Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles [Paperback]

Sheree Bykofsky (Author), Jennifer Basye Sander (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Complete Idiot's Guide | Publication Date: June 8, 2000

Take the mystery out of selling your ideas to magazine, newspapers, and web sites by reading this book. It explains who hires writers, what editors want from freelancers, how much you can expect to be paid, how you can write effective query and pitch letters, and how the Internet can help your writing career take off.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Freelance writing is not easy, but it is doable," say the authors of this primer. There will be times, they add, when there is no work. When there is no money. When no one returns your calls. Hardly sounds alluring. But if you've got the bug, or suspect you do, this is as fine a place as any to get a feel for the freelance life. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles features interviews with freelancers and editors, and chapters on generating ideas, querying, writing, interviewing ("there's no such thing as a stupid question"), and developing a niche. Other sections give the inside skinny on the industry: who the big players are, who the top editors are, what firsthand accounts are worth reading. And there is even advice for dealing with taxes and contracts. Breathe easy: "The new media world still needs the old-fashioned writer." In fact, writing for the Web, the authors say, can be quite lucrative. Just be sure, for writing online as well as in print, to avoid committing any of the authors' "Ten ways to turn off an editor" (including: be a stalker, misspell the editor's name, balk at changes). And remember: "Persistent people make it as writers." --Jane Steinberg

From the Back Cover

Take the mystery out of selling your ideas to magazine, newspapers, and web sites by reading this book. It explains who hires writers, what editors want from freelancers, how much you can expect to be paid, how you can write effective query and pitch letters, and how the Internet can help your writing career take off.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Alpha; 1 edition (June 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028638352
• ISBN-13: 978-0028638355
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #393,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Sold Articles For Me, August 22, 2002

By 

Charles Hustmyre "Chuck" (Baton Rouge, La.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles (Paperback)

Before reading this book, I'd written and sold a couple of short fiction stories but had never tried nonfiction. I liked the idea of writing magazine articles but had no idea how to go about it. I picked up "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles" because I like their simplified approach to topics and because I'd read the other IDIOT'S GUIDE Sheree Bykofsky co-wrote (Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Published).

The Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles gives you a no-nonsense approach from start to finish, covering things like studying the market, generating ideas, querying editors, assignments, conducting interviews, and actually writing the article, as well as some tips on book proposals, the life of a magazine writer (waiting/praying for checks), even taxes.

After I read "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles" I thought up a couple ideas, fired off some queries, and sold three articles the month after I bought the book. Now I'm working on assignment (not spec) writing a second piece for one of the magazines to which I sold an article last month.

If you can write and if you have something interesting to say, this book and a copy of "Writer's Market" are the twin pillars on which you can build a freelance career.

Charles Hustmyre
New Orleans, LA

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good content-- in between the jokes & verbose chatty writing, February 27, 2005

By 

Groovy Vegan (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)   

This review is from: Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles (Paperback)

If jokes and verbose trying-to-be-clever writing were advertising, this book would be Oprah Magazine. But more on that later--I just needed a lead as per chapter 19 "Hook 'Em Early, Hook 'Em Hard."

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles" is like an introduction 101 survey class to this topic. Among many other things, it covers the basics of the entire process from generating article ideas, to writing query letters to conducting interviews, writing basics, and even how freelance writers deal with taxes. Like a 101 class, this book provides breadth but not depth. Most beginning magazine writers will likely need more of the material on earlier parts of the process such as studying the market and writing query letters rather than dealing with taxes and contracts. However, as a survey course, they do have their place, with the exception of the chapter on writing books and book proposals. For an excellent, more in depth treatment of query letters, a topic a novice will definitely need, I recommend "How to Write Irresistible Query Letters" by Lisa Collier Cool.

Having published a handful of freelance pieces and knowing the basics of the process, I can tell you the information is provided is good, sound advice. My problem with the book is that you have to wade through so much verbose trying-to-be clever chatty writing to get to the basics you need as a freelance magazine writer. It's like the authors, unbridled from the tight word counts and no nonsense editing of magazines went nuts trying to be cute and clever. For one of many examples, there's a section called "Ratatatatat: Machine Gun Writing" which begins, "Do you feel like Bruce Willis in 'Die Hard' right about now? What the heck do we mean when we say machine gun writing?" Then there's another paragraph before they get to the definition. I think this book could have been edited by about 1/3 with no loss of content.

None-the-less, I appreciated the content in between the jokes, even though some of it was not in depth enough to my liking, such as the brief section on how to get clips. I especially liked the interviews with magazine editors discussing what writers need to do to break into writing for their publications. If you need an intro 101 survey of the career of freelance writing and don't mind wading through all the chatty wisecracking writing, this is the book for you.

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helped me get published!, January 17, 2001

By 

Dissapointed Fan (Illinois ,United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles (Paperback)

I bought this book last September because it was the only book I could find that included Web writing and email queries. It has been an enormous help.

I also really liked the advice on finding a niche. Since I'm an accredited breastfeeding counselor, mine has turned out to be pregnancy, breastfeeding, and babies. I guess I'm doing something right, because I've sold three feature articles to ePregnancy.com, Breastfeeding Baby Steps and Best Foot Forward. Another will be posted soon.

In addition, I've gotten two article assignments from a local parenting magazine, one on swimming programs for young children and another on baby-wearing (slings, wraps, etc.).

I've been meaning to write a review for many weeks, but considering my young kids and my new writing career, I've been pleasantly busy. This has helped me get started with online publishing in a field I know well. I consider this a great book!