Writing On Spec

Someone on our forum who both writes and designs pointed to no!spec.com. The post included a mild and reasonable rant about people who want designers to do a lot of designing on the theory they will get paid if the client likes it. I hadn’t even realized designers were asked to work that way, and I too am opposed to it.

I certainly wouldn’t do much writing for a client who said he’d pay me if he liked it.

But there is a place for writing on spec, and that’s the new writer breaking into the magazine business, or the not-yet-famous writer breaking into a new kind of magazine writing.

It usually happens this way.

1. The writer sends a great query to a magazine proposing a specific article.

2. The editor likes it, but also realizes she has no idea if this new writer can actually deliver. So she agrees to accept it “on spec.”

What’s really happing here is the magazine editor is giving the author an in without committing. When the writer submits the article, he has the advantage of saying, “here’s the article you asked me to write,” which guarantees a close reading. The chances are it will be accepted, published and the writer will be paid. If the article is close, but needs work, the editor will usually work with the writer until the article sings.

Of course, when you submit writing on spec to a magazine, the amount of pay you’ll get assuming the piece is accepted is established. You know the terms and you may even receive some specific editorial direction – the editor wants to accept and pay you for your piece.

Which is quite different than just blindly working without any parameters, or without knowing how you’ll get paid, etc.

Write well and often,

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Write well and often,