Writing True Stories For Money
79You may or may not have seen these magazines at the pharmacy or grocery stores touting True Confessions, True Romance or other such titles. The truth is, most of the stories aren’t true.
They are great short stories a woman can read in one sitting while waiting for her clothes to dry at the Laundromat or while junior takes a nap.
They are also a great way for writers to make a few extra bucks.
Guidelines for true stories:
They must be believable and sound real. No liaisons with aliens or vampires here, the characters have to be people you could know in real life.
Each magazine has its word count and verbiage requirements so make sure you educate yourself on what they want. They don’t accept explicit language so if you write erotica this won’t be the market for your work.
The best thing to do is pick up one or two at the corner market and read them cover to cover getting a feel for the type of story they buy. You’ll need to use fictitious names and situations to protect the periodical from a lawsuit. Sally doesn’t want to read about her torrid love affair with Frank in the next issue of True Love while getting her roots touched up. So you see why it doesn’t have to be a “real” story?
They also don’t want you using your real name so you won’t be able to use it as a byline but you get a check in the mail so who can complain about that?
Target audience:
Pink-collar women (beauticians, waitresses, etc.) and housewives are mostly who read these but really any woman who enjoys a good short story will pick these up.
What do you write about?
Those afternoon fantasies you’ve had about the maintenance guy at work or the neighbor down the street are all fodder for your next short romance story you can sell to one of these magazines.
Any life changing experience that brings emotion will be possibilities.
Again, read a few of these to get an idea of setting, characters and situations the periodical you are interested in prints.
Magazines to target:
Here are a few I know about, there may be more so read books like, “The Best of the Magazine Markets for Writers,” to keep up on magazines that are available as well as submission rules, payment and word count.
Do not submit the same story to more than one at a time. As you’ll notice they all have the same address: the same publishing company owns them and they also have the same editors.
The best thing to do is submit a story, continue working on your other writing and forget about it but keep in it your log so you can keep track of how long it’s been out there.
True Experience-
Topics include-family, career, marriage, relationships and spirituality.
Frequency- Quarterly
Articles- 3,000- 8,000 words. Poetry up to 24 lines.
Rights and Payment- All rights. $.03 per word. Poetry $20-$60. Pays on publication.
Submissions- Send complete ms via email to trueromancemagazine@hotmail.com; will accept disk submissions with hard copy. SASE. Responds in 6 months.
200 Madison Avenue, Suite 2000
New York, NY 10016
Associate Editor-Nicole Scarmeas
They are currently looking for stories about women fighting addiction issues such as alcohol, drug, compulsive habits, shopping, eating, lying and procrastination.
True Romance-
Topics include joys, heartbreak and obstacle of romance.
Frequency- Monthly
Articles- 4,000- 6,000 words. Poetry up to 24 lines. Submit seasonal material 6 months in advance.
Rights and Payment- All rights. $.03 per word. Poetry $20-$50. Pays 30 days after publication.
Submissions- Query or send complete ms via email to trueromancemagazine@hotmail.com (attach files) or send via mail disk submissions with hard copy. SASE Responds in a year.
Dorchester Media
200 Madison Avenue, Suite 2000
New York, NY 10016
Associate Editor- Nicole Scarmeas
They are currently looking for stories about finding romance while volunteering for various causes. They only include poetry in five issues each year.
True Story-
Topics include first person narratives about love, loss, facing challenges, perseverance and life: romance, family life, marriage, tragedy, mystery and Americana.
Frequency- Monthly
Articles- To 7,000 words. Essays on inspirational women 50- 300 words.
Rights and Payment- All rights. Articles $.05 per word. Pays 1 month after publication.
Submissions- Send complete ms. Accepts disk submissions (RTF files) with hard copy. SASE Responds in 5-7 months.
200 Madison Avenue, Suite 2000
New York, NY 10016
Editor in Chief: Heather Josepowitz
They are currently looking for tear-jerkers to happily-ever-afters and everything in between, just as long as it comes from the heart.
There used to be one called True Love but it is no longer in publication.
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You really gave some detailed information about how to go about writing true stories. This will be a great help for many.
Extremely helpful! Thank you! Voted up and useful.
Viking, Truthfornnow and Nikkiraeink, it's a venue many may not have thought about pursuing and a good way to make some extra money.
Thanks so much for the very useful info. Up and useful.
Thanks for reading, Breakfastpop.
Thanks for the resources!
This hub has very useful information for another way to make a few dollars. It is very helpful. Thanks for the information.
Thanks for reading, Randomcreative and Pamela99. Happy writing.
Excellent idea for making a few extra bucks. Voted up!
Thanks, iZeko.
Hi pamela,
I'm bookarking this one into 'my most useful hubs' slot.
tahnks for sharing and here's to many more hubs to share.
Take care
Eiddwen.
Awesome hub with great info on how to maybe make a little more money while doing something most of us love Thanks for sharing
Eiddwen, thanks for reading.
Charlu, I hope it works out for you.
I didn't know about these magazines. Very useful info for those who want to write off-line. Voted up and useful.
Not everyone is aware of them and they are a good idea for extra income.
Hi Pamela, great information, will help a lot of people looking to do that to earn some extra income.
Thanks, kashmir. It's good for those that enjoy writing fiction.
Wow, useFULL Pamela, thanks! I had a neighbor5 that supposedly made quite a bit from writing these...I always wondered how to make it happen. I can just use some real life experiences with a bit of embellishment to make it more interesting - here and there...who knows! Great Hub!!! Rated up and useful!
Chatkath, I know a woman that writes a lot of these. You can make some money. Thanks for reading.
I have never thought about this before but this hub has inspired me. Thanks for a very useful and inspiring hub! Bookmarked and voted up!
Tina
Thanks for reading, thougtforce.
I have done couple of true stories for newspapers and published one true story in hubpages. Perhaps I'll revise my unpublished writings since I read this informative hub.
Binaya, it's worth a try. You never know you might get one published.
Very informative hub. Have to bookmark this in case I need it later. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading, Thelma.
your awesome!
up/useful and shared
thank you kindly for sharing this
I saw this hub on the feed, because Kimberly posted a comment. However, I don't write true stories for money, but found your hub to be useful to others who might. I've only written one true story and didn't write it for money. The hub I wrote about my father is the only one I've written so far. There are others I was planning on sharing with others, but haven't figured out a sufficient way to write it, so it's not been done. Thank you for sharing. :)
I hope you have good luck with it, Kimberly.
Cagsil, some people really enjoy these magazines and make a little extra income writing these stories.
That's cool that people can make money writing true stories. However, I'm just saying that I wouldn't, because many true stories of my life are not something I would want to make money from. Sure, there probably is knowledge or a life lesson behind them, but it doesn't do what I want it to do. Aside, I'm not interested in making money from that source. That's all.
I understand, Cagsil. I'd make up a story and market it as "true". My real life would take an entire book and I'd really rather not relive most of it.
Great information. Thank you for sharing it.
Thanks, mljdgulley.
Hello Pam:
Very useful article, which I also voted up as well. I remember viewing these magazines in the writer's digest manual a few years ago. They are definitely a good target for those who want to write within the romance genre. I have thought about this in the past. Thanks for the great read and for refreshing my memory about other publications offline to write for.
Jlbowden
Jlbowden, there may be some for men to write but I'm not familiar with them. Someone mentioned they thought there was a western magazine that took editorial stories but not sure. It would be worth checking out to see what is out there.
Very helpful info and tips. I voted it up.
Thanks for reading, onceuponatime66.
This is very interesting - I hadn't thought of writing true stories before now. Voted up. Do you generally submit queries or full manuscripts when you send them?
Millionaire tips, you need to read their guidelines and send what they ask for. Most typically want the whole story since they are so short but some might want your idea first. It's always best to read their latest criteria and go from there.
All those fanciful dreams of my dating years...Wow! They never actually happened, but I sure had some wonderful times in my mind. Proposals that never were made; Bahamian cruises that never left shore; Time to do some serious fantasizing! Thanks for opening my eyes to a new world that happens on my terms.
Very interesting information. I will have to keep this in mind. Right now I am trying to concentrate on getting HubPages up and doing better. Thanks for the information! Voted up and interesting. :)
Mobywho, you already have a list of stories to write. I bet they will be good.
sgbrown, I understand that. Keep writing and you'll get there.
viking305 Level 6 Commenter 10 months ago
A great hub with lots of useful information here, thank you. I may give writing true stories a go so have bookmarked this hub. Voted up