Going Offline – Breaking Into Magazines

Article query writing for magazines can be one of the most lucrative ways in which writers can pitch their ideas to earn an income. Not only is the pay of magazine article writing well above online rates, the thought of getting published in a glossy magazine certainly makes many hearts beat a little faster.

It’s not that I think magazine writing is the means to all ends. Far from it actually, but for some reasons I have always dappled with the idea of becoming a travel writer. Combining both passions of mine together sounds like the ideal solution to me.

So, over the next few months I will be writing queries after queries to travel magazines to propose my first idea. Until I get accepted! It might take me one year, or maybe I’m lucky enough to be accepted in my first round. Regardless of this, to succeed in querying magazines I will need to do some kick ass research first. Research all starts with…

The seedling

The seedling. The idea. Before you are ready to query anybody, you will need to evaluate your interests, expertise and passion for any given subject. While a writer can write for a topic he/she is not familiar with, it is always more beneficial to choose a subject in which you excel.

Writing about scrapbooking is pretty damn hard if you are blokey kind of guy and never even set eyes onto a scrapbook album. On the other hand, it makes equal sense not to query plumbing related industry mags for women who can’t even change a leaking tap.

Somewhere, we have to dig into our own experience and passion, otherwise the writing will become stilted before we even start.

Once you are comfortable with an idea it is time to…

Brainstorm

You will have to come up with some killer ideas to write about. It’s no good thinking you have a winner at hand once you decide to write about “cooking curries” if you have no clue on how to format your proposed article.

To do this, you can use the powers of your brain to come up with ideas. For starters, you can create a table, similar to the one below and brainstorm your way to the perfect article title. Here is what I do.

Broad Idea	Main Subject	Article Title	Chances Score
Pets	Cockatiels	Dealing With Compulsive Egg Laying	3
Travel	Cruising	Log-book From The Queen Mary	2
Hobbies	Scrapbooking	Sourcing Stencils	1

These are ideas thrown up in passing and probably don’t carry much weight at all. The secret to writing the perfect query is to come up with the perfect pitch, created by the perfect idea.

The chances score in the table above is an indication on how likely it would be to get my article query accepted with 3 being the highest. This is ruled by market demand, the magazine we pitch and how good our query is.

It’s important to remember that editors are getting swamped every single day with queries and unless ours stands out from the pile, it will end up in the digital rubbish bin before we can blink an eye.

Which brings me to mailed queries. If you prefer to send queries by mail, rather than email, don’t forget to include a self addressed envelope. Personally I will go the digital road, since it is easier and faster.

Ok, so you finally got a great idea you think will wow the magazine editors to their knees, what next?…

The magazine stake out

This stage is perhaps the most gruesome of them all since you will need to spend a lot of time staking out the right magazine for your proposal. You article will have to fit in with their publication and it will need to be well thought out to apply to their style.

It won’t do you much good if you propose your 2,000 word article to a magazine that is well known for its short stories. You will have to get your knees dirty and rummage in the pit for a while.

Head down to your local newsagent and look at the possible publications in your proposed market. Note whether your idea will fit a magazines current layout, style and requirements.

I have 7 magazines that could be a good fit for my idea, but I still need to do more work. This next stage is called…

Research

To do proper research it is required to buy the magazines that appeal to your target group and then take them home. You will need to read them cover to cover to get a good idea of what they would possibly require from you.

Some magazines don’t accept work from freelancers and before you make a fool of yourself do your research. Jump online and read their submission guidelines, then evaluate whether they could be a possible hit. If they don’t list a website you will need to call the right department to get them sent to you instead. Hint: If you buy the 2009 Writer’s Market all the hard work has already been done for you (see book suggestions below).

Who said it was easy!

Once you are absolute certain that you will propose to the right magazines, it’s finally time for …

The query

I won’t be going into writing a query in detail here, since I wrote an article on writing queries a couple of months ago. This article was part of my Freelance Writing Guide series which walks you through all the possible aspects of starting a freelance writing business.

If you need to know more about queries in general, I suggest you start with my article and then invest into either of the following three books.

Each of these have helped me to learn the foundations of article query writing for magazines and I’m now perfectly prepared to actually hit the road and go into battle.

What’s left?

Well, if you think that’s it, you’ve made it, I’ve got news for you. The work has only just begun. Now the fun really starts by pitching your idea to the magazines you staked out.

As far as I’m concerned, I will keep pitching my idea until I get lucky. If I get too many rejections I know it will be time to hit the brainstorming and research circle again until….

Was this helpful? Have you actually been successful in query writing for magazines? Tell us more.

Monika