please help with article topics!

[ohiogoatgirl]

hello! about to sign up on a website to get paid to write articles. haven't signed up yet because i want to get a good list of topics that i can write about. so here is what i have so far...

~topics for articles~
hand milking
making a raised garden bed
growing potatoes in hills
growing the 3 sisters (corn, beans, squash)
intensive planting a garden
companion planting
pack goats
harness goats
breeding goats
goat kidding
building a root cellar
dehydrating garden produce
making noodles

some of them will have to wait until i can do the stuff. so i'll know exactly what i'm writing about.
i know alot about goats and i love them so that will probably be my most used area. which is good because there are only about 20 articles about goats.

any suggestions on things to write about will be helpful. anything you might want to read about. thanks!

 

[CrimsonRose]

didn't you raise pigs? and write a decent post on how to feed them? and butcher them? or articles on vet care at home?

Also what about how to raise feed and butcher rabbits? chickens? basically small time farming usable for rural or urban life?

What about cooking with dehydrated foods?

 

[mrs.puff]

What's the site so we can see it too?

How about: Canning, wild food, farmer's markets, homemade dairy products, growing an herb garden, heritage seed collecting, home crafts?

You could interview other folks about their particular expertise, if you aren't familiar with it.

Good luck!

 

[abifae]

Cooking healthy on a budget
Healthy eating in general
The truth about "organic" and "all natural" labels

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

good heavens! i was expecting like 10 ideas... now i have WAY more topics that i am knowledgable in then i knew i knew... hope i typed that so you understand what i mean...
since i am on a few forums and each is about different things i figured i would ask on all the forums... now here is my whole list:
~topics for articles~
hand milking
making a raised garden bed
growing potatoes in hills
growing the 3 sisters (corn, beans, squash)
intensive planting a garden
companion planting
pack goats
harness goats
breeding goats
goat kidding
building a root cellar
dehydrating garden produce
making noodles
Winter camping (with goats?)
Best diet for raising and maintaining packgoats
Making homemade beef jerky
Gardening for dummies (in cold climates)
Caring for your farm animals during the winter

months
Hoof trimming 101 for goats
Training tips for goats
Natural fertilizers and how to use them
mulching
composting
candle making from goats milk
heirloom varieties of vegetables
starting from seed or transplant?
lasagna gardening
hydroponic gardening
alternative energy
water conservation
xeriscaping
edible flowers
saving seeds
green manure / cover crops
chickens
goat milk soap
raising & feeding pigs
meat rabbits
cooking with dehydrated foods
wild food- foraging

i think i have enough to last me a while!
thanks everyone for your ideas!

 

[freemotion]

Hey, I wanna read some of those articles! Candles from goat's milk? Where is this site, anyways?

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

the website is hubpages.com
i haven't written anything on the site yet.
it has alot of good information already.
writing a paper draft right now.

 

[patandchickens]

Not in any way trying to discourage you if you really want to do this, but some food for thought:

1) read http://cazort.net/topic/hubpages-scam

2) realize that (at least by reputation; I have not tried signing up myself) the majority of hubpages 'writers' earn basically nothing (or *actually* nothing).

3) realize that even the ones who do bust their butts gettin' all their online friends to visit their articles, and thus get paid a little, are basically extremely-shoddily-paid shills drumming up business for the Hubpages company which makes its profits on advertising. This is on par with Coca Cola (or whoever) paying you $20 to walk around with a "Drink Coke!" sticker on your forehead.

4) if you want to make money from writing, it can actually be done, by improving your writing skills (and if blogging helps you with that, then it is worth doing!) and submitting articles TO MAGAZINES and local newspapers. Having dabbled in freelance writing in the past, I would suggest aiming at nonfancy niche market magazines that on the one hand may only pay you $50-100 per article, or even just a year's subscription, but on the other hand are pretty *easy* to sell to. THen when your writing has improved (and your pitching skills!) you can start querying more upmarket publications that pay more but are hard to sell to.

In fact, have you tried Backyard Poultry and/or Countryside? Last time I dealt with them, they were giving subscriptions for articles bought from normal people, and if you seem like an actual freelance writer they would pay like $60-100 per. Which is not going to pay your living expenses but certainly helps out, and is probably way more than you'd make from a hundred times the work put into Hubpages articles in a whole *year*.

Just a thought anyhow,

Pat

 

[miss_thenorth]

Hey pat!! I found your article on countryside. Nice! So what is the process involved in submitting and ultimately getting published, in a magazine such as that?

 

[patandchickens]

Basically you either just write the article and send it to them with a cover letter that amounts to "dude, ya think ya might wanna publish this?", or alternatively you can send a query letter giving a brief 1-paragraph (like, few-sentence) precis of the article you're proposing to write and asking if they'd be interested in it.

Writing query letters is in principle more efficient since you only have to craft the query itself, rather than writing a whole darn article on spec and then having them maybe not want it. OTOH for those with time on their hands it can be useful writing exercise TO just siddown and write the article out (at which point, for these little magazines, you may as well just send it). Many of the upmarket larger magazines will not look at unsolicited manuscripts without being queried first, though, and of course querying saves you time if they are just going to say thanks-but-no-thanks.

These days most outfits will accept (or even *prefer*) emailed queries or manuscripts, as opposed to snail mail.

It is always smart to do whatever possible to get a publication's writers' guidelines first (note that some small mags may not formally have them, in which case you have to familiarize yourself well enough with the publication to know what they want in terms of article length and so forth). I do not actually recall whether BP or Countryside had formal, written guidelines. I believe both of them have now gone to "themed" issues so if you can find a copy somewhere of the future schedule of issue themes, and send compatible-topic articles in at least 6 months in advance, that would give you an edge.

There are plenty of books (probably websites too) on getting into nonfiction publishing i.e. in magazines and such, if one is interested in pursuing this. Overall though I'd say it pretty much boils down to: know your audience, write appropriately and well, learn to edit severely for length and conciseness, and "vote early and often".

Pat