Hidden Writing Markets

Would you write for a writing market that no one else wanted to write for?

I think it's weird that writers out there won't bother writing a short filler for a magazine - you know, like a joke or a recipe or a cute saying or something. There are a lot of magazines out there begging for writers. You can earn $1 a WORD for some of those things. They're quick and easy. They pay well.

Imagine - $25 for a 25 word joke. Or $50 for a recipe that takes less than 5 minutes to write. How about $50 for a photograph of my cat asleep in the bathroom sink? Or $30 for a 50 word, cute mis-understood phrase my daughter used in a really inappropriate moment?

And yet almost no one submits.

One writer told me that typing out a joke, printing it, putting it into an envelope and posting it to a magazine was just too much work for only $25. That's fine. That means less competition for me!

On the opposite side of that are the websites where thousands and thousands of writers flock to websites that pay $3 per 400 word article. That's a lot of effort for a few dollars! No thanks. Those writers try so hard to make a living using tools that just don't work and they can't understand why they're not getting ahead. That's just ridiculous.

Next time you're near a news-stand or newsagency, or at the hairdresser, or even sitting in the doctor's waiting room, open a few glossy magazines and check out the reader contribution sections. You'll be surprised at how many of them pay good money for the strangest things.


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