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.The growth of this new medium continues to be rapid and extensive.Page 27Some electronic newspapers, magazines, and newsletters are nothing more than publications "exported" to Web format to extend their distribution.But there seems to be growth of original publications solely based in their electronic format.In 1998, these publications were most commonly in two forms: a WWW site document or a text or electronic mail (email)based document.The main difference is in their format limitations.Most email publications still lack graphics and other multimedia features found on Web sites because of the limitations of some email software.Some are professionally done, but others are crude and homemade in appearance and content.Individuals with the right computer hardware and software can explore these new publications.Slate (http://www.slate.com), Microsoft's entry into this type of periodical, is more general interest in content.It offers articles about politics, current events, and popular U.S.culture.Freezone (http://www.freezone.com), Suck (http://www.suck.com), Salon (http://www.salonmagazine.com).Wanderlust (http://www.salonwanderlust.com), Word (http://www.word.com), and FEED Magazine (http://www.feedmagazine.com) are other electronic zine (ezine) examples.The reputations and credibility of these publications vary and writers must check each as they would check a traditional publication before developing a professional relationship.Email newsletters take advantage of the growing number of individuals with email addresses.In the last half of this decade, businesses have provided their employees with email addresses.But the growth of commercial online services, such as America Online, with their full access to the Internet, have given millions of others email addresses as well.With this growing market, some specialized newsletter publishers have chosen to use the Internet and email to distribute their content.Some are newsy, informational, and highly local or regional in nature, such as Cyberconch, a weekly email newsletter distributed to individuals interested in the Florida Keys and, particularly, the area around Key West.Others focus on products and services offered by businesses.Some are organizational in nature, designed for members of specific interest groups.Whatever the purpose of the newsletter, there are hundreds of millions of copies distributed each year.PC World Online Network (http://www.pcworld.net) estimates that two categories of its newsletters— TipWorld and Dummies Daily—are the largest email newsletters in the world with 45 million electronic newsletters are distributed each month to more than 500,000 addresses that requested the subscriptions.There are 13 Dummies Daily topic newsletters and anPage 28other 29 TipWorld topic newsletters that relate to personal computer use, PC industry news, the Web, and various office and home software products (Anon., November 24, 1997).Today's Markets for Feature WritersThe numerous markets for feature article writers offer many opportunities for good freelancers.Magazines are increasing in number and so are the markets for your work.Although there are fewer dailies than in years past, newspapers emphasize their feature material even more to compete with other soft news sources such as television, radio, and magazines as an information and entertainment source.Although you might not think much about it, smaller newspapers are the best chance for a beginning writer to find markets for feature articles.Small dailies that do not have large staffs are often responsive to queries or completed manuscripts for timely features.Weekly newspapers, with even smaller staffs, often seek assistance when it does not come to the editor.It is likely that your own journalism school or campus placement service receives telephone calls from time to time from weekly editors seeking parttime or freelance help in covering their neighborhood or community.Magazines follow the same model of opportunity for writers.Although most magazines seek good writers outside their staffs, many small and specialized publications need quality freelance assistance yearround.This demands that you know about what you write for a specialized magazine.A beginning feature writer need only look at the latest edition of the Editor & Publisher International Yearbook, issued each April, to find out which newspapers are published in their region or area.Similarly, the annual edition of Writer's Market, published each fall, gives a complete look at the magazine markets that buy freelance feature work.And, of course, it goes without lengthy explanation that you can simply pull out the local telephone directory yellow pages, especially if you reside in a metropolitan area, to see which publishers maintain offices in your community.Various specialized subjects have increased their visibility in the past decade.The growing number of separate and larger business sections in newspapers and business magazines means new and more writing opportunities as well.As the Business Press Educational Foundation (n.d.) says, business stories focus on supercomputers, genetic engineering, manufacturing in space and other unlikely business topics because these activities are financed by businesses andPage 29are the work of privately funded laboratories of corporations, not the federal, state, or local governments."The results [of these stories in the business press], moreover, promise to have major impact on existing industries and, perhaps, bring entire new industries into existence.It explains why these developments are getting even more diligent attention from the business/industry press than from the mass media" (p.1), the foundation has stated
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