Home

Books

Articles

Instructional Design

Writer Resources

Bio

Contact

BREAKING IN WITH REGIONAL MAGAZINES

©Jennifer Crump

Originally published in the Writer’s Saddle – Calgary RWA and reprinted in several RWA chapter newsletters and as handout for the 2004 RWA Conference in Dallas "How to Earn $1000 a month Writing Non-fiction."

Breaking into magazine writing is tough. To sell you need clips and in order to get clips you need to convince an editor to buy. It can be a vicious circle.
But it isn’t impossible. Every published journalist was once an author without clips and without experience. So, how can you  break in?

 Persistence is key. As with romance writing, if you don’t pitch your articles you can’t sell them. 

Experience helps. Are you a lawyer? A hairdresser? A truck driver? A teacher? Do you volunteer with a service organization? Do you run a small business? Do you have children? All of thesejobs and experiences can help you sell that first article. 

Ideas sell. Most editors are looking for good writers with great ideas. And if you are a new writer lacking experience it will be the great idea that gets you in the door. 

Be Professional. If you write flawlessly and are consistently on time and on target, editors will want to keep you around. It will be far easier for you to sell that next idea.

Regional Magazines are great places to start out and many are looking for good freelance writers. Examples of these are: 

• Regional Parenting magazines Big Apple Parent, Calgary
• Parent)
• Regional Lifestyle magazines (Farm and Ranch Living, Mountain Living)
• Regional Business magazines (Alberta Venture, Wichita Business Journal)

 Do you know of a small local business owner selling a unique product or someone marketing their product in a unique way? Pitch it to the editor of your local business journal.

 The drawback to selling to regional magazines is that they don’t normally pay as well as national magazines. Some of the major local magazines in larger centers can pay as well as national magazines, but that is the exception rather than the rule. But they can provide steady work and that is the key to earning a steady income.

 If your topic has national or international appeal you can sell it several times over to regional magazines in other states or provinces. With a bit of research you can often find a local hook to use to pitch the article to other editors but that isn’t a necessity.

 Lists of these types of magazines can be found on the Internet and I’ve included a few links below to get you started.

 Some brief words of caution:

• Try to read several issues of the magazine you are pitching
• to.
• Pay very close attention to the rights you are selling. Sell only first North American English rights. If you sell e-rights to a local article and the article is posted on the web, other magazines
• may not be interested in using it. Your income could be severely limited.
• Do not sell the same article to competing magazines, i.e. business magazines in the same state or province.

Markets: 

www.allyoucanread.com is a great starting point for locating local U.S. and local Canadian journals. Use their indices to find what you are looking for.

www.parentingpublications.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=MemberSearch  the association for parenting publications – both Canadian and U.S. Once you have the name of the publication, plug it into the search engine and you’ll get contact and editorial information. This site will also allow you to register your name in its database of writers.

www.bizjournals.com/journals.html a good list of U.S. business journals

www.cmpa.ca/magindex.html The Canadian Magazine Publishers Association – great links to regional and national magazines

www.ecola.com/news/magazine/world/ Information on literally thousands of magazines worldwide. Tips- narrow your search by clicking North American. Narrow it further by topic or by U.S./Canada or look for the tab for magazines by state or province.

www.publist.com – huge list of markets designed for advertising professionals

Good Luck! 

Jennifer Crump is a freelance journalist and the author of Amazing Stories: The War of 1812 and Frommer’s Toronto with Kids. She also writes historical romance and serves on the RWA Board of Directors as PRO Liaison.