How I Got Lots of Work Writing for Magazines

It seemed to be just another dreary day at the clinic I go to for my bi-weekly appointment where I receive my time-release anti-psychotic medication and check in with my therapist. Little did I know that after a boring bus ride and the same walk I had taken to the 108 Street building for years, now would be the day that would change my life.

The doctors sometimes leave their magazines out in the lobby of the clinic, and I normally ignore them. Every now and then, though, my eyes would wander to read the covers of the magazines. In front of me was Canadian Health magazine. It didn’t hit me at first, but I grew excited when I realized that this was the magazine. THE MAGAZINE.

There it was, right on the cover in bold letters, “Inside: The Accidental Weight Loser.” It was MY story. One I wrote! I had published things before, but never in a major national magazine. Over the past couple of years, I had sent in articles to the main Edmonton newspaper and was paid a small sum in exchange for the chance to have my say about topics I was interested in. I had written about donating blood, about moving out of one’s parents’ home, along with two other stories.

The money wasn’t a whole lot, but it was such a great experience to have my writing in the paper. Lots of people I knew saw the donating blood article, and the paper ran my picture on half the page it appeared on.

But this day was different. This was the day that marked my new journey into a world that was rapidly disappearing and transitioning from print to online. This was my magazine debut. And Canadian Health was a fantastic place to see it.

My Journey From Newbie to Magazine Writing Pro

What got me started sending articles to magazines, which is now my main source of income, was simply a few minutes of advice from a friend. I told him how I had published a few newspaper articles and wanted to publish in magazines. He kindly explained:

“Look at the Masthead (the listing of all the people who worked on the issue from the owner to the lowliest reporter), get the email of the editor or assistant editor and send them your idea.”

I forget now how I found Canadian Health, but I had long ago learned a money saving trick that must have been part of it. I would go to the library when I had some time on my hands and read the magazines off their racks. The racks folded up and behind the current issue were back issues that could be borrowed. I took a few copies of magazines I had some knowledge and interest in, and pored over them, finally coming up with an idea late that night.

I had been struggling to keep my weight under control. I wasn’t working at the time and wasn’t working out, plus I was living in a place that fed me well and never restricted how much I could eat. I had been skinny all the time growing up, but now I was bordering on obese. Then one day I got horribly sick and couldn’t keep anything down. In a week or two, I lost a good chunk of the weight I had gained and decided to write about it. This was one of my first tries to send in a proposal to a magazine, and it was approved. I was promised $250 for the article, which was five times what the newspaper paid me per article.

It was a proud moment to see my name and words in print. At the time I was really struggling with my mental health. The idea that I had found something I loved doing that paid well was one of my greatest motivations in life after that point.

I ended up doing more articles for Canadian Health and even managed to meet the chief editor in Toronto on a trip. It would have been amazing to get on board with a national magazine first try, but unfortunately the magazine went out of business shortly after I had sent them my third article. This tragedy is a common occurrence these days.

That year, I got a book that helped me land a few more assignments. It was called “The Writer’s Market” and had a lot of information about formatting pitches (which is what you send to an editor when you have an idea for an article), researching markets, writing your article and then about 2/3 of the book has listings of places to send your writing, along with listings of agents. They stopped publishing the book a few years ago, but for the last few years it was in print I always had the latest copy. Now, there are several ways to get information online for where to send pitches to. One of my favorites comes up when I Google, “Markets: Funds for Writers.” The website itself even paid me once to write a short article about the craft of writing.

How to Search Online for Magazine Writing Gigs

Another great trick is to simply take the subject you want to write about and punch it into a search engine. Say it is men’s shoes. Put it in a Google search like this: “Men’s Shoes Write for Us.” Often this search will take you to at least a few websites that are accepting submissions.

But don’t limit yourself to writing only about one thing. Make a list of all the subject areas you are interested in. Start with your own bookshelf and get clues of what to search for from the titles of your favorite books. I know I would see the book, “Ready Player One,” by Ernest Cline, and it would prompt me to Google “80s pop culture write for us.” Using this search term just now brought up a number of 80s pop culture blogs. These results tell me I can either try and get more specific in my search, or I could write about 80s pop culture in my own blog. It will certainly give me some new directions to go in after I read some of the search results.

Look for Courses on Magazine Writing

A lot of time went by before learning about the Funds for Writers page, and I sent a lot of queries. I just didn’t seem to get any responses. It was difficult to keep trying, but I am glad I did. While I kept sending out ideas and only getting back rejections, I found out that I could take free, instructor-led courses on writing and publishing through my local library. These were called Gale Courses, and they are still available on many library websites. I was interested in many different types of writing, so I took a few of their writing courses. I also started a collection of books made for aspiring writers. Looking back, one of the critical ones I bought and read was Stephen King’s “On Writing.”

I feel very grateful that I was able to take free courses on writing, which included a course on writing for magazines. Within just two months of finishing my final course and receiving a certificate, which I printed and hung on my wall, I landed a job with two magazines covering different aspects of mental health as a contributing editor. The pay wasn’t phenomenal, but it allowed me to improve my lifestyle a good deal. I was paid $800 a month and during the time I was employed there, I got a trip to Toronto covered by my boss for a conference and was able to spend time with my sister.

Again though, the reality eventually came up that both magazines went out of business. The owner of both magazines was having all kinds of difficulties and just couldn’t manage to keep them above water. It is critical if you are ever offered a permanent job with a magazine that you carefully consider their ability to stay in business, or you may end up being owed money and being out of a job. It also scares me a bit that the owner of the magazines liked my work and had tried to get me to move to Ontario from Alberta, which would have been a train wreck.

Researching the Mags, Building a Portfolio and Perfecting Your Pitches

Something I learned when getting many rejections was that I needed to delve deeper into each magazine I sent a query (pitch) to. I started subscribing to the magazines that I most wanted to work for. Psychology Today, and a few smaller Canadian magazines, including Alberta Views. One of the key points I came to understand was that an editor will know almost immediately if you send them a pitch and you haven’t read the magazine. Another key thing is to find the online version of the magazine and use their search tools — if available — to search two or three of your best ideas. This research will tell you what this specific magazine has covered before on the subjects in question. You also need to read a few issues to get an idea of the kind of articles they publish.

As time went on, I learned that one of the key things you need is to have a list of previous publications. You don’t always need dozens of articles, but you do have to understand that when you send out a pitch, the editor will most likely do a search on you, and he will want to see a low-maintenance professional who has examples of top notch writing. Make sure that even if you have problems with a publication or do writing academically or for free, you always give the publication your best work.

This standard includes your idea or pitch. When you first craft pitches, consult with an expert resource, such as a guide that can be found with the help of a librarian on what most editors prefer. You will find that sometimes they will be looking very carefully for even the slightest error or omission.

Then you need to research both your article subject and the magazine you send it to, to make sure your work is informative, accurate and a good fit. There is currently a website called Muck Rack that contains information about different author’s publications. It is important to monitor it to make sure the articles it lists are accurate and up to date. Sometimes you need to visit the site and add in your most recent articles. I visit Muck Rack often to see places I sent other work to that might be willing to look at more proposals from me now that some time has passed.

Writing for magazines is like any other type of endeavor. You need to put your time in — building clients, building reputation — before you will do well with it. When you do well in magazines, the sky is the limit. Some experienced writers make $1 to $2 per word for articles. Once you have a few articles to show editors, it becomes much easier to just give your Muck Rack page link rather than finding all your files and uploading them each time you craft a pitch.

How Your Own Website Might Help You Get Magazine Work

For years I had an author website where, among other things, I kept a blog and information about my work. I keep it going, it does cost me $100 or so a year, but it can be a good way to get people to seek out my published books and read my blogs that are mostly about coping with mental illness. I learned early on in my writing that it could greatly benefit me to write about mental health because I put so much effort into understanding my own mental health and managing my illness.

There are a few magazines and websites that publish essays or other work about people with mental illness, such as OC87 Recovery Diaries, or Transition, which is a magazine out of Saskatchewan in Canada. I make sure and contribute to them as often as their rules allow, and it has not only meant a nice amount of income, but it has also helped get my name out to those who lead or manage mental health care efforts. What I love is when an editor or event organizer has seen my work before and either sends me a request to write an article or asks me to travel to give a speech and sell books. The last such event I attended took me across the country where I stayed in a 5-star hotel and received a $250 honorarium for speaking for half an hour plus I had numerous sales of my books. All this came about simply by word of mouth that had occurred far away from my home city of Edmonton.

Making Outlines

Next in the process of crafting an article after you have been sent approval for your pitch and completed your research: a detailed outline. Be mindful of the word count your editor specifies (always ask for one if one isn’t given) then write, re-write, edit, and properly format your work. Remember editors have little time for writers who don’t follow submission instructions to the letter. If you don’t find instructions for submissions online, reach out to the editor for them, they will be happy to lay out the rules/guidelines for you. Nearing completion, it is always a good idea to get someone to read your article and make suggestions. You don’t want to get someone close to you to read it if possible because family and friends often won’t tell you about problems with the article at risk of crushing your dreams.

Something I always like to do, unless the article is about a time-sensitive topic, is to leave the most recent draft sitting for a few days or even a week or two and then come back to it to give it a final edit. You just may find a lot of things you missed, for many reasons.
I always like to emphasize the outline of an article. It helps you have a logical flow to your work, and when you write out a detailed outline, and have done your research, the article itself is much easier to write.

Resources for Ideation, Research Support and More Education

Coming up with ideas naturally comes easier when you read a lot of magazines. Just be sure that you do your research. Call up professors who specialize in the subject matter. Search more than one major library and Amazon for literature. If I write an article on a specific topic that I’m not 100% familiar with, I like to read at least one nonfiction book written on the subject. YouTube is also a great way to learn by watching documentaries and never forget to use your public library’s resources.

The public library can help your writing in many ways. First, librarians can guide you to information you need to find. A computer search and a Dewy Decimal Number can be great, but much information can be found by cross-referencing sources. Many people don’t know that almost any major library will take a call with a question of something you need to fact check. Often, they will simply use Google to find the answer for you, but they also will check other resource material for many requests. Librarians in major public libraries often have a great deal of ability and training on how to find facts and information.

The other library service that can help you is a position very common in many libraries, the writer in residence. This is a job role where a professional writer is hired to work on their own writing projects half of the time and to help the public with their writing the other half of the time. Even a writer in residence at a university will help the public, not just students. Often the way they work is you bring them up to 10 pages of your work, and they will go over it with you, giving step by step advice. When a writer is starting out, a writer in residence can be invaluable.

It was about two years ago that I became involved with an amazing organization for writers located in the US. It is called The OpEd Project and has gotten me a lot of press and even radio and TV time. The organization is a nonprofit, and they train people to write opinion articles for newspapers. There is a cost involved, but if you send a sample of your work and they approve it, it is easy to get a scholarship. I was able to take three of their courses like this. Their belief is that they should break even, charging some for the courses, but putting any profits into giving scholarships to allow those with a lower income to one day have a voice in the media.

Change the World Via Opinion Writing for Magazines

Writing an op-ed (which stands for Opposite the Editorial page) is one of the best ways I have found to influence public opinion about issues that matter to me. I wrote several of them for local and out of country newspapers and magazines. Just by reading the comments online for some of them, I know my words have ruffled feathers. The Op-Ed Project helps you to generate ideas for your short articles (usually around 600-700 words) and takes you through the process of making an argument, backing it up, linking web pages for fact-checkers, mentioning opposing viewpoints, and finally polishing your work and sending it to a newspaper.

I wrote some articles I wanted to have a national impact with and sent them to newspapers in Ottawa where the federal government gathers in Parliament and in conferences. Not only did I have the honor of having some of my articles shared throughout numerous smaller market newspapers in Ontario, but almost every time I publish one of these articles, I am asked to be interviewed on a radio program to voice my opinions and knowledge about various subjects: from the need to have special services for immigrants fleeing foreign wars to the horrific impact of fentanyl overdoses. In addition to putting on courses, The Op-Ed Project lists many newspapers in North America where you can send your work, plus puts on sessions with professional journalists. Although most regular newspapers don’t pay for op-ed articles, I have been paid when a magazine reprinted one of my articles, and I have been contacted for work stemming from publication.

Get a Degree If You Can

Some may wonder — especially if they are younger and want to get serious about writing in magazines — if they can take the route I took and simply start sending out pitches and use what education they may have had in high school to do as I did. I personally suggest that anyone wanting to become a journalist seriously consider a reputable college or university program instead. I am now 53 and I am just starting to be able to have a decent income and a broad reach for my opinions from magazine writing. Going to a college for a four-year or two-year program can really give a person a head start. I still suggest that everyone take more courses as their career moves forward, including training from The Op-Ed Project, but to be mindful of all the things journalism professors can tell you that will avoid a lot of pitfalls.

As mentioned, there was a period when I was starting out where I sent dozens of pitches and only received rejections, if I even received any acknowledgement. In college, a student will practice things like pitches, narrative essays, photography training, and so many things that will put you to the front of the line when assignments are being passed out. However, if your situation is like mine where you have discovered a love of writing later in life, it can be surprising how it is possible to publish a few articles working part-time and make a nice side income. I talk about having writing as a side-income for a few reasons. One is that a full-time job as a journalist — though it can often pay your way through life — can be stressful, and this level of stress is not for everyone.

More Perks of Magazine Writing

One of the amazing things about magazine writing is some of the other side benefits it carries with it. A few times I have been randomly rewarded with an assignment to write a magazine article, or to be an MC at an event. While I was working on my magazine career, I attended a writing class in my community and soon after I started it, the teacher, who became a good friend, decided I should be the one teaching the class. So I did, and I was paid a generous wage. This opportunity led to more work and other classes. I often like to think that simply researching an article is a great benefit because I love to learn new things.
On a trip some years ago to Ottawa, I went to the Canadian War Museum and met a historian who explained to me all about a critical battle during the Korean War where a unit of Canadians distinguished themselves so greatly, they may have actually turned the tide of the war and were awarded a special US Presidential citation on their uniforms, something no other Canadian unit can boast of. I pitched the idea of telling their story to a military magazine called Esprit De Corps (group spirit) and they worked with me to get it into print. The only sad part was that the editor had to do a lot of work on it and told me he couldn’t pay me for the article. I gambled and asked instead for a free subscription, which I got. I will never forget being in a book and magazine store with a friend and being able to pick up a copy of the magazine and show my name at the top of the article.

Another time I wrote a “first-person” article for my local Canadian Broadcasting Corporation website. A reporter worked with me to make a five-minute video of my life and work. It was aired on the national news, and it is still occasionally used to go along with any news stories about mental health.

Is the Money Any Good?

Some people may wonder how much money can be made from writing for magazines. It certainly isn’t what it used to be, but it still isn’t bad. I have a strong memory of reading about a reporter’s first day of journalism school and his instructor bringing a stack of magazines to his class, setting them down on his desk and saying:

“This is your brand-new Cadillac.”

Well, after writing and publishing for over 20 years, I don’t have a Cadillac, but I do have a comfortable Chrysler that is paid off. My rent has never been late in the 10 plus years I have lived in my apartment, and I have never missed a bill payment. Just recently my brother and I were able to take a day trip to a national park, a much-needed break from city life, all expenses paid by a magazine I work for as I took photos and wrote a story about the park and its wildlife. Perhaps best of all is that one of my current jobs with magazines is for a magazine that specializes in stories about the environment and endangered species. This gig really makes me feel needed because I have been an environmentalist since I watched movies about pollution and conservation in elementary school in the 1970s.

Love Will Keep You Going

One of the greatest things about the mishmash of freelance work and teaching along with sales of the books I have written over the years is that I love doing it. At 53 many people are winding down their careers, hoping to retire at 55 or 60. Personally, I want to keep working until I am unable to do so for health reasons. And in the end, if you love your work, it really isn’t work at all, is it?