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 [...]
Archive for the 'Magazines' Category
I Just Got an Article Assignment. Holy Crap! Now What?
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 [...]
FOLIO Magazine’s 115 Magazine and Media Predictions for 2010
FOLIO: reached out to a wide selection of magazine/media industry professionals — publishers, editors, chief executives, dealmakers, bloggers — to channel their inner Nostradamus and work up some predictions for 2010. Which magazines will survive? Which won’t? Which technologies will propel the industry next year? What are the keys to staying in business while hopefully [...]
Filed in: Magazines News you can use
On Writing for Peanuts
A couple of weeks ago, someone posted a comment on this blog saying that in dissing content mills like Associated Content we “just don’t get it,” and bragged that she earns $1,200 per month on her articles on Associated Content and similar sites. (When I checked, I saw that the writer had over 1,000 articles [...]
Filed in: Advice Magazines Money Observations Personal yammerings Rants Writing
Interview with Dan Baum on Writing for the Big Names — and on the Future of Journalism
Dan Baum has written for Rolling Stone, Playboy, Wired, and other big-name magazines, and is a former staff writer for The New Yorker; on his website, you can download proposals that landed assignments with these magazines. Baum is the author of Nine Lives, and runs a blog called WordWork. The account of his “short career [...]
Filed in: Advice Interviewing Magazines Query letters Reporting Rules Writer Q&A Writing
How to Find Hidden Travel Stories
I just heard from Marina Krakovsky, one of my travel writing workshop alumna, on the success she had in placing an essay she worked on during the course. I love getting news like that! And working with Marina, who is such an accomplished writer, was a total joy.
Marina’s goal, when she signed up for the [...]
Filed in: Advice Magazines News you can use Personal yammerings Writing
How to Find Markets to Pitch
With the economy being what it is, you may have had the idea to start pitching more in hopes of bringing in more cash. Or maybe you were inspired by my idea of doing a pitch blitz in How to Gain Control Over Your Freelancing Life. Whatever the reason, you want to expand your client [...]
Filed in: Advice Cool tools Magazines Marketing
How to Break into Custom Publishing
Here’s a good article on how to break into custom publishing by Joe Pulizzi on the American Society of Business Publication Editors blog. I’ve found that custom publishers pay well and are easier to work for than many consumer magazines. [lf]
What magazine does this cat edit for?
more cat pictures [lf]
Filed in: Editors Magazines Observations Writing
What 5 magazines can’t you do without?
MSNBC blogger Gael Fashingbauer Cooper just posted the five magazines she can’t do without. As a freelance magazine writer, I, too, get dozens of magazines in the mail each month — and still manage to pick up a few at checkout counters. And like Cooper, I adore Cook’s Illustrated, although I don’t read the editor’s [...]
Filed in: Magazines


