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The Makings of a Magazine: Do They Include You?
(writing magazine articles)
Magazines are everywhere. They are published on nearly every subject you can imagine, in duplicate and triplicate and more. All that a start-up magazine needs is a niche and an audience. While there may be hundreds of cooking magazines out there, a new one could come up if it should cover cooking for your pets. In fact, there may already be such a magazine in existence. The niche is cooking for pets. The audience is those people who want the healthiest foods for their pets and are willing to put the time and effort into making it for them. If you are interested in writing magazine articles, you’ll be sure to find one that is perfectly suited to your interests and abilities as a writer. Because there are so many magazines, it won’t be difficult to find one that you will enjoy becoming a part of.
What You Should Know
Magazines survive on advertising. The advertisers pay because the content is good enough that readers will invest in the glossy covers again and again. The best way to find a healthy magazine is to look through the racks for thick publications. They will only be full of content if they are full of advertisements. The big magazines can afford to pay their writers more, but they can also afford to pay only the best writers. Even though there is quite a lot of space to fill with content, you may have a hard time getting published in major magazines at first. Smaller magazines do not have quite the readership and so they also do not have quite the advertisement content. The space will be limited and the pay will be lower, but these magazines will be more open to new writing talent nonetheless.
The More You Know, the Better
When it comes to a writing career, the more you know the better off you will be. It is not hard to figure out that you will have the best chances for publication if you can write on a variety of topics. You should not limit yourself to a small area of expertise. Work to become an expert in every topic you come across. There is no possible way of course to be an expert in every area of human knowledge, but it will help you in writing magazine articles to learn every new piece of information that you can. For example, if you were to send a query to a health and fitness magazine about writing a short piece about general mountain biking tips they may accept it. They may also then request additional information about the pros and cons of using a road bike on mountain trails. If you only know about mountain bikes, you’ll be stuck. If you have worked on broadening your horizons though, you’ll be able to produce the work that the magazine editor requires.
Getting On Staff
Querying magazines is a way to get published, but if you need a more stable job, you may be interested in getting on staff with a magazine. Writing magazine articles is a talent. If you can consistently bring an editor what he is looking for, you might have a chance. To improve your chances, in addition to writing effectively, it will help to have some significant education behind you. If you are serious about making it to the masthead of your favorite magazine, it’s time to go to school. A degree will help your credibility as a writer and will help you open doors into the magazine publication world.
Writing magazine articles takes a special kind of writer. You have to have a feel for what people are interested in reading about. The magazine content will help you understand how to write for a particular magazine and audience. You can also improve your chances of writing accepted articles by improving your knowledge base. Don’t be picky about what you’re willing to learn and you could go very far in the writing business.
Freebie Etiquette (Yes, There is Such a Thing!) When you are on the hunt for free stuff, it can be easy to be so blinded by the offers that your manners go flying out the window completely. You may also just not realize that when it comes to taking advantage of freebies there is a general code of conduct that it pays to follow. While you are racking up the free stuff, keep these common courtesy rules in mind so that you are doing your part to keep the hunt for freebies fun and enjoyable. Freebie etiquette rule number one is to remember that there is a face behind every freebie, no matter how distant it may seem. Since so many freebies come from websites and you don’t actually have interaction with a human being while you are getting them, it can be very easy to forget that someone (or very likely, a lot of someones) worked hard to bring you that website and that free deal. If you have a problem with a website or a form while trying to get some free stuff, deal with it as respectfully as you would if you had to approach a customer service rep in person. Leaving foul-mouthed posts on a message board or unloading a barrage of outrage on a customer reply form isn’t the way forward. Someone – a real person – will have to help you, and you’ll get a lot further by treating them with respect. Respect is also the name of the game when it comes to rules attached for freebie offers. There are often restrictions in place for taking advantage of free offers, such as the age you have to be to cash in on the offer or how many offers per household can be taken. Sure, there are plenty of ways to get around these rules and “trick” a company into giving you an offer for which you are not really eligible. However, when you try to simply bleed out as many free offers as you can, you’re only making it hard on companies to be able to keep bringing these offers to you. If this freebie isn’t for you, take a back seat and make room for the folks who can take advantage of it. Your time will come. Related to this last rule is the idea of not being too greedy when gobbling up the free stuff. Just because something is free doesn’t mean you should use a “smash and grab” approach and go for as much as you can get of anything you can get. Remember that there are a lot of other people out there who like to get in on the freebies, too, and think about how you would feel if you lost out on something you really wanted because someone came along and took them all. Don’t take more than your share of any free offer, and don’t take things you don’t want or need just because they’re free. Everyone loses when you do that. Last but not least, if you have an opportunity to say thanks for a freebie, grab it. Of course, this can be hard to do when the free offers you are taking advantage of are found on the Internet, but there are still ways. Look for the customer comment field in the request forms you fill out to get your free stuff and leave a quick thank you there. You can also write a thank you on message boards and chat rooms that are associated with the freebie websites. The good will generated by your gratitude will only help convince companies that freebie offers are useful tools for reeling in the customers. Steps on Reinventing yourself to Land a Better Job Having a decent job can greatly improve the quality of your life. You probably spend a fair amount of time at work. With that in mind, you do not want to be miserable when you are at work. If you want a better job, make yourself more attractive to employers. This task may be easier than you think. Start making some simple changes and watch the job offers begin to appear. The number one way to reinvent yourself in order to land a better job is to reform your attitude. Even if you are working at a nightmare of a job at the moment, you need to fight to stay positive. That negativity can be seen a mile away. You may not realize it but your face expression, posture and quality of work give off your frustration. This attitude is the first thing that has to go. Simple ways to change the way you feel about your current job include being on time and in uniform or proper dress code. These are two easy steps that will give you more pride about yourself. If you are out of dress code and late, you are not just making statement about the job. You are making a statement about yourself. Change these aspects of your working environment and you will be on your way to increasing positive energy. Take some classes. Whether you have a degree or not, brushing up on skills is always a good idea. No matter what your schedule is like, you can find time for a class or two. Use the Internet and take online classes if time is a major issue. Work at your own pace and pick up new skills. A degree or a couple of classes will make you more attractive to employers. Move away. If you are tired of dust collecting on your Communications degree while you wait tables, move to a place where your degree is more marketable. Find an area where the job market is fertile. When the economy goes south, certain job types are completely eliminated. If you are eager to find a better job you may have to go somewhere else to do it. Apply for higher positions in the company that you currently work for at the moment. Even if you are not really that thrilled about the current company you work for, while you are there you should make the best of it. Get as much experience as you can so that you will have a nice extensive work history to refer to when you are looking for a new job. If you want a better job, do some networking. Take advantage of the people that you know that have better jobs. Surround yourself with people that are working at jobs that they enjoy or are successful at. This is a great way to pave the way for yourself to get a better job. Figure out what type of job you want before you start looking. Narrow down the search and target the positions that fall in line with the jobs that you are most interested in. If you a constantly saying that you want a better job but don’t have any idea what the better job is, you are not going to be very successful in you search. Have a job in mind before you start your search. Join networking sites. These sites can be used for networking for jobs among other things. Be sure that you take the professional route when you put up your page. Let employers know that you are serious about finding a job. Do not post pictures of yourself at parties or in questionable positions. |