Men's Magazine Writing Boot Camp

Course Details

To many writers, cracking the club of men's magazines is the professional grail -- an opportunity to write gutsy pieces, work with storied editors and rub shoulders with the best journalists in the business. In this intensive eight week class, you'll learn how to gain admission to that club. Each week you'll produce one piece that is a staple of the genre, from front of the book items, to product copy, lists, short profiles, personal essays, sex columns, and zeitgeist stories. You'll also learn how to develop a voice, a way to speak directly to the reader, like two buddies sitting on bar stools and swapping stories. The goal of the class: to create a salable story and come away with the knowledge that allows you to take those first steps on the career path that will lead you to being one of the most sought after writers in the business.

In this class, you will:

• Hear the collected advice from a half dozen of the most successful men's magazine editors working today.
• Hone your humor writing skills -- a no-joke necessity for nearly every men's magazine.
• Learn to create pitch letters that'll end run any editor's natural-born impulse to say no.
• Find out which editors to target those pitch letters to.
• Learn how to rewrite, revise and edit your own copy.
• Learn how to get your name known to those who matter at men's magazines.

Admission requirements:
Please submit a letter of interest (including a brief work history) and a writing sample (less than 2,000 words).

Instructor Bio

Matt Schneiderman's Courses

Matt Schneiderman is a a former features editor at Sync Magazine, a technology and lifestyle magazine for men. Since moving to New York in 2000, he has edited for MaximNet (Dennis Publishing's online division), Stuff Magazine and Cargo Magazine.