Getting Published

What is the "market"?
"The market is the sum total of all the magazines, newspapers, book publisher, self-publishing ventures, and miscellaneous publishing organs that take our written manuscripts and put them on paper, music, film , or stage or send them across the airwaves or into cyberspace to reach our audience."

Ethel Herr, Introduction to Christian Writing

How do I find a market for my article?
Decide your "niche." What kind of articles do you like to write? Do you wish to write travel articles? Do you wish to write articles for children's magazines? Find the latest edition of the Writer's Market published by Writer's Digest. This lists magazine and book publishers and gives you general information on magazines for which you want to write. Go to the bookstore or library. Look in the magazine section for some of the magazines you found in the Writer's Market. Buy or check out these magazines for further study.

In the Writer's Market, read the entries for the magazines you want to start writing for. Write for samples of these magazines if you haven't already bought some from the bookstore. Request guidelines for these magazines. Check the internet to see if their guidelines are on the magazine's website.

Study the magazines. What is the slant of the magazine? The tone? Who is the audience? What kind of articles to they publish--How tos? Interviews? Try to get the overall "feeling" of the magazine. Read at least two issues thoroughly.
Study the guidelines. What are they looking for? What aren't they looking for? What are the word limits for their articles? Do they have any special requirements? How much to they pay?

Make a list of several magazines for which you wish to submit your articles. These are the magazines you have been studying. This is your "niche." You might want to place them in order of who pays the most.

Marketing Terms
Assigned Article- An article requested by and editor, at his instigation rather than the author's.

Cover Letter- Letter of explanation accompanying a manuscript. Not needed for most magazine submissions.

Ghostwriting- Writing someone else's story in which your byline does not appear.

Multiple Submission- Submission of more than one manuscript to a single publisher at one time.

Query Letters- When reading the guidelines for a magazine, see if they only accept query letters. If they do then you need to send them a query letter, not the article manuscript. If you send the manuscript unsolicited then it will be returned to you unread. In your query letter, spend the first paragraph briefly describing the article you have written. Tell them why your article should go in their magazine. Your next paragraph should be about you. Tell them why you are qualified to write the article. Close your letter by thanking the editor for his or her time. Keep your query letter down to one page. Think of it as a sales pitch. Include a SASE for their response.

Rights- Legal right to publish or submit for publication written manuscripts or previously printed work.

First Rights-editor buys the right to print your material for the first time only.
Reprint Rights-editor buys the right to publish your manuscript even though it has been published in another magazine. Usually earns less per word than first rights.
All Rights-editor buys the sole rights to publish and republish the article in whatever form the publishing company desires. You would not receive royalties, but a one time payment or flat fee. If they publish your work in an anthology or in another form, you have no rights to profit from it. Payment is usually larger for all rights, but you must totally change the article in structure and style if you you want to sell it again.

SASE- Self addressed stamped envelope. Used to obtain guidelines, samples, answers to query letters and themelists.

Simultaneous Submissions- Sending your article to more than one magazine at a time.

Tearsheet- The pages your article appear on in a magazine are cut out and thrown into a file for future reference.

Themelist- Some magazines have an outline of upcoming themes for future issues. This will help you target your market if you can get a themelist for a magazine. Not all magazines have themelists. Check their entry in the Writer's Market.

Unsolicited Manuscripts- Manuscripts sent to a magazine that are not assigned or requested by the editor.