How Do I Get My Articles Into Magazines?

I once thought back in the old days that you had to have an article idea before you sent a query letter through the mail to a magazine. I'm sure a lot of us are in the same boat, buying stamps, waiting for rejections from magazines to pile up. Well, this certainly isn't a very beneficial approach so allow me to enlighten you to what I have personally discovered.

Do you want to write for a magazine?

First, let's start with who you are and what you know about? Do you hold a black belt or do you have your own business? Do you know stuff about education? Are you really into reporting on the latest products? Do you like doing book reviews?

Make yourself aware of your two or three strengths in terms of knowledge and writing. Write a few articles on each subject right away. These will be your examples. Focus to start with on service articles, articles that teach something. This will now make up your portfolio.

Secondly, it's time to find about ten or twelve publications you are interested in. Look on the internet. Find some more on the store shelves. Don't give up until you have your amount. You may not be successful with these ten or twelve but at the same time, you will just have to repeat the step later.

Thirdly, design an email to the Articles Editor of each of these magazines. In two paragraphs, let them know who you are and what you're prepared to write. Pepper these two paragraphs with a few of your article ideas and at the bottom, paste one of your articles right there as an example.

Then, email away. Chances are at least one will get back to you. Do not make the mistake of writing directly to the Articles Editor. Instead, search out a name for each of these magazines and make sure your email says his or her name.

Once you have one 'yes', please submit any articles for his or her consideration. Then, repeat the process until you have five to ten magazines you routinely write for. As you have already developed a portfolio of up-to-date articles, consider submitting a few of those first but always make sure you note somewhere in your email that you're flexible and will also write assigned tasks. It may take awhile before you are assigned articles but it never hurts to make it known that you are at their service.

Now, isn't that better than waiting for the rejection slips to pile up?

Robyn Whyte is the author of Police Issue, a romance available on http://www.amazon.com. She is also a freelance writer for various publications.