Use the Internet to minimize the time spent locating magazines to study, find archived articles, obtain free sample copies, locate writer's guidelines, and query editors. Other important information, such as magazine publishers, publishers' representatives, and award-winning stories that help you blueprint your stories and articles to a magazine's template reduce guesswork.
Explore each web site
For example, by following links at About.com:Doll Collecting, I discovered there are fifteen magazines for dolls! http://tinyurl.com/5ts485, and more here, http://tinyurl.com/5pht6t, (Both websites belong to the New York Times http://www.nytco.com/. See a list of New York Times web sites, http://www.nytimes.com/. New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/auth/login required (which is free)Explore each web site
IMPORTANT -- Take time to learn about companies you hope to write for. For example, you'll see New York Times web sites listed at the bottom of the home page.) About.com is owned by New York Times. In the permission I received from them to include information and links, they also said, "Please be advised that linking to an article on The New York Times is free of charge and does not require permission. You do, however have to use the Publisher's URL which will take your readers back to The New York Times web site in which they have to be a member, or become a member. Membership is free of charge and only takes a minute to complete. For further information on linking, please see the URL below: http://www.nytimes.com/membercenter/faq/linking.html. If you wish to post an article onto your site (your URL would then host the material), then permission is needed and copyright fees apply."
Time Inc. has a portfolio of 21 U.S. magazines and more than 25 U.S. Web sites. Take time to learn more here, http://www.timeinc.com/aboutus/index.php.
Site Map
The Site Map displays the links on the web page, providing information quickly. Not all web pages have one, but you'll either find it at the top or the bottom of the page.
MAGHOUND, http://www.maghound.com/home.ep. When I clicked a magazine there, the resulting page offered View All Magazines. Hovering a mouse over each magazine's cover page displays its specialty. Maghound.com belongs to Time Inc., which publishes more than 115 magazines, including 22 in the U.S., which are read nearly 250 million times worldwide on a monthly basis, 26 US web sites, 48 worldwide web sites.
Web page search funtion
Take advantage of a web page's search function, because theirs often locates magazines missed by your favorite search engine. Mamma.com is a top Meta Search Engine, found at, http://www.mamma.com//. The search function at Starting Point, http://www.stpt.com/ brings links to magazines to read. Starting Point (TM) Magazines http://www.stpt.com/ is one of the best databases to search any topic and the magazines catering to it. It doesn't cover guides, but is a very good place to start when you're studying magazine content. Read reviews to get inside the magazine's readers minds.
NBC Internet (NBCi), http://tinyurl.com/6d2m8s will search many of the publications on the web for subjects or keywords, including magazines.
Explore the Internet Public Library, and also use their search utility: http://www.ipl.org/. With diligence, you find goodies like: http://www.ipl.org/div/serials/
Moira Allen's Website for writers, Writing-World.com, http://www.writing-world.com/, offers many links to various markets and writers' sites.
Visit Kirk LaPointe's J-Home has a very comprehensive list of links to magazines, http://www.kirklapointe.com/.
The American Journalism Review site, http://ajr.org/ affords links to the 50 largest circulation magazines in the states and the 25 largest circulation magazines in Canada. However, not every large circulation magazine has a link because many do not have web pages. Use News Sources at the top of the page and then select from the drop down list to get categorized lists.
Specialties
Specialties galore exist, such as Family Tree Magazine, devoted to family and genealogy, http://www.familytreemagazine.com/magazine/.
Greeting card magazine, Greetings.etc., is the industry's leading magazine, http://www.greetingsmagazine.com/greetings/index.shtml.
Provided by the Weider History Group, the world's largest publisher of history magazines, TheHistoryNet.com is excellent, and will also show you the picture of the day: http://www.historynet.com/.
Women magazines URL links and much much more are at, http://femina.cybergrrl.com/ under Media and Publications. If you write for or about women you'll want to check out, http://www.ivillage.com/magazinesites/.
If writing trade articles interests you, locate FreeTradeMagazines -- an excellent trade magazines resource, http://www.freetrademagazines.com/. Click on a listed magazine to get a page with more magazines in that topic. Study and compare to learn each magazine's style, content, publication dates, etc. (Tip: If making money from your writing-related website interests you, on the home page at the top, click the "Affiliate" button for full details.
Click on a listed magazine to get a page with more magazines in that topic. Study and compare to learn each magazine's style, content, publication dates, etc.
Magazine databases
Some magazine databases have links to magazine guidelines or contact information.
Databases of magazines, (writers guidelines for many magazines are also linked)
Writers Write, http://www.writerswrite.com/paying/
Writers Weekly, http://www.writersweekly.com/markets/
Snafu.de, http://home.snafu.de/gadfly/a-c.htm
Writing For DOLLARS, http://www.writingfordollars.com/.
Ark Royal Magazines, http://www.100-free-magazines.com/.
Magamall.com, http://www.magamall.com/.
Magatopia.com, http://www.magatopia.com/
ABZY News Links, http://www.abyznewslinks.com/.
Sample Magazines to study
At magazine seller sites click on the magazine cover. Some offer a blurb about the focus of the magazine. Many magazines offer free trials. It's fine to order magazines, but don't feel obligated to subscribe. Unless you are truly interested, and want the subscription, immediately write cancel on the statement when it arrives and return it the same day, or very soon afterwards.
Archives
While reading magazines online, check the magazine's archives, where stories are often categorized by month or year, or by alphabetized listing of archived articles.
Archives are very useful to learn what the editor wants, how magazine focus changes over several years, and topics that have been published. If the same topic is covered periodically, it's an opportunity for you to target the magazine with an article on previously covered topics ~~ at a later date!
Writers guidelines
At magazine seller sites, choose the name of any magazine and copy-paste or type it into your search engine to locate the home page of the magazine, where you'll often find a link to writer's guidelines.
If guides aren't on the home page, check at their About Us and\or Contact Us to request them. You can also contact a magazines' advertising department and ask for their media kit (and your editor will never have to know.) Study the media kit and editorial calendar to learn about the behind the scenes operation of magazines.
Guidelines for many magazines are at: http://www.writersdigest.com/. Hover your mouse over Get Published to locate the drop down and get Hot Markets, where you'll find The Writer's Digest Top 100. Each magazine title you click will take you to that magazine's writers guidelines.
How much can you learn from one magazine? SeedQuest contains an online and prints publications list. Begin at the homepage, http://www.seedquest.com/. I don't remember ever surfing so many links from one web page that led me to a wider variety of topics! Nearly every line of type is a link! It's an awesome resource to spark topic ideas. Exploring leads to great story ideas.
For example,
- start by clicking 'seed biotechnologies
- scroll to a link to Seed Technology Center at UC Davis and click their link
- then use the Google search on the resulting page
- from there you can surf on over to CooksGarden -- and spark endless writing possibilities!
Also, find much more by clicking Frequently Asked Questions, FAQ.
If you explore the site you'll find articles on writing a synopsis, publishing glossary, what proofreader's marks mean, etc.
By diligently exploring the Internet to find magazines, editors, spark ideas, and guidelines you'll pave your road to successful writing and marketing.
End
Chapter 9 - Querying and Related Issues: http://tinyurl.com/349p8ej
Next: 4-5, Writers and Networking: >http://tinyurl.com/2b2q22n
