How to Write for Magazines

This book is designed to walk you through the basic steps of developing a marketable article—and of finding the right market for that article. The two processes are inextricably linked. If you don’t know what market you’re writing for, you won’t know what to write—and if you don’t have an idea of what you’d like to write, you won’t be able to find a market. By the time you’ve finished this book (and its “homework” exercises), my hope is that you will have at least the first draft of a marketable article, plus a query letter all ready to send to an editor.How to Write for Magazines

Course Details

You can write for consumer magazines, from Vibe to Us Weekly to Food & Wine, without having gone to grad school for it. In fact, some of today’s most respected journalists taught themselves how to write. J-school doesn’t even teach you how to write pitch letters, work with editors, or spot trends — three of the skills editors say they look for first in a freelancer.

Get started and focused with this seminar on magazine writing. Learn the scope of opportunities, how to get an editor’s attention, and how to write to please. Learn how to identify the best sources, win their confidence, and get great quotes. You’ll find out how to study the magazine market, break into new publications, manage your time, and win an editor’s heart. We’ll give you a seller’s edge.

Get familiar with the magazines to which you would like to submit recipes. The rule is usually to study four to six issues of the magazine before submitting anything. This will allow you to get familiar with the type of recipes they publish. Are the recipes vegetarian, southern cuisine or based off of a special ingredient? These are all important questions to be able to answer.

Decide what ingredients you would like to work with and start developing and testing recipes at home, keeping in mind the magazine to which each recipe is being submitted.

What magazine editors look for in articles. What magazine editors look for in writers. Cultivating an idea. Why a brief outline is a good idea even if you hate the outlines. How to write the Lead and the Hook.

HOMEWORK: Download material for Classes One and Two. Think up idea and an outline for your 1000 to 1500-word sample article. Send this to me for approval.

Research. Interviews. Magazine writing styles and style manuals. Common grammar, spelling, syntax errors. Point of view, voice, tone. Cheap tricks.

Writing the body of the article, covering all points, satisfying all reader questions, writing to length and editing/cutting. Quotes and statistics. Where to get them. How to get them. How to use them. How not to misuse them.

Find your market. Once you know what you want to write about, you need to figure out who wants articles on that subject. Who’s buying parenting articles? Tons of publications. Who’s buying articles on building little ships in glass bottles? Probably just a few magazines. Know who wants what you have to offer. A good place to cruise for markets is among the many lists on AbsoluteWrite or WritersMarket. Take down contact information on the magazines that serve your niche so you can look into what, specifically, they may want.

Communicate as needed and required with the editor. If you’re in a situation where you have a question about your article and you can speak to the editor or editorial assistant, be sure to ask for whatever clarification you need. Also, if your editor has questions for you, be sure to contact him in a timely and professional manner. Good communication and professional behavior can help get you that second assignment.  In fact, one thing to communicate about with your editor is that next article you would like to write for him. When you have a contact, don’t hesitate to query him about a follow-up piece.