Richard Hill

'Writing for Magazines'

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Introduction

Hi. I’m a 66 year-old gay disabled writer living and writing in Slough, Berkshire, UK.

I began writing in 1996 after having to take early retirement due to health issues. I worked as a Medical Technician at St.Thomas’ Hospital in London. It was a job I loved and was sorry to have to retire.

Before I retired, in late 1995 I entered a competition ‘The Lord Brock Memorial Historical Essay Prize - Guy’s Hospital.’ I had worked on various types of artificial respirators, including Iron Lungs. I decided to write an essay on the ‘History of the British Iron Lung’. I was amazed and delighted that I won joint first. You can read the essay by clicking here.

When I retired, on the 1st January 1996, I suddenly found myself at a loss. Previously, I’d always been ‘something’; An electrician, a vending machine engineer and medical technician amongst other things, but I now felt I was nothing.

However, a valued friend of mine asked me what I’d like to be. Following my recent essay success I told him I’d very much like to be a writer. He replied, “Don’t just want it - do it!”.


Getting started

So you’ve decided that you want to write for magazines. Where do you start?

Outline.

You need to forget the old adage ‘Write about what you know.’ It’s too limiting. Sure, there are a few things of which you know that you could write about. Turn it around to ‘Know about what you write’. This way, you can write about so many things. You just have to do a lot of research. Find out more about 'Knowing about what you write' by clicking here.

Ideas.

Make a list of everyone you know, or have known, and you’re likely to find a few interesting topics that you can write about. I made such a list and found a few things that I could write about. I learned that my late grandfather, George Wiseman, had a horse-drawn narrowboat in the 1920’s. He would collect milk, in churns, from local farms along the Shropshire Union canal, and take it to the Cadbury processing plant at Knighton in Shropshire. You can also make a ‘spidergram’. More on these later.

Find a market.

You need to find a magazine that will take work from freelance writers. You could just look at magazines on the stationers shelves, but a far better and reliable way is to invest in the ‘Writers & Artists Yearbook’. It costs around £20 but is well worth the investment. You can get information on this by clicking here. Look up all the magazines that might publish the type of article you’re going to write.


Research.

Look up the details of each magazine, and ask questions. Do they accept work from freelancers? How many words are they looking for in an article? What’s the ‘lead time’ on articles (e.g. If you’re writing an article on volunteers, would it fit best in an issue in National Volunteers Week’ (April)? How long do you need to submit it beforehand (usually 2 - 3 months).

My story about my grandfather and his narrowboat wasn’t ‘time sensitive’, but it did have to fit in a magazine for canal enthusiasts. I found three in the ‘Writers & Artists Yearbook.’ They were: Waterways World, Canal Boat, Canal & Riverboat magazine. I found that the latter was the only magazine that published a) ‘Historical’ features, and b) work from freelance (and novice) contributers. I can’t remember the required word count.

My research also revealed that we had a family photograph of my grandfather on his narrowboat ‘Bournville 5’ and I went along and took a photograph of the canalside processing plant as it is today. I contacted the press office at Cadbury Bournville to enquire if they had any archive photographs of the plant in the 1920’s? They sent me two. I also had to ask permission to publish these (with an acknowledgement). (See ‘Photographs’ below.)

You should also read as many recent back copies as possible. Make notes of the style, length etc. of features in the category your article will fit into. If the author of articles in your chosen category is usually the same, this may indicate that there may not be an opportunity for you. But not always. The editor may be recycling old articles and would welcome a new contributor.


Writing your article.

Now, you’re ready to write. Check in the W&A yearbook for the required word count. If they don’t give it, get the approximate word count from a similar article where yours will fit.

Start writing.

You need to write a ‘beginning’, ‘middle’ and ‘end’. Write tight. Every word must earn its place on the page. In the opening paragraph, grab your reader's attention. The first few words are the decider as to whether your reader wants to read on or not.

Check your facts, grammar and spelling as you go. In my article, I misspelt Bournville (Bourneville)!

If your required word count is, for example, 1000 words, write 1,500 and edit 500 out. This will make sure your writing is tight. Never write less and try and ‘pad it out’ to fill your required word count.

Tip: Some people try and format their article in the way they think it should appear in the magazine. This is wrong. Lay out your manuscript in a clear way. Here are some pointers:

  • a) Number your pages in the header including the total number of pages e.g. Page 3 of 4. Include the your real name (To whome the cheque will be made payable to) and the title of the article.
  • b) Leave a left and right margin of at least 1.5 cm and double space your lines (This leaves room for the editor to mark-up your copy).
  • c) After the end of the article in the centre type ‘-ENDS-’ . Beneath this, on the left, include the word count in italics and underlined e.g. 989 words.
  • Sample of copy.

    Print out your manuscript and read it. Mark out any alterations or corrections before you edit the word processing copy. I can’t edit ‘on-screen’. It may look correct, but when I read the printed copy I spot mistakes that I hadn’t seen online. Is it easy to read? Does it ‘scan’?

    Leave it alone! I often find that if you leave it alone for a few days, then come back to it with fresh eyes, you can often spot ‘room for improvement’.


    Photographs.

    Features/articles often ‘sell’ better if the words are accompanied by good photographs. If you don’t think of yourself as a competent photographer, I recommend taking a basic photography course.

    Here are a couple of articles I wrote on digital photography (and the photographs were by me! - Just a ‘competent’ photographer.

  • Digital Photography Part 1
  • Digital Photography Part 2

    Archive Photographs.

    If you feel your article would benefit from some ‘archive’ photographs, this is the time where more research comes into play. ‘Archive’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘old’ photographs. I wrote about a dog that helped save his owner's life. When I went to interview them, I found out that the Western Mail had recently done a piece on them and had taken a photograph of them in hospital. I really wanted to use this photograph so I contacted the picture editor and asked if I could use it in my article for my article in ‘Mad About Dogs’ magazine. They said yes, for a small fee. You can see the whole article, including the Western Mail photograph and the photographs I took myself by clicking here.

    You can also obtain archive photographs from organisations linked to the subject of your article. I mentioned earlier, the article I wrote about my grandfather and his horse-drawn narrowboat. As mentioned, the Cadbury press office gave me two archive photographs which showed the processing plant at Knighton in the 1920’s. You can see my first published article ‘Chocolate on the Shroppie’ including the archive photographs by clicking here.

    Captioning your images.

    You should rename your images with numbers such as 001.jpg, 002.jpg, 003.jpg etc. Then after the word count on your manuscript, you should caption and acknowledge the photographer or supplier. This is how your list should appear:


    001.jpg The house, built in 1921, as it appears today. (Photographer: Joe Bloggs.)
    002.jpg The house as it was in 1925. (Courtesy of the Slough Observer)
    003.jpg The flooding of 1967. (Courtesy of the Environment Agency)
    In this way, you make the editors job much easier.

    Bite the bullet!

    Now is the time to ‘bite the bullet’. It’s always a daunting moment calling the editor. Get the editor's name from the latest issue of the publication you're hoping to sell it to. You should be able to get the phone number from here as well.

    When you call, ask for the editor by name. Address him or her politely. Explain that you are a new writer and why you think he/she may be interested. Your research from the W&A yearbook should roughly state how much the publication pays. Discuss this with the editor. One publication I wrote for paid £50 per printed page (text and images), while another paid £100 per thousand words and £30 per image.

    You may prefer to make your initial approach via email, the address you should find in the magazine (email wasn’t an option when I first started writing). In the body of your email you should include a short summary about what your article is about and why their readers might be interested. Be polite. Ask him/her how much, if accepted, you would be paid. You should attach your article (In Word format) and your photographs (Numbered as above).


    Copyright.

    At the bottom of your article, you should type ‘© Your Name’ . If you’re really concerned that someone may copy your work, send a dated copy of it to yourself by recorded delivery. Don’t open it. This is your proof that it was written on that date.


    Multiple Markets.

    Don’t make multiple submissions to competing publications. However, you might find that you can use the same material and photographs for two or more differing non-competing publications. A good example of this is when I wrote articles about a gay hotel narrowboat holiday. I sold one article to ‘Canal & Riverboat’ magazine and another to the travel section of ‘Gay Times’ magazine.
    Cruising with Crews (Canal & Riverboat magazine)
    The Water Boys (Gay Times magazine)

    You’ll see that some of the text and images used are the same. Incidentally, the cover photo on Canal & Riverboat magazine was one of mine and was paid a higher amount.


    Conclusion.

    I hope this article has been of use if your’e hoping to get published in a magazine.


    Website: www.richardhill.co.uk. Email: sloughwriter@gmail.com

    © Richard Hill MMXXII


    Useful Websites

    Magazine.co.uk Find magazines of interest.

    More to come at a later date!