magazine publishing!!?

Question

okay so once again i'm asking about the magazine industry.(highschool freshmen) i've been looking around an still im pretty clueless. so what jobs does the magazine industry offer?? and whats the difference between publishing and editing? you start with an internship right...then what? get a job as...a journalist? i guess b.c you hafta work your way up right? i just really need some good advice! like a book that tells me EVERYTHING i need to know about the magazine industry or someone who can answer all my questions. i take this very seriously so please leave only helpful information. thankyouuu sincerely, karina

Answer 1

I'm a high school senior, so I'm not much further along then you, but I'll pass on what I do know.

Jobs in the magazine industry would include:
- Writers, including staff writers who work for the magazine and freelancers who send in articles for consideration
- Editors, including content editors who oversee what goes into the magazine, and assign and edit stories; copy editors, who deal with grammar and writing; and layout editors, who design the pages
- Publishers, who are in charge of the more managerial aspects - i.e. actually getting the paper out

Internships are always a good start, and you can begin while you're still in high school. The most important thing in the journalism industry is clips - samples of your writing. If you have a school paper or a small local paper, you can start writing for them to get a few clips. However, after that, you'll want to try to transfer to a magazine if that's what you're interested in. If there are magazines located in your city, start contacting them to see if they offer internships.

During college, you can prepare in one of several ways. You can get an undergraduate journalism degree (Northwestern has perhaps the best undergraduate journalism program, and you can get a degree in magazine journalism instead of just print journalism, but there are a lot of great programs). However, many journalists advocate majoring in a subject you'd like to write about, instead. Either way, you'll want to get as many internships as possible, and write for a college magazine, if one exists. Afterward, you can either get a master's in journalism or go out and start looking for your first job with references and clips from your internships.

I hope this is helpful to you. I'm thinking very seriously about going into journalism as well - best of luck to you!

Answer 2

Woman and Womans Own, publish short story's sent in from readers.