Freelance magazines?!

Freelance magazines?

What big-time magazines accept freelance writers?

Just about all of the major glossy publications accept freelance material. Just make sure that the content is appropriate for the audience of the magazine, and also make sure that you know the style of the magazine before writing any finalized manuscript... or even a query letter.

Writer's Market is an invaluable tool for finding freelance work with all sorts of publications, but finding the right niche for your story is only half of the work. You also need to understand the writing style of the magazine and their audience. Namely, familiarize yourself with;

* the general word count,
* the intended audience,
* which columns generally seem to be written by freelancers,
* which colums seem to be strictly written by staff,
* etcetera.

You can find out everything you need to know by reading a few past issues of the magazine. The masthead will likely fill you in on who's a staff writer, and who isn't. Finding a general word count is simple, just count the number of words in a paragraph, then compare its length to the rest of the article. Get a feel for the magazine, then query the editor.

Just don't pick up a copy of Writer's Market, even if it is the newest addition, and query the first editor you see in your general genre. Editors change jobs frequently in this industry, and magazines are constantly going out of business, or changing formats entirely. You need to visit the magazines website. You need to check the masthead on the latest issue. And, last but not least, you need to make sure that your article idea hasn't been covered by that magazine - or any of its direct competitors - in the past 6-12 months.

So, for what it's worth, send out queries to ANY editor that you choose. There's a very likely chance that your proposal will be rejected outright, or not even responded to at all. This is a simple reality that just about every freelance author must deal with. Just try not to get discouraged. The more you try, the more you will succeed. And the more you succeed, the less you'll be rejected by editors. It takes persistence... but it pays off in the long run!

Good luck.