cellini's Diaryland Diary

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One Good Gun

Oh dude, today I just sold my first big feature to a magazine! Now all I have to do is actually write it. This is mid-level stuff but it pays pretty well compared to what I've been getting. I'm getting about $1,200 for this 3,000 word article. Usually my problem is cutting shit down to the length the editor wants. Its nice to have that much room to work with.

The piece is due in a month but I think I can have it done in two weeks. The sooner the better, because if I spend a month working on a $1,200 job then I'm financially fucked. The pace has to be faster than that to make a living.

I have certainly gotten paid a LOT more for writing books, but I think I like this magazine shit better at these kinds of prices. Authors open fucking bottles of champagne to celebrate a $15,000 advance on a book that will take them a year to write and be paid in two or three distant installments. I would much rather get $1,200 for a few weeks of research and writing, take my money, and then move on to the next $1,200 job. This pays better. And if I get this other gig from M3n's H3alth then that will pay between $2k-$7k.

Of course, I couldn't have skipped straight here. The reason why these magazines are wanting to give me high-paying features is because of my sudden national reputation from writing for Sl@te for the last few months. The reason why I was asked to write for Sl@te is because of my credentials as an expert in particular areas based on my two books (also for my highly original pitches).

The way that I got the first book deal was by baiting the NYT into writing a feature about me and a class that I was teaching, and then giving them everything that they needed to make it a cover story. Being the subject of a cover story in the NYT gets every book editor's attention right the fuck away.

The way that I got the NYT article was by having an original idea for a class to teach, following through with it, and writing about the whole thing in a clear and original way. My materials consisted of a good rifle, a few knives, and a meat grinder.

My point is that this whole career as an author, journalist and public speaker was really built on one good gun.

10:30 p.m. - 2012-10-23

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