Research.
Research your topic, then keep researching, and then research some more. There is always much to learn about whatever you are writing. Use the internet, newspapers, books, or magazines to find out everything there is to know about your story, characters, and purpose.
What is your story? You need to know what type of story you're going to write. What's the genre? Fiction? Non Fiction? Sci-Fi? How to? Location? Drama? Comedy? Romantic? Etc. Books are published, based on Catagory, and sub catagories.
Who is your audience? Are you writing for Adults? Male or female? Young Adults? Children? Pet Owners? Construction Workers? Research your audience.
Next. Write.
Write. Keep writing, and then write some more. Then, rewrite, keep rewriting, and then rewrite somemore. Your first draft is never worth reading. Edit it several times. I'm not kidding. Some of the best selling books have been rewritten as many as one hundred times. Make each word count. In the end, if you've written something well, it will eventually get read.
Now research again.
By now you should also be researching Publishers. You want to find a Publisher that markets to your intended target. Don't waste your time submitting an article on Baseball Player Jock Itch, to a Romance Novel Publisher. Go to your local book store and get yourself a book that lists Publishers and their websites. Then go on their websites and investigate who their audience is, and what their submission policies are. Some Publishers include their pay scale in their Submission Guidelines. Aim for the best.
Try magazines.
The best place to start out is with Magazines. Magazines require massive amounts of stories, articles, and poems each week or month. If you're writing for Children, then try something like Humpty Dumpty, or Children's Highlight. They publish hundreds of articles and stories per year. Reader's Digest buys poems, stories, puzzles, and articles. They list their pay scale and guidelines on their web page.
Trade Magazines are also a great place to get published and paid well. If you are an expert in some field, then you could sell some articles to a trade magazine. Whether it's Flying Magazine, Food and Leisure, or Underground Pipes Today, there is always a need for well written articles. Pay scales vary from industry to industry.
Look in newspapers.
Newspapers use paid reporters for their stories. Why not apply for a job at a newspaper. The pay is usually pretty good, and you get to write a lot of stories. Newspapers will often take unsolicited human interest story submissions, but they will most likely put it in a "letter's to the Editor" column, which doesn't pay anything.
Try TV stations.
Local TV stations are a great place to write news stories and articles. The pay is usually quite good since TV writing is so specialized. So, give them a try. What's the worst that can happen? You might get stuck someday writing news articles for a major TV network.
Look on the Internet.
On the Internet, there are Emagazines and Web Blog sites that are desperately seeking Writers. There are also a number of Writer's Clearinghouses that will pay you to submit articles that they recommend. TextBroker.com will pay you $.01 per word for any article that fits their criteria.
DemandStudios.com pays up to $15.00 per article, based on a massive list of topics that they offer for you to submit. You pick the topic you're most familiar with, then write what you know. Not bad for an hour's work.
Research query letters.
There are quite a few books available on writing query letters. Take another trip to your local bookstore and buy some. Query letters introduce you to Publishers, and let them know your experience level, and qualifications.
Write query letters.
Here we go. This is the part that separates the Well Paid Writers from the Not Paid Writers. Query Letters. Once you've researched stories, audiences, and publishers in your market, now it's time to write query letters. Write, write, write query letters. You have to market yourself before you can market your stories. Don't give up. "No" doesn't mean "No not you". It means "No not now". You can always rewrite your story and then resubmit it later. Keep at it. Keep keeping at it.
Write it them.
The bottom line is that a well written query letter will get your article or story noticed, read, published, and sold, faster than a not-so-well written query letter.