The Renegade Writer Blog

Melinda asks: If there is no department editor, should you send pitches to the executive editor, managing editor, senior editor, assistant editor, or editor-at-large? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Great question! The executive editor is usually too high up. In some smaller or trade mags you may find the managing editor assigning stories, but usually [...]

Congratulations to Sarah Zobel, who wrote a great query on sensory gardens in my Write for Magazines e-course: The resulting article is in this month’s issue of Spirituality and Health — and when I went to the bookstore to take a peek, I was thrilled to see that it is a cover story! Sarah built [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Ready to put your writing career into high gear? The next session of Renegade Writer e-courses starts on January 11…that’s this coming Monday! Classes are filling up fast, so read on for how you can snag a space:
Monica Bhide’s Premium and Gold food writing courses are FULL However, she has unlimited space in the Basic [...]

This post is by Monica Bhide, who teaches our e-course Introduction to Food Writing, which starts on January 11.
A few years ago, I signed up with an agent and sent out my first formal book proposal. I had published two books earlier — the first one based on an idea that I sent [...]