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Freelance Writing

KELLY BOYER SAGERT

Freelance Writing

KELLY BOYER SAGERT

$479.99

10/22/2026 - 02/04/2027

Enroll Now

No other market is as open to the freelance writer as the magazine market. From trade and association publications, to special interest magazines, to regional and national consumer publications, editors are looking for writers who can deliver well-researched, reader-targeted articles on deadline. To make it in this market, you want to learn how to identify a magazine's editorial needs and—most important—how to fill them.

In this course, you will work with a published article writer to develop, research and write two articles suitable for publication in magazines you've identified as appropriate markets. You will get feedback from your instructor on your first and second draft of both your articles.

To get the most from this course, you should already have a good grasp of mechanics and composition, as well as an understanding of basic creative writing skills and techniques (the Writing Nonfiction 101: Fundamentals course is strongly recommended as a prerequisite).

This course consists of seven two-week sessions. Each session includes online lectures and associated textbook reading assignments, along with a writing assignment drawn specifically from the work in progress, which will be submitted to the instructor for private review at the end of the first week of the session. During the second week of each session, work will be posted for group review and feedback. Throughout the course you will be able to participate in asynchronous lecture discussion and encouraged to take advantage of ongoing informal discussions and posted self-directed writing exercises.

“Nonfiction writing is a state of mind, a way of life, an extra set of eyes and ears. It's a key that can open many doors, a passport to travel far and wide, an introduction to fascinating people, a guide to wonderful adventures, an excuse to ask any question you want, a reason to be curious and to learn, a way to reach out to readers and to the world."

—John M. Wilson, The Complete Guide to Magazine Article Writing

$479.99

10/22/2026 - 02/04/2027

Enroll Now

No other market is as open to the freelance writer as the magazine market. From trade and association publications, to special interest magazines, to regional and national consumer publications, editors are looking for writers who can deliver well-researched, reader-targeted articles on deadline. To make it in this market, you want to learn how to identify a magazine's editorial needs and—most important—how to fill them.

In this course, you will work with a published article writer to develop, research and write two articles suitable for publication in magazines you've identified as appropriate markets. You will get feedback from your instructor on your first and second draft of both your articles.

To get the most from this course, you should already have a good grasp of mechanics and composition, as well as an understanding of basic creative writing skills and techniques (the Fundamentals of Nonfiction Writing course is strongly recommended as a prerequisite).

This course consists of seven two-week sessions. Each session includes online lectures and associated textbook reading assignments, along with a writing assignment drawn specifically from the work in progress, which will be submitted to the instructor for private review at the end of the first week of the session. During the second week of each session, work will be posted for group review and feedback. Throughout the course you will be able to participate in asynchronous lecture discussion and encouraged to take advantage of ongoing informal discussions and posted self-directed writing exercises.

“Nonfiction writing is a state of mind, a way of life, an extra set of eyes and ears. It's a key that can open many doors, a passport to travel far and wide, an introduction to fascinating people, a guide to wonderful adventures, an excuse to ask any question you want, a reason to be curious and to learn, a way to reach out to readers and to the world."

—John M. Wilson, The Complete Guide to Magazine Article Writing

Course outline

Course outline

Each session includes assigned reading, a written lecture and a writing assignment to turn in for personalized feedback from your instructor.

Meet the instructor

Kelly Boyer Sagert

Kelly Boyer Sagert, a member of the prestigious American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) and Association of Ghostwriters, has sold thousands of pieces of her writing to magazines, newspapers, online sites, encyclopedias and literary journals. She was scriptwriter for the Emmy-Award-nominated team that created the documentary Trail Magic: The Grandma Gatewood Story that appeared on PBS and won film festival awards.

The same team created a second film, Victoria Woodhull: Shattering Glass Ceilings, that appeared at the Cleveland International Film Festival, became an Official Selection: Toronto International Women Film Festival 2025, and won a Boston Film Festival Award. Sagert served as scriptwriter and associate producer.

Sagert has written eighteen books under her own byline and has ghostwritten dozens of others. Her most recent books are Wells Waite Miller and Me: An 8th OVI Civil War Biography and Lorain County Family Recipes by History Press. Wells Waite Miller and Me is the:

2026 San Francisco Book Festival Best Biography Award
2026 Storytrade Book Awards Biography First Runner Up
2026 San Francisco Book Festival Best History Finalist
2026 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Best History Finalist

Sagert has taught writing classes for Writers Digest University since the program’s inception in 2000.

Sagert served as managing editor of Northern Ohio’s Over the Back Fence for nearly four years. This magazine was nominated by Writer’s Digest for their “Top 100 Award” in two separate years. She served as the contributing editor for the Southern Ohio edition of Over the Back Fence as well, and she also edited five trade magazines and numerous business directories, community guides and travel planners for the company.

Sagert currently works fulltime as a writer, editor, and speaker. She writes biographical and educational material for encyclopedias and other anthologies, including publications put out by Macmillan and Gale Group, Charles Scribner’s Sons, ME Sharpe, Harvard University Press, Oxford University Press, University of Indiana Press and Facts on File. She also writes marketing materials and ghost blogs for a wide variety of companies.

She speaks regularly on communications issues at writer’s conferences and workshops, including the ASJA conference held in New York City, plus those held at The Ohio State University, Youngstown State, Kent State University, Bowling Green State University and Lorain County Community College. She has spoken at Jacobs Field (the Cleveland Indians stadium) and the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, and she appeared on an ESPN2 program called “The Top Five Reasons You Can’t Blame the Black Sox.”

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