Making a Good Fit
Marketing Your Magazine Articles You’ve already learned how to study magazines for what sort of articles they want. Now it’s time to combine that knowledge with what you want. Some…
You've already learned how to study magazines for what sort of articles they want. Now it's time to combine that knowledge with what you want.
Some of the places to sell articles include: print magazines, trade journals, newspapers, tabloids, in-house publications (such as for businesses and universities), and online publications. Each of these categories offers hundreds of additional options. For instance, print magazines range from those published by specific associations such as Kiwanis (for business and professional persons) to Recreation News (which caters to federal and private industry workers). Health publications deal with everything from general health, to a focus on cancer victims (MAMM Magazine), or to several aimed at organic health and living.
Religious publications range from Buddhist and pagan, to Catholic and evangelical, and everything in between. Sports magazines call for articles dealing with bow and arrow hunting to those geared solely to bass fishers, and everything else imaginable.
Online publications are just as diverse, even though many are offshoots of print publications. The list keeps growing, however, of those offered solely online for fiction and nonfiction. Additionally, many print publications that maintain online sites use different content, with contact through different editors.
Still, the same rules apply for print and online fiction and nonfiction. Writer's Market Companion, 2nd Edition, says, "While the medium is different, the traditional rules of publishing apply when submitting to online journals. Writers should research the site and archives carefully, looking for a match in sensibility among the various sites publishing. They should follow submission guidelines exactly and submit courteously. True, these sites aren't bound by traditional print schedules, so your work theoretically may be published more quickly. But that doesn't mean a larger staff, so do exercise patience with editors considering your manuscript.
With less than 200 established and paying online only magazines, and little more than 1,500 print magazines that also maintain paying online editions, your chances of getting published in the more than 20,000 print edition magazines is much greater than online. Still, the lure of seeing your article in an online publication is tempting, since it often reaches a wider audience, including foreign readerships; it keeps you in touch with the swift-moving technology boom; and it often calls for a slightly different type of writing than print publications, sometimes a little more in-your-face, more current, and specialized.
Because of all the new outlets for articles, the only restrictions are imagination and tenacity when it comes to finding paying markets...
Get your articles off the desk and out the door! In the competitive publishing industry, writers who promote their work with precision and passion enjoy more commercial success. Get the skills you need to market your work with help from WritersOnlineWorkshops.com! Through hands-on assignments, professional feedback and constructive peer discussion, you'll learn how to quickly navigate the complicated world of publishing-ensuring you see your name in print time and time again!
In just 4 weeks you'll discover:
* How to make money from the start
* What to expect from a magazine contract
* Where to get a magazine's info and use it to your advantage
* And much more!
Scott Francis is a former editor and author of Writer's Digest Books.