John Soares has been a professional freelance writer since the early 1990s. He started as an outdoors writer before expanding into his main niche: freelance writing for higher education companies. He writes the Productive Writers blog, and he’s the author of two e-books on freelance writing, including Writing College Textbook Supplements, second edition, and two trade paperbacks on hiking in northern California.
Ebyline asked Soares about breaking into textbook supplement writing, publishing his own e-books, and more.
Your bio mentions that you’ve been a full-time freelancer since 1994. How has the industry changed during that time and how have you adapted?
By far the biggest change has been the rise of the Internet and its impact on freelance writers. When I first started freelance writing in the very early 1990s, hardly anyone used e-mail or was really even aware of the Internet. Now, of course, most freelance writers have websites and use e-mail to pitch ideas to editors, and almost all work is created and transmitted electronically. We also find many markets through websites and online searches. Back in the day we used Writer’s Market, scoured the magazine stands, and sent queries and clips through snail mail.
I’d imagine you’ve had a lot of different writing gigs over the course of your freelance career. What was your most unusual one?
The most unusual one and the most fun one was a feature article I wrote in 1997 for an outdoors magazine. I was living on the island of Kauai in Hawaii at the time, and the piece covered two adventure outings on the Big Island. The first involved hiking several miles over rough volcanic rock to gain a close-up view of molten lava flowing into the Pacific Ocean. On the second I did a night-dive with a giant manta ray. That was especially cool! The tour operator took us to a shallow part of a bay and turned on a very bright underwater light. A manta with a seven-foot wingspan soon arrived; we were in the water with him and he swam in and around us for a long time.
You have an interesting niche: writing textbook supplements. How did you get into that line of work?
Iíve always loved learning — I was one of those kids in school who got teased for being “smart.” I did well in college and went on to get a master’s degree in political science from the University of California, Davis. Soon after, I was teaching polisci courses at Butte College in Chico, California, but at the same time I was also writing hiking guidebooks and outdoors articles. As an instructor, I was given an instructor’s manual, a set of test questions, and other teaching materials by the publishers of the textbooks I used. One day a book representative came to school to pitch to the faculty, and I asked her who wrote those instructor’s manuals, test questions, and the like. She said, “people like you.” She put me in touch with the right editor at her company, and that summer I wrote 1,600 questions for a new American government textbook. From there I contacted more book reps and editors and my freelance writing career really took off.
You’ve created two ebooks. What was the most challenging part of the process and how did you work through it?
I’ve written two mainstream hiking guidebooks on northern California for The Mountaineers, so I’m comfortable with outlining a book, doing all the research for it, and then writing and editing it. However, The Mountaineers took care of all the design elements of my hiking books. For me, the biggest challenge with creating e-books was choosing fonts and font sizes, laying out the e-books, and selecting someone to design the covers. Selling e-books is in many ways far easier than selling print books because there’s no physical product to print, store, and ship, and buyers can find the e-books multiple ways on the Internet.
Any closing thoughts on freelancing in 2011 and beyond?
Freelance writers need to be smart about how they channel their efforts. Too many writers settle for low-paying markets, many of which don’t even pay minimum wage. It’s best for freelancers to specialize in one or more niches that will pay them well, and then do a good job selling themselves in those niches. Thatís what I’ve done, and that’s been the path to a decent annual income for many writers.
