Writing for Magazines

Sometimes it seems that my articles are terribly redundant, but I recognize that we have some new readers who might want to know what has been written about earlier. And frankly, I’m not sure I’ve really covered the subject of writing for magazines in detail. So I’ll write this as if you’re just starting your writing career and want to know how to get your articles published.

If you don’t have any experience with magazines, then please go to your local library and read all the back issues of Writer’s Digest and the Writer magazines, as well as any others you might find there. If you can’t locate them anywhere nearby, then I suggest going on the Internet and subscribing to one or both because they provide continually updated information on what editors are looking for, and list current needs of various magazines. They are both full of helpful articles. Read enough of them and you can receive a complete education in the “how-to write” department.

Seek out every magazine you can find that interests you, and slowly browse through them. So many magazines are printed each month and sent to selective audiences that no single book or magazine on writing can list them all. A lot of them are industry related, so are only sent to people in the field they cover. These are excellent magazines to get your byline in if you know something about the subject, or are willing to learn. Check doctor’s offices, hospital waiting rooms, and waiting rooms virtually anyplace you have an appointment and have to spend time waiting. Car dealers, repair shops, the drugstore pharmacy—the places an obscure magazine might turn up are endless.

Browse your local newsstand for magazines. Always copy down any submission information you find in them, including the editor’s name. But do more than browse. Study the ads—they’ll tell you what types of people read the magazine. Read a few articles to see how they’re written. Lots of facts and references telling where you can find more information? All using quotes from noted experts. Lots of general stories based on the author’s experience? These clues will provide you with information on how you should slant your article.

Start writing an article on anything that interests you, then put it away for a week or so and go back and read it. Does it look good enough that it might have appeared in a magazine, or does it lack the polish most published articles display? Magazines have editors, but they will not polish your article to make it appeal to their audience. You have to make sure your article is ready for print and doesn’t include typos, misspelled words, or grammar mistakes. Yeah, you might slip up with one or two minor mistakes, but any more and the editor will simply trash your article.

After you can produce a top-notch article, then it’s time to start thinking seriously about submitting something to a magazine. Hopefully during the time you’ve been practicing, you’ve found a magazine you want to write for, or a subject that you think will appeal to a specific audience. Now you can write your query letter and tightly focus it on the needs of the editor you’re contacting.

The query letter! Your letter should start out with a fabulous quote lifted from your article. This is where writers disagree on the process of writing. Some say don’t write an article until you have an assignment, but if you don’t write something, including an outline of your article, I don’t think you can produce an exciting query letter. And that’s what you’ll need to get the editor’s attention. You’ll need an excellent quote that draws the editor in immediately, then briefly say something about your topic and that you would like to submit an article on the subject, titled “...”. Continue into another paragraph that tells how you will handle the subject (using quotes, humorous, instructional). Write a paragraph telling what experience you offer: (you’ve worked in the field, you know the subject well because..., you will be interviewing experts (name them) for your article, or list your published experience. Close with an optimistic sentence that says you look forward to completing the article for ...magazine and can submit it within ... days (or weeks) after receiving an assignment.

Once you receive an assignment, go ahead and produce the best article possible and submit it. If you’re unsure of the quality of your work, then ask a trusted friend to read it and tell you what they think. Make sure it is a friend who will give an honest appraisal of your work. If you know an experienced writer, then ask them to help you out, or join a writer’s group where you can read your work and get feedback. And for Pete’s sake, use your spellchecker and grammar checker on the piece before it leaves your computer!

NOTE: Some magazines don’t require a query letter and prefer that you send a finished article. These are usually carefully targeted magazines to a specific group of people. For instance, Escapees Magazine will only accept finished articles.

There’s an upside and a downside to pursuing this type of work, known as writing on spec. You’ll spend time researching and writing an article that may not be accepted. If not, you won’t get paid for your time. Or maybe you will! If the magazine you send it to doesn’t accept it, you are free to market to other, similar markets. So you might make a sale to another magazine. Another downside is that oftentimes there’s no way of knowing what a magazine will pay for an article, if anything. To find a listing of what magazines pay, check Writer’s Market for the current year. But be aware that only a small fraction of magazines are listed in this book.

The upside to writing on spec: if you’re a new writer with no credits to your name, an excellent article written on spec might be the easiest way to break into the field.

Remember, grab the editor’s attention with your killer opening. And remember that your article must be top-notch for even these “on spec” magazines to buy it. I have written articles without an assignment, but usually only for magazines that I’ve written for before, so have an idea of whether the editor will buy it, and I know ahead of time about what amount of pay I’ll receive for the article.

Next time: When it’s okay to write and not get paid for it.