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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Since August, I’ve been working two days per week and still earning full-time income writing for magazines. My goal, when I started this two-day workweek, was to spend more time with my now one-year-old son, have more fun, and do more volunteering. On my days off I do check e-mail just to make sure nothing [...]

Desiree asks: I have written several pieces that were well received by editors, but seem to be on perpetual hold to be printed. These have not been officially killed, and I was paid in full for each piece. In one case, I was told that the magazine will not be printing a 500 word [...]

This query resulted in a feature assignment from Fortune Small Business magazine. A friend told me that the magazine was looking for entrepreneurs with interesting hobbies, so I put out a request on Help a Reporter Out looking for entrepreneurs who were also martial artists. Laura Smith was the first person I heard from, and [...]

Since I teach an e-course that tells writers how to write queries that will hopefully land magazine assignments, one question I get a lot at the end of the course is, “What happens if I do get an assignment? What can I expect?”
Well, first, you do the happy dance. Then you e-mail me and let [...]