Getting your articles published can take a bit of work on your part. You can’t simply expect an editor to contact you and beg for you to write for him/her. Here are 10 tips on getting published that any writer can utilize. Use what you can of the following information and share any tips you’ve gathered on your own. Writing can be loads of fun, but it can actually be profitable for people who wish to make a career out of it.
Knowing what publishers are looking for will help you to have an easier time getting published. Certain publishers focus on a particular type of writing that they know will sell. If you are able to produce writing in a similar style, then you will have a better chance at getting an editor to take a look at your work and see if he/she wants to publish it.
Sometimes it takes more than doing research to get a feel for what an editor is looking for. Make an appointment and discuss what types of writing gets the best response. You might have a great idea for an article, but the size of the audience that would be interested in the material presented in the article could be rather small. Editors want pieces that will attract a large audience, since more people reading the piece ultimately means more money for the business.
It’s hard to judge if someone is capable of producing quality material without actually seeing an example of their work. Take a few of your best writings and present them to an editor you are interested in writing for. The piece needs to be very well-written and triple checked for any grammatical errors. It doesn’t necessarily have to be long, but it wouldn’t hurt to submit various lengths of written material so the editor can see you are capable of both short and long pieces.
The editor is in an excellent position to give you advice on what needs to be changed, if anything. Take the advice, alter your writings, and then present them again. An editor’s job is to check the content of an article, give advice on what changes need to be made, and get the material published. Listen to the advice given and don’t take it as a rejection. The critique is for you to use to better yourself, not to squelch your hopes of getting published.
Not all writing needs to have pictures attached to it, but this tactic can help when trying to get published in a magazine. The photos should be high quality and they also need to be relevant to the article. Don’t put a picture of a flower garden if the written piece has to do with cars. You can always get someone to take pictures for you if you aren’t able to supply your own or don’t have the means to take quality photos.
I’ve read many pieces that started off slow and gradually got better. However, very few people – especially an editor- will take the time to wait and see if the article will grab their attention. If you can’t make the reader interested within the first paragraph, chances are you will lose the reader. The only thing better than getting the reader’s attention during the first paragraph is to have a killer first sentence.
We live in a digital age. Submit articles electronically whenever possible, since this will give the editor something to physically change as he/she sees fit. The ability to cut, paste, copy, and highlight make the job of editing much simpler. The editor will then be able to email you the changes that were made for you to see instantly, which also saves a lot of time running back and forth to the editor to pick up or drop off a paper copy.
If an editor requests a particular piece from you, then be sure to get it to him/her right away. Waiting until it’s convenient for you won’t exactly fly with most editors. They are on a very tight schedule most of the time and don’t want to wait around to see if you are going to follow through or not.
When an editor says quality work is required for you to get published, ask for specifics. Editors might have their own definitions as to what constitutes as ‘quality’ work. One editor might think a piece is crap, while another editor thinks it is absolutely fantastic. Just do your best and don’t apologize.
The query letter you submit to an editor will get you in the door or cause the door to remain closed. If you aren’t familiar with how a query letter should be set up, then check out Writing-World.com. This site offers tons of excellent pointers in how to set up a query and grab the reader’s attention. The reader in this case is going to be the editor you are trying to interest in your work.
I hope you are successful in getting your writing published and don’t get discourage in the process. Which of these 10 tips to getting published do you think will help you the most of all?
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