I love writing essays. How can I earn money by writing essays amp; articles for papers, mags or in any contests? -

If you could give an idea of what topic/subjects you like writing about I could give you more precise help in terms of who to ask, but generally, as the previous answer says, just keep writing, and keep pitching. Given the decline of newspaper circulation and the current financial downturn, getting paid for writing or journalism work is very tough. The best place to start is to scour the internet searching for websites which need articles on the subject you like to write about. Only a few will pay - and not a lot at that - but at least it gives you experience and a foot in the door, however modest. Have several articles or essays on the go at once, so that you can keep busy while you re waiting to see if one essay you ve submitted is accepted. It also stops you getting bored with once particular story. To ask a paper/magazine if they d publish your essay, first make a list of publications you d think would be suitable for your essay, and which your essay would fit in with - no point in submitting an article on nuclear fission to a rabbit lovers magazine. Obviously you ll get the addresses of the newspapers or magazines you want to write to from their website. There are also directories of all different publications - again on the web, or you can also get a big writers handbook from a book shop. Send them a letter - a quot;pitchquot; - in which you sell them your great idea. Tell them why you think they should publish your essay, and what makes your story so great and new. If you do an internet search for quot;how to pitch an article to a newspaperquot; for instance you ll get plenty of tips on how to write a proposal. It is more commonplace for a magazine to accept quot;freelancequot; work (ie. from individual writers who turn up unnanounced with a great idea) than newspapers, who are obviously more news-based and will have a core of employees. However, if you know of a newspaper that does feature articles, then by all means send them a letter or email with your idea. Don t send them the whole essay, as they don t have time to read it all. Once again, don t expect every one of your essays to be accepted, never mind paid for. But if you know your market, and your ideas and writing style are good enough, you can succeed!|::::|The other answers were excellent, but I see no one mentioned The Writer s Market. It comes out each year, and has a writeup of all magazines in print - whether or not they accept unsolicited manuscripts (MSS), whom to send MSS to and the address, plus tips on writing, formatting and many other things. You can get it new for less than $20 at Amazon.com, but your public library will also have a copy. Also - if you can, start a blog, an online journal. Just keep writing! And best of luck to you.|::::|Just keep writing an sending them in until you are noticed and don t stop. One famous novelist was rejected dozens of times until he hit. Same with essays and other areas of writing. Thats all the help I know to give you, but stay with it. Your name will soon become recognized and you will soon be an oldtimer.