How do you get articles published in magazines (hopefully for cash)?

Answer 1

I teach a class on this topic - it's a four week course, but most of my students have gone on to sell.

First you have to be able to write - not college essay stuff, but real readable, interesting writing. To learn the style, read magazines.

Then you have to learn to study a magazine so you can give the editor EXACTLY what he, or more often, she wants. Writing is a customer service business. If you want paid, serve the editor. To read a magazine, look first at the ads. Who's it targeted at: Income, age, education level, interest, location.

Then read the articles. How many words in the articles? What is the tone? Bullet points? Side bars? Fact boxes? Graphics? Photos? How long is the lede? Slang terms? How big are the paragraphs? Anecdotes? Style - folksy, ritzy, how-to? How many sources per article? What do the sources have in common? Are any of the sources advertisers?

E-mail, write or call and ask for the writer's guidelines and an editorial calendar if they have one.

Once you know exactly what the editor wants (she tells you what she likes every time she publishes an issue!) then find an idea that fits into the magazine and hasn't been done in the last year or so. Then line up your sources to make sure you have appointments to interview them, or do the interviews.

Send a query telling the editor why this article is perfect for her readers, and exactly why she should want it. Give her an outline of the idea and list your sources and let her know you either have interviews or have appointments for interviews. If the magazine uses photos, sidebars, or other graphics, let her know you can supply them and ask what format she wants them submitted in. Tell her you can turn the article in within XX days of receiving her answer, and you'd like to her from her soon. Finally, tell her you're looking forward to working for her (or him - you should have done your homework enough to know!).

Then DELIVER what you promised a few days early.

You don't have to be the world's best writer if you deliver on time all the time and offer complete packages. If the editor can depend on you to submit what she needs when she needs it in a form she can just drop onto the page, you're in the money.

As I said, this is a class, not something I can cover in a few paragraphs, but you can contact me if you'd like.

Answer 2

You can find The Writer's Market at the public library, your local bookstore, or on Amazon.com. This book, updated annually, lists more than 1,700 magazines, their writing guidelines, pay rate, and who to contact. It also tells how to write a query letter and offers other tips for getting published.

Start with smaller circulation publications such as trade magazines, hobby magazines, and other specialty publications. Think of an appropriate topic and do some research. Write or e-mail the appropriate editor with a query letter, describing the article you are offering to write. A typical query letter is about 300-500 words long, with a two or three paragraph description of the general situation and details about the specfic angle you plan to cover. It also includes a little info about yourself and your writing experience. If you haven't had a reply within two weeks, follow up.

When you haven't had anything published, you might skip the query letter and write an article on spec (speculation). Target the article to a specific magazine's audience and follow the guidelines published in The Writer's Market. Follow AP style (The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law) unless The Writers Market says otherwise.

Research, interview, write, rewrite, proofread, rewrite, and rewrite again until the article is as perfect in construction, spelling and grammar as you can make it. Then submit it to the publication. You can submit it to more than one publication at a time, but keep a list of where you have sent it. If one editor accepts it, you must contact all the other publications to withdraw the article.

Some of these specialty publications don't pay at all, while others pay from $25 an article to $1 a word.

Answer 3

Many magazines have contests and competitions where the winning piece is published. That's probably the easiest (while not easy) way of getting published in a magazine without working for one.

Answer 4

I'm fairly sure that none of the major magazines accept unsolicited articles. It seems fair to me considering the reputations they have to uphold.

You need to develop some sort of a "record." Start writing for your local paper or maybe your local newspaper's Sunday Magazine. Get experience.