Write for Any Magazine

Write for Any Magazine Write-what-you-know has its purpose. Why bother gaining experience or studying anything new if you cant use it? Why become an expert? As a freelancer, if you limit your writing to only what you know, you become stale after a period of time. I profess that you can write about for almost any magazine. Here are three tricks to picking up a magazine and determining a pitch for the editor: 1) Interview an expert in a magazines field. You may not know squat about the subject matter of a magazine, but if you interview someone who does, you have the makings of a great profile piece. Sure, you need to read up on the individual so you dont sound completely naive, but youll learn soon enough that most experts thrive on explaining what they do. Ask a few pertinent, intelligent questions, and theyll take off like a rocket, feeding you all the information you need for a beautiful piece for magazines you never thought youd ever qualify to write for. 2) Study press releases. That means study ALL press releases. Go to prweb.com/ or prnewswire.com/ and read whats new. Not only will you find experts quoted who you can contact for item 1) above, but you can learn about new findings, studies, revelations, inventions, and happenings that make for great features. Whats fantastic about these releases is that they list names and contact information for the people who know the most about the topic matter. Right there in oneplace, you have the facts you need to outline a great feature. 3) Pitch something evergreen. A subject like How to make the most of a conference can apply to magazines for fishermen, golfers, doctors, teachers, writers, accountants, landscapers, or anyone who attends a professional conference. How to hire a great employee from a mediocre pool of applicants. How to make your website sticky and appealing.   How New Years resolutions really do work. Travel deals you never see in the ads. The list goes on and on about how to take a very general, how-to-live-better piece and apply it to most topics. So, take those three simple concepts, and unless the magazines require you have an advanced degree in the subject matter, you have an open door to endless material for all those magazines you see in Writers Market . . . and FundsforWriters.