by Jim Bradley

Created on: May 29, 2008   Last Updated: May 31, 2008

When it comes to writing an article for a magazine or newspaper, it always pays to do some research beforehand. Oner of the first steps should be to contact the editor to request a copy of their Editorial guidelines. This is a list of what the editors are looking for, in terms of the layout and content of your article. It is pointless to spend time writing a 5000 word article if they are only looking for one of 500 words. That way, you are setting yourself up for rejection.

If you know what magazine you would like to write for, review at least three current copies to get a feel for it. Look at the adverts inside the magazine as these will give you an indication of the readership, along with the types of articles and stories. For example, you will never see a modern romance short story within the pages of a magazine aimed at motorcycle enthusiasts. You are trying to guage who the readers of the magazine are most likely to be and then gear your article towards those people.

When it comes to the actual writing itself, it depends on the magazine what the topic of your article should be. Something current and in keeping with the magazine's theme is what you are aiming for of course.

Use the journalistic format of , "What, where, when, why, who and how" to compose your article as this will help you to build a framework for this and all other articles you write. Think of your chosen subject and then apply the questions to it. Your answers then become the building blocks of your article.

It is also very important to ensure you spell-check your article and make an accurate word-count too. Grammar is important too but less so than the main components of spelling, word count and layout.

Remember also that when you offer your article to a magazine, you must decide under what terms you are selling it. In the UK, for example, most articles are sold on FBSR which is First British Serial Rights. This means that the chosen magazine, if it accepts your work, has the sole right to publish your work in its publication, or to publish every part of your work in its publication if it is a series, as in the case of a weekly short story. You cannot publish nor offer your article to another magazine within a certain time limit, usually a year, minimum.

Also remember that magazines receive far more articles than they can possibly handle and so, rejection of your work will occur. Do not get disheartened though or take it too personally and see it as a criticism of your writing skills. It may only be that the magazine has too many articles to use at present or that someone else has recently sent a similar article to them which they have purchased but not yet published.

When you send your article to the magazine, do not harass them to see if they are going to accept it or not, but also do not allow them to keep you waiting for an unreasonable length of time. Writers are self employed professionals and your time is just as important as any editors so it is much more beneficial to work on building good working relationships with editorial staff but do not let yourself be walked all over either.

These are just some suggestions for article writing in your new career. Good luck!

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