The Renegade Writer Blog

Today I was working on a skincare product article for a very high-profile health magazine. As I read the transcription of one of my interviews, I saw that the dermatologist had recommended a facial scrub with hydrofluoric acid. Hmm. Salicylic acid, I’ve heard of. Alpha-hydroxy or beta-hydroxy acid might also work. But hydrofluoric acid? Never [...]

Maybe it’s because I worked in advertising and marketing for ten years that I’ve developed the hide of a crocodile around rejections. An editor doesn’t want to buy my article? Her loss, I think, then I figure out a new market for my brilliant idea. A magazine isn’t crazy about my lede? So I’ll rework [...]

Monica Bhide will be teaching her final food writing class through The Renegade Writer starting on March 1, 2010. She may start offering the class on her own, but doesn’t have a target date set yet. So if you want to learn about how to make it as a food writer from this multi-talented cookbook [...]

I’ve just scheduled my next free teleclass for writers!
The Care and Feeding of an Editor
Date: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 8:30-9:30 pm ET (Note that this is East Coast time; please check for the correct time in your time zone.)
Topic: The Care and Feeding of an Editor: Building Relationships That Will Help You Succeed as [...]

I’ll be speaking on a panel at the American Society for Journalists and Authors conference in NYC. The panel is called “Increase Productivity: Over the Top Organizing” and will take place at 2 pm on Saturday, April 24. Here are the details:
INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY: OVER THE TOP ORGANIZING (Intermediate)
It’s easier than you think to find more [...]

Angie asks: In your e-course, you recommend that we come up with an elevator speech about our idea in case an editor picks up the phone when we call the magazine to ask for contact information. Can you tell me more about this?
I’ve had students call a magazine’s editorial department to ask for an e-mail [...]

This query sold to the now-defunct Better Health & Living magazine. This is what I call an “opposite idea,” which is a great way to breathe new life into a tired idea. “Do what you love” was a mantra in the self-help world, so I flipped it on its head.
Jennifer Lawler, an expert I quoted, [...]

On Monday Damon Brown begins his popular Renegade Writer e-course, “Tech Journalism 2.0: Making Money With Your Inner Geek.” The Tech Chair of the 2010 American Society of Journalists and Authors conference, Damon is the author of nine books and regularly contributes to Playboy, New York Post, Family Circle and AARP: The Magazine. You can [...]

By popular demand, I’m posting the article I wrote for Writer’s Digest in 1999 that was based on the query I posted last week. While the query was about magazine writing vs. copywriting, the editor asked me to focus on advertorials in place of copywriting.
I’m leaving in the sidebar of places that buy advertorials even [...]

This is the query I used to break into Writer’s Digest in 1999. (I started writing for magazines and doing corporate writing in mid-1997.) I’ve been writing for them ever since, and am now a columnist. Notice how I end with a statement that shows that I understand the magazine’s market and explains how my [...]