few weeks ago I had to push writing to the back burner and devote all my attention to making my book ready for publication, working on the press release, talking with my publicist and setting up my blog.

After that, I focused on contacting the media, writing letters, responding to questions, making sure books were shipped out, etc. I did some writing in there, but not much.

Q: What are the most profitable areas or topics in which to specialize as a magazine writer or blogger?

NATHAN: From some of my sources, I’ve heard that health and business would two good areas, though I don’t have direct experience there.

My approach is different. It’s about how to find high-paying writing work online, how to write a query letter that sells and how to develop long-term relationships with magazines and editors.

Some people say that you should follow the money and look at writing for those markets. What happens if you don’t like the topic? Force yourself to fit the marketplace? I don’t think that’s a good approach.

I’d like to suggest another method.

Look at what interests you and what you have experience with; then decide what you want to do. To get started, I recommend using a mind map. A mind map is where you take a sheet of paper, draw a small circle in the middle and write your name in it. Next, draw out a bunch of radiating lines. After that, start writing topics, ideas, experiences, etc. Let your mind roam freely and write down whatever comes up. If you find you have more ideas about a given topic, add them to the list. The whole process will only take about five to ten minutes. At the end of it, you’ll see your ideas, interests and experiences, all in one place.

Your next task is to look at the mind map and find four to five topics that interest you the most. Use those as the starting point for researching writing opportunities. This is what I did at the beginning of my career.

Q: How can writers succeed in today's economy and what can they expect in the future?

NATHAN: The biggest issue for writers (outside of improving their writing) is marketing. I recommend taking courses and subscribing to the email lists of some really hot marketers, such as Andrew Lock (http://helpmybusiness.com/), Bob Bly (http://www.bly.com/new/index.html) and Brendan Bouchard (http://partnershipseminar.com/) .

Another, hugely important thing is learning how to create joint ventures (which I explain in detail in my book). This is one of the best ways to make money. Here’s an example from my own career.

Several years ago, I wrote book on photo manipulation and I was looking for some partners to help me market it. During the course of my research, I came across a software company. I offered to rewrite some my content and brand it to their product. They said, “Yes.” The result was a joint venture that spanned several years, generated over 11,000 sales of my ebook and over $90,000.00 in income. You can do it, too.

The writing landscape will continue to change. That’s inevitable. As to what it will look like, I have no idea. In my opinion, it’s more important to stick to sound marketing principles. If you don’t know how to do something, look for someone who is a success in their field and ask them what to do. You might be pleasantly surprised at the result.