Free Advice Friday: Working with Magazines

What’s on the iPod: Take Off Your Sunglasses by Ezra Furman & the Harpoons

It was a heavy workweek. I have deadlines everywhere and plenty of assignments. I’d say TGIF, but there’s a lot to do before 5 pm. I did finish one article, but have one more to complete and two more to start. Then there’s the other client work that’s about to hit the desk. Good thing I take vitamins.

Also, things on the personal side are about to pick up. My daughter’s wedding is approaching, as is my stepson’s wedding. A week apart – I know. It would have been nice if they’d shared each other’s plans. April will be nutso-busy. I have one bridal shower, one visit from my mom and a related shopping trip, plus two article deadlines — one coming the week my mom is here. My plan is to work like crazy ahead of deadline so I can take a few hours off here and there.

It requires a plan, which I have. I’m sharing it with you today on this Free Advice Friday. Thanks to a reader for asking the question and prompting this post. Many of you who are just starting out may have the same questions I’ve been getting from other beginning freelancers, so here you go.

Free Advice Friday: Working with Magazines
To learn how to query magazines, read Query Letter, Part One and Query Letter, Part Two.

The Right Idea/The Right Magazine
Before you get to the letter, however, you have to know if you’re sending the right idea to the right place. You accomplish that by doing your homework.

Research. Each magazine, even ones that seem similar, has a particular voice and audience. There’s one surefire way of knowing those attributes — by doing your homework. Read the magazine. Pay attention to the headlines, the tone of the articles, and just as importantly, the advertisements. Ads tell you a lot about the reader, for advertisers aren’t going to place ads for say a Mercedes in a magazine that’s meant for teenagers. As for the articles, are they first person, second person, or third person? Are they conversational or authoritative? Are the articles how-to, trend pieces, investigative, or essay? What are the headlines on the cover? How do those headlines differ from another magazine targeting a similar readership?

Formulate your questions first. Before I write a single query, I put my curiosity to work. What do I want to know about this topic of mine? The questions are the outline to my query. They’ll also help you nail down your topic most succinctly, and you’ll be able to better focus on maybe one aspect of your topic instead of trying to cover it all.

Locate a few experts. No need to interview them or even talk to them prior to the query (unless your entire article is a profile of one person or relies primarily on one person’s input) — just find potential interview sources and make note of them.

Rough in a headline/lede.  Having a headline allows you to present the idea to your editor. Make sure to match the style and tone most often used by the publication you’re targeting. The lede is the short summary right under your headline – that bit of italicized content that tells you what you’re about to read. For example, an article I wrote on Detroit’s bankruptcy was titled “A City Stalled” and contained the following lede: “After decades of decline, Detroit is trying to reorganize under the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. Is the city finally on the road to recovery?” You don’t have to have your lede written at the query stage, but if you’re struggling to nail down your focus, it can help. If you can’t write your lede to match your idea, your idea is too broad.


Shaping Your Article and Query
Once you get all of the above accomplished, you’re ready to query. Here are a few pointers besides those in the links provided above.

Write your hook. Your hook is by journalistic standards often known as a nut graph/graf — short for the “nutshell paragraph”– that’s going to sum up what you’re about to cover in one introductory paragraph. It’s called a hook because it’s going to “hook” readers into reading further. It’s used mostly in newspaper writing, but it has value in the magazine world, as well, since most magazine articles are feature articles in nature. Good hooks include: anecdotes; facts or statistics (don’t believe the old adage that statistics should never start an article — if they’re compelling enough, they work); a question; a simile, or; a quote. An example of a hook I used recently: “Transporting guns, evading cannibals and masking pimples are exposures that don’t usually enter the typical risk management orbit. Yet for some, such threats are just business as usual.”

Use your editor as your first audience. Don’t save it for the article — you have to impress the editor first or there won’t be an article. Everything you’ve just done to know your audience, narrow your focus, and get an idea on paper should be in your query. Pretend your first paragraph is for your article — it may well be. The second paragraph explains the topic, including your title, and tells how you’ll approach it. You’ll mention potential interview sources and what you hope to ask them. The last paragraph will outline any experience you have and ask for the job.

After Acceptance
Once you get the assignment, you need to know what happens next. Typically, editors will assign a deadline (if not, ask — sometimes they do forget), and they’ll send over a contract.

Find out the process. Do you see galleys (pre-publication proofs)? If not, how do editors handle revisions? Most of my editors will send the article back with some comments in the text for clarification. Others handle them all without the writer’s input. Either way, know that the final product belongs to the magazine. You have a certain amount of say in the article, but they know their audience best.

Be on time. If you expect to earn the trust of your editor and get future assignments, don’t miss a deadline. If there are circumstances at play that may cause you to miss a deadline — the one source of the article isn’t available or cooperative, for example — tell your editor immediately. If an editor knows enough in advance, he or she can find something to fill magazine space.

Handle disagreements professionally. Do editors make mistakes? Absolutely. In my career, I’ve worked with exactly two editors who introduced errors into the article or who over-edited to the point of killing the story’s impact and drowning out my voice. You have to approach these situations with care and tact. In one case, I had the unappealing job of telling an editor one of his edits created a huge red flag for industry people. If the editor has messed up your content to the point you don’t want your name on it, find a way to say “I’m not comfortable with these changes – can we address them together?”

Writers, what do beginning writers need to know about working with magazines and magazine editors?