Because so many writers rely on the internet to expand their freelance writing business, they sometimes overlook sources of income which are not internet based.

Since I wrote about my first foray into freelance writing, I have been thinking more about ways we can make a living as a writer other than via the internet. In fact, if these methods are applied with as much time and effort as we give our online writing work, they can become quite lucrative in their own right.

It is simply that the promotional methods the freelance writer uses in this case will sometimes be different.

I wrote about sending ‘letters to the editor’ and writing short ‘true stories’ and articles for magazines, and although I said that this pursuit did not earn me a fantastic wage, it did earn me some money for my writing and I am convinced that, had I developed this form of writing for profit over time, it would have become a winning formula. This is based upon freelance writing for magazines in the UK, but I would suspect that these tips are relevant to writing for popular magazines in many different countries. So I’ll explain the methods I used in more detail below.

Freelance Writing for Popular Magazines

Writing for magazines requires as much research as any other form of freelance writing. However, in this case you will be buying (or borrowing) a whole bunch of magazines to study from cover to cover, including the ’small print’. You need to study the following:

The magazine’s demographic:

  • Who is the magazine aimed at? Male, female, teen, middle aged, elderly, career women, stay-at-home mums, confused teenager…

What message is the magazine conveying?

  • Conservative, liberal, a particular religion, a radical point of view, an ‘upbeat’ message, an angry message, irony, humour…

The style of writing used in the magazine

  • Is the language formal or chatty, gossipy or informative? Is English (or American) grammar used, or are more popular and current language styles and multi-cultural terms preferred?

What is the magazine’s stated purpose and policy?

  • You will often find this on the inside page with an intro from the editor, or in the small print at the bottom of the page.

Advertisements in the magazines

  • The freelance writer must study magazine advertisements very carefully. These are the life blood of the magazine, so your story or article must be in line with the message the advertisements are conveying, or it will not stand a chance.

Readers Letters

  • What type of letters make it into print? Are they mainly ‘how to tips’, or little stories in their own right? Are they allowed to challenge the editor’s comments, or are they all in agreement with the message conveyed by the magazine?

Authors Bio

  • Many magazines require an author’s bio from all submitting freelance writers. This will often be accompanied by a small passport-size photograph.
  • Here you have to decide whether you want your face emblazoned across the country if your story is published, or whether you would prefer to use a picture you have obtained somewhere else (a helpful relative may allow you to use theirs, but ask first). You have to make sure that the image you use is relative to the persona you are using, so you may not wish to use your own photograph in any case.
  • If you use an image from the internet, do make sure you have obtained it from a stock photo source which allows this. And it should go without saying that you do not want to use a well-known person in your ‘identity’ image, if you want to get your story published without entailing any legal comebacks later.

Finding out where to submit your article

  • For readers letters, the address and details of what is required should be on the same page as the published letters.
  • Details on submissions of stories and articles for publication will usually be found in the small print on the first page of the magazine, or inside the back cover, along with credits to published authors and contact details for the magazine. Check these carefully. Sometimes the submission address will be the same as the magazine’s address, but sometimes it will not, especially if the magazine belongs to a publishing chain. If you submit your article to the wrong address you cannot expect busy editorial staff to resubmit it for you. It will most likely get thrown in the nearest bin instead.

Submitting Readers Letters

  • There is an ‘art’ to this, depending upon the magazine in question. The tone of your letter should be friendly, but polite. It must be proof read in the same way as a full size story or article. You will usually be addressing your comments to ‘the editor’ or a the person whose name appears at the top of the letters page. Please get this right.
  • If your letter refers to a recent discussion or an article in the magazine, so much the better, but remember that magazines are edited weeks in advance of publication, so you need to be quick off the mark if you want this type of letter to be considered.
  • If your letter is on a more general theme you have more scope regarding time. However, you will want to keep in mind that a letter about buying swimwear will not be considered relevant for publication in November (unless you are writing for a travel magazine) and a recipe for Christmas Pudding is unlikely to be published in May (it may be held back for publication later, but this is not usually the case).
  • The outline of your readers letter will be in regular letter format (although many magazines prefer double spacing over single - if you are not sure, use double), with the address to the magazine on the left, your address, telephone number and email address on the right, and then continue on the left hand side with the date, the salutation to the editor or person you are addressing, perhaps a very brief note about the letter you are submitting (this depends on the magazine). Follow this with a line of text in bold which describes the contents of your letter.
  • You should then type your ‘Readers Letter’, sign it beneath, and then type your full name (or pen name).
  • Some magazines do not acknowledge readers letters, but many do, so you will want to enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope with the letter. This will allow you to keep a note of where the letter has been sent. I will explain why in part 2.

Submission by Email:

  • As more and more companies embrace the internet, many magazines over the last few years have started to accept readers letters (and sometimes stories and articles too) by email in addition to ’snail mail’. However, If you choose email submissions, you must remember that your email has even more likelihood of disappearing for ever in someone’s email box than the paper version. In my experience, you are also much less likely to have your letter acknowledged.
  • Nevertheless, if you have written a letter which is in answer to a recently published article, then email would be your best bet to make the next edition of the magazine and not get sidelined as ‘old news’.

Ok, this is a very long post and I have yet to cover writing stories and articles for submission to popular magazines, so I’ll save that for part 2, along with more details about how to organise your freelance writing work, to make life easier and your work more profitable.