Marketing Your Magazine Articles
Do you want to see your magazine article in print – and get paid for your work? Nothing is quite as inspiring for a magazine writer as receiving that first check. Learn from an established, well-published magazine writer to broaden your outlook and possible sales to a variety of magazines.
Course Level: Intermediate / Advanced
Required Book: None Required. Current edition of Writer’s Market is highly recommended
Workshop Length: 4 weeks
Tuition: $150.00 ($135 for VIP)
Start Date: View Marketing Your Magazine Articles Course Schedule
Course Structure
The Marketing Your Magazine Articles Workshop involves a hands-on study to broaden your outlook and possible sales to a variety of magazines by learning how to define a magazine’s readership, goals, and style. It also covers manuscript format (both print and e-mail); what to expect from a contract, including negotiation; and what rights to sell, with a section on selling reprints and simultaneous rights. You’ll learn how electronic rights affect you, since the rules are still in flux. Each session includes a short writing assignment pertaining to magazine submissions, which the instructor critiques and students share for more feedback. Ongoing discussions with the instructor and other students are available through Critic’s Corner and the Message Board. (0.8 CEUs)
You will learn:
- To define a magazine’s readership, goals, and style
- How to format your manuscript for both print and email submissions
- What to expect from a contract, including negotiation
- What rights to sell, including selling reprints and simultaneous rights
Who should take this course:
- Aspiring article writers who want to understand saleable rights and how to negotiate freelance contracts
- Article writers who want to get more of their work published and sold and are looking for a hands-on workshop guided by a Published Article Writer
- Graduates of Focus on the Nonfiction Magazine Article Workshop or Extended Magazine Article Writing Workshop
Course Outline
Session One: Broaden Your Scope of Magazine Markets
Provides an overview of the current magazine market, encouraging you to go beyond the magazines at the supermarket checkout counter. Become acquainted with a magazine’s needs with insight on its readership, personality, style, and types of articles.
Writing Assignment: Summaries of four magazines studied by you. In 150 words for each magazine describe the readership including age, gender, socio-economic background, spiritual bent if any, political persuasion/style if evident, and types of articles they use. Unless otherwise noted, assignments post in Critics’ Corner, enabling all students to learn more about different magazines.
Session Two: Where to Obtain Magazine Information and Use It to Your Advantage
Learn how to sift through the maze of magazines to find the ones just right for your writing. Discover how to obtain information about the nearly 20,000 magazines in circulation, branching out to the world of not-so-well-known paying magazines, and the tempting foreign market.
Writing Assignment: Write a 300 to 500-word article on a specialty or hobby of yours, a family member, or of a friend. List four magazines (not listed in any other writing assignment for this course) that might use such an article.
Session Three: Thinking of Yourself as a Paid Writer, and Brushing off Rejection
Know when you need to query, and when it’s OK to simply send the manuscript. Learn to send your work to the right markets and editor, while remembering it’s OK to be bold and daring. Discover the difference between the format for USPO submission and online submission. Find out how to use rejection constructively.
Writing Assignment: Write a 500- to 750-word essay on your writing vision, including the markets you want to reach, why your current writing fits a particular magazine’s criteria, and how you intend to reach them.
Session Four: Making Money From the Get-Go
Discover ways to earn money while you establish yourself by writing on spec and sending out queries. Make the most from a single article with an overview of how to use the different types of rights to your advantage. Learn to negotiate and be comfortable with a contract, and how to handle electronic rights.
Writing Assignment: Choose one of the two options below. Gear the query letter you prepare to one of the magazines you’ve studied for this course.
- Write a one-page query letter on a topic you plan to write about.
-OR-
- Write a one-page query letter based on the writing assignment you completed for session #2.
