I have been in book promotion mode\u2014giving interviews, responding to questions for blogs, sending out notices about my new book, stopping in at downtown bookstores, sending out review copies, setting up speaking engagements and so forth. And I have been offering a lot of information and perspective for authors through this blog. Today, I thought I\u2019d blog for my freelance writer friends. <\/p>\n
I\u2019m sort of in freelance writing mode these days for two reasons. I\u2019ve been submitting articles to a lot of writers\u2019\/authors\u2019 publications in order to promote my new book on book promotion. And I\u2019ve also been compiling the SPAWN Market Update<\/em> and it is heavy with material, suggestions, ideas, leads and resources for the freelance writer. In fact, I always provide quite a bit of material for article and story writers. This month I am focusing on magazines\u2014both consumer and trade\u2014that use the profile\/interview piece. Last month, I featured magazines that use how-tos. In July, I wrote about placing the essay. In June I covered some of the less-likely magazines that carry travel articles. I\u2019ve also featured trade publications and high paying magazines that you may not know about.<\/p>\n The thing is, most of us, when we decide to write for magazines, zero in on those that are well-known and high-paying. When I was earning my living writing for magazines for all of those years, few people had ever heard of most magazines I wrote for. And some of them paid quite well. Some of them were only mediocre when it came to their pay scale, but they were reliable and they liked my work. I earned thousands over the years writing for some obscure magazines fairly regularly such as The Toastmaster Magazine, Business Start-Ups, The World and I, Signs of the Times, Communication Briefing, St. Anthony Messenger<\/em> and so forth. <\/p>\n I also wrote for the trades on occasion. Even though I am not enmeshed in any of these industries, I was able to sell a few pieces to trade magazines related to the hairstyling business, farming, management, commercial art, massage, church administration, education, engineering, public services and others.<\/p>\n How can you break into a magazine on a topic you are not familiar with? Bring in a topic that you are familiar with. For example, most businesses have a management element and there are numerous issues that you could cover within the management realm that don\u2019t necessarily have to do with designing financial portfolios, manufacturing widgets, etc. Workers within many industries might be interested in reading about how to get along with your passive aggressive manager, dealing with the irate customer, using intuition in the workplace, tips for having a more productive afternoon at work, how to make the most of your weekend off, etc. <\/p>\n Many trade and consumer magazines use profile or interview pieces. Just locate someone related to the industry or topic (growing, aviation, hobbies\/crafts, fashion, art, public speaking, etc) and interview them for the appropriate publication. I interviewed a former Miss America for an issue of The Toastmaster Magazine<\/em> once. I interviewed a customer service manager in a large firm years ago and wrote several articles for a variety of magazines on how to handle the irate customer. I interviewed well-known artists, heads of humane organizations for animals and so forth.<\/p>\n You can do the same. If you want to write articles for magazines, consider joining SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) where you have access to the monthly SPAWN Market Update<\/em>. I always include a meaty section filled with Opportunities for Freelance Writers, often including job boards. Of course, the archives are always available to members, as well. It\u2019s $65\/year. http:\/\/www.spawn.org<\/a><\/p>\n As a SPAWN member, you also have access to other freelance writers through our discussion group, SPAWNDiscuss. Sign up for our FREE enewsletter, SPAWNews<\/em> and receive a FREE ebooklet for writers, authors and artists who have something to market.<\/p>\n I also offer an online course for freelance writers who need a nudge: http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/course_magarticles.htm<\/a> <\/p>\n