Two Ways to Write A Magazine Article

Two types of Leaves & Two Types of Articles



If you want to reach readers with your writing, one of the most
effective methods is to write magazine articles. As your articles are published, you
will reach thousands (if not millions) of readers. Through my years in
publishing, I've written many different types of articles on all sorts of people
and topics. The variety is endless in the print magazine world.



In the beginning of my magazine writing, I would be inspired to
write a personal experience article or a how-to article.  I would sit down and
write the article with no magazine or market in mind. After I wrote this article
to the best of my ability, I opened up my writers' market guide and searched for
some place to send the article or write a query. The process took a lot of
searching and energy—and often involved getting rejected because I didn't send
it to the right editor or right publication.



This type of writing is known as inspirational writing. You are
inspired to write something so you sit down, put your fingers on the keyboard
and write the complete article. It is one way that many people write and
eventually with enough persistence, find the right publication or editor and get
into print.



There is a second way to write a magazine article: write for a
particular publication and what the editor wants or needs. As a writer, you learn about these needs as you read and
study the submission guidelines. Almost every magazine has a set of editorial
guidelines on their website. Some of these guidelines are more detailed than
others. Sometimes the guidelines will say the percentage of freelance work they
publish. The higher this percentage, the stronger the need of the publication
for freelance writing (as opposed to something they write with their staff).




In addition to their guidelines, some
publications include a “theme list.” These publications have planned specific
themes they want to publish and they are solid indicator of what the editor
believes their readers want to know. To get published, you can either write a
query letter or write the entire article and send it to the editor (follow their
guidelines). The second way to write a magazine article is a more targeted yet
also involves meeting the needs of the editor and reader. Because it is
targeted, it has a higher probability of publication and less time for the
writer to search for a market and then get rejected and search for another
market.



Inspirational writing is fun and
something I still encourage you to do—particularly with personal experience
articles. Each of us have unusual personal experiences in life but the successful
published writers will take these personal experiences and use them as grist for
their writing and craft their article. Almost every magazine uses personal
experience stories (large circulation and small circulation).



My purpose in writing this article was to
show you a more targeted (and potentially successful) method to get your writing
into print publications. Writing for magazines is a solid way to build your
platform or presence in the market, reach readers and build your reputation as a
writer. After many years in publishing, I continue to write for
magazines.



What tips do you have for writing for
magazines? Let me know in the comments below.



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