Let's cut to the chase:
Many women's magazines pay big bucks—from $1 to $2 per word and more—and offer the opportunity to get your name in front of millions
of readers.
And don't think you have to be a sister yourself to break into this lucrative market. My husband, W. Eric Martin, has written several
pieces for Woman's Day ,
and Pam O'Brien, executive editor of Ladies' Home Journal,
points out that her magazine uses several male writers on a regular basis.
I spoke with editors of women's magazines, plus several writers who have been published in them, to give you the scoop on selling to the
sisters. I also drew from my own experience in selling to these magazines: Since 1997, I'd been pounding the women's pubs with queries
and receiving nothing but form rejection letters in reply. Then, within one month in 2000, I sold articles to
Redbook,
Family Circle,
and Woman's Day.
Since then I've written for the latter two magazines several times, and have also had articles published in
Woman's World
and Complete Woman.
Ready, Aim…
First step: study the magazines so you'll send just the right idea to just the right person. You'll also learn what NOT to send editors.
"I can't tell you how many poetry submissions I receive," says Cari Wira, assistant features editor. "All of these writers get rejected,
not because their writing isn't good, but because we don't ever publish poetry. If they had opened up the magazine before they sent their
work, it would have saved a lot of heartache."
Studying a few past issues of the magazine will give you an idea of the demographics and attitudes of its readers. "As a writer, you need
to think about who will be reading the article," says Stacey Colino, who's written for about a dozen women's magazines including
Glamour,
Redbook,
and Ladies' Home Journal.
"Do these women have kids? Do they work outside the home? Are they somewhat old-fashioned in their ideas? Is their style more suburban
soccer mom or urban hip? Factors like these will affect the tone, content, and angle of the article--and these need to be reflected in your query."
For example, when studying Redbook,
I noticed that writers tended to use short, spunky words like "nix" and "zap," so I used these words when writing my query for (ahem)
"The Better Orgasm Diet" to show the editors that I understood the tone they were looking for: "Nix the caffeine for a better sex life,"
and "Alcohol will zap your sexual energy."
Once you have an idea ready to go, find out which editor should be the lucky recipient of your query. "[My pet peeve is] when they pull the
name of an editor from an outdated Writer's Market or old masthead," says Wira. "If a journalist can't pick up the phone to find out
who the correct editor to query to is and how to spell their name, then there is doubt in my mind that they will be able to find the correct
information for an article."
Think Small
The fastest way to break into a woman's magazine is to aim for the shorter department pieces. "Most writers who either haven't been
published ever or who have been published in small publications have a lot of great ideas for magazines. Unfortunately, many of them
propose huge features right off the bat before getting their feet wet," says Wira. "My best advice to writers who are just starting off,
either in woman's writing or writing in general, is to start small. Three hundred and fifty-word pieces for regular columns are tough for
editors to brainstorm every issue. To get in the door and cultivate a relationship with an editor, try pitching smaller pieces, which can
always lead to larger pieces."
This was the M.O. of Kathryn Lay, who's written for Woman's World,
Woman's Day,
and Today's Christian Woman,
when she broke into her first woman's pub. "I'd been trying for several years," she recalls. "I think it was in breaking into the small
sections [that I had success]. I'd always tried to start with a major article idea, but had no large clips to back it up with."
And even unpublished writers have a chance with opinion pieces and essays, since it's traditional to send in the completed piece and no
clips are required. "We encourage readers or new writers to contribute to one section of the magazine which we call Say So," says Kristine
Solomon, Assistant Editor of ROSIE Magazine. "Our goal with Say So is to encourage anyone with a strong opinion to step up to the
plate."
Get Real
Real life stories always stand out from the slush pile. "The best way to break into Ladies' Home Journal
is through our column called First Person," says O'Brien. "Many of these are as-told-to stories. We need such a steady supply of them
and such a variety of them that it's a good opportunity for writers." ROSIE's Solomon agrees. "We are always looking for stories
about people who've triumphed over tragedy, or have found a way to do good," she says.
Melba Newsome, who's written for O the Oprah Magazine,
Cosmopolitan,
Good Housekeeping,
Redbook,
and others, broke into her first woman's magazine with a story about a woman who was taking on a corporate polluter. Newsome had read
about her in the Sierra Club newsletter. "I realized that the women's magazines get so many service pieces, that you shouldn't
even try to do a service story, in my opinion. And they come up with so many of them in-house" she says. "What they don't come up with
in-house are the kinds of stories I do―the 'My husband had a sex change and ran off with my lesbian lover' kind of things."
Divine Inspiration
That's all easy enough to say, but where do you come up with all these ideas that will have editors adding you to their Rolodexes?
First of all, take a look at the magazines and see what they run month after month. These are called "evergreen" stories because they
never lose their freshness. In Ladies' Home Journal,
for instance, it's the story of an exceptional woman. "We're always looking for stories about women who are doing interesting things,"
says O'Brien. "Great human interest stories, women who have overcome obstacles―women who both you and I want to read about."
Evergreen topics in Woman's Day
include finding time for yourself and your family, ways to save money, and learning to love
yourself, according to Wira. Other good solid standbys for women's pubs include how-to's on relationships, parenting issues, health
and safety topics, and saving money. Just be sure to give a tired topic a new twist. For example, I broke into
Woman's Day
with an article on not just saving money, but on unique ways to save money on big-ticket items like appliances, furniture, and cars.
Being a bookworm can help you come up with query-worthy ideas. "I get ideas reading everything: great literature, contemporary fiction,
other magazines, and newspapers, web sites," says Jennifer Nelson, who's written for such magazines as
Woman's Day,
Fitness, Shape, and Self and is teaching a course on AbsoluteWrite.com called "Selling to the Sisterhood--Writing
for the Women's Magazine Market." "I'm on a ton of mailing lists for news, PR releases, health letters, and medical advances."
Your life should also be mined for all it's worth. "I draw directly from my life," says Diane Benson Harrington, managing editor of
Freelance Success,
who has written for Woman's Day,
Family Circle,
Parents,
and Parenting.
"Thus, I pitched 'The I-Hate-Housework Guide to Cleaning and Decorating,' which offered tips on how to decorate your house if you hate to
clean, and how to clean with absolute minimal effort. It's for folks like me, who'd just as soon adopt dust bunnies as pets rather than
sweep 'em up!"
Shoot the Query, Dearie
Editors are inundated with queries--for example, all the editors at ROSIE combined receive 200 to 250 queries and unsolicited
manuscripts per week--so it's imperative that yours stand out. A reader-grabbing lead is the way to start. For example, here's the
beginning to the query that landed Harrington in Family Circle:
"My ideas may not be orthodox, but they generate plenty of money--at least when it comes to yard sales. I've made more than $1,000 at
every sale since my first. In fact, I pulled in more than $2,000 at my last one. And I didn't have to part with my antiques, either.
How'd I do it? With a little common sense and a lot of humor."
Putting dollar amounts right up front grabs the editor's attention, and the end of the paragraph makes the editor want to read on and
find out what Harrington could possibly mean by "a little common sense and a lot of humor."
And here's a secret: The old saw that you have to keep queries to one page is bunkum. When I finally hit
Woman's Day
with an idea they were interested in, the editor called to ask me to do more research and resend the query. I gathered up some sources, got some good
quotes and stats, and turned in a three-page query. Success! I then used this tip to break into Family Circle and
Redbook with well-researched two- and three-page queries.
"I don't think it's the length of the query so much as the quality of the idea," says O'Brien. "Our policy isn't to say, 'If it's
longer than a page we're not going to look at it.' If it's a good idea, we're going to keep reading it." But she does suggest keeping
your query to three pages max. Don't force yourself to write long queries, but be bold enough to include any appealing information that
may push the query over the standard length.
Make sure to include in your query the names and credentials of your sources (plus maybe a juicy quote or two from one of them) plus any
stats that show why your idea needs to be written. For example, in a recent query on women in martial arts, I made sure to include a
statistic that proved that women are joining martial arts classes in unprecedented numbers. And women's magazines are sidebar-happy, so
be sure to include information on any sidebars or boxes you plan to include.
A Boost For Beginners
It seems like the ultimate Catch-22: It's hard to break into women's magazines without related clips, but you can't get clips until
you've written for women's magazines. Well, take heart. I broke into
Woman's Day,
Family Circle, and
Redbook
with clips from health and business magazines. Lay sent clips from kids' and religious magazines, and Harrington sent newspaper articles plus
samples of writing she did for magazines as a staffer. Clips from Web sites and regional magazines will work as well. "Even if it's
just from a newspaper, any clips you have will help you get your foot in the door," says O'Brien.
Once you land an assignment and get a clip from one woman's magazine, you're in, as they say, like Flynn. "It truly opens a door for
the rest. Half the editors at every national magazine in the country must have read my first published clip in
Woman's Day,"
says Nelson. "At many places, the doors seemed to open up immediately. Even some magazines that were rejecting my pitches appeared to take a
teeny bit of extra time, at least reading them, or responding with a personal rejection versus the form kind after publication in some
of the major magazines."
A Market Worth Writing For
So whether you're a sister or a mister, a greenhorn or an old hand, you'll find the women's magazines to be a market worth writing for.
About The Author:
Linda Formichelli is the author of
The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success.
She has written for more than 50 magazines, including Business Start-Ups, Entrepreneur, Family Circle,
and Woman’s Day. Visit her at: Two Writers.
(Editor's note: Read my review of her book!)
* This article is available for your publication, for a F-E-E.
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