Especially as a novice writer, you’ll sometimes get asked to write an article on speculation. This means that you’ll have to write the whole article and submit it without a contract, or any promise of payment. It’s a bone of contention among professional writers, because almost no other field works this way. It’s never “do the job, and then I’ll decide if I feel like paying you.” Only in this crazy business. Harrumph.

That said, I advise you to take spec assignments in the beginning. Once you’re established, you shouldn’t need to do this, but in order to build up your resume and your clips, you need to get published. So go ahead and submit on spec, and go ahead and do a few free/nearly free pieces for the experience.

Before submitting anything, though, make sure you know in advance what the terms will be if the editor does use your piece. How much will you be paid? What rights will they buy?

Even many of the big markets have adopted the practice of requesting pieces on spec. They do this because they can get away with it. Because there are thousands of wannabe writers out there who will beg, borrow, and steal for the chance to be published. So, if you want to compete, sometimes you’ll have to suck it up and accept this. Once the publication accepts one of your spec pieces, you’ll be a much more likely candidate for an outright assignment next time.