Years ago, a friend of mine was a prolific freelancer and knew how to write for magazines.
His specialty was hunting and fishing and all aspects of it.
Every month he was getting checks from magazines in both fields, for articles he’d written.
These checks varied from $40 to $250 and some of the articles were less than a page in length.
I looked at the tear sheets of those articles in his portfolio and they included how to tie fishing lures guaranteed to attract trout; the best places to hunt deer in the far west; how to field dress an antelope, how to build a blind with just a hunting knife, and how to smoke venison meat and the various types of wood to use.
He subscribed to the magazines and kept a running list of every article they’d published for 2 years.
This way he would know what to pitch with a relative degree of success, and what not to pitch.
Years later, I was the managing editor for a veteran’s magazine and every month we received numerous freelance articles and proposals for articles.
The majority were rejected, mostly because we’d already published something similar or they missed the deadline for our publication calendar.
If they had taken the time to research our back issues, they would have known what we had already published.
NOTE: Many magazines publish an index of all their articles for the entire year in their December issue, so it’s not a time-consuming process to do this research.
Every magazine keeps a calendar and plans for features six months in advance (or longer).
Sometimes a freelance article is slotted for a future issue if it’s submitted well in advance.
Sometimes we’d reach out to a stable of writers, asking them to write an article we were planning.
The six-month lead time sounds extreme, but advertising agencies often plan their “buys” one or two quarters in advance, plus for the magazine staff it takes time to acquire or purchase the photos or illustrations for each article.
Point is, if freelancers want to learn how to write for magazines and improve their chances of getting published (and getting paid), they need to research the magazines they’re pitching to, and make sure the publications haven’t already done a similar piece.
And if their proposal is timely, such as for a specific holiday or time of year, they need to submit it more than 6 months in advance.
And, if they pitch an article and get the go-ahead to write it, DO NOT MISS THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION.
This is the quickest way to ensure that magazine will never look at anything from you again (but it’s happened to every magazine, so they always have an evergreen article they can plug in at the last minute).
About Gary Bloomfield
Gary Bloomfield is a former Army Journalist of the Year, and managing editor for VFW magazine. He was the senior editor for the two-volume illustrated series on WWII titled Faces of Victory, Europe and Pacific.
Bloomfield wrote Duty, Honor, Victory. America’s Athletes in WWII followed by Duty, Honor, Applause. America’s Entertainers in WWII which he co-wrote.
His other books include Maxims of General Patton, the citizenship study guide I Will be an American Someday Soon, illustrated bios on George Patton and Mark Twain (the latter co-written). He recently completed The Devil’s Playground, about the Korean DMZ, published in July of 2019, and The One I’ll Always Remember, a compilation of stories from military doctors and nurses, published in the Spring of 2020, both from Lyons Press. And in September of 2020 He co-wrote a bio on George Custer.
He is currently finishing a book titled Alive Day Vietnam, which is a compilation of stories from Vietnam vets recalling a very bad day in combat. He is also updating his book on WWII entertainers, rewriting a novel about the Iraq War and researching a novel about the Afghanistan War.
Write for Magazines Here
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