On this website I am going to show you how hundreds of article writers succeed in making a career out of freelance writing. Know right now that you can do it if you want to.

This doesnt happen overnight but if you start now follow the rules laid down here and stay with it you can make it.

This means mastering a number of disciplines--the first of which is learning how to tilt the odds in your favor so your manuscript stands out and lets the editor know that you understand his publication and his problems and that you are the one writer who can help solve them.

Each year hundreds of thousands of writers send manuscripts to magazines. The majority are sent right back with a rejection slip. One magazine that gets over 70000 pices of mail a year from writers buys about four articles a year that arent assigned or solicited.  The odds at some magazines are 100000 to one that you will sell an article.

But hold on! In class weve proved this wrong over and over again. Ive had students sell to Redbook on their second or third try and also sell dozens of articles to all types of magazines.

First the odds are not quite what they seem. The smaller magazines especially the trade journals and specialized company magazines may get only a few more manuscripts a year than they can use.

Second you must understand how a lot of writers write. Many want to write what they want to write--not what magazine readers want to read. And that automatically cuts them out of a market.

Often writers Ive found just pick a topic and write an article. But this is only half of getting an article in print. The rest is tailoring your article to the magazine.

You will find that the majority of articles in some magazines are written in the first person…some dont allow dialogue…others like a lot of examples. A writer needs to know this and take it into account. This one factor alone probably accounts for 90 percent of all rejections. Magazines that print only articles frequently receive dozens of short stories.  Writers sometimes forget that they must know their markets.

You however can be the exception. The secret is to analyze the market and give that market exactly what it wants. If you do this well you can cut the odds from say 1000 to 1 to almost 50-50--or maybe in the beginning to 80-20. But thats still pretty good considering the hundreds of thousands of other writers that are out there trying.

Magazines Buy Ideas That Satisfy Readers

Magazines are a business. They exist because people buy magazines and patronize advertisers. Readers read these magazines because they supply information they can use or need.

A woman may pick up a womans magazine to look for decorating tips or read about a problem she may be having or ways to fix her hair. She definitely does not want to read an article on tractors.

The same is true of other magazines--they specialize. Readers are interested in certain types of articles. Magazines get readership because they confine their articles to these subjects. A gun magazine is a good example of single-mindedness. All articles are aimed at gun buffs. An article about a baby would go here yet writers still send pieces like that in.

The real secret of putting the odds in your favor is to analyze the magazine backwards and forwards. Once you do this you will begin "hitting" that magazine regularly.

Heres how to do it. Pick up a magazine and read these areas thoroughly.

(1) the editorials; (2) the columns; (3) letters to the editor; (4) the ads; (5) the articles themselves especially the titles. Use this to try to get an overall focus for the magazine.

How to Make Sure Your Idea Hits the Bulls-Eye

This will be difficult in the beginning but you will get better as you go along. After youve tried this for awhile youll know when you get an idea whether the magazine you are aiming at will take it or not.

To do this take your idea and try to match it to the magazine. Determine exactly who your reader is. Then determine the categories of articles that magazine buys. Ask yourself "Will this reader be interested in my idea? Does it fit one of the categories the magazine takes? Finally is it the angle the magazine is taking to please their readers?" Take some magazines and go back through and look at the angles theyre taking within your category.

Look Over the Magazine You Want to Hit--Try to Find Articles That Fit Your Experience.

The only way you can match your ideas to the magazine is to read the magazine. Try to categorize articles by topics. Then as you read the article titles and subtitles try to remember happenings from your experience or things that youve heard that will fit a topic category--this will make it possible to offer the magazine ideas you are familiar with and want to do--that all tie into the magazines needs.

With a magazine like Field and Stream for instance try to categorize what they are doing such as an unusual fishing trip basic outdoors how-to camping where to go and so forth and try to see if there is something in your experience thats similar to this.

The Quickest Route to Sales-- Topics and Magazines You Feel At Home With

It is best to restrict yourself to ideas material and magazines you like and feel comfortable with. For instance you are a fisherman and like doing articles on fishing but you have no feel for cooking. Therefore write articles on fishing and avoid those on cooking. This is a silly example but many beginning writers stab out in all directions.

The same is true of magazines. Take a look at 15 to 20 on the stands and ask yourself how you feel about each one. Look through a copy of Womans Day then Cosmopolitan.  Do you like the way these magazines present their articles? Are you comfortable with the material? This makes a difference.

Check and Recheck Your Final Article With the Magazine in Mind

When you finish your article and it sounds good to you go back over it keeping your reader in mind and the way the magazine presents their material. Try to decide if you are meeting these requirements. Heres a quick checklist for putting the odds in your favor.

(1)   Looking at the magazines titles does your article title fit the magazine? Does it create interest?

(2)   Is this article the right length for this magazine? Maybe it is too long or too short? Are your facts true? If not get on the phone or use your computer and make sure.

(3)   Does this article fit the magazine? Read two or three articles in the magazine then read yours again and see if it has the same "ring.

(4)   Is it presentable? Make sure it looks good. If you are e-mailing the article check for typos again before you send it out.