Looking for Markets!
In a past post, one reader said they’d like to see more information on finding markets for your writing.
Today, I’m starting a blog series on selling to the consumer and trade magazine markets.
I was fortunate to intern under a magazine with a decent circulation in college, and found my editor/supervisor to be a wealth of knowledge. I also write and edit for a local magazine, and although the publisher himself actively seeks out our writers, I have a sense of what he likes to see from them.
However, unfortunately (or fortunately I guess), I haven’t needed to go through the process of querying very much, as I’ve found these contacts to be enough- for now ;) So I did some digging for you, dear readers, so that you can benefit from those actually in the trenches of querying. I think that viewpoint is equally as important as the editor’s viewpoint for those just beginning the query process.
The Beginning
My first and foremost question was the very beginning of the process. Do you begin with the idea, or begin with the audience?
Of the few times that I did query, waaay back, I was..ahem…pushed to it by a professor who particularly liked an article. So, I had an article in hand, and had to match it to a publication.
However, I figured this may not always be the case, and did some research and poking. Sure enough, there are writers who are inspired by a particular magazine or type of magazine, and may write a wholly targeted article to/at that magazine.
Honestly, I think that either approach has the potential to work, as long as the end product is a polished article and a polished query.
So, let’s begin at the beginning. What approach do you take in marketing to magazines? Do you have an article in hand? Or do you simply have a targeted publication? Or, perhaps you’re somewhere in between, as one of the community members I polled said- having more of a rough idea of an article that is then pushed, pulled and mashed to the magazine’s specifications?
magazine writing, magazine markets, getting published
November 30th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Honestly, it depends on if I’m POOR or not!!
Like, if I have a lot of work, I will write for pleasure, about something I want to write about, and then I’ll have an article in hand to shop around. If things are looking lean, though, I will notice the magazines “cycles”. For example, parenting magazine have articles about say “breastfeeding challenges” every couple months. So I will pitch that.
December 1st, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Thanks, Jen, that is a good point! I have got rid of more than one subscription because of that very thing !
December 3rd, 2007 at 1:10 pm
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