Writing on Spec: Suspense, Pathos and Reward

by Deborah Beyer

Got a great idea for an article, but no imposing clip package, no impressive writing resume, no publishing track record – in short, no way to secure a magazine assignment to fulfill your great idea?

Writers just starting their careers are often frustrated by a lack of credits and clips. Major periodicals, especially, want to see your byline in other, similar publications. Few editors want to take a risk on a complete unknown. The situation mirrors the Catch 22 of the new college graduate: every employer wants to hire the experienced worker, but how does a person get experience without having been hired?

For a writer, writing on speculation may be the answer.

Writing courses warn against it, manuals dub it a waste of time, instructors claim editors and publishers won’t respect you if you write on spec, and editors claim they never buy completed over-the-transom work submitted on spec. Don’t believe it.

My own freelance writing career was built on a base of articles written on speculation. After a scant four years, I had more than 50 credits to my name and a resume I could parlay into more lucrative assigned work. As I’ve hopped and skipped through writing genres while finding my most comfortable niche, I’ve amassed clips I’m proud to send with query letters. And I’ve had an enjoyable time doing it, writing only articles of interest to me.

Without a doubt, writing a spec article and having it accepted is more difficult than writing an assigned piece to a magazine’s specifications, with the angle designated by an editor already committed to the purchase. However, a talented and persistent writer can do it. He may even prefer to do it. Why?

• As mentioned, it builds a resume. I view spec writing as paying my dues, a necessary stepping stone in my career.
  Spec writers can pick and choose topics, selecting subjects which fulfill personal needs. Are you planting your first vegetable garden? Learning to do it, then writing an article about the process and pitfalls, can serve both you and your writing career. Going through a painful divorce? Use the material of your life for a how-to on hiring an attorney. A part-time freelancer with limited expendable hours will find this dual use of time efficient and rewarding.

• You write on your own time, at your own pace. Assigned articles inevitably mean deadlines. A few writers simply cannot function under deadline pressure. Others have unpredictable schedules that include intrusive jobs, children, health emergencies, and other uncontrollable elements. Spec writing allows one to write regularly, but to keep a flexible schedule. Although I try to write daily, I find my output is lightest when my five children are at home. During school vacation periods and summer breaks, I adjust writing tasks to allow maximum attention to both my family and my career.

• Some writing projects lend themselves best to spec writing. Personal essays, humor, fiction, and poetry are best produced, then submitted on spec. Brief pieces, like fillers and anecdotes, fall into this category as well, since their brevity and meager financial return don’t warrant a flurry of time-consuming, costly letters for either writer or editor.
  Spec writing fills the writer’s inner need to write – between assignments. With five teenagers in my life, thoughtful writing keeps me sane. I’m at my computer daily even when no assigned article deadline looms. Many of my writing "therapy sessions" have produced salable articles and humorous essays . . . for instance, on the day my 14-year-old shaved our dog’s butt to resemble Charles Barkley’s shiny pate. It was too horrendous a situation for any mother to handle without deep breathing time to gain perspective – and too precious a gift for a humor writer to ignore. I sat down and wrote. The incident became the punch line for a humorous essay on parenting teens, who waffle between adulthood and immaturity a dozen times each day.

• Occasionally, The Muse send an article idea so bizarre, so off the wall, that the writer doubts the idea can be successfully pitched to an editor through a one-page query. Mine have come in the form of an agoraphobic vampire and a mortician who yearns to be a stand-up comic. Writing the piece on spec and presenting the completed manuscript may be the logical approach.

The drawbacks of writing on speculation are many and well-known. An editor may be seeking a particular slant to a topic. She may want a length different from standards cited in market manuals or guidelines. A spec article may miss the mark. Postage costs are climbing, making writing on spec more costly with every submission and resubmisson. Editors seem to take forever to read over-the-transom submissions, resulting in tedious waits for the author. Multiple submissions can speed sales. Once a manuscript sells, be sure to withdraw it formally from every other publisher with whom it is still outstanding.

Writing income is uncertain under any circumstances, but more so when all writing is done on spec. While assigned articles often can be spaced to bring a steady stream of checks, writing on spec can result in lengthy dry spells, when nothing seems to sell. This is particularly true at the end of each calendar year, when small publications run short on budget. Editors may use backlogged manuscripts to fill their pages although your spec article may be superior. In spec writing, there are no guaranteed sales and no kill fees. If a financially unpredictable existence bothers you, stick to writing on assignment. Fill gaps in your schedule with corporate writing, part-time public relations or other work, which can provide a regular income.

When writing on speculation, marketing is as important as putting words on paper. Develop an idea first, then study market manuals before you sit at your typewriter or computer. Collect and read numerous publications; send for sample copies; read unusual periodicals in the library, dentist’s waiting room, and real estate office. Note the tone of articles preferred; check paragraph length and reading level. Send for guidelines and samples whenever possible. In marketing manuals and guidelines, note length limitations and other requirements. Writing with a specific market in mind will help shape your first draft as you write. Then edit and revise to meet the specific guidelines of your first target magazine. I sometimes prepare long and short versions of a single article, so that I can easily revise to the specifications of different magazines. Make a list of possible markets, noting major revisions required before sending your piece to each.

Recognize that your manuscript may sell on the first submission or the tenth. It’s also a fact of life, when writing on speculation, that some manuscripts won’t sell at all.

That doesn’t mean the manuscript is poorly written, the idea is weak, or the editors are blind to your talent. It’s just as likely that a magazine has already scheduled an article like your finished piece, has a huge backlog, or uses a small stable of regular writers.

If you’re good at spotting trends, your work may even be ahead of its time. I once wrote a feature article on traveling by small private plane with children. It was flatly rejected by the first national publication to which I submitted it. The third periodical bought it, held it for several months, then scheduled it for publication. That month, the first magazine called me offering to buy the same piece – although the editors had rejected it, they had placed a copy in their files. Two years later, my reject looked timely, but it was too late for them. (A bit of advice: keep spotless submission records. I was able to tell the first magazine exactly when they had rejected my piece, so they had only themselves to blame.)

Only you can judge when you’ve traveled every avenue to having a manuscript published. Consider postage costs and how important an article is to you personally. But if your ego requires that you sell every single word you produce, writing on speculation is not for you. Even if you retire a manuscript from circulation, keep it idling in your subconscious. You might be able to recycle the information it contains into a different format, a sidebar, or a new article with a different slant.

Keeping motivated is a major problem with writing on speculation. Remember that writing at your own pace doesn’t mean a snail’s pace. Just like other successful professional writers, those who write on spec do so every day, set short- and long-term goals, work with effort and never give up.

Once you’ve built a resume and have an assortment of clips, you might want to convert the bulk of your writing to that done on assignment. Assemble clip packages of your best, recent work. I keep several different clip packages: one for humor, one for nonfiction, one for juvenile writing.

If you don’t choose to write on assignment, continuing to write on spec can be a satisfying writing career. Editors recognize strong writing and want you to succeed in their publications. They may feed you ideas for future spec articles, offer upcoming themes and drop "I’m always looking for . . ." notes. Cultivate relationships with editors, and these leads will come more frequently. With leads I get and other topics that spring from life begging to be written, I’ll probably always do some writing on speculation.

-- DB
© Deborah Beyer. Reprinted here with author's permission.

A former journalist, Deborah J. Beyer took a 10-year hiatus for family reasons, before returning to her writing career as a freelancer five years ago. Since that time, she has had more than 80 fiction, nonfiction and humor pieces published in regional and national periodicals.