Good plan. And have a great wedding, Mary!

I think my goal (after the wedding this weekend!!) will be to contact a set number of prospects per week.

LOL Those were the days. 🙂

I used old copies of magazines to find sources, then I’d get the librarian’s help. She always knew the right place to find the best source.

I had one of the old suction cup things that constantly fell off the handset in mid-interview.

Oh! What was that massive thing – the Gale Directory? I would go to the library and search volumes of that for info on various publications – I think it included contact info and circulation. It was intended for advertisers, if I recall, and was essentially an annually updated repository of every newspaper and magazine’s Media Kit details, minus the prices.

I’d like to see some of today’s whippersnappers navigate that!

Right there, Paula. Exactly that.

We had a library and a Writer’s Market. The rest was on us. I tend to agree with you — with that option as our only one (beyond knowing someone), it did make it easier. We just did it. We didn’t think about how to do it easier because there was a protocol — you send a query letter and a SASE. And you had to go to the library, hope they had the magazine in question, and you’d read about four months’ worth of copies so you’d know the market.

Your experts? They came from those magazine articles. Or you’d use the library’s resources to locate them. I remember using my push-button phone and recording interviews by holding the tape recorder microphone to the earpiece when the interviewee answered my questions. LOL THAT is old school!

While reading this something struck me: As challenging as it was back when I started freelancing before you could research and contact markets online (and had to spend several hundred dollars a year on letterhead, envelopes, copies, and postage, including SASEs that never were returned), in some ways it was easier. Or at least less confusing.

We had the Writers Market and a few freelance solid writing magazines and newsletters offering advice, not a slew of self-promoting “experts” offering their sage advice in exchange for money. Back then it was easier for us to vet the quality of the advice we were receiving.

I know I’d single out companies or publications I thought might use freelance writers and was sending LOIs before I even knew what an LOI was. All based on my own research: Determine what city the home office is, call the switchboard, get the address and perhaps the name of someone to contact. Or mail a SASE and request contributor guidelines. Then wait.

It’s almost as if the access is too easy these days. I’m thinking maybe next year I’ll experiment by going old school and using regular mail instead of email to see if that helps my LOIs or pitches stand out.

And if you don’t mind, I just might revive your monthly assessment idea over on the Five Buck Forum. (Or whatever its official name is now. Inflation and all.)