How to Analyze a Magazine Before Writing for It

by Linda Gilden @LindaGilden

Driving down the road, a great idea for a magazine article pops into your head. You have a head full of points and an outline is forming. By the time you get home you should have a full article ready to flesh out for a magazine you are only sort of familiar with. You have read the magazine a time or two and know you could write for them. You enjoy the writing and the style of the magazine you want to pitch it to and have often thought while reading it, “I could probably have written that.”

Once you get home, you look on your reference shelf and realize you threw last year’s market guide away planning to purchase a new one, which you have neglected to do. Now what can you do?

What to Look For Before Submitting an Article to a Magazine

If you have a copy of the magazine you want to write for, pull it out. If you don’t, go buy one. Look it up online and look through that issue. Start with the cover. What do the cover lines tell you about their audience? What ages are they targeting? What are the subjects? Does your target audience fit theirs? While you are on the website, see if there is a button that says guidelines. You want to get the guidelines for any publication you want to write for. Follow them carefully.

Browse the table of contents. What are the titles of the articles? Do they use subtitles or have regular departments? Sometimes the regular departments are the easiest places to break into. Look and see if the same person writes that department every month. In that case, probably that one person is a staff member. If that is the case and your article fits that department, write a note, and ask if they accept guest posts.

Look at the masthead. What is the masthead? In most magazines it is not far inside the magazine. The masthead lists all the editors and staff of the magazine. You will know from that list which editor may be interested in your article pitch.

As you progress through the magazine, notice the advertisements or lack of. What are they advertising? If it is Geritol and Lifeline, what audience are they trying to reach? Right, older folks. If they are advertising diaper cream or toddler toys, they are targeting young families. When you think about who the audience i and who they trying to reach, consider the ages, gender, socioeconomics, educational level, occupation. What are those people interested in reading about that is related to the group of people represented in the products. 

Study the articles. What is their length? What is the tone of the articles? Are they chatty? Serious? Scholarly? What kind of opening hook do they use? Does the lead make you want to read on? How? Are the articles written in first person? Or third person? Do they contain quotes? How are the quotes attributed? Do any of the articles contain subheads? Do they use sidebars? These things are important and often can enhance the information you are offering in your article.

How many of the articles seem to be freelance written? To get this information, go back to the masthead and see how many of the staff have bylines in the table of contents. Often magazines use their staff people to write articles when they can. It is a way to save a little money since some magazines have cut down their freelance writers because they are already paying those who are on their staff. Do they use any short articles and fillers?

If you can purchase a market guide, most of the answers will be in the listing for the magazine as well as who to contact to submit articles. The market guide or the magazine can give you all the information you need.

Years ago, I wrote my first article for Writers Digest magazine. I searched the magazine for a similar article and wrote my article with the open magazine beside my computer. That way if I had any questions about the format they used, I could just look over to my left and see exactly what they preferred. 

Find a good market for your work and then closely follow their guidelines. When you send an article according to the magazine guidelines, you have sent them an article they will be more tempted to buy because much of their work has been done for them. We are on the same team serving writers all over the world and they appreciate the work of the freelancers to help their magazines look good. 

One other thing. Don’t forget that most magazines have websites and need material for those. So, if your articles don’t make it in the print version, there is the possibility you could see it online! This week try to find a new magazine you can write for and apply these things we have talked about today. It will give you the publishing advantage and help keep you out of the slush pile.

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How to Analyze a Magazine Before Writing for It from @LindaGilden on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Linda Gilden is an experienced, bestselling writer, speaker, award-winning editor, marketer, and speaking coach, ghostwriter, and writing coach. Author of 40 books and 2,000+ magazine articles, Linda appreciates a great story. She believes with our stories, we can change the world one word at a time and loves to encourage others to do that through writing coaching and personal tutoring. Her newest book was released in November: TRADING SHADOWS: EXCHANGING A LIFE OF SECRETS, FEAR, AND DOUBT FOR A LIFE OF FREEDOM WITH THE ALMIGHTY.