On any given day there are thousands of magazines in circulation; writing for them can be very profitable for even beginning writers.
Despite the surge of information on the Internet in the past decade, magazines still sell in tremendous numbers and it takes quality writers to make them sell. In fact the competition among magazines is so fierce it has driven the amount of money you can make writing for magazines to unbelievable levels.
Why?
Because the market is so tough there are many things to take into consideration before you embark on your journey to become a freelance magazine writer. Most importantly you need to find a magazine that covers a subject that you have an interest in, after all if you surf then you probably would not be much good at writing articles about snow skiing. The same would follow that if you write articles about surfing you would not submit them to a skiing magazine for samples of your skills.
Never send a magazine a complete unsolicited article; most editors simply do not have enough time to wade through them and there is also the possibility they may publish it thinking it is from a prepaid source. Instead a very carefully worded cover letter describing the article you wish to write for them will work much better.
Have thick skin
If you receive a rejection letter just put it aside and send out another cover letter, the more of them you can send out, the better your chances are at getting an offer. If you are really lucky you might find that you get more than one offer and you may suddenly find yourself with more articles to write and not enough time.
Beyond contacting individual magazines for work there are other ways to find work, the most popular one is on the Internet, simply typing the words will yield you pages of places that hire freelance writers. Many of them offer a brokerage service whereby the client in need is connected with the writer. These places make their money through charging both parties involved a small fee for the service.
This can be a great way to get started in the freelance business as it allows you to find work through a reputable service and build your portfolio. You will find it much easier to land that really good job for the big name magazines once you have a proven track record of publications behind you.
