The Renegade Writer Blog

Rocky asks: I would like your advice on something. How do you read every magazine out there to find their styles, word counts, interviewed experts, editor names, formats, structures, demographics, and other details? Not only reading every magazine, but remembering every single one too. Do you keep files on each magazine? Jenna Glatzer, a freelance writer in your book, said researching the market was the hardest thing for her to learn. She said it wasn’t until she looked into these things aforementioned that she understood. So wouldn’t you have to read every magazine? Or do you only read the magazines that deal with the subject matters you want to write about? And even if so, where do you find the time to read those magazines cover to cover? For instance, the subjects I want to write about are: arts and entertainment, bodybuilding, hunting, animals and wildlife, food and drink, party culture, sex, and writing (of course). But you mention “write what you don’t know” and try writing about all kinds of subjects, especially for trade magazines — it’s a great place to start. Therefore, wouldn’t I have to read all the different trade magazines to be familiar with them? How did you deal with reading the trade magazines when you first started out? Out of all the things discussed in magazine article writing, researching the magazine markets is the only concern I have.

It’s always a good idea to be familiar with a magazine before pitching (though if you really, really don’t have access, I say go ahead and pitch anyway). But it can be daunting to study so many magazines from cover to cover, especially if you’re a generalist with many interests.

I read so many magazines that I often can’t remember who prints what, so when I have an idea I have to go to the bookstore and look at my potential target markets — again. I agree that it’s very confusing! (The benefit to reading all those mags, even if you can’t remember exactly what was in them, is that the articles give you lots of raw material for new ideas. Even if you’re not brainstorming at the time, all those articles will percolate in your brain until you need a new idea.)

As a writer with many interests, it may help you to focus on one interest at a time. For example, for a few weeks you can concentrate on bodybuilding pitches, and get familiar with all the possible markets on the stands and online. After that, focus on wildlife pitches and magazines. It can be hard when you’re starting out to get a grip on so many magazines, but after a while you should have a good idea of who’s looking for what (even if you have to run to the bookstore and look at the mags for the particulars, like I do!).

For trade magazines, I check out their sites and read a few articles online to get a feel for whether they’re something I can contribute to — which for me means that they’re not too technical and that they run general business articles. If I think I can successfully write for the magazine, I send the editor a letter of introduction.

When I spoke on a panel at the American Society of Journalists and Authors conference this year, one of my fellow panelists, writer Bob Bittner, gave a piece of advice that’s stuck with me, because it so neatly sums up how much research a writer needs to do: When you’re researching a magazine, you need to read only enough that you feel comfortable that you understand what they’re looking for. If that means reading six back issues and examining the ads, fine. But if you can flip through, scan the TOC, and read an article or two, and feel that you’ve got enough data to run with — fine.

Got a question for the Renegade Writers? Send it to us at questions [at] therenegadewriter [dot] com. [lf]

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