How to Write and Sell Magazine Articles
Instructor: Patricia Fry
| Duration: | Six Weeks |
| Dates: | You choose when to start! |
| | Fee: | $125 |
| Instruction level: | Intermediate writers who want to establish a freelance writing career and authors wishing to promote their books through magazine articles. |
| Prerequisite: | Be ready to follow instructions and make sacrifices in order to reach your writing/promotional goals. |
Course Description
Do you dream of building a career as a freelance writer? Would you like to promote your book through magazine articles? If so, this class is for you. Learn how to recognize good article ideas, write a query letter, find the right market for your work, write a successful article, submit your work and recycle your articles.
Perhaps you've tried to break into the magazine article market with no luck. Maybe the articles you've designed to promote your books are rejected. I'll guide you through the process of developing an article for a magazine of your choice and ultimately submitting it. While I can't guarantee publication, I can assure you a greater measure of success than you may have been experiencing on your own.
What could you possibly be doing wrong? Let me count the common mistakes:
- Failing to study the magazine for which you want to write.
- Approaching the wrong magazine with the wrong article.
- Blatantly promoting your book in the article.
- Neglecting to adhere to the requested word count.
- Submitting a sloppy manuscript.
- Retiring a good idea before exploring all of the possibilities.
- Exercising poor research skills.
- Thumbing your nose at protocol and submission guidelines.
- Giving up too soon.
Whether you want to become a freelance writer or promote your book through magazine articles, the techniques and skills you learn here will go a long way toward helping you meet your goals.
Course Outline
Class 1: Are you ready to launch a career or begin promoting your book through magazine articles? This week, I will help you assemble the tools, prepare the space, make the time and adopt the right frame of mind. We'll explore ways to overcome those pesky obstacles that may be preventing you from starting your writing career. And we'll talk about the sacrifices that may be necessary in order for you to pursue your writing goals. I'll provide some real life examples reflecting how to go from hopeful writer to professional writer practically overnight. Your assignment will involve some personal assessment.
Class 2: This week, we'll talk about article ideas. Where do we find them and how do we evaluate them? Once you have an idea, we'll work together to determine your article focus and slant. I'll also ask you to make a list of additional articles you could create from your chosen topic.
Class 3: It's time to find an appropriate market for your article idea. I'll lecture on how to research periodicals and how to locate their submission information. We'll start gathering preliminary information that we'll need in order to write your query letter.
Class 4: Now it's time to write the query letter. I'll talk about the anatomy of a query letter and what we typically send along with the query letter. We'll also discuss simultaneous submissions, rights issues, contracts and more. I'll provide examples of successful query letters.
Class 5: This week, you'll research your subject, conduct interviews (if necessary) and begin writing your article. Among other things, we'll discuss research and interview techniques, permission-to-quote policies and more.
Class 6: It's time to fish or cut bait. Class, let's submit our articles. I'll lecture on the importance of and how to adhere to submission guidelines and I'll reveal what to expect from magazine editors. (This may surprise you.) We'll discuss payment policies, your right to negotiate and the dreaded R word, "rejection." I'll also touch on bookkeeping methods. It's vitally important to keep good records for tax purposes as well as for effective communication with editors and publishers.
I will be available after this week to provide limited assistance with your query letters and articles. And I'll always be available to offer encouragement and to share in your successes.
Testimonials from students:
"I took Ms. Fry's class at the college and found it to be exactly what I needed to jump start my writing career. She taught me things that it would have taken me years to learn on my own."
Sarah
"I thoroughly enjoyed Patricia's magazine article class. And I learned a lot. My only complaint is that it ended too soon."
June
"Patricia's class was a success as far as I'm concerned. I can now say that I'm a published writer. Hooray!"
Chris
|
