"Be a Successful Writer: 99 Surefire Checklists"

The next book is “Be a Successful Writer: 99 Surefire Checklists” by Gordon Wells. After hearing about “The Checklist Manifesto” and the incredible effectiveness of lists, I've started putting together my own lists, so the title jumped out at me. Unfortunately, this book is mostly about writing for publication, not commercial writing. But there are still a few techniques I can apply to any kind of writing.

Getting Started

This section has most of the lists that are useful to me as a copywriter. It's all about laying the foundations for successfully selling your work, and the first list is how to get your first piece into print. This is extremely important. Once you have something in print, you can use it as a sample, you gain confidence from others' approval, and it makes getting your next assignment easier, even if you'll be switching markets.

After this, you need to take yourself seriously, because if you don't, who will? And you need to write every day. Time and again I've seen the advice “just write,” and when I've written every day for extended periods it helps in a lot of ways. If you've ever been intimidated by a word count, just write a minimum number of words, say 300, every day. You could do more, but 300 is the minimum. At the end of the exercise, you'll find yourself producing significantly more without a noticeable increase in effort. I've also found this to be true in other areas such as exercise or diets.

A few other things that I have found unique to this book are the exercises for warming up each day and keeping a writer's notebook. The warmup suggestions aren't for copywriters, but they are easily adapted. I will be doing them in the future not only to get started each day, but also as an aid for writer's block.

As for the writer's notebook, I think it will be much more useful for fiction writers, but I still use my phone to keep track of ideas. Since I'll be receiving assignments rather than choosing subjects, it's much less likely I will stumble upon a good idea by chance.

Polishing

This book also has a great section on polishing (editing), which I'll use in the future. It's only two pages, so I won't get frustrated before the end and skip things to finish the editing stage. It also has a reminder not to polish too much, so things don't get too dull and dampen your enthusiasm. The author also followed this advice with the list itself.

Writer's Block

A good checklist is as hard to make as a poem, since there's so much you need to say in such a short space. This book had tips for conquering writer's block that I hadn't seen before, and I'll keep them in mind as well if and when I have writer's block. Except maybe the recommendation to get “a large slug of something strong and alcoholic.” Yes, that's really in there, but it'll end up causing more problems than it solves.   

"How to Write Effective Business English"

Today's book is “How to Write Effective Business English” by Fiona Talbot. It made me consider something I hadn't thought about, which is the problem of regional differences and non-native English speakers. The main lesson I took from it is to be extremely careful when you are writing for an overseas audience. As the many websites on amusing mistranslations prove, not saying what you mean can be extremely embarrassing.

International Audiences

The first thing you need to do is agree with your client on which region's English you will use to write, if it's not already obvious. There are differences in both vocabulary and spelling from place to place, and word processing programs will even mark some of your words misspelled if you don't pick the appropriate region.

More importantly, you have to make sure that one mistranslation will not obscure your message. It's not always obvious which words will be mistranslated. For example, in Chinese, there is no exact translation for all the nuances of the word 'exotic.' The best Google Translate can do is 'foreign country sentiment.' Since even translation programs won't tell you about such subtleties, you have to carefully restrict your vocabulary. Mistakes will still happen unless you also know the target language, and if you have any doubts make sure your message is still clear after a bad translation or two.

You also cannot make too many assumptions. Whenever you use an acronym, abbreviation, jargon, or other similar word, you have to think “will my audience understand this?” and react accordingly. Writing to a child is one example that the book used. You automatically adjust your vocabulary in that situation, and writing for overseas viewers will require significant changes as well.

Consequences

The author of the book seems to think that some of its readers won't understand what can go wrong if you write badly. On the surface, you might have to rewrite some messages that recipients couldn't understand and waste their time as well as your own. But bad writing can cost a huge amount of time and money as well as undermining the company's credibility. The author submitted a database entry to a company that would list her business Europe-wide. They then edited it so that it contained at least one major error in every paragraph.

“What ultimately was the cost of this regrettable incident? The answer is that there was a cost to pay on a number of different levels. I refused to pay the invoice because the entry was incorrect, so the company suffered the loss of that income. That company then had to redraft a correct entry, and replace the incorrect entry at their own cost. The cost to my company was in terms of undermined professional credibility (both in the short and long term).”

Sometimes a book that isn't at all what you expected can pleasantly surprise you. Now I'm much more confident in writing for people in different regions, which might have caused me a lot of trouble before this book.

"Coach Yourself to Writing Success"

Today's book is “Coach Yourself to Writing Success” by Bekki Hill. This book is also more about writing for publication than it is about copywriting, as are most of the writing books out there. However, I decided to pick it up because it's almost exclusively about the mental aspects of a writer's life, such as dealing with rejection and positive thinking. These will apply to me as well and so I thought I could still learn something from it.

Preparation

The book begins with several chapters on identifying what you really want and planning how to get there. My choice of freelancing itself already reflects my core values, as the book would say. It's really difficult to come up with new ideas all the time, but copywriting means that your clients tell you what to write about. Freedom to set my own schedule and live wherever I want are even more important to me. I might come back to this book though if I'm going through a rough time and questioning the freelance life, but for now I have the questions in this section answered. So I learned from this book that given the experiences of other writers, these questions may become problems in the future.

Get More Done

The most important things I learned were ways to overcome mental blocks to productivity. For 76 pages, the book deals with how to motivate yourself and overcome procrastination and lack of motivation. I do like writing, and the challenge of selling something, but marketing myself is by far my least favorite part of the freelancing business. Other books tell me how to do that but ignore the thoughts that keep me from getting started. Since the author is a writing coach, she uses personal experience and surveys to identify and deal with these issues. Other authors either ignore the problem or don't haven't fought procrastination in themselves and others before. So far this book has helped me a lot in overcoming procrastination, which is the foundation for doing anything.

New Ideas

After you handle procrastination, turning on the creativity is also key. Clients supply me with the subject, but the new points of view need to come from me. This book explains creativity in a way I'd never seen: alpha brainwaves, which occur in a state of deep relaxation just short of meditation, are responsible for creative ideas. Hence Einstein's complaint that many of his best ideas came to him in the shower (according to the book). “We often drift into it when doing repetitive tasks,” says Hill. I've always done well on standardized tests, and now I think one reason that I was able to enter this state of mind and concentrate. I will be using these techniques on future projects.

After a while, almost every book on a given subject says the same thing. This book is the rare exception. Your shelves are already fully stocked with books on using correct punctuation and active language or how to write a query letter. Buy this book and you will get started on your projects faster, and move on to the next in a better state of mind even if you didn't get the response you want.

"The Writer's ABC Checklist"

Today's book is “The Writer's ABC Checklist” by Lorraine Mace and Maureen Vincent-Northam. While I had seen plenty of its subject matter, such as punctuation and tense, in other books I still learned something from it.

New Website Marketing Tool

One thing this book covered that none of the others did was e-books. I've learned from various websites that e-books can be a good way to keep visitors coming back to your website for excellent free material, or they could be another product for you. The format is quite different from a normal book. They're generally in .PDF format, and “generally read straight from a screen.” They also can't be copied or altered. Staring at the screen is hard on the eyes, so there needs to be a lot more white space than a normal book. Also, these books aren't long, “around 30 pages on average,” though the reason is still a mystery to me.

Almost all of the useful material in this book—like kill fees, websites and blogs, or grammar--has been covered in the other books I've reviewed. There are times when a book on writing for publication can still be useful to a copywriter like me, but this one isn't one of them. The main selling point seems to be the questions' “ABC” format, but a table of contents does the job just fine. I'll be sticking with my other books.

"The Craft of Effective Letter Writing"

Today's book is “The Craft of Effective Letter Writing” by Gordon Wells. Although I assumed a book from 1989 would be a bit dated, writing advice is to some extent timeless. Advice from the 18^th century, for example, might be hopelessly out of date, but even some Mark Twain quotations over a century old give some helpful tips.

The Planning Stage

The word budget is one new concept this book introduced. It means that if you have a required length, you should allocate a certain number of words to each topic so that you don't say too much about one or too little about another. I think this will be particularly useful in sales letters. As I discussed in another review, long copy does work, so word budgets will help organize thoughts when you need to present a lot of information.

This book also reminded me of the broad range of factors that define the audience. Obviously, you need to understand your audience as best you can. But there are more factors that affect your writing than you might think, including native language, identity (do they define themselves as individuals or part of an organization?), whether they have the authority to respond to your call to action, and so on.

Writing Style

The Twain quotation mentioned above is:

“I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English. It is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it.”

I found that most books said little about style, but rather focused on what is grammatically correct. Proper use of punctuation, abbreviations, commas, and so on. Also helpful and unique to this book was the advice to avoid pauses for thought, tautologies, and exaggeration. Thanks to other books' advice about unnecessary words, I generally avoid these errors, but it's good to be aware of other classes of mistakes.

Specialized Letters

I already knew that business letters are quite different from normal letters. For example, you can use things like exclamation points and underlining that you would never use in other writing. But this section also reminded me that the letters also have to be attractive, and how to do that. If your printer is running out of ink, stop printing, get rid of those letters, and get more ink. Choose a good font. Use a letterhead. Other books, like “Writing Copy For Dummies,” mention presentation options but don't go into much detail. This is a very important and often-overlooked factor: it's hard enough to get your letter opened, much less read. Don't hurt yourself with ugly packaging.

Reports

This is another area the other books didn't cover in depth. The main differences between reports and other letters lie in organization and presentation. You need an in-depth table of contents with numbered paragraphs and also plenty of white space to make it easier to read. As this is another task listed in “Secrets of a Freelance Writer,” but seldom discussed in writing books, I was pleasantly surprised to find it covered in this book. Word budgets will also be useful here. Reports are even more regimented than other copywriting tasks, and it's easy to unbalance the report when dealing with so many smaller, separate topics.

You can find useful advice no matter how old the book is. Don't pick up “The Craft of Effective Letter Writing” for up-to-date tips about using the internet, but it can still teach you about writing in simple English, effective business letter formulas, and using headings effectively.

“Graphic Design School: The Principles and Practices of Graphic Design”

 Today's book is “Graphic Design School: The Principles and Practices of Graphic Design” by David Dabner. Although this is not a writing book at all, graphic design is a problem that I expect to have—e.g., a client hires and asks if I can design the brochure, website, or what have you as well as write the copy. Hopefully, knowing basic design principles will help me not only to get more jobs and help clients stay within budget, but also make things go more smoothly if and when I have to work with graphic designers.

Lessons Learned

I learned quite a bit from this book, and everything was well organized. But one thing I wish it had had was a list of beginner's problems and how to overcome them, such as a lack of inspiration. This is a particularly pressing need when you're not even familiar with all the elements of design. It would be like trying to write a story for adults with a third-grade vocabulary. If you don't even know the elements you can manipulate, your designs will always be bland. But if you're aware of the different areas in which you can experiment, e.g. font, color, layout, etc.--then you might find several new ideas and move forward much more quickly.

Form and Space

If you've ever gone to a website with text a full screen wide, then you know how important white space, which is the unmarked part of the page, is. Without it, a good number of people will instantly ignore your message as difficult to read. White space can also create effects by itself, for example keeping text to a minimum with a large image of the product to achieve a more expensive look.

Color

Everyone knows the more common colors have certain things associated with them, but I was surprised at the level of detail. Each one has a half dozen attributes or more, and given that people will always notice the color whether they read your material or not, I'm going to carefully consider it in everything I design. It needs to be balanced with other considerations—after all, you can't have the same color text and background—but deciding on the color could also give me more ideas for my writing.

Typography

You wouldn't use Comic Sans in an ad about luxury cars (and hopefully a professional wouldn't use it at all) but font is another consideration that might be alien to writers, who might be used to 12-point Times New Roman day after day. Even after you select the size, spacing, and emphasis that will deliver exactly the desired effect, you still have to take into account legibility. For example, today I saw a mural with brown and white silhouettes for a community center, crowned by its name in alternating brown and white letters. Unfortunately, these made it very difficult to read and I can't remember the name or where it was even now. Practical considerations have to come first; people have very short attention spans and if there is any difficulty at first glance, your message won't even get the opportunity to make an impact.

Clarity, Efficiency, Economy, Continuity

You can tell whether you have met these four criteria listed in the book very quickly. Take a step back and look at what you've designed. Does it seem cluttered? Is it hard to read? Is it obvious where you should focus your attention? In both writing and design I always eliminate anything that is not absolutely necessary as my overarching principle, and it's been very helpful in achieving the above four goals.

"Writing Copy for Dummies"

Today's book is “Writing Copy for Dummies” by Jonathan Kranz. I've read quite of few of the “Dummies” and “Complete Idiot's” books, and I've always been happy with both of them (though if you're looking for photos, the Idiot's guides are the clear winner). Whereas many of the other books about copywriting assume that you are already excellent and therefore focus on how to market yourself, “Writing Copy For Dummies” is an easily-referenced guide for the most common types of project you might have, as well as troubleshooting for likely problems.

The specific project guides are divided into four rough sections: making the sale, building awareness, sales support, and special situations such as fund-raising and promoting health. From reading other books, I already knew that there was a vast array of copywriting opportunities, so that was nothing new. What I did learn was the difference between forms, e.g. a letter and a brochure, and between purposes, and how to select the appropriate methods.

If you are selling an expensive product in the mail, for example, a postcard campaign will probably be ineffective. The customer will need to read a lot more about your product before he can be comfortable with the purchase, so you might opt for a letter campaign instead. In that case, a novice might think that it's best to keep things as short as possible. With many people so pressed for time, most will not even read the body and just scan the beginning and the end (or other information you decide to highlight via bullets or other means). However, anyone who is interested will want as much information as they can get, right then and there. So longer letters are often better.

This book itself is organized like a good piece of promotional material: you can easily find what you're looking for in both the book as a whole and on the page with good use of bold headlines and bullet points. Now I always think: “If someone just scans this, did I get my message across? Is the first thing they see going to make them want to keep reading?”

The most helpful things of all, though, are the lists in the book. The first two pages have the following checklists:

• Guaranteed Ways to Make Your Copy Successful
• Questions You Should Always Ask Before You Write
• How to Find Inspiration, Fast
• How to Work More Creatively
• Things That Customers Always Want to Read About
• The Three Building Blocks of Copy

These are all elaborated on both on the first two pages and in Chapter 20. Some of these are problems I have already experienced in writing these reviews, but I found that other writing books mostly ignore the creativity and inspiration issues. These solutions alone make this book well worth your time.

"Get A Freelance Life"

Today's book is “Get A Freelance Life” by Margit Feury Ragland. While not about copywriting, I thought that I might be able to apply some of the lessons in this book. Even if that turns out to be false, it's a good thing to know about other aspects of the writing market because it represents another option.

Relationships

The first and probably the most important thing I learned is that relationships are critical. “Good relationships—with editors, sources, even publicists—make for a good freelance career.” I didn't think this would be true at all, and I imagined writers sending out pitch after pitch to people they didn't know and simply taking what was available. Now I realize that good connections are vital, because repeat business will allow me to spend a lot less time pitching or marketing and a lot more time writing.

Ideas

Finding new ideas for articles seemed like a daunting task to me, but after reading the chapter on finding the next great idea, it seems manageable. I had seen some of the suggestions before, but it takes you through step by step. If I'm going to be doing magazine writing, then I need to have plenty of good ideas, as I expect plenty of rejection notices, much like any writer. With commercial writing, the fact that the subject is decided upon for you can be a positive thing.

What kind of article

This chapter lists thirteen different kinds of articles that you can write. Before reading this book, it seemed to me that my writing career would immediately hit a wall—it's hard enough to generate ideas, much less good ones, and after most of them get rejected I'll only make a bare-bones income from the published articles. But combine the methods in this book, and good ideas quickly accumulate. For each of the idea generation methods above, there are at least thirteen different articles you can write about it, and more if you write them for different publications where the requirements are different.

Getting Work Before You've Been Published

It's always been a dilemma: you can't get work because you have no experience, but you can't get experience without the work. The solution is to do the best job and write the best samples you can, even if you lack the credentials. From hiring people on freelancing sites, I know that many of my competitors will make basic errors that will disqualify them. In fact, most people that responded to my ads had not read or understood my assignment, sent me samples with basic errors in them, or did both even after I had hired someone I thought was good. For magazine writing this book makes some common-sense suggestions:

• Read the publication
• Tailor Your Query to the Publication
• Include Basic Elements of a Query Letter
• Address Your Query to the Right Person

I am sure after this book and my own experience that more than half of pitches will make mistakes that will take them out of the running, and now the competition doesn't seem as daunting.

Types of Contracts

Rights are a lot more complicated in magazine writing than they are in commercial writing—in the latter case, the company owns the rights—but any book on either subject has to cover both, or a lot of writers will be taken advantage of. If they're like me, a lot of writers will have a hard time starting just because they lack confidence in this area. There are nine different contracts in the chapter, and also advice on which you should sign (e.g. First North American rights) and which you should avoid (all rights). Know what standard practice is, and don't let yourself be cheated.

This isn't a basic nuts-and-bolts book on how to write, but if you're confident in that area this book is a great way to get into magazine writing. I learned how important relationships are, how to generate new ideas quickly and pitch them to the right people and publications, and how to get paid fairly for it, all in under 300 pages, and I definitely recommend this book.

"On Writing Well"

Today's book is “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser, which is a classic with over a million copies sold and a great guide to the basics of writing, as well as more specialized areas, including business writing. Its high sales don't guarantee quality, but this is an excellent book that would even help experts with any form of writing, even if they only needed a refresher.

Simplicity and Clutter

Zinsser begins this chapter by saying “clutter is the disease of American writing.” This is the most important thing I learned from this book. In school, your papers always have a minimum word count, but that leads to students padding their work to beat the deadline. This is one of the worst habits to get into, because you should always do the opposite—eliminate any word you can. This will serve me well in advertising, where I might get only one sentence to make my point.

The Audience

Another thing I've learned from this book and from business podcasts is that your audience is yourself. You can't please everyone, so write or design something that you like. You might have to adopt a different viewpoint and imagine yourself as a potential customer or professional in the relevant field, but don't agonize over pleasing the audience.

Words

Adjectives as nouns, nouns as verbs...these are a couple word usage mistakes. In school I was never taught what to do on the word level, for example to avoid long strings of nouns or turning adjectives into nouns. It was always about overarching principles, such as how to organize the paper as a whole or how to end it. Once you realize that certain categories of words should generally be avoided, such as adverbs, your writing immediately improves. If a word says something, do not use another word to say it again; for example “smile happily” when “smile” will do.

Usage

“Usage” refers to which words are in your vocabulary. “What newly minted words is it OK to use, and who is to be the judge? Is it OK to use 'OK'?” as Zinsser says. According to him, it's a judgment call, and given that, the best way to improve your judgment is to read a lot. And since I read often in several areas, I'm confident in my judgment.

Unity

It's easier to maintain unity in commercial writing, because the goals are always clearer: you're writing to sell product X, increase membership in organization Y, and so on. But you still have to remember the basics of unity: don't switch tenses, pronouns, or mood during your piece.

The Lead & Ending

Business writing emphasizes the opening even more than other forms, since if a letter or other material is read at all, it's likely to be the beginning and end. Again this is in contrast to my high school experience, which focused on a rigid structure rather than grabbing attention. And the hardest thing in writing might be the ending.

“You'll know you have arrived at III when you see emerging on your screen a sentence that begins, “In sum, it can be noted that...” Or a question that asks, “What insights, then, have we been able to glean from...?” These are signals that you are about to repeat in compressed form what you have already said in detail. The reader's interest begins to falter; the tension you have built begins to sag.”

There has to be an element of surprise, yet seem exactly right.

Bits and Pieces

This chapter answers those nagging questions that you're sure you've asked before, but always forget the answer: “Are contractions OK?” “What is the difference between 'that' and 'which'?” and so on. It would make a helpful checklist to avoid mistakes like a lack of credibility, not rewriting, or not trusting your material.

This book is one that is always nearby while I write, and every writer will have writer's block from time to time, so if you're a writer either it or White and Strunk's “The Elements of Style” should always be on your reference shelf.

Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $100,000 a Year or More by Robert W. Bly

This week's book is “Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $100,000 a Year or More” by Robert W. Bly. Though a bit dated (it was published in 2006 and some website links are broken) I still learned quite a bit and would recommend it to any writer. It is also one of the few books devoted exclusively to commercial writing, judging by the shelf at the local library. Here are a few insights I picked up.

Even beginners can succeed.

Particularly in a bad economy, it's tempting to think that only the ultra-qualified can make it on their own. But, drawing on decades of experience, Bly gives us a picture of the commercial writing world that will surprise most readers. For one thing, he claims that clients generally fall into one of three categories.  A third of clients are just checking whether you're reliable and dependable when they call you. These are the best prospects for beginners.  The other two thirds will be much harder to get, but you may not want to work with them anyway.  One of these groups will ask for mountains of relevant samples.  Here is the example Bly uses:

"This is the prospect who, if she needs an eight-page brochure on a new ambulatory-care unit for a local hospital, asks you, 'Can you send me any samples of eight-page brochures you've written for ambulatory-care units for local hospitals?'  They are looking for a sample to clone--not a real writer--and may not be the type of prospect you want to work with anyway."

The last third will ask for samples, but are "primarily concerned with knowing that I am reliable, capable, and can do the job on time and within their budget."  Over time as you gain more experience, you will probably want to add this group to your client list.

Accountants are worth it.

As a freelance writer, you will almost certainly be pressed for time, and doing your complicated taxes is probably something you aren't good at nor enjoy. You should spend a good deal of time on self-promotion, especially early on—at least 20%, and more if you're just starting out. Add to all this the fact that nothing is going to be withheld for tax purposes and the calendar quickly becomes full around tax day.

“Remember, the checks you receive from clients represent income you still have to pay tax on. You need to have enough cash on hand to make estimated quarterly tax payments, plus any extra you owe on April 15.”

It's also less clear where your money should be invested, thanks to tax laws that “...have taken away some of the advantages of SEP, IRA, and other retirement plans designed for self-employed individuals...” Let the accountant deal with this headache so you can focus on drumming up business and the writing itself.

What do freelance copywriters do?

When I picked up this book, I had no idea that this market even existed for freelancers, and neither did anyone that I had talked to, some of whom had been published before. The word “writer” brings to mind a friend that's been working on a movie script for years or someone struggling to publish a magazine article here and there. But in fact, Bly lists dozens of projects for which a company might turn to a freelancer, including ads, direct mail, promotional articles, manuals, presentations, speeches, even fliers and posters.

Why would someone hire a freelance copywriter?

It might appear that a relatively well-funded organization like a large company would have plenty of staff for their writing tasks and would never look elsewhere. But in fact, Bly lists nine reasons why they might be dissatisfied. These include overwork, under-staffing, quality, lack of expertise, and the need for a fresh perspective. “'There isn't a market for our services all the time,' says freelance copywriter Bob Westenberg. 'But you never know someone just got disenchanted with a supplier, or received an overblown bill, or whatever. And suddenly they're ready to go try someone else.'”

What should you do if a client doesn't pay?

Many clients will be slow to pay because corporate decisions need approval from a lot of different people. It may be 30, 60, or even 90 days before you get paid. However, if they genuinely can't or won't give you what you've earned, this book makes it easy to deal with. First, prevent it from happening by demanding half of your fee up front and having a contract. After the project, send a series of reminders at certain intervals, with the last resort being a collection agency. This book tells you both when to do these things and includes samples of all the relevant documents. Without prior experience, it can be so easy to get taken advantage of, and this book removes another formidable obstacle.

Client conflicts

With literally millions of potential client businesses and organizations in the US alone, you're bound to disagree with a few of them. To keep the client satisfied, the best thing is to be thorough and prepared. To that end Bly supplies many sample documents, one of which is a detailed questionnaire that you can mail to every client and get your hands on any relevant product information and resources available to you.

He also emphasizes that the best way to avoid troubled relationships, e.g. because their approach is too conservative, they demand too many meetings, etc. is to screen them out ahead of time. He also covers what to do if the client is slow in paying, can't pay at all, or sets an unreasonable deadline. This is an extremely useful section if you're a little confused on the business side of things, as many inexperienced writers may have no idea what to do in unfamiliar situations like this and back away from an otherwise excellent career.

Most effective self-promotions

The range of self-promotions available to the freelancer is almost as diverse as the array of projects. Some, though, only work once you have gotten leads or clients, such as newsletters and testimonials. According to the author, the most effective promotion is generally direct mail, but he also gives a few examples of unusual promotions that have been effective, such as one writer who mails only a postcard, or a telephone hotline that informed prospects about him or gave access to recorded mini-seminars. Don't be afraid to try something new.

Types of clients

In the chapter called “Finding Your Markets,” I learned that the type of organization you want to target varies depending on your industry—e.g., you may not have much luck with advertising agencies if you are a medical writer—but there are six major markets for freelancers. These are “corporations, small businesses, advertising agencies, public relations agencies, graphic design studios, and audiovisual producers.” The first three make up 90% of the market.  Bly goes on to say that many freelancers also work for associations and for various levels of government.

I'd recommend this book to any writer.  There are other opportunities that pay better than magazines, and you shouldn't let mountains of pessimistic writers' books discourage you.