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Topic: What are the easiest national mags to break into?
| Author | Message |
| Newsy | Posted – 6/1/2007 8:24:17 AM | show profile What's everyone's experience? Are there certain national magazines that are easier to break into than others? I'm just curious... |
| Newsy | Posted – 6/5/2007 11:03:16 AM | show profile Anyone? |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 6/5/2007 11:52:46 AM | show profile Everyone's personal experience is going to be highly variable, depending on level of experience, expertise, and quality of the ideas they pitch, and luck/timing. For instant, I broke into a national health magazine primarily because my email pitch hit the right editor who had a piece fall through and needed a replacement quick. However, I wouldn't say that particular magazine is any easier or harder to break into than any other. |
| DHernandez | Posted – 6/5/2007 12:01:29 PM | show profile The easiest one will always be the magazine that goes for an idea and believes you'd be the best writer for it. I kid you not. I don't know of anyplace where you can waltz through the door and plop whatever goods you have into a layout. What was easy for me probably wouldn't work for you. I got a call one day from the editor of a 1.2 million-circ national who knew I wrote in a certain topic area. She and I had worked together on staff many years earlier, but not doing anything close to what we did at that moment. She offered me an assignment. End of story. I work nearly entirely in nationals. Most of those came by referral, from one editor to another or by a writer to an editor, or happened when an editor moved from one pub to another (love that proliferation of editors!). One came through a letter of introduction. I did not get any of my nationals by pitching, although I know many people who did -- but, again, it was a matter of right idea, right timing, right writer. |
| MedScribe | Posted – 6/5/2007 2:42:25 PM | show profile All of the so-called seven sisters national mags lean heavily on their freelancers for editorial content -- typically more so than they do on their own staffers. I think the trick is not so much which magazine, but which section of which magazine. If you're a terrific writer and have a terrific idea but you've never written for the nationals before they're very unlikely to OK your idea for a major feature spread. But if they like your clips (albeit at publications they may not have heard of) and your idea hits the right chord, they may well be open to a 300-word front-of-the-book story. Once you've got one or two of them under your belt, then they're going to be more receptive to a 1,000-word plus story. So focus on well-crafted front-of-the book story ideas and start churning them out. And don't get too wedded to any one idea. Editors pass on them for all kinds of ideas -- some of which are entirely beyond your control. There's an element of serendipity to any idea that gets the green light. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 6/5/2007 3:58:55 PM | show profile I disagree with this approach. If you have a great feature idea, pitch the feature. In my experience, you can be ghettoized as a front-of-the-book writer and writing short pieces first doesn't make it necessarily easier to break into longer pieces. --But if they like your clips (albeit at publications they may not have heard of) and your idea hits the right chord, they may well be open to a 300-word front-of-the-book story. Once you've got one or two of them under your belt, then they're going to be more receptive to a 1,000-word plus story.-- |
| frantic | Posted – 6/6/2007 10:04:20 AM | show profile I was a longtime editor at a major women's mag, and I can say that there, you'd never get a feature before first doing some FOBs for us, unless you were already a big name. Doesn't mean you shouldn't pitch good feature ideas if you have them, but chances are an editor is going to want to try you out on something small before throwing you the big bone. |
| candylilacs | Posted – 6/6/2007 10:58:12 AM | show profile My travel query was accepted. Looking back, the query was awesome. Anyway, pitch well, know your market, etc. ------ http://www.mswritesguide.blogspot.com |
| nversel | Posted – 6/6/2007 7:04:18 PM | show profile | email poster finding the right editor In breaking into the national mags, how do you find the editor to pitch to if you don't have a referral? I get the sense cold calling doesn't work. I've been published once in a smaller national mag and a few times in a big-city daily, but most of my work has been in trades. Right now, though, I'm sitting on some great ideas that need wider exposure. And how do you contact people directly from this BB? Please email me if you have some ideas for me. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 6/6/2007 8:33:49 PM | show profile I've sold tons of essays and article ideas by simply emailing or mailing them to editors I didn't know. Sure, it helps if you have a referral. But if you don't, just pick a name off the masthead. From the New Yorker, a good enough idea will get a response. --inding the right editor In breaking into the national mags, how do you find the editor to pitch to if you don't have a referral? I get the sense cold calling doesn't work. I've been published once in a smaller national mag and a few times in a big-city daily, but most of my work has been in trades. Right now, though, I'm sitting on some great ideas that need wider exposure. And how do you contact people directly from this BB? Please email me if you have some ideas for me.-- |
| WritingEd | Posted – 6/7/2007 4:34:24 PM | show profile < When you're going after specific department pages in a magazine, sometimes the receptionist will be able to help direct your query. Or she'll transfer you to an edit assistant's voice mail and that person may be able to help. I've found it helpful to state my request like this: "I'm calling to check if Joe Smith is still the editor of the magazine's Family Matters section." I'll say this even if I don't know that he has ever been that section's editor, and typically I'll be told who the right person is. Then if you know that company's email format you can pitch Joe, or whomever, directly. I've also found that I can address my query to a particular editor, whom I have determined by an educated guess (i.e. one of two articles editors on the masthead) might be that section's editor, and if I state up front that it's a query for that section, it usually gets forwarded on to the right person. |
| candylilacs | Posted – 6/8/2007 10:41:25 PM | show profile I "broke in" quite accidentally. I'm from California and I wrote about a part of it I love. Who knew? I thought you had to know someone or live in Manhattan to get anything published. I proved myself wrong. So pitch a great query and follow up, that's what I did and it worked (the first 10 or so didn't, though, so be aware it's perseverance, too!) ------ http://www.mswritesguide.blogspot.com |
| fake.it.til.you.make.it | Posted – 6/9/2007 4:57:45 PM | show profile I haven't done it yet myself, but I've heard if you want to try to get a feature assignment for a big national pub you've got to already have excellent sources lined up or at least prove that you can get them (and include some teaser quotes in the query). I think Linda Formichelli has some sample queries of hers that she'll share if you email her via lindaformichelli.com ------ http://writerwannabehack.blogspot.com |
| nversel | Posted – 6/11/2007 10:44:31 AM | show profile | email poster Thanks for all the advice Just one more question: How long do you wait before following up by phone? All my queries have been by e-mail, so there shouldn't be any delay in reaching the recipient. post here or contact me at gmail.com, using the above screen name. |
