Far from soccer moms and picket fences, regional and suburban titles crave fresh, edgy profiles and service stories with strong local connections
We’re all familiar with city magazines, from venerable weekly New York magazine to monthlies like Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Chicago. But freelance opportunities at these titles tend to be notoriously scarce for newcomers — and since rough times for retail mean skinny city books, breaking in isn’t getting any easier.
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But there are still opportunities aplenty for those who know their geography, in the form of a number of increasingly stylish suburban and exurban regional titles with all the polish of city magazines, but with editorial focuses that lie explicitly outside the city center.
A long way from the flimsy old suburban monthlies, these lifestyle-heavy glossies focus on affluent (or at least aspiring) corridors that have sprung up in recent decades, like Orange County or the Inland Empire in Southern California, or Northern Virginia’s fast-growing string of Washington, D.C., bedroom communities. Others zero in on resort destinations, like Sun Valley or Aspen.
The key to getting a foot in the door at one of these magazines isn’t too different from the first rule in real estate: “It’s always about local, local, local,” says Hobart Rowland, editor-in-chief of Main Line Today, a 20,000-circulation lifestyle monthly covering Philadelphia’s wealthy western suburbs, with 30 to 40 percent freelance-driven content.
| “We’re looking for stories that are organically Orange County… We get too many pitches where someone has manufactured a connection.” |
Lynn Norusis, managing editor of 50-percent freelance Northern Virginia Magazine, which launched three years ago and claims a monthly readership of 150,000, agrees: “A lot of people will pitch me bars or events in Washington, D.C., and I kindly write back that we are Northern Virginia Magazine and we do not cover the D.C. area.” A story that did make the cut recently was a piece about Washington Redskins player Chris Cooley, who not only lives in northern Virginia but also recently financed a shoot on location there.
And forcing a local hook onto a story won’t do the job either, explains Martin J. Smith, editor-in-chief of Orange Coast, a 57,000-circulation monthly that’s about 50 percent freelance written. Recent freelance pieces include a profile on the local company that makes the full-body swimsuits favored by Olympic champions, and recently banned by the International Swimming Federation.
“We’re looking for stories that are organically Orange County. Just because you put an Orange County hook on it doesn’t mean it says something about life in Orange County,” Smith says. “We get too many pitches where someone has manufactured a connection.”
But find the right story and you could find a home for great local reporting.
Start close to home
Try pitching publications near where you live currently or have put down roots in the past — and explain that connection in your bio. Editors want to know that their writers understand the unique culture of their region. Orange Coast’s Smith says he can trust that a writer from Southern California will at least understand the difference between Orange County and Los Angeles. “They need a fair grounding in the people, the history and the culture of the place.”
Know the magazine
At Northern Virginia Magazine and Main Line Today, for example, all food stories are written in-house, but features, profiles and some service stories are fair game.
And at Orange Coast, knowing where your story could fit into the book is crucial, as the magazine is packed with formatted features like “Trade Secrets,” a business-oriented Q-and-A; “Top Shop,” which profiles a local boutique; “Voices,” a style-focused Q-and-A; and the “Monthly Guide,” a list of 10 places in a category like waterfront dining or independent bookstores. “People that aren’t familiar with the format are flying blind,’ says Smith. “Imagine where something would go in the magazine, and tell us where it would go when you pitch it.”
Skip obvious story fodder
When you’re working on a three-to-six month lead-time, the last thing you want is to be behind the curve on a well-covered story. So find fresh angles, and look for “stories that you’re not seeing a lot but are really intriguing, and that could make a huge impact for the region as a whole,” says Norusis. “It all comes down to, ‘Tell me something I don’t know.'”
Focus on the people
Stories need to hold a mirror up to the readers in the region, and then do more: draw connections, highlight the inspirational and delve into the tough issues. If an incident occurred in one neighborhood, says Norusis, find out how it’s relevant across the region, and “get local people involved” in your reporting.
Rowland says “local boy makes good” stories can work — but the subject had better have made really good, and research should include local sources that capture the trajectory of his journey, as in a recent profile on Hollywood comic and writer Adam McKay. “The pitches that seem to get me are interesting local people that are doing something that has been recognized on a national scale,” he says.
Table traditional travel pitches
Regional editors get tons of travel pitches — but unless a magazine has a specific travel section or its editorial calendar lists a travel issue, these can be a long shot. Try little-known local sites of interest instead.
Pitches may need some work to fit the specific regional mold — try to go with it, Smith says. “The magazine has a fairly good sense of its audience and its place in the universe. So we need freelancers to be very open-minded about their stories, to be prepared to discuss a story quite a bit before we can make an assignment.”
Follow up
Editors at small regional titles tend to be stretched incredibly thin, so email, don’t call. But if you don’t hear back, don’t be afraid to follow up and try to catch them at a better time.
Pay rate
Northern Virginia pays from $100 to $1,000, depending on the type of article, word count and the writer’s experience. Orange Coast pays $200-$300 for front-of-book departments and formatted features, and $1,000 to $1,800 for feature articles, which rarely exceed 3,000 words. Main Line Today pays from $50 for a 100-word calendar item to $800 for a feature article.
Lead times
At least four months in advance; Orange Coast prefers pitches six months in advance.
Samantha Melamed is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. She blogs about vegetarian cooking at SeitanWorship.wordpress.com.
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