Ask MB: How Do I Become a Topic Expert?

Turn yourself into every editor's go-to writer with these 9 tips

Celeste Mitchell is an editorial writer and editor with nearly 30 years of experience creating consumer lifestyle content for publications including Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, and SELF. She previously served as Deputy Editor at Cosmopolitan and taught journalism courses through Mediabistro.

4 min read • Originally published April 25, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

By Celeste Mitchell

4 min read • Originally published April 25, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

So here’s a question we’ve been hearing a lot: “I’m a freelance writer for magazines and newspapers, and my friends tell me I should develop an expertise. Does this make good business sense?”

Listen to your friends.

Becoming an expert is one of the smartest moves a freelance writer can make. It means that editors think of you first when they’re doling out assignments on a particular topic. And everyone wins in this scenario—editors get quality work (from you) and you get plum assignments (from them).

And how do you become a topic expert? Here are 9 tips:

1. Choose a specialty.

Pick a subject about which you feel passionately. If you’re not genuinely interested, skip it. You don’t want to settle into an area that will ultimately bore you.

20 years ago, writer Linda Marsa went in search of her specialty by covering a variety of subjects. “You have to try all kinds of things,” says Marsa, who writes about health and science for national magazines and newspapers. “Health suited me because I am detail-oriented. You have to triple-check everything for accuracy. I also have an activist bent. I can do stories that take a hard look at shenanigans in the medical field, and I give consumers useful information. This satisfies one of the reasons I became a journalist.”

2. Move laterally.

If you have a clip on one topic, use it to make a lateral move.

Try this trick from Marsa: “My original specialty was personal finance and I wanted to shift over to health, so I wrote a story about taking care of your parents during their sunset years. It was a finance piece but I used it as a health clip too.” That article helped her land an assignment on genetics for OMNI magazine. More projects with the magazine followed, including a contributing editor position writing about health.

3. Go through open doors.

Search for a toe-hold wherever you can find it. You only need one.

Writer Jodi Bryson found her start in covering the teen market from an independently published magazine called Girls’ Life. “I happened to see their very first issue on the newsstand, and I sent them a letter,” she says. She was asked to be a stringer and started churning out stories. Ten years later, she is an established go-to girl on teen topics.

4. Study your specialty.

Learn anything and everything about your specialty.

“You have to immerse yourself in the topic,” advises Bryson. “I want to know everything about teens and children. I tune in to Noggin and The WB. I know their music, their movies, their books and magazines and fashion. I need those cultural references when I’m writing. I also know the stuff like stats on teen pregnancy and other serious issues. I’m interested in all of it.”

5. Target specific publications.

Focus your efforts on getting printed in the recognized publications of your category.

An expertise in parenting, for example, would include titles such as Parenting, Parents, Child, Working Mother, American Baby, Parent & Child and Family Fun. For men’s fitness and body building, target titles like Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Flex, Monster Muscle, Ironman and Muscle & Fitness.

6. Just say yes.

Don’t be an assignment size snob.

Take every opportunity to write about your specialty and run with it. “Sometimes you take on projects that are not cost effective, but they become portfolio pieces you can use to sell yourself again and again,” says Marsa. “You have nothing to sell but your skills. Do short pieces and long pieces. You name it, do it.”

7. Become a columnist.

It’s hard to nail one of these, but writing a recurring column is a fast-track trick.

Even if it pays a pittance, it’s worth your time for other benefits: You build a library of clips (fast), and it demonstrates to editors at other publications that you know your stuff and can be trusted not to flake out. Pitch column ideas to small-circulation magazines, local newspapers, ‘zines and websites, all of which are often more open to starting new columns and taking chances with new writers.

8. Write a book.

Easier said than done, of course, but there’s nothing like a book to cement your credibility and distinguish you as an expert.

Since Marsa’s book Prescriptions for Profit was published in 1999, she has been known as the authority on drug development. The book took 2 and a half years to complete, but it led to TV and radio spots, magazine interviews and a part-time writing gig at the Los Angeles Times.

9. Market yourself.

“There’s a lot of PR work involved,” says Bryson, who regularly sends letters to editors she knows—and a few she doesn’t. “I’m not always soliciting work. Sometimes I write to introduce myself as an expert.”

Topics:

Go Freelance, Journalism Advice

Managing

How to Fix Your Brand’s Damaged Reputation: 15 Proven Strategies

From monitoring your online presence to building authority, learn practical steps to protect and restore your brand's reputation in the digital age.

By Fred Godlash

@fredgodo

Fred Godlash is a communications and marketing specialist based in LA.

6 min read • Originally published April 28, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

By Fred Godlash

@fredgodo

Fred Godlash is a communications and marketing specialist based in LA.

6 min read • Originally published April 28, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

Warren Buffett’s famous quote on reputation goes like this: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” Reputation is breakable and needs to be maintained, but with a little common sense and effort you can manage your brand’s view.

What are some of the things you can do to protect yourself against an attack on your brand? How do you take the steps to build and restore your brand’s damaged reputation? What defense do you have against personal attacks, customer complaints and blatant falsehoods? How can people get away with saying whatever they want on the Internet with little to no consequences for their actions?

We’re here to shed some light on these types of questions, so read on.

Unfair attacks on reputation are nothing new

Slander against companies and individuals is not a new subject. In the late 19th century, the expression “yellow journalism,” coined by New York Press editor Erwin Wardman, described how newspaper moguls, specifically Joseph Pulitzer II and William Randolph Hearst, would use misleading, sensationalized stories to improve circulation.

Hearst is the subject material that inspired Orson Welles to make the film Citizen Kane, based on the influence and corruption he acquired in the 1920s and 1930s.

Why can I say anything on the Internet?

Yellow journalism is still in the media today but, due to libel and slander laws, media outlets have to be careful about how they report the news. Unfortunately, the Internet does not have the same guidelines as print and television outlets.

In 1996 Congress passed the Communications Decency Act (CDA). The law was passed to try to regulate pornography and obscenity in cyberspace. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, the law protects operators of Internet services by removing accountability. Websites hosting other people’s comments are not liable for the words of writers who post articles, reviews, feedback, complaints, libel statements, accusations, false claims, rip-off reports and insults.

The law keeps the spirit of free speech alive for the Internet but may enable immoral users to abuse the Web. Possibly due to so many anonymous attacks on companies, Google now gives preference to verified and identified user content and pushes the unknown authors back in the search results. Google also will remove defamatory statements from their search results.

Prevent damage by monitoring your brand

The top two ways of gauging your online reputation is by looking at the search engine results pages (SERP) and using Google Autocomplete. By staying ahead of any negative stories, you can take a proactive approach to protecting your reputation.

If you are seeing an issue emerge, you can go into Google Analytics and look for spikes in your site traffic that will point out key events and possible red flags.

Have a plan before fixing your reputation

Managing your reputation is a matter of organization and foresight. Make sure to set up Google alerts for all titles in question using brand names, product tags, popular misspellings (use analytics to find these), competitors, senior team leaders and key industry terms and popular search phrases. By discovering the problem, you can develop a solution.

Always have a well-thought-out plan for how to handle a reputation crisis. Sometimes the best fix to a problem is not to respond to the problem at all. Look to see if the offending website that hosts the negative comments about you will gain popularity by the rebuttals from the company or person trying to defend himself. If the site performs on other people’s comments, it may be a good idea not to respond at all.

Do not feed the fire.

Some say the only three laws for reputation management are authority, authority, authority. The more authority you have, the easier it is to make a big difference in where the stories will rank on the search page results. One way to establish authority is by building a social media reputation with a strong following.

This is not done by purchasing likes but by engaging with people as a thought leader or by being very transparent about your brand.

Also keep in mind that your authority can be built outside the Internet by participating in events, speaking engagements, becoming a sponsor and by joining charitable organizations. Depending on what type of outcome you are trying to achieve, authority can push your search results to page one, moving negative comments into oblivion.

There are other simple steps you can take to build or fix your reputation as it appears within search results:

Own Your Past. Address the elephant in the room. Acknowledge what the company has perceived to have done wrong. Apologize and have an action plan to make it right.
Control the conversation about your brand. And create an online crisis-listening program to catch increases in negative conversation before they reach bloggers and online media.
Understand complaints your brand already receives. Use social media to clarify customer misunderstandings, reducing overall complaints and building brand fans at the same time.
Adjust your social media response plan based on research, not emotion. Have analytics in place to help make an informed decision. Surges in traffic from websites like Reddit, where users can deliver anonymous content, can indicate a potential crisis developing.
Monitor employee complaint platforms. Glassdoor is one such resource.
Be proactive to prevent issues from turning into a crisis. Use decision trees that include the steps to take when an issue surfaces online or within the media for faster handling of potential issues.
Limit potential surprises. Own variations of your website URL, including negative versions (Yourbrandsucks.com).
Take complaints offline when possible. This ensures both a faster response for the customer, and less visibility about the issue at hand.
Be quick to apologize to customer complaints. Remember that a happy customer tells five fans, an unhappy customer tells 10, a fan who had an issue resolved tells 20. This is a great way to build super fans.
Be transparent when handling client issues. Transparency here means telling the customer what happened so they understand the issue. Don’t make up excuses.
Fix what you can! Understand which elements of the complaint you are able to fix and do so. Use this feedback to build a better mousetrap.
Use testimonials. Positive feedback from influencers can help boost any image problems.
Create quality subpages from your website. This will help push negative results down.
Reward loyal customers. Make your clients and supporters feel appreciated by giving them exclusive content, products or experiences.
Be patient. Building a good reputation doesn’t happen overnight. And rebuilding a damaged one is an even longer process.

The Internet has changed the way reputation is handled and perceived. While it takes millions of dollars and years to build a reputable brand, it only takes 45 seconds to create a Twitter account and potentially ruin an organization’s reputation online. Nothing is more important to a company’s health than managing your brand’s reputation.

Hiring for PR, media, or creative roles? Learn why general job boards miss the mark and what actually works. Read: Where to Post Media, Creative, and Design Jobs: What Employers Get Wrong

Topics:

Climb the Ladder, Managing

Work Spaces

One Year as a Content Farm Writer

I wrote for Demand Media Studios for a year. Here's what I learned about content farms, creative survival and steady paychecks.

By Amanda Layman Low

@AmandaLaymanLow

Amanda Layman is a B2B tech content writer and strategist with over 15 years of experience creating content for startups and enterprise brands. She founded Tigris, a content agency serving leading tech companies, and authored The New Freelance: A Book for Writers.

6 min read • Originally published June 4, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

By Amanda Layman Low

@AmandaLaymanLow

6 min read • Originally published June 4, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

You don’t have to go far to find criticism of employers like Demand Studios, Contently and Associated Content. These “content farms” employ massive numbers of writers to generate cheap content primed to appear at the top of search engine results.

They’re notorious for paying their writers next to nothing, having strict deadlines, and offering very little autonomy. But if this is true, why do people write for them?

I know exactly why. I wrote for Demand Media Studios for one year. Here’s what it was like.

A Day in the Life

On a typical work day, I’d wake up, go to the coffee shop and log in to DMS’s main page. There was a pool of titles for writers to choose from, and Demand Studios’ style guide detailed the rules for each format, with how-to pieces typically running as short as 300 words and topical pieces around 500.

Beginning writers could claim 10 articles at once, refilling their queues as needed after assignments were complete. When my ratings went up, I was approved to claim 15 titles at a time. (More on writer ratings later.)

Once I decided which piece to start with, I would assimilate information from the web and reshape it into a clear, concise piece.

The article titles were generated based on real phrases Google users searched and therefore ranged from the serious, “Missouri Child Abuse Statistics,” to the completely inane, “Why You Should Wear Clean Underwear.”

And, yes, both of these were titles I claimed and wrote. There were usually plenty of writeable titles to choose from, but occasionally I’d come across a dud like “How to Furnish a Giraffe” or “20 Benefits of a 3CQ On the JLRM36.” There were also a thousand iterations of the same article: “How to Dye Your Hair Pink,” “Best Pink Hair Color for Brunettes” or “How to Change Your Hair from Blonde to Pink.”

Sometimes these redundancies were beneficial because I could reuse the same resources across multiple articles and save time on research. At others, the droning nature of this process made me wonder, “What am I doing?”

Writer Ratings and Working with Editors

At a typical magazine, writers might get radio silence for a bad pitch or a kill fee for a piece that was never published. At DMS, the process is a little different.

There is no punishment if you don’t finish a piece; after a certain number of days, the title simply drops back into the pool for others to claim. I frequently “tricked” this system by quickly un-claiming and re-claiming a title to get extra days to work on it.

Once you’ve written a piece and submitted it, however, your work will be rated by an editor for grammar and style, among other things.

In my experience, there was only one round of editing, so if I didn’t fix my piece to that editor’s standards, he or she could reject it and I wouldn’t get another rewrite. My rating would go down slightly, which could have made it more difficult for me to qualify for more prestigious DMS markets in the future.

Title editors would attempt to weed out subjects that didn’t make sense, but ultimately writers were left to exercise their own judgment on the viability of a topic.

Consequently, there were times I’d write an entire article and have an editor reject it, because they believed I misinterpreted the title or that it should have never made it into the pool.

Conversely, there were times that DMS’ reliance on Google for subject matter worked in my favor, because I’d get to write essentially useless articles and still get paid for them.

However, since Google has improved its algorithms to push articles from content farms to the bottom of its search results, it’s very likely that Demand Studios publishes more interesting topics (with titles that actually make sense) than it did when I wrote for them.

Trying to determine if it’s worth your time to write for a content farm? Here are three major pros and cons based on my experience.

Pros

1. It’s steady pay. This is especially useful for students and beginning writers who may need the promise of quick money to get their careers rolling. I was paid twice a week at DMS, a consistency you won’t find in the nail-biting, invoice-sending world of traditional freelance writing.

2. You get a crash course in time management. In order to get the $15/hour wage at which I valued myself, I had to write one article an hour. I learned shortcuts to finding trustworthy information online and to trust my own instincts. Because of my experience with Demand, speed and accuracy are now ingrained in me, and editors I work with today often praise my ability to generate strong work very quickly.

3. It’s flexible. At DMS, I could claim and write as many or as few articles as I wanted. I could also write anywhere, as long as there was an Internet connection.

Cons

1. Your byline is lost in the shuffle. Despite having published hundreds of articles, I was virtually anonymous. Most websites that buy articles from content farms are information-oriented, meaning their readers want quick, accurate info rather than a thoughtful reading experience. They don’t care who wrote it. They just want the facts.

2. You’re a machine, not a person. At DMS, editors were nameless and faceless to the writers, just as we were to them. I never developed any relationships with colleagues, because we were kept anonymous to each other.

3. You may feel like you’re stuck in a cycle. Every minute I wrote for DMS, I was robbing myself of a minute I could have spent on writing I was passionate about. And because of the turn-and-burn nature of it, I wound up with few articles strong enough to offer as samples to new, potential clients.

So, Is It Worth It?

Both content farms and traditional outlets have their risks. Bottom line? Hoping to make it big at a content farm is like working toward becoming a CEO by flipping burgers at McDonald’s.

Yes, it’s possible to work your way up, but it may take many, many years of substandard pay and monotonous work. However, penning articles for a content farm is a consistent paycheck as long as you put in the hours.

Again, I wrote for DMS over two years ago, and it’s very likely that the platform has improved since then. I have read that they’re making strides to filter out un-writeable titles and reward their most knowledgeable writers with higher-paying assignments, and I’m sure that there are some writers who probably enjoy their experience there.

If you are thinking of writing for a content farm, you should weigh the pros and cons listed here against your own research to see if it’s a good fit for you.

Traditional freelance writing, on the other hand, is like starting your own restaurant. It is expensive, scary as hell and there is no promise of success. You may not make any money at all in the first several months, or even years. However, you get your autonomy and the fulfillment of being the boss from day one. Everything can be exactly to your taste.

I applaud anyone who is bold and brave enough to pursue a career in writing, whether it’s content writing, blogging, fan fiction or starting your own ‘zine.

In my experience, it’s not the type of writing you do that determines your success. It’s when you enjoy what you do and operate from a mindset of fullness and gratitude that you will feel the most rewarded.

Looking to level up your content team? Post a job on Mediabistro and connect with skilled writers and editors.

Topics:

Be Inspired, Work Spaces

Productivity

How to Create a Writer’s Website That Gets You Work

Attract new clients with a site that showcases your best writing

By Amanda Layman Low

@AmandaLaymanLow

6 min read • Originally published June 11, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

By Amanda Layman Low

@AmandaLaymanLow

6 min read • Originally published June 11, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

All types of independent professionals have been hearing it for years—to do business today, you need a website.

But what exactly is the function of your website when you’re a freelance writer? Unless you’re a blogger by trade, or selling books or products to consumers, it may be difficult to determine the purpose of your page and which features to include.

However, your website can be a tremendous tool for growing your client base and your career. Let’s take a look at how to create a writer’s website that gets you work.

1. Use your website as a selling tool

The most prominent reason to start and maintain a website is to showcase your work and help your potential clients visualize how you can help them. Susan Barnes, travel writer and host of the #GirlsTravel chat on Twitter, says, “Whenever I am pitching somebody, I always link to my site, to my clips page. If you want to put everything upfront, it kind of takes away the back and forth.”

There are a few tactics you can use to ramp up the professionalism of your site. Jane Friedman, former co-founder and editor of Scratch magazine and current columnist for Publishers Weekly, says customization can make a world of difference in setting you apart from others, and making your site look polished. “Have some custom design touches, your own header or color palette or background image,” she says.

Carol Tice, freelance writer and founder of several web resources for writers, believes a picture makes a huge difference.

“Not a picture of you with a drink in your hand, holding your miniature dog—a professional but friendly-looking shot of yourself. People come on writer websites to meet the writer, to get to know them and make sure it’s not another online writing scam.”

2. Make sure your site looks professional

Writers who lack technical skills may shy away from simple things that can drastically improve the appearance of their site. Friedman emphasizes the importance of a self-hosted site, “even if it’s just faking the appearance of a self-hosted site.”

Strongly consider purchasing a domain name on content management systems like WordPress, so the site looks like your own. “That small investment adds another layer of professionalism to it,” says Friedman.

There are also good, lesser known platforms on which you can host a site. Signing up as a member of the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE), for example, gets you a free site. And sites like WritersResidence.com design sites specifically for writers. However, Tice warns against using free platforms: “What that communicates to prospects is that I’m a dabbler; I’m not putting time into this.”

3. Include the Essentials: Homepage, About Page and Testimonials

Tice highlights four main components of a killer website: a homepage, an “About” page, contact info, clips and testimonials. The homepage should clearly and concisely state what you do and how you can help your client, while your About page can delve into the work you’ve done recently. “A lot of people’s About pages start, ‘I first knew I wanted to be a writer when I was five years old.'” Tice says. “This is not what the client wants to know about you—they want to know, ‘Who have you been writing for lately?'”

Friedman suggests beginning with a primary call to action, whether through a tagline, layout or menu, that indicates what you specialize in. In addition, she says, “the menu needs to be direct and clear about things your target audience will be most interested in—your portfolio, clips and how to contact you.” She adds it’s important to put your name somewhere prominent, preferably in the domain name and in big print on your site’s landing page. Your contact info should be easy to find and, if possible, on every page.

It’s also helpful to include testimonials with headshots of your customers on your homepage or About page. “Testimonials convert,” says Tice. “They add huge relatability… it is amazing how our brain makes that connection with the face.”

4. Spotlight your clips

As a professional writer, your clips and portfolio will be your greatest asset for attracting new clients. Friedman recommends offering up your clips in reverse chronological order, and split them up by category if you write in different areas. “If you have work online, link directly to it, or post a PDF of the opening spread,” she states.

Barnes puts all of her clips on her site over the past two years, and makes it a practice of always asking for PDFs of print pieces. Tice also emphasizes the importance of keeping your clips organized. “Once a year, I have somebody go through and make sure the links [to my work] are valid. If you have stuff you love, get PDFs or physical copies. Magazines go under, websites fold, and you’re going to lose that work.”

5. Keep the (good) content flowing with a blog

Barnes manages what she calls a “hybrid” site that’s part blog, part traditional website. She updates her site with blog-like posts, linking her latest work as a featured story. She says, “You may write something you don’t have a home for, and you can put it on your site and tweet or [write a] Facebook [post] about it. It’s kind of like a nice bonus outlet.”

Tice maintains a blog on one of her websites, but advises that writing a blog is only best if you’re planning on pitching other blogs—or if you really have a lot to say on a topic. “There are 700 posts on my blog. Think about iterating that many [posts] about the topic you’re thinking about blogging on, and if that idea makes you want to run screaming, it’s not the right topic for you.” She adds that the problem with blogging is that, “If you don’t keep it up, it looks dusty and abandoned.”

Friedman has also seen far too many writers blog poorly, especially if they’ve been told to do it for marketing reasons. “If you have the intrinsic desire to blog, go for it—but it’s not a good idea as just a means to an end.”

6. Avoid nonessentials that can clutter your site

It may be tempting to add every clip, link, widget, bell and whistle to your page, but don’t underestimate the power of keeping your site short and sweet. Specializing in one subject or type of service can also be advantageous. Says Friedman: “If you’re too vague or general, people don’t understand how or why they should partner with you.” But keep in mind that specializing in something now doesn’t mean you can’t change it later, she adds.

You also don’t need to include a resume because the content on your site should be your resume. Another item to exclude is a rate sheet. Tice says, “With a rate sheet, you’re totally shooting yourself in the foot, giving yourself a chance to lose gigs, or having to work for rates you wouldn’t want to with pain-in-the-butt clients.”

It’s better to be succinct than to put everything out there. Some writers add extensive FAQ sheets to their site, but, Tice, for one, is against them: “Every piece of data beyond the basics, you’re just giving them a chance to not like you, without having talked to you and finding out you’re really great.”

7. Know Thy Work Is Never Done

Once your site is live, your work isn’t done. In fact, it’s never really done—not if you want to keep getting work. “This is a fluid document; it’s like a business plan, where you need to update it every quarter as your ideas change,” says Tice. She recommends revisiting, tweaking and rewriting the content at least once every six months. Frequent updates can also help boost your search-engine ranking. After all, the point of your site is visibility.

Topics:

Be Inspired, Productivity

Productivity

How to Become a Best-Selling Author

6 steps to writing, marketing, and selling a book that reaches the masses.

By Andrea Williams

@AndreaWillWrite

Andrea Williams is an author, journalist, and columnist for The Tennessean with over 16 years of experience in journalism and 20 years in copywriting and communications strategy. Her work spans national outlets and high-traffic digital brands.

10 min read • Originally published June 15, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

By Andrea Williams

@AndreaWillWrite

10 min read • Originally published June 15, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

There are plenty of authors who write for love of the craft. But most of us also want our carefully crafted words to be read by the masses—and maybe rake in some royalties along the way.

When it comes to literary validation, hitting a best-seller list is one of the most universally recognized achievements. Even the most humble writers don’t hesitate to add “New York Times best-selling author” to their bios once they’ve earned it.

But the reality is that landing on the major rankings takes more than just talent and a killer plot. Becoming a best-selling author is just as much about marketing and promotion as the actual writing.

That can be a scary notion for introverted writers who would rather hide behind their bylines than scream “buy my book!” from the rooftops.

With that in mind, we’ve compiled expert advice to help ensure your next book reaches more than just your creative writing group. Follow these six steps, and you’ll be well on your way to best-seller status.

1. Know Your Audience Before You Write

Rule No. 1 for becoming a best-seller: The work starts long before the book is released—as in, while you’re still writing.

If you want to set up strong sales from the start, you need to know your prospective audience and write with them in mind.

“Think of what the felt need is and how you’re going to reach someone,” says literary agent Esther Fedorkevich, founder of The Fedd Agency.

“If you’re writing a women’s book on dieting, you need to be thinking: What is going to resonate with that reader? What will the publicity angle be when the book goes on sale? What are people going to be drawn to and remember about the book?”

Understanding your audience shapes everything—from your book’s positioning and cover design to your marketing strategy and the platforms you’ll promote it on.

2. Choose Your Publishing Path

Traditional publishing or self-publishing? It’s a question every author wrestles with as the industry continues to evolve.

While some authors without an established platform may not have much choice (if traditional publishers don’t show interest), the decision isn’t always straightforward, even for those with options.

The best approach is to consider your promotional opportunities and timeline, then choose the route that best enables you to market your book effectively.

“The beautiful thing about self-publishing is that you don’t have to wait—when your book is done, you can have it up as an eBook two weeks later,” says Fedorkevich. “With a traditional publisher, once the manuscript is done, it’s a year or more before your book releases.

“So if you have something big happening—a lot of speaking dates, a timely topic, media momentum—and need your book out now, then you need to self-publish.”

Traditional vs. Self-Publishing: Quick Comparison

Factor	Traditional Publishing	Self-Publishing
Timeline	12–18 months after manuscript	Weeks to months
Upfront cost	None (publisher pays advance)	$2,000–$10,000+ for editing, cover, etc.
Royalty rate	10–15% of cover price	35–70% depending on platform
Creative control	Limited	Full control
Distribution	Bookstores, libraries, wide reach	Primarily online (Amazon, etc.)
Marketing support	Varies (often limited)	Entirely on you

3. Build an Email List (It Beats Social Media)

A solid promotional plan should be in place at least six to nine months before your book’s release. Most authors assume this means posting constantly on social media—but that’s not where the real sales come from.

According to Tim Grahl, author of Your First 1000 Copies: The Step-By-Step Guide to Marketing Your Book, social media is often a big time sink with minimal return.

“Social media is the 90 percent of work that gets you 10 percent of results,” Grahl explains. “I’ve launched books with people who had well into six figures of Twitter followers, and the amount of book sales that came from that was pitifully low.”

The solution? Use every platform—social media, speaking engagements, your website—to collect email addresses from potential readers.

“The No. 1 thing every author should be doing, if they’re not doing anything else, is building an email list—that’s where you get direct access to people,” Grahl says.

“If you follow 100 people on Twitter, you don’t even see 1 percent of all the updates in a day. But think about how you interact with your email—you probably look at 95 to 100 percent of what comes in. That’s why you need to show up where people are actually paying attention: their inbox.”

Note: This doesn’t mean you should ignore social media entirely. Platforms like TikTok (#BookTok), Instagram, and YouTube have helped launch countless authors to best-seller status. The point is that email gives you owned access to your audience—you’re not at the mercy of algorithms.

4. Build Your Author Brand, Not Just Your Book

This may seem counterintuitive, but aggressively pushing your current title—instead of promoting your personal brand as an author—can actually limit your long-term success.

Literary mega-stars like Stephen King and John Grisham have built-in fan bases that buy every book they release, almost automatically. That should be your goal—especially if you plan to write multiple books across different genres or topics.

“If you’re trying to build something up for a specific book, that’s really short-term thinking, because this is hopefully going to be one book of many,” says Grahl. “You need people to be fans of you more than any one book.”

Focus on building an audience that will follow your career—not just buy one title and disappear.

5. Invest in Professional Help

Despite your best solo efforts—email lists, speaking engagements, social media—generating massive buzz often requires professional support. Traditional media coverage (TV, radio, major publications) still drives significant book sales, and most authors don’t have producers at Good Morning America on speed dial.

That’s where experienced publicists and book marketing professionals come in.

Meryl Moss, president of Meryl L. Moss Media Relations and founder of BookTrib.com, has helped place numerous books on The New York Times best-sellers list.

“It’s important to hire not just a professional, but a professional team with a track record of success specifically with authors and books,” says Moss.

“A campaign roadmap should include targeting traditional media (TV, radio, print) as well as online media (well-trafficked websites and blogs), securing speaking engagements, launching a social media campaign, and building a Goodreads presence. It should also include unique marketing ideas tailored to the book’s specific audience. A team with different strengths is required to execute a cohesive strategy designed to deliver results.”

What Professional Help Might Include

Book publicist — Pitches media, secures interviews and reviews
Book marketing consultant — Develops overall strategy and launch plan
Social media manager — Handles platform-specific promotion
Book cover designer — Creates a cover that sells
Professional editor — Ensures your manuscript is polished
Launch team coordinator — Organizes early readers and reviewers

6. Focus on Long-Term Success (Not Just Launch Week)

This might sound contradictory in a guide about becoming a best-seller, but hear this out: If your goal is to be a successful author well into the future, obsessing over list placement might not be your most important task.

“Typically, books that hit the best-seller lists do it within the first two weeks of release for two reasons,” Grahl explains. “One, all your presales count for that first week; and two, it’s much easier to get media buzz around new books.

“But I don’t think most writers should fixate on the best-seller list. Some books generate 4,000 sales in a week and hit the list—but then total sales drop off, and they don’t sell another 500 copies for the rest of the book’s life.”

The better approach? Think long-term.

“I’m not after getting a ton of sales in one week; I just want my book to keep selling, keep selling, keep selling,” Grahl adds. “That’s what’s going to get my name out more; that’s what’s going to connect me to more readers.”

A book that sells steadily for years—building your reputation and reader base—is often more valuable than a flash-in-the-pan best-seller that’s forgotten a month later.

What Makes a Book a “Best-Seller”?

The term “best-seller” gets thrown around a lot, but what does it actually mean?

The New York Times Best Sellers List — The most prestigious list, based on sales data from a curated sample of retailers. Making this list typically requires thousands of sales in a single week, though the exact threshold varies by category and competition.
USA Today Best Sellers List — Based on pure sales volume across all formats and retailers. Generally requires 5,000–10,000+ copies sold in a week.
Amazon Best Sellers — Updated hourly based on sales rank. You can become an Amazon “best-seller” in a niche category with relatively few sales—but topping major categories requires significant volume.
Wall Street Journal Best Sellers List — Similar to NYT, based on sales data from multiple retailers.

Keep in mind: “Amazon Best Seller” in a narrow subcategory is not the same as hitting the New York Times list. Be specific about your goals—and honest about what different achievements actually represent.

The Bottom Line

Becoming a best-selling author requires a blend of creativity, strategic marketing, and a deep understanding of your audience. Writing a compelling book is just the starting point—the real challenge lies in effectively promoting it and building a personal brand that resonates beyond a single title.

Whether you choose traditional publishing or self-publishing, the fundamentals remain the same: know your audience, build direct relationships through email, invest in professional support when needed, and focus on long-term reader engagement rather than chasing a single week of sales.

The path to best-seller status isn’t just about hitting a list—it’s about building a legacy as an author whose work continues to find and captivate readers year after year.

FAQs About Becoming a Best-Selling Author

Q: How many books do you need to sell to be a best-seller?

A: It depends on the list. To hit the New York Times best-sellers list, you typically need to sell 5,000–10,000+ copies in a single week, though this varies by category and competition. Amazon’s “best-seller” status in a niche category can be achieved with far fewer sales. The USA Today list generally requires a similar volume to the NYT.

Q: How long does it take to become a best-selling author?

A: There’s no set timeline. Some debut authors hit best-seller lists immediately; others build audiences over multiple books before breaking through. Most successful authors spend 6–12 months (or more) building their platform and marketing strategy before their book launches.

Q: Can self-published authors become best-sellers?

A: Yes. Self-published authors regularly hit Amazon best-seller lists, and some have reached the New York Times and USA Today lists as well. Success requires strong marketing, a high-quality product, and, often, a pre-existing audience or platform.

Q: How much do best-selling authors make?

A: Income varies dramatically. A New York Times best-seller might earn anywhere from $50,000 to several million dollars, depending on advance, royalty rate, total sales, and subsidiary rights (film, audio, foreign translations). Many “best-selling” authors in niche Amazon categories earn far less. The median income for full-time authors is around $20,000–$30,000 per year.

Q: Do I need a literary agent to become a best-selling author?

A: For traditional publishing with major houses, yes—most require agent submissions. For self-publishing, you don’t need an agent. However, an experienced agent can help negotiate better deals, navigate the industry, and connect you with the right publishers.

Q: Is social media important for selling books?

A: It can be, but it’s not the most effective channel for direct sales. Platforms like TikTok (#BookTok), Instagram, and YouTube have helped launch many authors—but experts consistently say email marketing delivers better ROI. Use social media to build awareness and grow your email list, not as your primary sales driver.

Q: What’s the best genre for becoming a best-seller?

A: Romance, thriller/suspense, and fantasy/sci-fi consistently dominate best-seller lists. However, the “best” genre is one you’re passionate about and can write authentically. Readers can tell when an author is writing purely for market trends.

Q: How do I get my book on the New York Times best-sellers list?

A: There’s no guaranteed formula. The NYT list is based on sales from a curated (and undisclosed) sample of retailers, with editorial discretion. Strategies include: concentrating sales in launch week, presale campaigns, bulk orders (though these are often discounted by the list), wide distribution, and strong media coverage. Working with an experienced publicist helps.

Q: Should I hire a book publicist?

A: If you have the budget and a book with commercial potential, a good publicist can significantly amplify your reach—especially for traditional media coverage. However, publicists typically cost $3,000–$15,000+ for a book campaign, so weigh the investment against your realistic sales expectations.

Q: What’s more important: writing a great book or marketing it well?

A: Both matter, but you need a quality book as the foundation. Great marketing can launch a mediocre book to initial success, but it won’t sustain sales or build a loyal readership. Conversely, a great book with no marketing may never find its audience. The most successful authors do both well.

Last updated: January 2026

Topics:

Be Inspired, Journalism Advice, Productivity

Journalism Advice

The 7 Biggest Mistakes Personal Essay Writers Make

Watch out for these pitfalls when penning your true story

By Joel Schwartzberg

Joel Schwartzberg is a workplace communications coach, speechwriter, and bestselling author whose books include "Get to the Point!" and "The Language of Leadership," with articles published in Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Newsweek. He brings over two decades of senior communications and editorial leadership experience at organizations including the ASPCA, PBS, and Time Inc.

5 min read • Originally published June 15, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

By Joel Schwartzberg

5 min read • Originally published June 15, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

As an official judge for the Erma Bombeck Writing Competition, I read a lot of essays, the quality of which fluctuated from powerful to pointless.

Despite this range, what struck me most were the handful-and-a-half common, correctable mistakes that kept many essays, even potentially wonderful ones, from truly hitting their mark.

With input from writers, teachers and magazine editors, here are seven of those mistakes and ways to avoid or correct them so that you can increase your chances of getting published, winning contests or simply bringing your writing to the next level.

1. Starting Too Slowly

The seemingly most practical way to start a personal essay is to set the scene through exposition:

“Supermarkets are the last place you’d expect the surprise of your life. But last Thursday, my kids and I were in the express lane when…”

But that’s also the least interesting way to begin (no matter what happens in the express lane). Consider starting your essay in the middle of your story, with action or with compelling dialogue.

Axing the first paragraph entirely often works for me, but you should do whatever it takes to make sure you and your readers hit the ground running, not stuck in neutral.

2. Not “Showing” Up

“Many writers forget the all-important basic writing advice ‘show, don’t tell,'” says Louise Sloan, deputy editor for Brown Alumni Magazine. “Make your point through personal anecdotes.”

Midge Raymond, longtime writing instructor and co-founder of Ashland Creek Press, agrees that personal stories are a perfect vehicle for your point. “Personal essay writers need to keep in mind that readers want to be told a story,” she says.

Raymond says she receives many submissions from foreign travelers who “write up, essentially, a description of that country without any personal element, without a narrative and without a character arc or any sort of personal revelation,” making it about as fun as your neighbor’s vacation slideshow.

3. Going Nowhere

A good essay, like a road trip, takes you somewhere different from the place you started. Ideally, you’ll arrive at a new and relevant self-realization. But take your time with that journey and its details, says Parade Magazine senior editor Peter Smith.

“The conclusions you eventually reach may seem like a given to you now, but if you jump straight to them, you’ll short pedal the amount of work you had to do to get there and rob the reader of what’s interesting about your story,” he explains.

4. Thinking It Must Be Dramatic

Unlike television movies, personal essays don’t have to be filled with tragedy to engage an audience. “A lot of writers fail to remember that great essays can be written about stuff that’s happy or funny,” says Sloan. “It doesn’t always have to be wrenching, and in fact, we’d often rather it weren’t!”

Strong humor can really sell an essay, but don’t let it overshadow your point. “Some writers fall into the trap of using all their funny bits in one essay so that the piece becomes a rambling mess,” says Debe Tashjian Dockins, who coordinates the Erma Bombeck competition. “Stick to a couple of good ideas and incorporate them into one theme.”

5. Going Broad, Not Niche

You may have a lot to say, but don’t bite off more than you can write. Think large, but write lean, say the experts.

“You don’t need to tell the whole story as an essayist. You don’t even need to follow it through to its real ending,” says essayist and writing consultant Jenna Glatzer, author of Outwitting Writer’s Block and Other Problems of the Pen. “Figure out where the most interesting parts end and tie it off there.”

Paula Derrow, writing instructor and editorial consultant agrees. “The biggest mistake is that people try to squish 20 years of their life into five pages instead of focusing in on specific events and vivid details,” she says. “The best personal essays use focused events to make a larger point.”

Many of the submissions read by Daniel Jones, editor of The New York Times‘ “Modern Love” column, “take on too much, trying to tell too big of a story in too small a space,” he says. “The whole thing becomes a rushed summary of events — told and not shown — which can keep the reader at a distance.”

6. Not Keeping it Real

Sloan says some writers fail because “their voice doesn’t sound authentic: Either it’s cutesy or highfalutin, or their insight lacks subtlety or depth.” Like confessions, personal essays work best when they’re revealing raw truth.

But don’t confuse looking for truth with trying to make yourself feel better, warns Jones. One of the most common mistakes he finds is “when people write to justify their own behavior or opinion, rather than to explore something they don’t understand.”

And don’t settle for easy answers. “People tend to write personal essays in which they’re either the hero or the villain, but most of us are squarely in the middle, which creates an opportunity for a narrative as unexpected as real life,” says Salon.com personal essays editor Sarah Hepola.

“I love it when a writer says, ‘I thought you were the one to blame. But, actually, now that I think about it, maybe I am.'”

So approach all issues, especially your own, with an open mind.

7. Eschewing Feedback

Susan Shapiro, a writing professor and author whose own essays have appeared in The New York Times‘ “Lives” and “Modern Love” columns, warns writers not to trust themselves absolutely.

“The biggest mistake essay writers make is finishing a piece at three in the morning, deciding it’s brilliant and, without getting any feedback, sending it to The New Yorker,” she says. “After you write your piece, get a serious critique in a class, a writing workshop or by a tough ghost editor. Listen carefully to the criticism; then rewrite.”

There’s more to good essay writing than just avoiding these traps, but if you keep them in mind, the next piece you write could be the one that takes you places. And even if it doesn’t, remember this quote from Bombeck herself: “If you can’t make it better, you can laugh at it.”

Topics:

Be Inspired, Journalism Advice, Productivity

Advice From the Pros

Hey, How’d You Get a Book Out of That Modern Love Article?

Amy Sutherland on how her NYT column prompted a book deal

By Michaela Cavallaro

5 min read • Originally published June 29, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

By Michaela Cavallaro

5 min read • Originally published June 29, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

In the spring of 2006, Amy Sutherland was looking for ways to promote her second book, Kicked, Bitten and Scratched.

When her first idea—pitching magazine and newspaper editors stories related to her book’s subject—didn’t pan out, Sutherland took a different tack: targeting The New York Times’ Modern Love column.

A regular reader of the feature, Sutherland studied it intently. In two weeks, she wrote a quirky, 1,500-word personal essay about using animal training techniques on her husband, fellow journalist Scott Sutherland.

She submitted it through the Times’ Web site just as her book was hitting store shelves.

Within a week, Modern Love editor Daniel Jones accepted the piece, and the essay ran in the June 25, 2006 paper under the headline “What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage.”

A Boston resident, Sutherland went out that Sunday morning to pick up a copy of the paper, mostly out of curiosity about how the illustration that accompanies Modern Love would turn out.

“I’m like any other reporter,” says Sutherland. “I’m just happy that, one, I managed to finish the story, and, two, somebody had accepted it.”

But this was about to become a much bigger deal. By the time Sutherland returned with the paper, her husband reported that her piece was No. 1 on the Times‘ most emailed stories list.

An hour later, the BBC was on the phone, wanting to interview her about the provocative topic. And that was just the start. Interview requests poured in from news outlets around the world. Maureen Dowd wrote a column about the column. And then the Today show called.

Sutherland took that groundswell of attention—the essay ended up being the most emailed Times story in all of 2006—and turned it into a deal with Random House, as well as a feature film slated to star Naomi Watts.

I sat down with Sutherland as she explained how she turned a successful column into a book proposal.

How soon after the Modern Love column appeared did you decide to write a book on the topic?

Within the first week, I was getting emails from movie producers and editors. So by that Wednesday my agent, Jane Chelius, said, ‘You better start working on your proposal.'”

But I couldn’t really devote any time to it because I was flat out with all the other interviews I was doing on the column. I had to do the proposal really fast, though, because Viking [which published Sutherland’s first two books] had the right of first refusal.

And we suspected they would turn it down, because my editor had retired. So Jane wanted to get it to Viking as fast as possible so they could have their pass at it and we could get it out to other publishers. And then I got booked on the Today show.

How did that change things?

Jane wanted the proposal in editors’ hands while I was on the Today show, which was scheduled for the first week of August. In the end I had about a month to write the proposal.

I had worked on the proposal for Cookoff for six months, while I was working at the [Portland, Maine] Press Herald. The proposal for Kicked, Bitten & Scratched I did in about two months, but that’s without trying to juggle interviews at the same time.

How did you figure out how to turn that 1,500 word piece into a whole book? Were there bits of the essay that didn’t make it into the book?

Everything from the original essay stayed in the proposal. But I had to convince publishers that there was more to it—that was my main goal. All my energy went into the overview, where I described how I would expand the column.

I basically blocked out the main points I had covered in the column, then detailed ways I could expand them through additional stories, additional samples or to get into a lot more subtlety.

Then I thought of the animal training that I had applied to humans that I hadn’t included in the column, because not all of it applied to my marriage.

I also knew if I was going to write a book on this, I would want to give a little bit of history as to where modern animal training comes from, and give a more big-picture, philosophical take on it.

What ended up happening with Viking?

They made an offer, and then we were allowed to go get another offer and we got a better one. We went back to Viking, and they passed at that point.

So we went with Random House, which had made a preemptive offer. I’d had a phone conversation with an editor there, Stephanie Higgs, and she totally got the column.

I had talked to a couple other editors who wanted to make it a how-to/self-help book, and that’s not what I wanted to write.

Spinning in the background the whole time was the movie deal. Kicked, Bitten and Scratched and Shamu were optioned [by First Look Pictures, with Naomi Watts attached] before the new book was even written.

That didn’t take a lot of time for me personally, but it definitely added pressure.

So did all of the hoopla about the Modern Love piece help sales for Kicked, Bitten and Scratched?

In some ways it helped sell the book. In other ways it kind of eclipsed the book; I ended up doing interviews on the column with just a mention of the book.

That said, I don’t have any complaints.

Tips on turning a successful column into a book proposal:

1. Think big

“Look at what the big ideas are in the column and immediately start seeing how they could be expanded, and then be looking for all the anecdotal material that you could add.”

2. Learn from the publicity you receive

“Use the press interviews to learn what people are naturally interested in, or whether there’s something you need to address or clarify.”

3. Don’t be afraid to stretch

“Left to my own devices, I probably would never have come up with a book that was so personal or essay driven because I like reporting so much,” says Sutherland.

“Even though it was hard for me to change gears, ultimately I think it was a good thing.”

Topics:

Go Freelance, Hey, How'd You Do That?, Journalism Advice

Skills & Expertise

The Art of the Listicle: Craft a Perfect ‘Top 10’

Insiders explain what makes a listicle a must-read

By Kristen Fischer

Kristen Fischer is a freelance writer, journalist, and copywriter with over 20 years of experience, currently serving as a health writer for AARP with previous staff roles at WebMD and WW. Her work has appeared in Prevention, Healthline, Woman's Day, Parade, and Writer's Digest, and she is the author of four books.

7 min read • Originally published August 11, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

By Kristen Fischer

7 min read • Originally published August 11, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

Everyone loves a good Top 10 list. We see them in magazines, scroll through them on blogs and usually chuckle when Clickhole or McSweeney’s serve up a satirical top ten.

Listicles provide a punchy way to assemble information in an easy-to-read article format. We asked writers and editors what makes a listicle work, why audiences can’t get enough of them and how to craft one.

And, in true listicle fashion, we put it in a list.

1. Come Up with a Strategy

Listicles may look easy to put together, but there is quite a bit of strategizing that goes into these often simple-looking pieces. The first step toward listicle success is to keep the content fresh; tied into something current. “Perhaps there is a movie or popular TV show coming out that would make a good top 10 piece,” says Sarah Sekula, an Orlando-based writer whose “10 Great Places…” series appears regularly in USA Today.

Anahid Lisa Derbabian, founder of Integrity Communications in Michigan, says a good Top 5 or Top 10 article begins with a hot topic that can include an emerging area or current trend. Make sure your audience is going to relate to the theme: “Envision your audience and what they may find compelling, funny, interesting, helpful,” Derbabian says.

While you may not choose a headline first, the headline should have catchy phrasing. You can play off a familiar saying, a movie title, well-known song or an alliteration, says Marissa Spano, branding and marketing consultant in New York City.

Sometimes starting out by jotting down the five, eight, 10 or 15 points is a good start to help get your creative juices flowing. She says writers can branch out on ideas by drawing a diagram to help visualize the piece. “Then, create specific and value-laden points and go back and edit each to make your points impactful with as few words as possible,” says Derbabian.

Good Top 10 lists have topically relevant tidbits in the teaser copy or subheadings to lure in the reader, while the paragraph elaborates on the individual topic, Spano adds. The key is to keep things concise, she notes.

“You’re not writing a book—you’re just listing its chapters,” explains Spano. “With a society stricken with ADD, it’s the easiest way to get across your message.”

Josh Catone, press writer at Seant, said listicles haven’t become popular because people lack attention spans, but because our attention is more fragmented—so the lists work well to convey information. Since Web audiences are generally multitaskers, “a format like the Top 10, which steps the reader from beginning to end in a clear, easy-to-follow, chronological way, works really well,” says the Texas-based editor. “It’s hard to get lost in a list post because you’re being ushered through.”

2. Rank and File

In Sekula’s USA Today listicles, she doesn’t rate the stores or swimming locations to show which is better than the next—all are top picks. Another way to present a top 10 is ranking items from good to best (or bad to worst), and it can be alluring to read your way down to No. 1.

If you do choose to rank your tips, you’ve got to put a lot of thought into the process, says Scott Ferguson, a copywriter from California. He says polling other people from a relevant demographic can help you get ideas for which topics to feature. Once you’ve got what you think is the best of the bunch, ranking them properly is crucial.

“You don’t want your best, most entertaining entry in the No. 8 slot, for instance,” Ferguson says. “If a majority of readers think your No. 10 should really be No. 1, then you’ve sabotaged your list’s integrity.” Some writers may be naturals at ranking; others can tap their original resources to get feedback on list order, Ferguson suggests.

“The list should build in interest, relevance and ‘I-didn’t-know-that’ surprise as you count down to No. 1, Ferguson adds. “The payoff needs to validate the time spent reading the entire list.”

3. Use Humor—and a Little Snark

One thing you’ve probably noticed in your favorite Top 10 lists is that they’re a little edgy—not only in what they say, but in how they say it.

“The art of the list is all about the humor. The snarkier, the better,” says Brock Cooper, an Illinois-based writer.

He notes that many people anticipate what’s in a listicle when they read the title. “It’s how you package that keeps them reading,” adds Cooper. He says that if you hook the reader with the first entry on your list, you’ll likely get them to read the entire thing. But if you fill your article with boring facts, the reader will move on.

Cooper says that as more articles are created using the list format, many are becoming too predictable.

“The readers are familiar with the subject and have an idea of at least what some of the listings are going to be,” he adds. “You have to have three or four that come out of left field.” Cooper recommends including a rare trivia fact or something that will engage the reader in order to make a listicle stand out.

Britt Reints, a Florida-based freelance writer, agrees that adding something unexpected is vital to a solid listicle. “Sure, a few of the items on your list might be no-brainers,” says Reints. “But if you’re not adding anything new to previous discussions, your Top 10 list is nothing more than a regurgitation of other people’s ideas.”

When Reints wrote a listicle about the worst zombie movies of all time, he chose Land of the Dead to start his article. Some readers say movie did not belong on his list, since the director is a pioneer of modern zombie flicks. “It got a rise out of them,” notes Cooper.

4. Boost Shareability to Drive Traffic

Readers like listicles, but there are payoffs for magazines and writers, too. Top 10’s usually generate quite a bit of traffic online, which can boost the reputation of the writer and the publication. Use the right keywords—and not too many of them—and you can strike gold.

“Lists are great for generating traffic, particularly online,” says K. Tighe, former publisher and editor of Poor Taste magazine. “The key is making sure we don’t trade quality content in for the easily searchable kind.”

In addition to the right blend of keywords to drive traffic to a list online, Tighe says another way to drive traffic to an article is to create a buzz around it. She recommends that editors and writers work together to determine which criteria is necessary when doing a ranked list. This ensures the list is well thought-out with the purpose of engaging readers and, in the social media age, getting them to talk to each other about the piece.

“People will disagree, controversy will ensue, which is great for traffic,” says Tighe. “But controversy should never be the goal. Great content should be the goal.”

What’s all the fuss about when it comes to driving traffic? Websites like Digg encouraging people to read listicles helps to get them to read your publication, and ultimately, to purchase your product or service.

Because of the nature of listicles, they are likely to be shared, adds Mashable’s Catone. “There’s something about lists that make them eminently sharable,” says Catone. “The anticipation you experience while reading through a list makes it almost feel participatory. That, coupled with their accessibility, makes lists good material to share with large groups of people, which of course makes them very attractive to editors.”

5. Ask Yourself: “Should I Say It in a List?”

So if you’ve got a monster idea for a listicle, is this the right format for your words?

“Pretty much any piece of journalism can be converted into a listicle, but not every piece should be,” Tighe says.

Because Tighe covers the food industry in her publication, she uses listicles to help identify trends, incorporate dishes and restaurants from different locations and get fresh content up quickly. “If a reader wants to know where to eat the best Chicago hot dog, a long-form piece on its history isn’t going to be much help,” she says. “A pithy list of the 10 greatest dogs in Chicago, with representation from various neighborhoods, is exactly what readers need.”

A listicle can include ramblings off the top of one’s head, or it can incorporate interesting facts and quotes from related sources. According to Catone, it all depends on the goal of the feature, and it depends on the website, as well as the audience.

“At Mashable, if we’re talking about the top 10 ways to market your site on Twitter, we’re going to look for anecdotes, stats, expert opinions and examples to lend credence to our advice,” says Catone. “But for another site, say the personal blog of a known social media expert or someone trying to brand herself as such, just their opinions might suffice.”

So go ahead and get familiar with the numbering feature in your word-processing software. Once you start writing your listicle, it’s hard to stop at 10. And why should you?

Topics:

Climb the Ladder, Skills & Expertise

Advice From the Pros

Your Life in 1,000 Words: The Craft of Personal Essays

Tell your story in a way that resonates with your audience

By Amanda Layman Low

@AmandaLaymanLow

7 min read • Originally published October 15, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

By Amanda Layman Low

@AmandaLaymanLow

7 min read • Originally published October 15, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

There is intrigue in our daily lives, our reactions to events and the harmony or dissonance between our goals and realities. All of these can become inspiring and salable personal essays. But crafting your experiences into written pieces requires focus, a cold eye for editing and professionalism when facing negative feedback.

A good essay is artful, honest and written with a strong angle. Most of all, it is written with an audience in mind. And especially for fiction writers, I recommend the personal essay as a way to cross over into nonfiction. Like fiction, essay writing requires tweaking your observations into something meaningful and palatable to others.

Your built-in sensor for pacing and plot will serve you well when writing essays—I know because I made the transition from fiction hobbyist to paid nonfiction writer two years ago by way of the personal essay.

Let’s take a look at best practices for developing content that truly resonates with your audience, as you craft your personal essay.

Getting Ideas

Strong ideas for essays can come from unusual experiences and milestones in life. But they can also come in a subtler form, like a counter-cultural choice you made, an unusual hobby or a strong reaction to something in the news.

In my experience, when you’re dreaming up ideas for essays, it’s like that moment when you cut into an avocado: You know almost immediately if it’s a good one. It often comes in the form of a statement, not a topic. For instance, “I’m not ashamed I’m still breastfeeding my 2-year-old,” or “It’s difficult being an atheist parent living in the Bible Belt.” Both of these ideas became essays I published on Mommyish.com.

Louise Hung writes first-person pieces for various print and digital publications.

“I’ve had the most success with essays that hit on that ‘I thought I was the only one!’ nerve,” she says. “I think you have to write about something that might be perceived as embarrassing, but do it in a fair and honest way. Self-reflection is key. Eloquence in relating an experience that may be difficult for people to talk about—I find those essays do well for me too.”

Carinn Jade, blogger at Welcome To The Motherhood, also likes to keep her audience in mind when crafting essays. “I get ideas when something happens and I’ve realized it made a big impact on me, or I wonder how other people handle the same thing.”

She also reads her favorite publications and notes the kind of work they’re publishing. “I see what people are talking about and if I have my own take on that. Some issues are evergreen. I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel, I’m just seeing if I can find some inspiration in what somebody else is doing.”

Putting Pen to Page

The advice to “write hot, revise cool” really comes into play when you’re working on an essay. Don’t edit yourself as you get the first draft down. Allow yourself to rant and curse, if applicable, and include as many details as you can. Later, you can give your family members pseudonyms, weed out the extra words and revise those trite metaphors—but your first draft should be honest and real.

Your essay, like any good piece of writing, should have structure. Hung focuses her pieces by presenting an issue, highlighting major emotions or incidents involving it and wrapping it up with some sort of resolution.

“There isn’t always a resolution, but the piece has to go somewhere. I try not to get bogged down in too many feelings, even though it’s easy to do that.” Concrete details often serve your writing better than vague emotions. Anecdotes and imagery resonate with readers, while language describing happiness or anger, no matter how flowery or poetic, doesn’t hold the same power.

Jade emphasizes that essay writers need to “be ready to lay it all out on the line. I think what makes the best essays are ones that are really true for you. Whether that’s true for anybody else isn’t important. If it’s really coming from you, I think that’s what matters to people.”

Of course, there is a danger in being too honest. Jade takes precautions like changing names and details when writing stories about her children, but she also states that she’ll only divulge personal information if she is really passionate about a topic. “I’m not just going to give you details about my body or my life just for the fun of it, and certainly not for 50 bucks.”

Above all, it is your voice that will set you apart from other essayists. Hung recommends thinking about what people find interesting about you in your daily life and how that can translate into your writing. She also suggests you write every day. “Keep a journal, always have a notebook nearby. If you’re writing about your life you have to take notes!”

It’s a fine line to walk, especially on the Internet. Although publishing your stories anonymously may seem a viable alternative, I have done this and faced two major problems. First, an anonymous byline does nothing to further my career and presence as a writer, even if it does help pay the bills.

But the other problem is that I have received character attacks in comments sections that bring down my morale as a writer and a person. As Jade mentions, you may reach a certain point where divulging your life’s details does more harm than good, and isn’t worth any amount of money.

Publishing Your Essay

Unless you already have a relationship with an editor or publication, you need to write your essay before sending it out—rather than selling it as an idea in a pitch letter. Jade prefers to have a particular market in mind when she’s crafting her essays.

“It’s really about knowing the periodical or site, knowing their voice and point of view and tailoring [your piece] to fit with their content.” She recommends reading profusely, finding publications that speak to you and trying to join that community instead of doing a broad search for markets.

Another helpful resource is Mediabistro’s series on personal essay markets: Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV.

Hung starts by hunting down “submissions” pages on sites she reads regularly. When she’s looking for paying gigs, she follows @WhoPaysWriters on Twitter and Tumblr. “I’m also not above Googling ‘does this place pay writers?’ Whenever I find a website I like, I look into what they want as far as submissions. Everything is a potential job.”

She recommends looking to local print publications, especially if your essay is related to your immediate community.

Dealing With Feedback

If you publish your essay online, especially in a vociferous blogging community, be prepared for anything. I have been called irresponsible, a bully, mean-spirited, lazy and more. I have also been praised for my candor, my writing style and my sense of humor.

Any time you publish your work, you open yourself up to criticism, but with the personal essay, criticism can cut deeper because it’s in response to your personal life.

Learning how to cope with negative feedback is a constant practice, Jade says. “I think 97 percent of my comments have been negative. If I’ve written a piece that’s a real trigger for me, I’ll really try not to read the comments.”

She has to constantly remind herself it’s not personal. “These people don’t know me, they’re reading a couple hundred words I wrote. Maybe they disagree with me, but it’s not about me as a person.”

However, when she’s writing regularly for a particular community, Jade will engage with regular readers whose usernames she recognizes. “If I feel like I wasn’t really clear, like I want to defend what I said, I will engage. But it’s not for the faint of heart.”

Hung says there’s only one situation where she’ll defend herself: “If they say something really horrible that involves someone other than myself or makes a cruel assumption. But I never throw back insults.”

She recounts a crisis in which she was questioning her skill as a writer and not trusting her ideas. “My friend Caitlin basically said to me, ‘Louise, the Internet is not real. MeanCommenter37 is not real. You and the people in your life would never say such cruel things to another person. So these [commenters] are not people you’d want in your life anyway. Don’t let them tear you down.'”

Looking Within

For me, writing personal essays allows me to make sense of my life and find camaraderie in others who struggle with similar issues. However, publishing personal essays requires resilience and introspection—a task that, as Jade rightly put it, isn’t for the faint of heart.

But for the writer who wants to let his unique voice shine, there is no better format than the essay.

“Don’t be afraid to have a strong, unusual opinion,” Hung says. “You can’t please everybody, so you have to be pleased with what you put out into the world. I still struggle with this. I just want to make everybody like me!”

Although you’ll never make everyone like you, if your stories resonate with even one reader, you’ve done your job.

Topics:

Go Freelance, Journalism Advice

Advice From the Pros

So What Do You Do, Nina Parker, TV Reporter for The Insider?

The celeb journo talks TMZ, paparazzi and developing sources

By Marcus Vanderberg

8 min read • Originally published October 15, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

By Marcus Vanderberg

8 min read • Originally published October 15, 2015 / Updated March 19, 2026

Television has been in Nina Parker’s blood from an early age.

“I remember getting a cardboard box and making a TV, cutting it out and getting in it,” Parker said of her childhood. “I was obsessed with [book and cartoon show] The Littles, because I really believed as a kid that there were people in the TV.”

Fast-forward 20 years later and Parker found her way inside the television as a regular on the syndicated nightly entertainment news show TMZ after chucking her corporate gig and moving to Los Angeles on a whim; she graduated to The Insider. And, while entertainment outlets like TMZ are often criticized for reporting every bit of celebrity TMI, Parker said even the most tenacious newshound has to draw the line somewhere.

“If someone is dating someone and they’re out and about, that’s OK,” she explained, “but I think when you start to get in people’s bedrooms and is this person dating this person and who are they sleeping with, that’s a little too much for me.”

Name: Nina Parker
Position: Television reporter for Access Hollywood Live.
Resume: Started in 1999 as an intern at NBC affiliate KRON in San Francisco before eventually getting hired as a production assistant in 2000. Left for New York in 2002 and returned to California in 2003, working a regular 9-to-5 job at Verizon in Sacramento for four years. Hired by TMZ as a runner in 2007 and was promoted to producer four months later. Joined The Insider in September 2011. Currently works as a TV reporter on Access Hollywood Live.
Birthday: October 22
Hometown: Sacramento, Calif.
Education: B.A., broadcast and electronic communication arts, San Francisco State University
Marital status: Single
Media idol: Oprah Winfrey
Favorite TV show: True Blood
Guilty pleasure: Shopping at the 99 Cents Only store
Last book read: Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. “If I’m going to make fun of something, I need to know the background.”
Twitter handle: @MzGossipGirl

You quietly departed TMZ in 2011. How would you sum up your time at the website?

Great. It was very hectic, grueling. Before I got there, I had never worked that hard in my life. I was literally at times sleeping in my car and then just going to work. My first big assignment there was to sleep outside the jail and wait for Paris Hilton to get out, and come back with the tape from the photographer. That was a shell shock coming from taking a break in the industry to getting tossed in the fire.

That’s really how I learned.

It was very much sink or swim, and I saw a group of people that I started with all fall at the wayside because they couldn’t handle it. For me, it felt like it was my last chance. I was in my late 20s, I wasn’t fresh out of college and I was like, “If I don’t do this, I’m not going to do it.” I just committed to it. I learned a lot, probably more than the average person would, because we all grew together because it was a new company. We were creating positions as we went along and learning about it and growing with how the world was changing and how technology was changing.

Kiri Blakeley of Forbes wrote a piece in 2011 about the boys club of TMZ and how the women on the show don’t get equal camera time. How much truth is there to that?

I think sometimes things happen unintentionally and sometimes people cultivate together and don’t realize that they’re doing that. I would say, for me, I feel like I personally didn’t have those barriers. I felt like they gave me a lot of opportunity. They gave me a lot of camera time. They were very willing to work with me when I decided I wanted to try something new.

I think in the industry it can be a boys club, and you have to really try to work hard to break that glass ceiling. I think I did that and, once they saw how I hard I wanted to work, they gave me any opportunity I wanted. I do think the industry in general can be very much of a boys club but I do think that’s changing.

Do you think the paparazzi get a bad rap from the mainstream media?

Yeah, I do, because I think everybody covers the story. The Kristen Stewart photos that are out now, those were photographed by a paparazzi, and they are on every local news channel, every entertainment show. People can say this photographer was so wrong, but their agency buys the photos. It’s all a machine and nothing would happen if it wasn’t profitable.

I think they get a bad rap, and I think people use the paparazzi sometimes as a scapegoat to hide their hands from what they put into that pot. I like that some of these guys are unapologetic about what they do, and I think more people should be real about what they’re doing as opposed to saying, “We don’t do this.” We all have our hands in it, and that’s why it’s taken the direction it has.

What tricks have you used to develop your sources within the entertainment industry?

I don’t know if I want to tell my tricks. It’s hard. I don’t even know where I would start now that I’ve cultivated some of these relationships that I have. For me, what I’ve always tried to do personally is be 100 percent honest with the people that I’m dealing with. So, if I say I want to shoot this because this is how I’m going to portray you, I try to 100 percent stick to that, so when they see it they know exactly what they’re getting, and I’m not hiding anything.

If I call somebody or a rep about a DUI or about an arrest, I’m telling them I’m reporting this, but I’m going to give you an opportunity to give your side. I think a lot of times people report things and they don’t give two sides to the story. I always just try to give both sides. I’ve had so many people appreciate me just calling to get a statement, because so many people will just post stuff and not bother to get a statement.

You once said in an interview that your curvy figure has helped you connect with people in Hollywood. How so?

I just think people are so used to one type of person on television. When I first moved to L.A. and the weather girls looked like Playboybunnies, I was like, “I can’t even watch the news without L.A. making me feel bad about how I look.” Sometimes, I didn’t connect with that as a viewer. I’m sitting here with my girls in my living room eating pizza, and I don’t want to watch this skinny girl talk about anything. I’m going to change the channel.

For me, a lot of the responses I got on Twitter from women was, “Finally, there’s a woman that looks like me.” What I would talk about on TV is the issues that I had, like I couldn’t go into Forever 21 and go ahead and buy a tank top. I would joke about the issues that I had, and I think we as women and people all have those kind of issues, whether you’re big or small. You have these real issues, but people hide them and people don’t want to talk about it. You gloss over it. I was kind of able to be a bit vulnerable on television, and I think people related to that because it was just what we all go through.

With the influx of celebrity and gossip blogs on the Internet, how can an up-and-comer stand out from the competition?

I think what makes people break out is when they are 100 percent true to who they are. The people I follow, the people I enjoy on Twitter and Tumblr, are the people that are 100 percent themselves. They might not even have a huge following, but they’re funny, intelligent and not trying to be someone else. That’s really transparent.

I think when someone is attempting to be funny or when someone is attempting to be snarky, it’s always so transparent. It turns me off. In the online world, it’s really imperative to be 100 percent who you are. If you’re a girly girl, go for that. Stay in your lane. You aren’t going to ever see me report on sports unless the star gets a DUI. You aren’t going to ever see me report on something I’m not comfortable with.

Reality shows, like Basketball Wives and Shahs of Sunset, are often criticized for marginalizing people of color. Do you think networks like VH1 and Bravo have a social responsibility to feature niche groups and minorities in a positive, non-stereotypical light?

I don’t think the networks have an obligation to society in the sense where programming is concerned. I think we create what’s popular, so we have a responsibility to ourselves… The show Baseball Wives came and went. It wasn’t interesting. Nobody watched it and it went away and nobody ever heard of it again. The same people writing these petitions are the same people who tune in and watch these shows. If we really want to have the programming changed, public opinion has to change because we’re the ones creating the standard.

We’re the ones creating the trends by letting these people trend five out of 10 topics on Twitter. VH1 pays attention to that. It wasn’t always like that. If we wanted more “Pop-Up Video,” they probably would do it. It’s kind of our responsibility and, since we are such a social society, we could do it. We could make that change quickly, I believe. But numbers don’t lie and these networks… people are being delusional if they don’t think these networks are trying to make money. That’s what it’s about.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Topics:

Advice From the Pros, Be Inspired, Interviews

So here’s a question we’ve been hearing a lot: “I’m a freelance writer for magazines and newspapers, and my friends tell me I should develop an expertise. Does this make good business sense?”

1. Choose a specialty.

2. Move laterally.

3. Go through open doors.

4. Study your specialty.

5. Target specific publications.

6. Just say yes.

7. Become a columnist.

8. Write a book.

9. Market yourself.

Unfair attacks on reputation are nothing new

Why can I say anything on the Internet?

Prevent damage by monitoring your brand

Have a plan before fixing your reputation

A Day in the Life

Writer Ratings and Working with Editors

Pros

Cons

So, Is It Worth It?

1. Use your website as a selling tool

2. Make sure your site looks professional

3. Include the Essentials: Homepage, About Page and Testimonials

4. Spotlight your clips

5. Keep the (good) content flowing with a blog

6. Avoid nonessentials that can clutter your site

7. Know Thy Work Is Never Done

Quick Links

1. Know Your Audience Before You Write

2. Choose Your Publishing Path

Traditional vs. Self-Publishing: Quick Comparison

3. Build an Email List (It Beats Social Media)

4. Build Your Author Brand, Not Just Your Book

5. Invest in Professional Help

What Professional Help Might Include

6. Focus on Long-Term Success (Not Just Launch Week)

What Makes a Book a “Best-Seller”?

The Bottom Line

FAQs About Becoming a Best-Selling Author

Q: How many books do you need to sell to be a best-seller?

Q: How long does it take to become a best-selling author?

Q: Can self-published authors become best-sellers?

Q: How much do best-selling authors make?

Q: Do I need a literary agent to become a best-selling author?

Q: Is social media important for selling books?

Q: What’s the best genre for becoming a best-seller?

Q: How do I get my book on the New York Times best-sellers list?

Q: Should I hire a book publicist?

Q: What’s more important: writing a great book or marketing it well?

1. Starting Too Slowly

2. Not “Showing” Up

3. Going Nowhere

4. Thinking It Must Be Dramatic

5. Going Broad, Not Niche

6. Not Keeping it Real

7. Eschewing Feedback

How soon after the Modern Love column appeared did you decide to write a book on the topic?

How did that change things?

How did you figure out how to turn that 1,500 word piece into a whole book? Were there bits of the essay that didn’t make it into the book?

What ended up happening with Viking?

So did all of the hoopla about the Modern Love piece help sales for Kicked, Bitten and Scratched?

Tips on turning a successful column into a book proposal:

1. Come Up with a Strategy

2. Rank and File

3. Use Humor—and a Little Snark

4. Boost Shareability to Drive Traffic

5. Ask Yourself: “Should I Say It in a List?”

Getting Ideas

Putting Pen to Page

Publishing Your Essay

Dealing With Feedback

Looking Within

You quietly departed TMZ in 2011. How would you sum up your time at the website?

Kiri Blakeley of Forbes wrote a piece in 2011 about the boys club of TMZ and how the women on the show don’t get equal camera time. How much truth is there to that?

Do you think the paparazzi get a bad rap from the mainstream media?

What tricks have you used to develop your sources within the entertainment industry?

You once said in an interview that your curvy figure has helped you connect with people in Hollywood. How so?

With the influx of celebrity and gossip blogs on the Internet, how can an up-and-comer stand out from the competition?

Reality shows, like Basketball Wives and Shahs of Sunset, are often criticized for marginalizing people of color. Do you think networks like VH1 and Bravo have a social responsibility to feature niche groups and minorities in a positive, non-stereotypical light?

Lisa Cohen Lee