Many people think they’d love to write for major magazines. The trouble is, most of these people never spend the time, energy, and even money learning HOW to break in with these markets.
Here are a few tips to help you write for magazines and build a lucrative freelance writing career:
1. Learn how to write a winning query
You may think you know how to write a great query, but if your queries are not landing you at least a few writing assignments, then you’re definitely missing the mark somewhere. A winning query does more than let the editor know your idea for an article. You need to hook the editor with your query the same way you will hook his/her readers with your article.
2. Learn how to study the magazine markets
There is so much more to studying the markets than merely looking up the entry for a particular magazine in a current market guide. Find out how to effectively study the markets.
3. Provide editors with information and contacts they cannot easily find on their own
This is not as difficult as it might seem, and it’s one way to prove to an editor that YOU are the perfect writer for this particular piece.
4. Be persistent
Don’t expect to break in with a major magazine on the first try. It could happen. But it probably won’t. Prove to the editor that you are serious about wanting to write for his/her magazine by being persistent. Keep sending out queries to a particular publication until
you begin to get some favorable and encouraging comments.
Note: This will start to happen once you learn the other tips here, even if you don’t get an acceptance letter for one of your queries yet.
5. Limit your queries to just a few specific publications
It takes too much time and energy to carefully study more than just a few publications at a time. Pick ONLY the ones you really, really wish to write for. Study those publications, and query those editors on a consistent basis (but only submit one query at a time to each editor).
6. Don’t try to sell your article ideas to just ANY publication
Too often, beginning writers simply want to make a sale, so they query anyone and everyone. Editors want to feel that you’re trying to help them fill a need for their magazine, not merely make a sale. Target your queries carefully. Strive to help editors, and they will love you for it!
