Writer's Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing

I am established in my professional field and am looking into publishing articles in trade magazines, and Rubgerg's book makes an excellent primer. Every industry has its own habits and expectations, and that includes magazine publishers. I considered just picking up the phone and chatting editors up, and in hindsight, I realize how clueless (or borderline dumb) that would've been. Handbook of Magazine Article Writing delivers on what its title promises, covering everything from brainstorming and finding markets to reprints and tax deductions. At the same time (and unlike most books in the field), it keeps its focus on magazines, not books and not prose. If this is what you're after, definitely give it a shot.

The information covers the entire non-fiction magazine market, not just journalism. Includes the best ways to break into freelancing, and compares small and large markets. Creating a niche for yourself versus generalizing is also covered. Some writing tips are offered, as well, but the focus is on selling your work. I am very pleased with this book, and I recommend it.

I have developed a life-long habit of taking notes of every book I read. My bookmark is a blank piece of paper on which I write things of interest that strike me as I read along. Within a couple of pages of "The Handbook" I stopped taking notes. If I had continued, I would have had as many pages of notes as the book is long. This book is jam packed with very useful information for those thinking of a career as a magazine writer. I have just begun working in this field, and I must say that there is not an area not covered by the 56 contributors to this work. This is like a college course that instructs you on how to find ideas for articles, how to write a great query letter, the dollars and cents of running your own free-lance business, researching, interviewing, developing a style, it is all-inclusive. If you have thoughts of becoming a magazine writer, you can cut out a lot of the uncertainty, stress, waste motions, and rejections of this business by studying this book. I daresay I'll be turning to this handbook on at least a weekly basis. Thank you to the editor and contributors for a job very well done.

This book gave me even more valuable information than I anticipated. I recommend it for anyone who may want to write and get published in magazines.

The "Writer's Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing" takes information from a wide variety of highly successful freelance writers and edits it together into a seamless instructional manual. It starts off with a discussion of finding ideas that addresses more than inspiration--it delves into methods to find topics that will sell. "Querying" and "Finding Markets" teach you to pick markets for your work and get assignments from them. "Selling Reprints and Rewrites" and "Business and Rights-Related Issues" help you to understand what your work is worth to whom, and how to make sure it remains worth as much as possible to you. "Researching" and "Interviewing" get you through the information-gathering phase, which can take longer than the actual writing. "Avoiding Problems" helps you to avoid accidental plagiarism and similar legal problems. "Writing Techniques and Revision" deals with general issues of writing magazine articles, while "How to Write Common Articles" delves into specifics on article types such as profiles, roundups, how-to articles, service journalism, art-of-living articles, and even pieces for children's magazines. "Working With an Editor" shepherds you through the relationships that will make or break your career. Because the book gets into so many specifics (there's even a sidebar on writing book reviews!) regarding particular article types and so on, you're likely to find it useful even if you've already done some magazine freelancing. It's so helpful to know all the little rules of thumb and instructions regarding different types of articles, not to mention what editors are looking for and get the least of in their submission piles. The chapter on working with editors presents particularly valuable information in a remarkably even-handed and balanced format. It presents a number of ways to maintain a good relationship with your editor, and these tips are useful and specific. A "damage control" section is included, since everyone runs into trouble now and then despite the best of intentions. There's information on "problem editors" to watch out for and how to best work with (or avoid) them, as well as types of writers that editors hate to find themselves working with and how you can avoid being one of these writers. Quotes from freelancers and editors liven things up and bring a personal touch to the book. Clear, bulleted lists of helpful points are balanced by enough detail to make sure that you can figure out what you're doing in specific circumstances. The information presented is broad enough to be applicable to any sort of magazine freelancer, and specific enough to be applicable to every sort of magazine freelancer.