Writing for the Magazine Industry: What You Need to Know

I have many years experience as a writer: author, freelance writer, Departments Editor of a print magazine, staff writer, and also in advertising. In my line of work there are many perks. I get to meet lots of new people in the same field and when I want to work on a project they need my expertise in I gladly do it, when I travel I often times get the entire trip paid for as long as I do an advertisement for the person or company, along with many other things.

I must admit, from one writer to another, freelancing is where the real money is at. Although I have had good luck with my books I know many others who weren't as fortunate. If you are one of the lucky people that have good fortune with a book or two it is usually short lived. This means you sit back and reap the rewards of your hard work for a year or two, then you gladly accept the royalties every once or twice a year after that but it isn't as grand as it used to be it doesn't give you the same rush that it once did.

Freelance writing or even becoming a staff writer for a good magazine is excellent work. Normally, you work at home (if you choose) and do what you do best. You can take on as many jobs, providing you can handle them all, and write during the hours you set aside. This satisfies the 'money now' mentality and way of life, this means that magazines will typically pay upon acceptance or publication.

Writing for the Magazine Industry: Different Genres

There are so many different types of magazines out there that are waiting for you to share your talents. Here are a few that I will be covering in articles to come.

• Lifestyle
• Senior living
• Parenting
• Politics
• Business
• Computers
• Hobbies
• Religion
• Fiction
• Mystery/fantasy/sci-fi/drama
• Poetry

If you have looked through those genres and said to yourself, "I could write about that," then chance are I will be able to help. Being a writer is about more than just being able to spell and form sentences, although I have seen my fair share of those that couldn't even do that much, it is however about passion for a subject and being able to write a compelling piece for your target audience.

Writing for the Magazine Industry: Query Letters