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pDo you have this dream? You go down to your nearest big newsstand one day and check out all those big, glossy magazines. You flip one of your favorites open#8230;and there#8217;s your byline./p
pYou#8217;ve cracked the competitive world of writing for national magazines./p
pThe good news is, this is not a pipe dream. You can do this./p
pThere are no real qualifications for writing for magazines. I know people who have broken into major national magazines with no journalism-school degree, no newspaper reporting experience, and no previously published articles./p
pDespite what you#8217;ve heard about the impending death of print media, a title="National Magazine media factbook" href="http://www.magazine.org/advertising/magazine-media-factbook/7.html" target="_blank"national magazines continue to thrive/a, and many pay well #8212; $1 a word and more./p
pAnd yet, the vast majority of writers who try to query or submit articles to magazines get nowhere./p
pHow can you get your articles published in magazines? Here is my 15-step guide:span id="more-28445"/span/p
pstrong1. Study your target publication. /strongSuccess begins here, where you dig in and research the publications where you#8217;d like to appear. Get sample issues (or check if your library might carry it) and read several issues closely. Notice:/p
ul
listrongWhether bylines match names on the masthead/strong #8212; if you see names that don#8217;t match, this publication probably hires freelance writers./li
listrongIdentify the relevant editor #8212; /stronglikely titles include managing editor, articles editor, features editor, or department editor. An executive editor or editor-in-chief is too high up the chain./li
listrongWhat topics they have recently covered/strong/li
listrongWhat types of headlines they use/strong #8212; Are they shocking? List-based? Mysterious? Do they ask a question?/li
listrongHow they start articles/strong #8212; with a quote? A statistic?/li
listrongWhat types of sources they quote /strong#8211; are they academics? Ordinary people? Book authors?/li
listrongHow many different sources are in a typical article/strong/li
listrongWhat types of research or statistics are citedbr /
/strong/li
listrongThe writing style /strong#8211; is it conversational? Businesslike?/li
listrongHow they end their stories/strong #8212; do they use a final quote? A concluding paragraph that sums everything up?/li
/ul
pAt the end of your research, you should have a strong sense of what departments assign freelance articles, who the right editor is to pitch, and the types of story ideas published./p
pstrong2. Find story ideas./strong Now that you know what the publication has written about recently, your job is to find ideas that are in a similar vein to what the magazine has already covered, yet somehow fresh and new. Here are some places to a title="Freelance Switch - 50 ways to find article ideas" href="http://freelanceswitch.com/freelance-writing/50-ways-for-writers-to-find-article-ideas/" target="_blank"look for story ideas/a:/p
ul
listrongFriends#8217; conversations/strong can help you spot hot topics. Your neighborhood may not be the only place they#8217;re the buzz./li
listrongLocal events/strong #8212; restaurant openings, fairs, plays, town hall meetings and protests all make good fodder for regional magazine stories/li
listrongYour local newspaper/strong may have human-interest or business-innovation stories with national relevance you could pitch to a magazine. Or they may have a story that leaves many unanswered questions. What#8217;s missing could form the basis for a new article./li
listrongCompeting magazines /strongare great to skim as well for ideas on what trends your target might be missing./li
listrongRun a title="Google Alerts" href="http://www.google.com/alerts" target="_blank"Google alerts/a/strong on key words for topics of interest./li
liThink about strongwhat you know how to do/strong that would make a good how-to article./li
listrongControversies and trends /strong#8211; these are always of interest./li
listrongCelebrity access /strong#8211; if you know a famous-yet-reclusive person not every writer could get an interview with, that could be an easy ticket to your first magazine byline./li
listrong#8220;Where are they now#8221;/strong #8212; if you#8217;ve discovered what a once-famous person is doing who has faded from public view, that#8217;s an ever-popular story type./li
/ul
pstrong3. Find the #8220;news hook.#8221;/strong Most articles assigned by magazines have a compelling reason to be written now. It could be almost anything #8212; maybe there is new study data about your topic. Or it#8217;s a title="Holidays for Every day" href="http://www.holidaysforeveryday.com/calapr12.shtml" target="_blank"National Frog Month/a. Be ready to show why this story is timely. Otherwise, your idea may sit on the editor#8217;s desk for ages or be discarded./p
pstrong4. Leave enough time. /strongHere#8217;s the big secret with magazines: They work ahead. Way, way ahead. Think almost six months out for big, national magazines in timing your query to coincide with an upcoming event. You need to pitch summer-vacation stories in winter and vice versa. Ideas are commonly rejected because the pitch arrives too late for a print magazine to use./p
pstrong5. Learn to write query letters. /strongUnless you are submitting a personal essay, do not simply write up your article and send it in. This gambit almost never pays off #8212; you simply don#8217;t know enough yet about the publication#8217;s needs. Instead, you should query the editor, pitch your story idea, and get an assignment. It#8217;s just the way the magazine game works. The best way to learn to write compelling queries is to a title="How one query letter got $6,000 in assignments" href="http://www.makealivingwriting.com/2011/01/31/query-letter-6000-assignments/" target="_blank"read query letters that got assignments/a #8212; you can get a packet of them at a title="The Renegade Writer" href="http://www.therenegadewriter.com/free-query-packet/" target="_blank"emThe Renegade Writer/em/a./p
pstrong6. Start small. /strongWhile there is the occasional moonshot where a writer sells their first piece to emRedbook,/em more often a new writer will have more luck pitching local or regional publications. For instance, my first magazine work was for emSeattle Magazine/em. These publications are less competitive and more open to working with new writers. Plus, they cover doings where you live, which means you may well have ready sources of story ideas./p
pstrong7. Try the front of the book. /strongRather than pitching a big, national magazine a 3,000-word feature assignment off the bat, try pitching an idea for a shorter, 300- to 500-word piece first. Nobody tells you this, but most editors want to try out a new writer on one of these small assignments (usually published in the front of the magazine), to make sure you can turn it in before they risk assigning you a longer piece./p
pstrong8. Pitch trade magazines and custom publishers. /strongWelcome to the low-glamour side of magazine writing! Trade mags and custom pubs are rarely seen on newsstands, but usually pay well and don#8217;t get many pitches from writers, leaving the field wide open for your inquiry.� a title="Tradepub.com" href="http://www.tradepub.com/" target="_blank"Trade magazines/a cover a single industry #8212; emDaily Variety/em for entertainment executives, or emAd Age/em for marketing execs, for instance. Custom publications are created by and for businesses such as hospitals and retail chains, as well as government agencies. Some companies produce their magazines in-house, but many rely on a title="Custom Content Council" href="http://www.customcontentcouncil.com/" target="_blank"custom publishers/a. Once you figure out who#8217;s publishing a custom pub, you can pitch the editor or publisher. Here, a story idea isn#8217;t mandatory. Instead, you can write a simple letter of introduction (LOI)./p
pstrong9. Learn LOI basics./strong What belongs in an LOI? Here#8217;s a basic structure that works:/p
ul
liNotice the tone of the publication and write your LOI in their style./li
liMention something you noticed in the magazine recently./li
liQuickly introduce the fact that you are a freelance writer./li
liNote your writing experience or personal life experience in their subject matter./li
liEnd with an easy call to action that doesn#8217;t require much of the editor, such as #8220;May I send you a link to my writer site so you can view my clips?#8221;/li
liBonus: the best LOIs include a referral #8212; the name of someone the editor knows who recommended you contact them. Not always possible, but use whenever you can./li
/ul
pstrong10. Find sources. /strongOnce you have an assignment, it#8217;s time to round up the research and do the interviews. Don#8217;t be scared of calling people up and asking for an interview! You#8217;ll find most experts are happy to chat with you. Here are a few ways to do that:/p
ul
liPut out a request for an expert on a title="HARO" href="http://www.helpareporter.com/" target="_blank"Help a Reporter Out/a or a title="ProfNet" href="https://profnet.prnewswire.com/ProfNetHome.aspx" target="_blank"ProfNet/a./li
liSearch on your topic on press-release sites such as a title="PR Newswire" href="http://www.prnewswire.com/" target="_blank"PR Newswire/a or a title="PR Web" href="http://www.prweb.com/" target="_blank"PRWeb/a for experts in your subject matter./li
liSearch a title="Amazon's book tab" href="http://www.amazon.com/books-used-books-textbooks/b?ie=UTF8amp;node=283155" target="_blank"Amazon.com for book authors/a on your topic./li
liRead articles about your topic published elsewhere, and see who they quote. Stealing source ideas is entirely fair game./li
/ul
pstrong11. Conduct interviews./strong Here#8217;s a crash course in how to a title="Interview secrets - Make a Living Writing" href="http://www.makealivingwriting.com/2011/12/27/interview-secrets/" target="_blank"get a great interview/a:/p
ul
liPrepare a question list beforehand to use as a starting point./li
liAsk open-ended questions rather than ones that can be answered #8220;yes#8221; or #8220;no#8221;./li
liAsk, #8220;Is there anything I haven#8217;t asked you about this topic that#8217;s important for me to know?#8221;/li
liAsk, #8220;Who else should I talk to about this?#8221; to get other source ideas./li
liAsk, #8220;Who disagrees with you on this?#8221; to get more source ideas./li
liAsk, #8220;Is there anything else about this topic you would like to tell me?#8221;/li
liEnd with, #8220;Where can I reach you for any followup questions I have?#8221; (Because you will have some. I promise.)/li
liIf you have potentially offensive questions to ask, leave them for last./li
/ul
pIf you tape your interviews, be sure to take notes also #8212; tape recorders have been known to fail./p
pstrong12. Write a first draft. /strongKeeping your publication research fresh in your mind, it#8217;s time to a title="Freelance Switch - 7 rules for pitching glossy magazines" href="http://freelanceswitch.com/finding/7-rules-to-pitching-a-glossy-magazine/" target="_blank"write a draft of your article/a. Remember how they started, structured, and ended their articles. Look at how they weave in quotes from experts. Then, put all your notes aside and just write the story in a quick draft, keeping their writing style and your target length in mind. You can go back and fill in missing facts and check exact quotes later./p
pstrong13. Rewrite./strong Now that you have a draft, go back and polish it up. Tighten up the writing and remove any extraneous paragraphs, sentences, and words. Make sure each paragraph follows logically from the one before it. Reread your notes one last time to make sure there isn#8217;t a really juicy tidbit you#8217;ve left out./p
pstrong14. Get feedback. /strongIf at all possible, before you send in your finished piece, get an experienced editor or writer-friend to read it over and make suggestions for improving it./p
pstrong15. Turn in your story on time #8212; and pitch another./strong It#8217;s essential on a first assignment that you turn in your article by the deadline. If you can, turn it in a day or two before. Your best opportunity to get another assignment is now, so be ready with a few more ideas for your editor so you can keep this magazine-writing work going./p
pemstrongGot questions about cracking the magazine markets?/strong/em Leave a question here and I#8217;ll be happy to answer./p
pemPhoto credit: a title="Attribution License" href="http://photodune.net/wiki/support/legal-terms/licensing-terms/"Some rights reserved/a by a href="http://photodune.net/item/pile-of-magazines/702147"NAN104/a/em./p
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