Freelance Writing Opportunities For Magazines: 8 Tips For Beginners
If you have the dream of writing for a big magazine that gets lots of exposure for your writing skills, don’t give up. There are lots of magazines looking for great writers all the time. The key is in being able to find them and then effectively marketing yourself as a writer. The following 8 tips will guide you through this process. The magazine industry is still thriving, despite the prediction that digital formats would win over print formats. Print media is still alive and running; there is no impending death of this format in the near future.
- 1. Study the publications you are interested in writing for. This is where success begins and can flourish. You need to be familiar with the magazine and whether they hire freelancers or not. Who is the editor – get to know them by reading the publication. They are the one you will be contacting to get a writing job. What topics does the magazine cover? What type of articles do they publish, what thype of headlines do they write, what is their overall style?
- 2. Find ideas for your stories. Look at what the competition is publishing. Look online for trends, controversies, and upcoming news ideas. Read your local newspaper, talk with people in the neighborhood, study celebrities, or whatever is happening in the genre in which you want to write.
- 3. Find a hook to match your story idea. This will really sell your pitch. This shows why your story would be both compelling and timely. Otherwise, it will just be tossed into the wastepaper basket.
- 4. Print magazines run on a schedule that operates at least 6 months into the future. If you write a story about great summer vacation ideas in the spring, it will be too late for them to use it by the optimum time.
- 5. Teach yourself how to write query letters in order to pitch your idea and sell yourself as a writer. Read successful query letters and use them as models and examples for your own.
- 6. Pitch yourself for a shorter article first, rather than a longer one. Editors are more likely to try you out on a smaller assignment than hiring you for the first time for a larger one.
- 7. Ask for and conduct interviews with leaders in the field you are interested in. Publishers love fresh relative content from real people.
- 8. Always turn your pieces in on time.
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