Start Writing for Magazines

Hi all,

 

I got pretty busy this week with work (yay!) so I didn’t have time to write here (boo!).  I recently got accepted as a contributing writer to Prevention Magazine and was thinking that it may be helpful for other budding writers to know how to get yourselves accepted.

 

First let me say that Helium is still a great place to get ideas for articles.  If you’re like me and need a little “prompting” sometimes to get started, then it’s definitely the place to go.  I’m finding though that it may be even more useful to get some ideas from the Helium list of subjects, then reserve some without publishing.  I say this because in the last week I’ve had four requests for original unpublished work submissions to places like brighthub.com and Prevention Magazine.  So if you get a great idea, don’t go posting right away in a place that you may not get paid well for it.

 

Getting yourself in the door for magazines isn’t hard.  Usually, all you have to do is submit a sample or cruise their website. 

 

brighthub.com pays$10 per article and then offers royalties on any money they make off of your article. 

 

Associated Content has a fair and comprehensive payment system as well. 

 

While Prevention Magazine pays the least and requires the most work, ($24/week at $2 per activity based on 1 article, 3 forum posts and 10 promotional postings each week,) it does offer something substantial to put on your resume.  But admittedly, with all my other projects and deadlines I’m finding it hard to justify the time and effort put into it. 

 

If you decide that you want to try it then visit http://buzz.prevention.com/community/ where you can enter in your name, email, etc. and someone will get back to you.  You will have to submit a writing sample and some additional information by fax or email if you can scan the documents in with your signature.

 

Try to get published are in your local magazines.  Here in Maine we have Downeast Magazine for example, where freelance writers are welcome to apply if they have a new idea. 

 

If you’re looking for a national or world magazine, try Newsweek Summer Internships.  There were no job postings for Newsweek online but here’s a link of who’s who of journalists and managers.  Maybe you can submit a couple of writing samples.

 

I also found a useful website called http://newslink.org/ that lists all the national newspapers of several countries including the USA. 

 

Wenner Media is a good place to check out possible jobs at Men’s Journal, Rolling Stone Magazine and US Weekly. 

 

Had any success in the Magazine arena?  Leave a comment and let us know!

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~ by thehardcorefreelancer on July 25, 2008.