If you are a freelance writer, or just want to be one, you know you have got to begin wherever. In no doubt, you’d love to land a piece in a nationally, or internationally, circulated publication. Usually it takes some time to start you as a writer who delivers the goods, on time. Start small and work your way up. A good feature article can sell tens of thousands of magazines at the supermarket racks. You know that your magazine writing future is nearly guaranteed if you write a feature article that is published in a national magazine. So, how do you go about landing that contract? Must you have several clips under your belt before making this bold move? At what point in your career should you pitch a feature article? Let’s take a look at what magazine editors grab when they examine the pile of submissions and queries that land on their desk each day. Here are the ground rules on how to write a feature article that catches that editor’s eye.
Initially, you must recognize that most magazines plan their issues as a minimum nine months previous to publication. So you will be targeting a December issue if you are submitting a query in March. As a result you will want to write a feature article matched to that season or month. Second in significance is researching ancient times issues of the exacting publication you would like to objective. Food is your thing. Undergo the archives of the publication to see what they have featured in past years, writing style. Now for the pitch. Let’s say you want to write a feature article for a foodie magazine. In March, you require to think December holiday festivities and all that include. Decorating cookies with the kids and making home made eggnog. How to cook a goose. Though, you require having an unusual slant to catch the attention of the editor. Do you have an old Irish neighbor who makes his home made eggnog every year, distributing his cheer to one and all?
Use some time and you will possibly learn a secret or two about making the best eggnog, in the old world style. There is no question that food magazine readers would like to identify how they can make the holidays unforgettable. To draw him out use your interviewing skills. This is what an editor looks for – an off-the-beaten-track take on a much belabored, but perennially preferred theme. So what do you add to the mix? That human component. This can form the backbone for you to write a feature article, which has that down home taste of the personality, an old guy who keeps the relations custom and little secrets you won’t locate in profitable eggnog from the superstore. If you write a feature article which not only answers their question on how to make eggnog, in a complicated, but makes the tradition come alive, slice-of-life piece, you – and the editor – have a winner.
Magazine editors want a feature article that they can sum up on the front page, making that subject fly off the shelves. As for when you might be prepared to write a feature article: you do not call for clips, if your quality of writing speaks for itself. ‘Authentic eggnog: a recipe from an Old World artisan that you can make yourself!’ You actually have nothing to lose, except for your time. Sure, I will read that feature article. Besides, you can always submit to other publications. Perhaps the most significant point to keep in mind when you write a feature article is that you require motivating and inspiring your reader to know what you know and to encourage an editor of the same! What are you waiting for? Just stick to the compliance procedure and you will be fine.